Biology

Program | Courses

The Biology Graduate Program is currently inactive, and has been replaced by four interdepartmental programs: Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Neuroscience and Behavior, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Plant Biology. For graduate study in the Biology Department, applicants should contact one of those four programs. In rare instances, a student who cannot fit elsewhere might be considered for admission into “Biology.” Questions should be addressed to the Biology Department.

Graduate Faculty

R. Thomas Zoeller, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biology, B.S., Indiana, 1977; M.A., Oregon State, 1979; Ph.D., 1983.

Dennis G. Searcy, Professor and Graduate Program Director, B.S., Oregon State, 1964; Ph.D., California at Los Angeles, 1968.

Peter Alpert, Associate Professor, B.A., Oxford, England, 1974; M.A., Harvard, 1977; Ph.D., 1982.

Tobias I. Baskin, Professor, B.S., Yale, 1980; Ph.D., Stanford, 1986.

Magdelena Bezanilla, Assistant Professor, B.S., California at Santa Barbara, 1994; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, 2000.

Eric L. Bittman, Professor, B.A., Pennsylvania, 1973; M.S., California at Berkeley, 1978; Ph.D., 1978.

Steven D. Brewer, Assistant Professor, B.S., Alma College, 1985; M.S., Western Michigan, 1996; Ph.D., 1996.

Bruce Byers, Associate Professor, B.S., Massachusetts at Amherst, 1987; Ph.D., 1993.

Ana L. Caicedo, Assistant Professor, B.Sc., Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia, 1996; Ph.D., Washington at St. Louis, 2003.

Elizabeth A. Connor, Associate Professor, B.S., St. Lawrence, 1977; Ph.D., Vermont, 1982.

Margery Coombs, Professor, A.B., Oberlin College, 1967; M.A., Columbia, 1968; Ph.D., 1973.

Gerald Downes, Assistant Professor, B.S., Johnson C. Smith University, 1992; Ph.D., Washington at St. Louis, 1999.

Elizabeth Dumont, Associate Professor, B.A., Indiana, 1985; M.A., New York at Stony Brook, 1989; Ph.D., 1993.

Samuel P. Hazen, Assistant Professor, B.S., Arizona, 1994; M.S., Michigan State, 1996; Ph.D., 2000.

Duncan J. Irschick, Associate Professor, B.S., California at Davis, 1991; Ph.D., Washington at St. Louis, 1997.

Abigail M. Jensen, Associate Professor, B.A., California at San Diego, 1988; Ph.D., Wisconsin at Madison, 1992.

Rolf O. Karlstrom, Associate Professor, B.S., Northern Arizona, 1985; Ph.D., Utah, 1993.

Joesph G. Kunkel, Professor, A.B., Columbia, 1964; Ph.D., Case Western Reserve, 1968.

Wei-Lih Lee, Assistant Professor, B.S., Iowa, 1994; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, 2000.

John R. Nambu, Associate Professor, B.A., California at Santa Cruz, 1982; Ph.D., Stanford, 1987.

Sheila Patek, Assistant Professor, A.B., Harvard, 1994; Ph.D., Duke, 2001.

Sandra L. Petersen, Professor and Associate Dean of the Graduate School, B.A., Rutgers, 1977; M.S., Oregon State, 1980; Ph.D., 1984.

Randall W. Phillis, Associate Professor, B.A., Miami (Ohio), 1981; Ph.D., Indiana, 1986.

Jeffrey Podos, Associate Professor, B.A., Franklin and Marshall, 1989; Ph.D., Duke, 1996.

Alan M. Richmond, Lecturer and Curator of Herpetology, B.S., Massachusetts at Amherst, 1987; M.S., 1990, 1995; Ph.D., 1999.

Margaret Riley, Professor, B.S., Michigan State, 1981; M.S., Massachusetts at Amherst, 1983; Ph.D., Harvard, 1989.

Lawrence M. Schwartz, Professor and Science Director, Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute, B.A., Northwestern, 1976; Ph.D., Washington, 1982.

Karen B. Searcy, Lecturer and Curator of the Herbarium, B.A., California at Los Angeles, 1966; M.A., 1968; Ph.D., Massachusetts at Amherst, 1984.

Patricia Wadsworth, Professor, B.S., St. Lawrence, 1977; Ph.D., Dartmouth, 1983.

Elsbeth Walker, Associate Professor and Director, Plant Biology Graduate Program, A.B., Mount Holyoke, 1984; Ph.D., Rockefeller University, 1990.

James W. Walker, Professor, B.A., Texas, 1964; Ph.D., Harvard, 1970.

Adjunct/Associate Faculty

Cristina Cox Fernandes, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biology.