Hi all.  I have been reading your biographies and am really looking forward to meeting you all soon.

I found HHMI resources some time ago, and use the Pocket Mouse video in the Intro bio class I currently teach at Dine College.  In that class, and the two semester A&P sequence I also teach, I have students calculate the mean and standard deviation of data they have collected.  The opportunity to be part of this Faculty Mentoring Network and improve those units was really exciting to me because I don't feel that the units are as successful as they could be in helping students understand the importance of data analysis and interpretation.  I also hope to develop data analysis units that can be incorporated into several courses at all Dine College campuses that will support our student assessment goals.

To tell you about the college where I work, there are going to be a lot of place names you probably won't be familiar with, but that is OK, since most people aren't.  I am a Science Faculty at Dine College in Tuba City, Arizona.  Dine College is a Tribal College on the Navajo Nation.  The main campus is in Tsaile, AZ.  Other branch campuses are located in Shiprock & Crownpoint, New Mexico and Window Rock & Chinle, AZ, all located within the Navajo Nation.  Chinle, AZ is the town of Canyon de Chelly, which you might know of.  It is Arizona's other canyon!

I taught high school biology in Chinle, AZ in the 90s.  In the 2000s I went back to school and earned a MS in Biology.  After that I did some additional graduate work, and then became adjunct faculty at Central New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque, NM.  In January 2016 I moved to Tuba City and my job with Dine College.  My teaching load alternates between intro bio for majors and non-majors, a class I call A&P lite (one semester survey class) and a 2 semester A&P class that is part of the health career AS degree tract.  

The Navajo Nation is the largest in terms of tribal land area (27,425 square miles)  and in terms of enrolled members (>300,000 people).  The Navajo and Cherokee Nations have similar population sizes, and some sources give the nod to the Cherokee Nation for most enrolled members.  Not quite half of Navajos live on the Rez (Reservation) where they struggle with many different issues.  Tuba City borders Moenkopi, one of 12 villages located on the Hopi Rez.  The Hopi Rez (2,531 square miles) is completely surrounded by Navajo land.  There are about 19,500 Hopi tribal members.  This means that my classroom has both Navajo and Hopi students, with an occasional member of another ethnic group.

I am from Albuquerque, NM, where I have a home, and where I am spending most of my summer.   In Tuba City, I live in housing provided by my employer, as it is not possible for a non-Navajo to acquire housing on the Navajo Nation otherwise.  I live in a mobile home on campus.  Other faculty live in Flagstaff, AZ and commute three to four days per week.

When not teaching (or driving between Albuquerque and Tuba City) I love to get outdoors; cycling, hiking, backpacking, and kayaking all vie for spots on my days off.  In Albuquerque, I also get to spend time with my partner, Steve and our friends, plus our dog, cats and chickens.  It is a bit of a strange set of circumstances, but I like my job and have tried to make the most out of my new location in Arizona, exploring new places, cultures and meeting new people.

Environmental microbiologist, geobiologist, and educator.

See website for more details: https://jbuongio.github.io/

Hello! I’m Professor Doug Chalker. I joined the faculty of the Wash U Biology department in 2001. The courses that I teach focus on genetics, genomics, and molecular cell biology. These include an advanced laboratory course in which students perform original research.

I am a married, cisgender male (pronouns: he/him/his; preferred name: Doug) who shares a house in University City with Debbie and two cats, Dextrose and Lola. I grew up in Southern California and completed my college education in the public University of California system (B.S. Biology – UC Riverside; PhD, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics – UC Irvine).

After college, I moved to Seattle, WA to begin my post-doctoral research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. (This is also where I met Debbie, who also has a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology). I am a first generation college graduate and had no idea when I started in college that I would become a professor.  I am fortunate to get to continue to learn about biology with my students, both in the classroom and the research lab.

In my research lab, we use molecular genetics and cell biology to uncover, and better understand, molecular mechanisms that operate within cells. Most of this research investigates the biology of a ciliated protozoan called Tetrahymena thermophila. Specifically, this research aims to understand the functional organization of eukaryotic genomes (how do cells pack one meter’s worth of DNA into each nucleus and still manage to read the information encoded). More recently, projects in the lab also aim to discover how cells develop elaborate structures that determine cellular shape and function.

More about my laboratory research.

