Notable Accomplishments

Summer 2009

• Once again, the summer in the BIology department is a lively place, with student researchers working in 8 different labs.

 

Academic year 2008-09

• Dr. Adam Kay, Dr. Dalma Martinovic, and Dr. Kyle Zimmer were all successful in obtaining grants to enhance their research.
• Eight students within the department were awarded with UST Young Scholar's grants.
• Faculty/student collaborations produced 8 articles in peer-reviewed journals.
• Three UST students presented papers at undergraduate research meetings and an additional 12 students presented at Inquiry at UST.
• A total of 14 presentations were made by faculty and faculty/student collaborators at international, national, and regional conferences.
• Biology department faculty published 14 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 2 book chapters.

 

Summer 2008

This summer, 40 research students are working in 9 different labs and being mentored by both faculty and staff.

Academic year 2007-08

• Two students, Maria Hindt and Katherine Theisen, received prestigious Goldwater Scholarships.
• Dr. Amy Verhoeven, Doreen Schroeder, and Dr. Susan Chaplin completed their first year of a three-year NSF grant to improve technology in teaching labs by implementing digital microscopes and gas exchange systems.  These systems will be used in Diversity and Adaptation (BIOL 201) and Plant Biology (BIOL 315).
• Dr. Simon Emms, Dr. Amy Verhoeven, and Dr. Susan Mazer at the University of California Santa Barbara began a five-year, NSF funded project to study the joint evolution of mating systems, life-history strategies, and drought physiology in the Californian genus Clarkia.  You can see the fruits of their labors in the greenhouse.
• Biology department faculty and faculty/student collaborations produced four articles in peer-reviewed journals and one book chapter.

His 1859 book, On the Origin of Species, established evolution by common descent as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature. During the 1940s and 1950s, McClintock discovered transposition and used it to show how genes are responsible for turning physical characteristics on or off. His experiments confirmed the germ theory of disease, and he created the first vaccine for rabies. Fosseys book Gorillas in the Mist was praised by Nikolaas Tinbergen who was a Dutch ethologist and ornithologist who won the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Her book remains the best selling book about gorillas of all time. During his lifetime van Leeuwenhoek ground over 500 optical lenses. He also created over 400 different types of microscopes, only nine of which still exist today. Maria, a Goldwater Scholarship winner, is working in Dr. Jennifer Cruise's lab on rap1, a tumor suppressor gene. Katherine, a Goldwater Scholarship winner, is working in Dr. Adam Kay's lab on how the nutrient phosphorus affects life history characteristics of freshwater snails. Ann is a May 2008 graduate and was very active in the Pre-Health Professions Club & peer advising. Beth has conducted research in Dr. Jayna Ditty's lab since her first year at UST. Luke is a May 2008 graduate; among other things he did research in the Immunology Lab.

Kyle Zimmer's research students