Faculty members in the Department of Biology are active in securing grant and contract funds to support their research activities, as well as to enhance the department’s teaching capabilities. Current or recent grants have been obtained from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. National Park Service, and the American Heart Association, as well as from various state and local organizations.
This is a list of research active faculty that mentor students desiring to pursue research. Please refer to the Faculty/Staff tab for more details.
Ginny Adams – Professor, Ph.D., Fish ecology, streams, caves.
Reid Adams – Professor, Ph.D., River ecology, fish biology
Opeyemi Adedoja, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Plant-insect interaction
Mark Bland – Associate Professor, Ph.D., Evolution education
Ben Cash – Professor, Ph.D. Physiological and behavioral ecology of reptiles, birds, and bees.
David Dussourd – Professor, Ph.D., Insect-plant interactions.
Mindy Farris -Associate Professor, Ph.D., Nutrient, environmental, & hormonal impacts on aging & neurodegeneration using C. elegans.
Matt Gifford – Associate Professor, Ph.D. Amphibians and reptiles, energetics, physiological performance, natural selection, population ecology.
Hal Halvorson – Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Aquatic ecology.
Tammy Haselkorn – Associate Professor, Ph.D., Characterizing the diversity of bacterial symbionts and the ways they affect their hosts’ ecology and evolution.
Brent Hill – Professor, Ph.D., Female sex hormones impact on cardiovascular and skeletal function.
M. Victoria McDonald – Associate Professor, Ph.D., Behavioral and evolutionary ecology of birds and mammals.
Arijit Mukherjee -Associate Professor, Ph.D., Plant genetics and molecular biology.
Kari Naylor -Associate Professor, Ph.D., Mitochondrial dynamics.
Richard Noyes -Associate Professor, Ph.D., Plant genetics and evolution.
Jeffrey Padberg – Professor, Ph.D., Comparative neurobiology.
Amita Puri – Associate Professor, Ph.D., Visual perception and cognition; Attention and cognitive control; Perception in populations with atypical neurodevelopment; Multisensory integration.
Ben Rowley -Associate Professor, Ph.D., Epidemiology – viruses.
Steve Runge – Professor, Ph.D., Cancer biology.
Benjamin Waggoner – Assistant Professor Ph.D., Invertebrate paleontology and macroevolution.
Laurie Warren – Senior Lecturer, Ph.D., Aquatic toxicology, invertebrates.
Erin Wiley – Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Carbon utilization by trees.
Mick Yoder – Assistant Professor, Ph.D., influence of cell-cell adhesion on tissue morphogenesis during embryonic development.