The research of my laboratory aims to discover and characterize fundamental mechanisms that eukaryotes use to organize and maintain their genomes. These investigations focus on the genome-wide, programmed DNA rearrangements of the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila, which remodel the developing somatic genome during development. Our work has helped establish that these DNA rearrangements are guided by small RNA-directed heterochromatin formation, which marks a third of the 150 Mbp germline-derived genome for elimination from the differentiating somatic chromosomes. We have identified key proteins that package the DNA to be eliminated into heterochromatin-like bodies and precisely define the boundaries of the excised heterochromatin. In addition, our research has revealed that DNA sequences present in the parental somatic genome, which are not directly inherited by progeny cells, can epigenetically regulate these DNA rearrangements. Our findings provide evidence that these genome-altering events evolved by modifying the roles of existing cellular machineries. Some novel proteins that we have characterized possess structures suggesting a transposon origin, which indicates that the very sequences that these DNA rearrangements target for elimination have, through evolution, contributed to the mechanism of their elimination. My lab continues to pursues two major research directions. One is to study the RNAi-related mechanism that Tetrahymena cells use to identify the regions of the genome that need to be silenced, directing specific heterochromatin modifications to those sequences during somatic genome differentiation. The other is to characterize the molecular machinery used to package loci into heterochromatin and subsequently eliminate them from the somatic genome. This proposal is based on our recent studies of Lia3, the first protein discovered that regulates the accuracy of DNA elimination. Lia3 binds to a guanine(G)-rich sequence that defines the boundaries of several loci, but only when that sequence forms a G quadruplex structure. We plan to elucidate how distal G-rich sequences can be brought together to form a non-canonical DNA structure that defines heterochromatin domains during development. While pursuing my research goals, I am committed to training the next generation of scientists at all levels. As a faculty member at Washington University, I have graduated six students from three different programs in the Division of Biology and Biological Sciences, who each earned their PhD’s through research in my laboratory. I currently serve on the steering committees for two graduate programs in: 1) Molecular Genetics and Genomics; and 2) Developmental, Regenerative & Stem Cell Biology and have served as a member of over 40 dissertation advisory committees. As a researcher/educator, I have developed curriculum that engages undergraduates in authentic research in the laboratory classroom. Student generated results have been published in peer-reviewed articles with enrolled students as authors. I use my time and energy to enhance a larger research community. I serve as a reviewer and/or editor for research journals and as a grant proposal panelist. In addition, I serve as a member of the Tetrahymena Research Advisor Board; I was elected to the inaugural term as President, serving from 2011-2013. The mission of the Board is to increase the impact a research performed using this important model organism. My expertise as a researcher and experience as an educator provide me with important insights that guide my mentorship of students at all levels as they prepare for future careers in science.

Contact infomation: nc526 "at" cornell "dot" edu

Dr. Nicole Chodkowski has been a QUBES postdoc since January 2018. Her primary mentor is Jeremy Wojdak at Radford University. Nicole’s background is in aquatic ecology. She received her Ph.D. from Ball State University for her work on host-parasite interactions and parasite effects on host nutrient recycling and metabolism in ecosystems. At QUBES, Nicole’s work is focused on planning and facilitating the faculty mentoring networks centered around adapting and sharing open educational resources for teaching quantitative skills.

I am the Director of Outreach and Strategic Engagement with the BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium. I have over 25 years of experience teaching introductory biology, ecology, and evolution courses. I'm also on the leadership team of the QUBES project and I spend a lot of my time thinking about how to bring new teaching and learning resources into classrooms.

I have been teaching biology laboratory courses at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA for 10 years. Our biology program leans towards micro-level topics, reflected in the courses I teach: upper-level courses for our biology majors in genetics and molecular biology, cell and developmental biology, and neuroscience, as well as a research-based course (topics rotate) for our first-year students. Our labs are stand-alone, relatively small-in-size courses with every section taught directly by teaching faculty (including myself), which gives us a lot of flexibility and freedom in building the classes around research-based projects.

I semi-regularly attend the ABLE meeting (Association for Biology Laboratory Education) and always come away with ways to improve my teaching and great ideas for my courses or for outreach events. I am also working to improve my own quantitative knowledge as I work to better integrate bioinformatics, statistics, and programming into my own courses. I'm looking forward to talking with like-minded educators in this community to discuss educational practices and ideas!

At this meeting I will be helping to run a workshop with teaching materials from last year's working group (SARS-CoV-2: Understanding, Applying, and Communicating Science). I am also preparing to run a new course in the fall that will teach interdisciplinary communication through a team-based research project in computational biology, and am happy to talk strategies!

I am a structural biologist, dedicated to promoting a molecular view of biology. I enjoy visualizing biomolecular structures, learning about their interactions and understanding their functions in atomic detail. I am also interested in pedagogy, visual thinking, spatial reasoning, and topics related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

With more than 20 years experience in undergraduate science education, Adam Fagen served as Deputy Director for BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium and a member of the leadership team for QUBES from November 2018 until October 2019 and continues to serve on the staff for BioQUEST. He is also Director of Communications and Advocacy for the Association of Science and Technology Centers, a nonprofit membership organization of nearly 500 science and technology centers and museums around the world.

Adam served as Executive Director of the Genetics Society of America, a scientific professional society with more than 5,700 members around the world, providing strategic leadership for all Society activities. He was previously Director of Public Affairs for the American Society of Plant Biologists, where he led the Society’s education, communications, and policy portfolios.

Before that, Adam was Senior Program Officer with the Board on Life Sciences of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, where he directed studies on science education and training, biosecurity, interdisciplinary research, stem cell research, and more. He served as the Academies' lead for the Summer Institutes on Undergraduate Education in Biology.

He earned his PhD in molecular biology and education from Harvard University with research focused on mechanisms for enhancing student learning and conceptual understanding in introductory biology and physics. Fagen also received an AM in molecular and cellular biology from Harvard and a BA from Swarthmore College with a double-major in biology and mathematics.

