Ann Elizabeth Stuart is a former professor of neurophysiology at UNC Chapel Hill. Raised in Pennsylvania with an interest in physiology, her involvement in her school's science fair changed her focus to other forms of physiological and disease-based research. A lecture by Nobel Prize winner Haldan Keffer Hartline altered her life again and directed her to vision research, which she wanted to carry out at the Marine Biological Laboratory that Hartline did.
She did so even while being a professor at Harvard University and later UNC Chapel Hill. Her work with vision would result in a computer program called Neurons In Action she developed with her husband that simulates the electrical functionality of neurons. This training simulation would end up being used in classrooms internationally.