These are the Biology Graduate faculty in whose labs M.S. and M.A. students can perform independent research projects.  A brief description of their area of research is given.  For more information, click on each faculty member’s name to go to their home page.  Also, be sure to check out the Graduate Research and Undergraduate Research pages to see the various projects current Biology students are working on.

 

Jonathan Fingerut, Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, 2003
Stream ecology focusing on invertebrate biology and organism-flow interactions.

Eileen D. Grogan, Associate Professor
Ph.D. College of William and Mary, 1994
Study of chondrichthyan evolution. Functional and developmental morphology of the cranium, the immune and vascular system.

Christina King Smith, Associate Professor
Ph.D. University of Maryland, 1992
The cytoskeleton, mechanisms of intracellular motility in teleost retinal epithelial cells, and regulation of organelle motility.

Julia Lee, Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, 2002
The genetics and cell biology of ageing.

Scott P. McRobert, Professor
Ph.D. Temple University, 1988
Studying the relationships between animal behavior, ecology, and evolution,  using Drosophila, fresh-water fish and turtles as experimental organisms.

Karen M. Snetselaar, Professor, Chair
Ph.D. Univ. of Georgia, 1993
Developmental biology of the plant pathogenic fungus Ustilago maydis, its behavior during mating and its interactions with the host plant.

Clint Springer, Assistant Professor
Ph.D. West Virginia University, 2004
Plant physiological ecology and global climate change biology.

Paul M. Tefft, Associate Professor
Ph.D. Southern Illinois University, 1984
Development, control and behavior of plant parasitic nematodes.

John J. Tudor, Professor
Ph.D. Univ. of Kentucky, 1977
Molecular basis of interaction between the predacious bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and its prey cells.

James J. Watrous, Professor, Graduate Biology Director
Ph.D. Georgetown University, 1972
Computer modeling of biological systems and chaotic interactions.