Contact: refurrow AT ucdavis DOT edu

I have recently started as an Assistant Professor of Teaching in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology at the University of California, Davis. I teach a large introductory course in ecology and evolution, and I'm currently developing a new introductory scientific literacy course, a behavioral ecology course, and small introductory, course-based research experiences focused on mathematical modeling and statistics. My research is oriented towards building biology students' self-efficacy in quantitative skills and understanding student perceptions of inclusive teaching. I'm also interested in how students develop field biology skills and increase their attentiveness to the natural world. I typically attend the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER) annual meeting. In the past I have attended Evolution, but in my new position I'm eager to attend the Wildlife Society conference and ESA, with a focus on projects related to education. 

For the BIOME Institute, I'm eager to work on projects related to introductory experiential learning, particularly if it's related to building students' science process skills (like writing, communication, and reading scientific papers) and quantitative skills (like programming, statistical thinking, and mathematical modeling). I have some experience teaching introductory course-based research experiences focused on modeling microbial growth and on comparative genomics.  But I'm newer to teaching some of the science process skills, and I'd love to learn from peers who work on this.

I am a  Professor in the Department of Biology, and the Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology.  I am also Associate Director for Education at the Kessler Atmospheric and Ecological Field Station.  I have taught intro biology more times than I can remember (I think I am at 70+ times), but I still love it.  Although there will be challenges, I am looking forward to teaching an online lecture to a very large class this fall.

I am a Teaching Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and teach in the Biotechnology Program (BIT, biotech.ncsu.edu) at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. My research interests include molecular microbiology, metagenomics, high-throughput discovery, epidemiology, history of disease, science education, and outreach activities. I am also interested in teaching with technology and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

I'm a quantitative population & community ecologist who mostly works in marine and aquatic systems, and started at St. Mary's College of Maryland as an assistant professor in the fall of 2021. I'm currently a postdoc in the math department at Tulane working on a project examining spatial variation due to ecological interactions on coral reefs. Previously, I did postdocs with QUBES (based at Radford) and East Carolina University (looking at predator diversity in riverine rock pools).  I have a BA in Marine Biology/Applied Mathematics from New College of Florida, and a PhD in Ecology from UGA (although I started at UF).  

I have been an Assistant Professor in Environmental Science at Mount St. Mary's University since the fall of 2021. Previously, I was a CAS Diversity Post Doctoral Fellow in the Integrative Biology Department of Oklahoma State University from 2018-2021. I worked within small OK reservoirs, collecting water quality data and measuring the phyto and zooplankton communities in order to better quantify seasonal turnover in old and young reservoirs. I received a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology under the direction of Dr. Lawrence J. Weider at the University of Oklahoma. My working thesis involved using theory and experimentation to better understand how population structure influences community properties and stability. I am using Daphnia as a model organism, linking their life-history traits to communities through size-distributions.

I joined QUBES in 2019 because I am passionate about integrating experimental design and analysis (and the coding skills that go with it) into course curricula and undergraduate research experiences. I've grown very fond of using Swirl with R as a self-paced tool to ease coding anxiety and to scaffold analyses in course materials.

In a resting egg (aka aquatic nutshell), I get excited over equations and graphs, while trying to keep myself grounded in real systems.

Melissa Haswell is currently the Associate Dean of Science and Mathematics at Delta College in University Center, Michigan.  Her primary responsibilities as Associate Dean are to support academic management and operations of the Science and Mathematics Divisions and support the Academic Deans in furthering the academic mission and direction of the College to help ensure student success in degree completion, successful transfer to a university, and/or entry-level job employment or career advancement.  From 2008-2021, Melissa was a full-time faculty member in the science department at Davenport University (Michigan). She has 17 years of experience in STEM education that emphasizes case-based teaching, the incorporation of authentic research experiences in undergraduate biology courses, and decolonizing the higher education curriculum. Melissa is also is a Higher Education Ambassador for HHMI BioInteractive (2017-present), President of the Association of College and University Biology Educators (ACUBE), a member of working groups 5&6 of Accelerating System Change Network (ASCN), and is involved with the Kirtland Warbler Census for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Past research projects have included winter bird-feeder use of the White-breasted Nuthatch and dominance hierarchy in Black-capped Chickadees, nesting and reproductive behavior of Eastern Bluebirds, House Wrens, and Tree Swallows, and work as a research assistant/technician on the Tittabawassee River Ecological Risk Assessment with Michigan State University.  Melissa received her Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Alma College and completed two master’s degrees (Health Promotion and Conservation Biology), as well as her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in biology education from Central Michigan University.

I'm a zoologist and paleoecologist currently an Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin - River Falls with a joint appointment in the Department of Biology and the Department of Plant and Earth Science. My education background includes a Ph.D. in earth sciences from the University of Minnesota and an M.S. degree in earth sciences and B.S. degree in biology, both from Syracuse University. I teach an array of courses from introductory biology and geology to upper level courses such as zoology, mammalogy, and paleoecology. My students and I conduct research that focuses on illuminating the processes and interactions that shape patterns of biodiversity across varying scales of space and time. We investigate questions ecology, paleoecology, and paleoenvironmental questions using biogeochemical data, geospatial data, and the fossil record. Recent work used stable isotopes to investigate food resource partition by small mammals in response to environmental change today and over the last 4 million years in the Great Plains. Work beyond River Falls extends to participating in the Project EDDIE community as a workshop convener and a mentor for the Faculty Mentoring Network (FMN) that is a collaboration between Project EDDIE and QUBES. Outside of the classroom, Andrew enjoys playing basketball, hockey, hiking, landscaping, and exploring the world with his family.

Before arriving at UW-River Falls, I held Visiting Assistant Professor appointments at Macalester College, the University of Minnesota, and Gustavus Adolphus College. He taught a variety of courses spanning the disciplines of biology (biodiversity, interpreting landscapes) and earth sciences (paleobiology, sedimentology and stratigraphy). Most recently, he worked at the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College where his work focused on strengthening higher education through collaborative partnerships such as mentoring faculty developing teaching activities that have students use publicly available datasets to answer environmental questions. Andrew’s

I teach Genetics, Biostatistics, Conservation Biology, and Integrative Biology at Wofford College, a small private liberal arts college.

I am the Executive Director of TIDES at UT Austin.  I earned my Bachelors at the University of California San Diego, in Biochemistry and Cell Biology. A high point of my undergraduate career was studying abroad at LaTrobe University in Melbourne, Australia for a year. I earned my PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Arizona, where I worked on RNA metabolism. After a short stint in industry at a start up biotech company, I moved into education. I have been fortunate to have a variety of experiences including teaching high school, as well as at a small college, an R1 and a community college. I ran a McNair Program at Concord College in West Virginia, and worked for BCSC before taking a position at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent). From NESCent, I moved to a position in future faculty development at the University of Wisconsin.  In  2015I became the Executive Director of BioQUEST where I led the transition to a non-profit organization and played a key role in the development of QUBES.  

My goal in science education is promoting success for all students and I use the Universal Design for Learning framework to support this outcome.  I am particularly interested in teaching evolution, nature of science and quantitative reasoning skills.  Projects I have been involved in to achieve these goals include Quantitative Biology at Community Colleges (https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/qbcc), which brings together a community of mathematics and biology faculty at two year institutions to develop Open Education Resources for teaching quantitative skills in a biology context, the BioQUEST UDL Initiative, which  is focusing on bringing Universal Design for Learning practices to higher education, and EVOKE, an EU coalition focused on improving evolution education for everyone. 

Research @ a CC on a budget

Scaffolding Research Skills

Stacey has taught at Lane Community College full time since 1996. She primarily teaches the life science majors with an emphasis on zoology the third quarter. She co-taught Honors classes. Many biology classes at Lane incorporate undergraduate research, and her zoology students have been doing student-designed projects since 2013. Stacey was president of NABT (National Association of Biology Teachers) in 2014 and currently serves on NABT's the Intro Bio Taskforce. Stacey is co-chair of the Gordon Research Conference - Undergraduate Biology Education scheduled for June 2021. She started attending BioQUEST Summer Workshops in 1999 and currently volunteers for the summer BIOME workshop.

Twitter: @StaceyKiser

Instagram: slkiser2002

Name tag: https://www.name-coach.com/geraldine-klarenberg

https://www.name-coach.com/karen-klyczek

I am currently an assistant professor and lab coordinator at Clarkson University. I teach freshman level Biology labs, Environmental Science, and a graduate level teaching course. I received my Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering from Clarkson University in 2014. My dissertation focused on the sustainability of algae biodiesel production. My research has also focused on the health of the St. Lawrence River. I am interested in improving my quantitative teach skills, as well as helping graduate students do the same.

I am a mathematician in the Department of Biology at the College of William and Mary.  One of my roles in the department is to strengthen the quantitative skills of biology majors.  I am also the site manager for QUBES, so if you have any questions, feel free to send me a message!

I am a Professor of Biology at Raritan Valley Community College where I teach General Biology (for majors), Genetics and Cellular & Molecular Biology. 

My formal training is as a microbial ecologist, but I have been passionate about pedagogy and teaching since before I pursued my PhD. While a full-time post-doc and research associate at Penn State, I taught an introductory ecology and evolution course in Biology and an introduction to organic agriculture course in Plant Science. I also received training on inquiry-based learning and effective problem-based learning techniques from the NSF-sponsored Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST IV) and Science Case Network respectively. Building on that experience, I was hired by the Penn State Biology department as a full-time lecturer last summer. It is an exciting time to be in this department. I was given the opportunity to re-envision their introductory ecology and evolution course to be more engaging and have opportunities for community-based active learning. This is a work in progress. I also co-taught a new Freshman Research Initiative (modeled after UT Austin), where two sections of introductory biology students began learning how to conduct research rather than take the typical laboratory sequence. Forty independent research projects later and my colleague and I were still standing so I consider it a success so far. I look forward to discussing innovative ways to make our STEM sciences more engaging and learner-centered for our undergraduate students.

Pat is currently Faculty Development Ambassador for BioQUEST and Emeritus Faculty from Emory University! Pat Marsteller directed the Emory College Center for Science Education and was a faculty member in the department of Biology at Emory. She studied evolution of animal behavior for her MS degree at University of South Carolina and evolution and quantitative genetics for her PhD at the University of Florida.  She worked with alligators for her MS thesis, investigating whether they could use the sun, the moon and the stars to navigate. Her dissertation research focused on a quantitative genetic analysis, using with fruit flies as a model system, to investigate genetic and environmental influence on life history patterns and traits such as longevity and quantity and timing of reproduction. She has taught courses evolution, Darwin and the idea of evolution and many other courses over her 30 years of college teaching.  She also works with college and pre-college faculty on developing curriculum materials and on using active learning strategies in the teaching of science and mathematics. She is the PI of the ScienceCasenetwork and NeuroCaseNet and a helper on HITS and Molecular CaseNet.

 Pat’s grand project is to prepare Faculty of the Future to teach well, to be creative, to be excellent mentors. She believes that we all have a responsibility to educate the public about science. Her other grand project relates to increasing diversity in science...She is in charge of special programs to increase success for underrepresented groups, women and first genration students at undergraduate, graduate, postdoc and faculty levels. support for these initiatives comes from NSF, HHMI, and NIH.  She is co-PI of the Emory Initiative for Maximizing Student Development project, among many projects that support student research.

Draft Undergraduate STEM Education 2040: An Optimists Perspective

The intersecting crises of 2020 (covid, antiracist protests and climate change) finally led faculty groups and funders to a social justice agenda for STEM education. Thousands of faculty read Ibram Kendi’s How to be an Antiracist and began to realize that open education resources (OER) and open pedagogy (OP) were needed to address the racial and ethnic disparities in health, impacts of climate change, and institutional practices.  A revolution began!

Graduate and postdoctoral programs added Social Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion to professional development programs.  NSF reinstated the GK12 program and created a new Graduate-Undergraduate curriculum development program.  Institutions moved from general statements about social justice and serving all students to investing in reward systems and data tools to assess progress toward a just system that serves society. All types of institutions, community colleges, liberal arts institutions and research focused institution have over these years established networks and partnerships and formal transfer agreements. Faculty tenure and promotion guidelines were revised to include public scholarship and reflection on open pedagogies and professional development in applying social justice principles.  Discipline based education faculty were hired (on tenure track) in nearly every department. Since that watershed year our faculties have become more diverse and our curricula have changed.

The movement to integrate research into STEM courses developed into a movement to include students as co-creators of curricular materials.  Faculty worked together across departmental boundaries to assess content, curricular frameworks, and applications of each course and program to society.  Science literacy, data literacy, and application to social issues took priority.

Revised materials called for all people to be represented in texts and OER materials. and current research.

As a result, now in 2040 students not only feel welcomed as learners but enabled to be content creators and researchers from the first course. From the first course, students now learn to critique and evaluate knowledge claims. Our STEM courses are better coordinated and they incorporate visualization, research design and models, but they also examine the ethics of scientific practices and the social justice implications of historical and future science and application. Our faculties are more diverse and representative and thus constantly bring new perspectives to our teaching and research missions.

Our classrooms are now more open spaces that support the evidence based active learning practices and enable collaborative teams to create new knowledge. Our institutions intersect closely with local communities and our students investigate and solve problem with local community groups. 

From the very first course, we teach students to think like scientists, to evaluate and weigh evidence, to communicate clearly and to place scientific data in context.  Instead of focusing on science as a body of knowledge, we allow students to inquire, investigate and communicate. Inquiry-based approaches such as problem-based learning (PBL) and investigative case-based learning (ICBL) have documented success in enhancing conceptual understanding and increasing skills in problem solving, critical thinking, communication and self-assessment. By using complex, authentic problems to trigger investigation in lab and library, our students develop critical thinking, problem solving, and collaborative skills. These methods allow students to experience science integrated with other disciplines such as mathematics (graphs, statistics), history (social, economic and political context of the issue), and language arts (conveying research results) and enhance their capacity for creative and responsible real-world problem solving. Inquiry science courses integrate ethical dimensions of science. Debates on cloning, DNA testing, limits of prediction, and potential perils as well as benefits of science deepen understanding for all students.  Combining such approaches with practice in communicating science to different audiences creates engaged scholars and a scientifically literate public.

We have made great strides in moving from incremental interventions to systemic, structural and lasting change. Our majors now provide a more diverse STEM workforce and generate new ideas that are improving health, quality f life and discovery for all peoples and parts of the globe.  Our non-majors leave still loving and exploring science and they learn to critique and evaluate knowledge claims about health, vaccines and evolution.  Our STEM courses are better coordinated and they incorporate visualization, research design and models, but they also examine the ethics of scientific practices and the social justice implications of past

We have not yet solved all the inequities in K-12 or undergraduate education or in health disparities in local communities, but we have come a long way.  The experiments in education are now bolder, the future looks more just, more equitable and more creative.

OK...How's that???

Prior to arriving at Emory in 1990, Pat taught at large state universities and tiny liberal arts colleges.  This experience gave her the opportunity to teach nearly every course in Biology.  She loves teaching because transmitting the joys (and trials) of the process of science to students gives them the tools for lifelong learning and discovery.  Science is not merely a body of accumulated facts and theories, but an exhilarating process of discovery.  Good teachers are constant learners, inventing, creating and discovering new ways to facilitate learning.  As her friend John Jungck says, “teachers must move from the position of sage on the stage to guide on the side.”  Learning is an active process- students are not vessels into which we pour our accumulated wisdom; they are participants is generating, constructing and linking knowledge by placing new content in the context of what they know and by developing critical analysis skills so that they can generate reasonable hypotheses, test them, analyze carefully and draw reasonable conclusions.  Good teachers and good students should “Question Authority” as the bumper sticker on her door suggests.  Don’t just believe!  Delve into it, connect, apply, and make it your own!

