Our new faculty are at the forefront of life science research:

 

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

• Noa Pinter-Wollman, PhD studies animal societies to see how variation in individual behavior affects collective group behavior
• Felipe Zapata, PhD studies plants to determine the origin, evolution and maintenance of plant biodiversity.

Integrative Biology and Physiology

• Ketema Paul, PhD conducts neuroscience research to understand sleep disorders: how specific genes, molecules, and hormones impact sleep and wakefulness.
• Gina Poe, PhD conducts research on how sleep affects memory and learning. Findings from her research are aimed at helping patients with PTSD, schizophrenia and depression. Poe is also co-director of the undergraduate program, Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC).
• Roy Wollman, PhD studies how cells process information: How do cells process information in response to a changing environment? How do cells around a wound respond to the wound? What biological principles govern how a cell can respond?

Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics

• Megan McEvoy, PhD studies bacterial systems, to learn how they regulate metal ions, with a goal of providing new strategies for broad-spectrum anti-microbial treatments. McEvoy is also the new faculty director of the undergraduate program, Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC).
• Oliver Fregoso, PhD is doing research on HIV, to identify viral-host interactions necessary for pathogenesis and adaptation to new hosts

Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology

• Jesse Zamudio, PhD is characterizing functional RNAs that are responsible for changes in cell state, that occur during development or when they turn cancerous.

Psychology

• Avishek Adhikari, PhD conducts research to learn how neural circuits in the brain can control specific symptoms of high anxiety,  such as avoidance of risk,  and increases in heart rate­– also,  how specific brain activity controls anxiety
• Roselinde Kaiser, PhD is a clinical scientist who uses behavioral,  developmental,  and neuroscientific methods to understand major depression and related affective disorders.
• Katherine Karlsgodt, PhD combines clinical research,  neuroscience,  and cognition to determine the neural basis of cognitive changes in neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia.