Once again, there are new faces this semester in the halls and classrooms in the Biology Building – and they’re not just those of the freshmen! The Biology Department is very pleased to welcome the addition of four new tenure-track assistant professors to our faculty roster, permanently filling positions made vacant over the past few years. They bring a great deal of expertise to our department, and we are happy to have them on board!
Our new assistant professors are:
Wendy Clement, who received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities), and whose research interests include plant systematics and evolution, pollination biology, and biogeography. Dr. Clement will be teaching Themes in Biology, Biology Seminar, and The Ecology and Evolution of Plant-Insect Interactions.
Gary Dickinson earned his Ph.D. from Duke University, and most recently taught at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Dickinson’s research involves the physiological ecology of marine invertebrates; adhesion, biomineralization, and larval behavior of barnacles; biological responses to ocean acidification and climate change; and marine biofouling and its prevention. Dr. Dickinson will teach the introductory biology course Themes in Biology, as well as Animal Physiology.
Geneticist Kathryn Elliott received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Using the soil bacterium Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 as a model organism, her research involves the nature and frequency of gene duplication and amplification; the evolution and adaptation of gene amplification mutants; and ther regulation and expression of metabolic genes. Dr. Elliott will be teaching Genetics, Biology Seminar, and Bacterial Pathogenesis.
The British accent will give away geneticist Nina Peel, who received her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, UK. Dr. Peel’s research uses Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism to investigate how centrosome duplication is controlled; the funcions of protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) in early development; and how microtubule dynamics are regulated by post-translational modifications. She will be sharing research space with Dr. Nayak, whose lab also uses C. elegans. Dr. Peel will be teaching Biology of the Eukaryotic Cell, Genetics, and Biology Seminar.
Further information about all of our individual faculty members can be obtained by clicking on the links in the navigation bar to the right. The Department of Biology currently has 19 full-time faculty members who serve approximately 500 Biology majors. All lectures and labs are taught by faculty; there are no teaching assistants. By the end of their undergraduate experience, many students have become colleagues of the faculty members–this fact illustrates not only the level of work that students are able to achieve, but also the close relationships that students develop with their faculty mentors. The College has been committed in its support of the Department’s efforts to develop into a community of teacher-scholars.
For general questions to the Biology Department, contact the Office Staff:
- Ms. Luz Morales (Secretary), 609-771-2356
- Ms. Helen Kull (Program Assistant), 609-771-2371
- Mr. Rich Cook (Technical Support), 609-771-2677