Pat is a member of the Biology faculty and the NBB faculty and directs the Hughes Undergraduate Science Initiative and our Emory College Center for Science Education. She is  the oldest of 11 kids.  She is married to Fred Marsteller, who is a consultant in Biostatistics and Research Design.  Her son Sean was the founding Director of LearnLink.  He and his wife now live in Canada.

I am an Assistant Teaching Professor of Biology at Pennsylvania State University - University Park campus.  I help teach lecture and coordinate labs for the large introductory biology course, taken primarily by first year students.  I also teach a pedagogy course for our learning assistant program.  In the summer, I teach a newly designed course on diversity in STEMM. 

I’m relatively new to Penn State, since I started in the fall of 2019.  I am happy to be back in PA though, since I was born and raised in Lancaster county.  I obtained my BS in Biology from West Chester University in PA, my MS degree in Marine Biology from Nova Southeastern University – Oceanographic Center in FL, and my PhD in Interdisciplinary Biology (aquatic ecology focus) from East Carolina University in NC.  I’ve taught both small and large course sizes at ECU, Radford University, and now PSU. 

I’ve always enjoyed interacting with students and am thrilled to now work with Penn State students.   My teaching goal for student success is for students to be able to think critically in order to understand and work through tough conceptual ideas pertinent to biology and ecology.  Through the development of learning and metacognitive skills, I strive to help students reach their course goals and prepare them for the next step in their academic careers.  One of my other core teaching goals is to engage students and keep them ever curious with current topics that involve our interactions with the natural world. 

During my free time, I’ve been exploring the beautiful natural areas that surround PSU, with my partner Matt.  We love to hike, paddle in our canoe, make pottery, travel to National Parks, paint, learn all things natural history, take photos, and enjoy life with family and friends!

I am a microbiologist with a strong interest in undergraduate research and education. I am interested in developing initiatives that create a sense of beloning and science identity while increasing students quantitative skills and exposure to interdisciplinary, including the intersection of "omic" technologies in the field of microbiology. 

Born in 1983 in Zagreb. In 2007 graduated from the University of Zagreb Medical School and became a medical doctor. In 2009 started with a specialization/fellowship in the field of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, culminating in 2013 with the specialist exam in front of the expert committee of the Ministry of Health when I became a clinical microbiology specialist. That same year I finished a specialist postgraduate programme in Medical Microbiology and Parasitology and became a University Master of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology. In 2014 at the University of Zagreb Medical School I successfully defended my dissertation entitled "In vitro efficacy of azithromycin, doxycycline and levofloxacin against urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis strains" and became Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the scientific area of Biomedicine and health, field of Clinical medical sciences, a branch of Medical microbiology. That same year I obtained the scientific title of Research Associate, following the decision of the National Committee for Biomedicine and Health of the National Council for Science, Higher Education and Technology Development. By the decision of the Senate of the University North in 2016, I became an Assistant Professor in the scientific area of Biomedicine and health, field of Clinical medical sciences. I authored and co-authored more than forty scientific and professional papers, as well as abstracts in the field of microbiology and public health. I also act as a reviewer for national and international scientific journals, and in some also as an editor or a member of the Scientific Advisory Board. I am active in science journalism and science communication. Furthermore, I am a member of numerous national and international professional organizations, and in 2016 the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) elected me to be a Young Ambassador of Science to Croatia. I was on numerous trainings and study visits at home and abroad. In the field of parasitology, I received professional training in the UK (Hospital for Tropical Diseases, UK NEQAS Parasitology, London), Germany (Bernhard Nocht-Institute für Tropenmedizin, Hamburg), the Netherlands (Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden) and Italy (University of Pavia, WHO Collaborating Centre for Clinical Management of Cystic Echinococcosis, Pavia). I am an invited lecturer at scientific conferences at home and internationally.

Universal Design for Learning Consultant at BioQUEST.

I have worked on both the QUBES and BioQUEST projects out of Pittsburgh, PA since 2016. In these roles I work to support initiatives around Open Educational Resources and the design and implementation of professional development that focuses on Universal Design for Learning.

Email: hco1 "at" pitt "dot" edu

Name badge: Hayley Orndorf

Contact information: mphillips AT flmnh DOT ufl DOT edu Twitter: @StellarSquirrel

Molly is a biologist with a background in evolution, ecology, and natural history, which includes five years of experience working in natural history collections. As the Education and Outreach Coordinator, Molly is responsible for coordinating and implementing the E&O activities of iDigBio and communicating and facilitating coordination and networking among the TCNs in order to promote, encourage, develop, and implement relevant E&O and related Broader Impact activities.

I'm mid-career faculty, teaching chemistry at a variety of levels including general, organic and biochemistry as well as doing research in metabolic profiling while trying to figure how to get back into biophysics (my first love, NMR-based structural biology, isn't a good fit for the resources available at Stockton).

I've joined BIOME as part of the Molecular CaseNet group, hoping to expand on the work that group has been doing implementing case studies to increase student understanding of structure-function relationships. The version of a biochemistry degree we offer is a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology degree, becoming more familiar with other tools in biology would be helpful for helping the students see the curriculum as an integrated set of ideas rather than a bunch of disparate courses.

Songs: 

Bob Dylan - You Ain't Goin' Nowhere

Simon and Garfunkel - Fakin' It

I am coming from Heidelberg University, a small liberal arts college in Tiffin (northwest), Ohio where I teach Intro Bio for majors and non-majors and Microbiology.  My research background is in molecular biology and genetics, studying regulation of gene expression in budding yeast.  My current areas of interest in curriculum development and science education research include developing case studies, the effective use of animations, and Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs).     

Deputy Director

Dr. Deborah Rook is an evolutionary biologist and paleontologist. She has a bachelor's degree in Biology and Evolutionary biology from Case Western Reserve University and a masters in Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology from Ohio State University, having studied evolutionary and ecological dynamics of Cenozoic mammals. For her PhD, she moved into Geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, focusing on dynamic interactions of the rock and fossil records. Biology education has always been a focus for her, having taught and studied pedagogical techniques throughout her graduate studies and beyond. She joined the QUBES team in September 2017 as the FMN Project Manager, where she is working with the Faculty Mentoring Networks to enhance student experiences with quantitative biology, and the Professional Development Manager as our opportunities expanded. Since September 2021, she moved to Deputy Director, where she continues to work in the professional development space but now also manages staff and assists the Executive Director with business aspects of the organization.

I am the General Biology assistant professor at St. Lawrence University, a small private liberal arts college located in Canton, NY. Prior to my current position,  I worked extensively as a biomedical researcher on the molecular biology and genomics of the malaria parasite and currently interested in studying the microbiome of soil and plant roots with application to sustainable agriculture. In my previous classes, I have implemented CUREs such as Tiny Earth, PARE (Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment), and MGAN (Microbial Genome Annotation Network). I hope to develop a CURE for microbiome analysis using the minIon sequencer.

I am a CC-Bio INSITES community college biology scholar. This is a network to support inquiry into teaching and education scholarship (https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward)  (http://bioquest.org/projects/) fellow and an active participant in Bio QUEST (http://bioquest.org/), CCURI (http://ccuri.org) annual workshops.

Promoting Student Success Using Supplemental InstructionNational Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD)-Innovation Abstracts, Volume XLI, No. 39 | October 17, 2019 

Few of my case studies are as follows:

a) Summer time - ice cream time: Lactase Persistence in Humans is being published at National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, University at Buffalo (June 2016),

b)Bioengineering a Heart -- Bioengineering a Heart. HAPS Educator 21 (Suppl.2): 15-19. doi: doi: 10.21692/haps.2017.0341

https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.hapsweb.org/resource/resmgr/educator_archive/HAPSEducator2017SpecialEditi.pdf (November 2017).  

c) https://qubeshub.org/qubesresources/publications/1199/1 Vemu, S. (2019). Adapted Value of Mistakes. Biology Students Math Attitudes and Anxiety Program (BIOMAAP): a QUBES Faculty Mentoring Network, QUBES Educational Resources. doi:10.25334/Q4DT8C

d) Histology Personal Trainer: Identifying Tissue Types Using Critical Thinking and Metacognition Prompts

J Microbiol Biol Educ2019 Aug 30;20(2):20.2.44.  doi: 10.1128/jmbe.v20i2.1791

e) Feel the Burn -- Biochemical Testing and the Integumentary System - https://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/collection/detail.html?case_id=1138&id=1138

Few of my workshop presentations are as follows:

a) Promoting success in First year students through multicultural engagement at Midwest First Year Conference http://www.mfyc.org/pdf/MFYC_EDUCATION_SESSIONS_SCHEDULE_2015.pdf

b) Metacognition workshop based on the poster presentation at NIU for Minorities Promise scholars. Promoting Success with Critical Thinking and Metacognition in the Science Classroom for First-Year Students Utilizing Supplemental Instruction https://nabt.org/files/galleries/NABT2017ProgramGuide_web-0002.pdf.  

c) OLI conference with Julia Spears and CTP fellows at NIU https://secure.onlinelearningconsortium.org/conference/2014/blended/best-practices-transforming-course-blended-community-improved-student-metacognition 

d) http://www.niu.edu/cseas/_pdf/bbflyer.pdf.pdf: Talk on Microbes, Borneo mud and Antibiotic Resistance for Center of Southeast Asia studies. 

e) Workshop on Leveraging various opportunities for innovation and network building in the scholarship of community college teaching at 2018 Bio-Link Summer Fellows Forum, University of Berkeley, Clark-Kerr Campus, CA. https://www.bio-link.org/home2/event/2018-bio-link-summer-fellows-forum

f) Assessing Global Awareness in Associate Level Microbiology: Adapting Case Studies and the AAC&U VALUE Rubrics To Examine the Global Challenges of Mosquito Borne Disease". (Intersection: A Journal at the Intersection of Assessment and Learning in press

g) https://www.nsta.org/journal-college-science-teaching/journal-college-science-teaching-septemberoctober-2020/identifying TWO-YEAR COMMUNITY


Identifying Differences in Learning Strategies by Demographics and Course Grade in a Community College Context Journal of College Science Teaching—September/October 2020 (Volume 50, Issue 1)

I am also engaged in Faculty Mentoring Networks (FMN) 2016-2017 that includes face to face workshop experience at Annual Bio QUEST conference with a supportive long term community interaction on the QUBES site. https://qubeshub.org/dataviewer/view/publication: dsl/prj_db_223_8e0c85da2f67271a1f934686266a34efc4b9ee31/? V=4  

"Its only skin deep!" is a working group branching from the 2016 National Academies Special Topics Summer Institute on Quantitative Biology. This group is working specifically on the following levels of problem solving: a) Correlation of skin pigmentation with latitude and Vitamin D deficiencies. b) Physiology and biochemistry of melanin synthesis and trafficking c) Regulatory genes involved in process of melanin expression d) Vitamin D deficiency, skin pigmentation related to genotypes.

 I am interested in ethno pharmacology as it relates to my Ph.D. work from Chicago Medical School (role of antibiotics in the regulation of transcription in yeast/cancer cell prototype). While teaching a graduate course in Pharmacology (Biology department at NIU as an adjunct), we piloted Pharmacology- active learning exercises with Dr.Lisa Freeman (Pharmacologist when I met her in 2011). I have some interest in adding some chapters on ethno pharmacology to the book as well. https://titles.cognella.com/pharmacology-for-allied-personnel-978162661998

I have deep interest in the exchange of information and understandings about people's use of plants, fungi, animals, microorganisms and minerals and their biological and pharmacological effects based on the principles established through international conventions.

Many of our valuable drugs of today (e.g., atropine, ephedrine, tubocurarine, digoxin, reserpine) came into use through the study of indigenous remedies. During my postdoctoral research, we continued to use plant-derived drugs (e.g., morphine, taxol, physostigmine, quinidine, emetine, vancomycin) as prototypes to develop more effective and less toxic medicinals.

I am Dr. Ethell Vereen. My preferred gender pronouns are he, him, and his. I have nearly a decade of teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate level. My professional and research expertise is in environmental health, water quality, and environmental microbiology. To investigate and identify the influence of environmental and anthropogenic pressures on the microbial communities of urban watersheds, my current work explores the microbial community composition and functions, as deduced from metagenomic data. I am also interested in exploring undergraduate STEM education, with an emphasis on culturally relevant pedagogy in the sciences.

Bachelors Degree in Fundamental Biology (Spain)

PhD Plant Physiology (Spain)

Postdoctoral Research in Plant Biotechnology (in vitro culture and genetic engineering (France and Spain)

Professor of Biology and Genetics at Northampton Community College since 2003

Brian Winkel earned his degrees in mathematics (BS, MS, PhD) in 1964, 1967, and 1971, respectively, with his PhD from Indiana University in Noetherian Ring Theory. While teaching in his first position (liberal arts college Albion College, Albion MI USA) he developed an interest in applications of mathematics to biology and while teaching in an engineering setting (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute IN USA, United States Air Force Academy, USAFA CO USA, and United States Military Academy, West Point NY USA)  he developed a strong interest in engineering applications of mathematics. With sabbatical experiences at Michigan Technological University, Houghton MI USA and Brown University, Providence RI USA he strengthened his commitment to teaching mathematics using applications to introduce and drive the learning process.

Along the way he founded and edited/emeritus edited three journals Cryptologia (1977 - Present), Collegiate Microcomputer (1982-1993), and PRIMUS - Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies (1990 - Present). Both Cryptologia and PRIMUS are FREE to all Members of the Mathematical Association of America.

Upon retirement from the United States Military Academy in spring 2011 he committed time, energy, and resources, and together with many very talented colleagues who possessed the same vision of teaching modeling first differential equations he founded SIMIODE - Systemic Initiative for Modeling Investigations and Opportunities with Differential Equations at www.simiode.org. SIMIODE is a 501(c)3 US IRS Designated non-profit organization.

SIMIODE received a three year National Science Foundation DUE Grant on 15 March 2018 to support the overall mission of SIMIODE and offered Developer workshops for colleagues who wish to write and contribute Modeling Scenarios to SIMIODE resources and Practitioner workshops for those who wish to learn how to do modeling to motivate and teach differential equations during the summers of 2018, 2019, and 2021.

SCUDEM - SIMIODE Challenge Using Differential Equations is an annual event in the Fall offered by SIMIODE in which three member student teams of high school and undergraduate students select one of three problems areas (a) physics/engineering, (b) chemistry/life sciences, or (c) social sciences. They then work on the model at their home institution for a week and produce a ten minute vide for rich judges' feedback and awards. Complete details on SCUDEM are here.

SIMIODE conducts and international conference SIMIODE EXPO in February of each year. See here for more details.

Finally, SIMIODE is offering a new SIMIODE digital textbook,  Differential Equations:  A Toolbox for Modeling the World, authored by the distinguished teacher and writer, Dr. Kurt Bryan, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute IN USA. Click here to order your copy, see all support materials, and get all future editions FREE for life.