Kemuel Badger
Department Chair
General:
- Plant ecology and conservation biology
Specific:
- Applications of GIS technology to conservation biology
- Examination of factors controlling the distribution of rare and endangered plant species
- Reproductive biology of rare plants
- Assessment of the roles of competition, environmental stress, disturbance, and seed banks in determining the species composition and abundance in plant communities
Melody Bernot
General:
- Biogeochemistry
- Microbial Ecology
- Aquatic Ecology
- Ecosystem Ecology
Specific:
- Nutrient cycling in streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs
- Climate change and greenhouse gas emissions
- Factors controlling rates of microbial activity, especially nitrification and denitrification
- Land-use influence on water quality
- Interactions between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
- Influence of organisms on nutrient cycling
Randy Bernot
General:
- Community ecology
- Ecotoxicology
- Disease ecology
Specific:
- Parasite impacts on ecosystems
- Ecotoxicology of man-made chemicals on aquatic organisms, communities, and ecosystems
- Chemical cue effects on animals
- Invertebrate diversity
Ann Blakey
General:
- Plant genetics
- Genome analysis
Specific:
- Elucidation of the genetics, evolution, reproduction, and patterns and mechanisms of development of Tripsacum, a distant relative of Zea mays ssp. mays (modern maize), utilizing maize as a model system
- Utilization of Tripsacum as a genetic resource for maize disease resistance genes and an alternative food source
- Current techniques used include those of molecular biology/genetics (RFLP, RAPD/PCR, DAMD/PCR) and classical genetics, and comparative genome analyses
Heather Bruns
General:
- T and B lymphocyte contribution to allergic disease
Specific:
- Examine alterations in cellular functions and gene expression in lymphocytes using lymphocyte cell lines expressing mutant proteins known to contribute to allergic disease. Alterations in cellular function will be assessed by examining cell survival cytokine secretion, and rates of cellular proliferation.
Timothy Carter
General:
- Mammalogy
- Wildlife ecology and management
Specific:
- Conservation of rare and endangered species
- Wildlife responses to forest management practices
- Ecology of bats in managed forest landscapes
- Indiana bat conservation
Clare Chatot
Pre-health professional adviser
2003 Outstanding Faculty Service Award
General:
- Developmental biology and teratology
Specific:
- Development of preimplantation mouse embryos. Analysis of their energy substrate requirements both in vivo and in vitro and analysis of the enzymes utilized in these metabolic pathways at both the biochemical and molecular levels.
- Effects of anticonvulsant drugs on early mouse embryo development both in vivo and in vitro.
- Regulation of the cell cycle in preimplantation mouse embryos.
J. M. Shireen Desouza
General:
Specific:
- Equity issues in science teaching
- Reflective practice
- Conceptual change
- Science teachers' beliefs and attitudes
- Preschool students' learning behaviors (qualitative research)
- Science teachers' science teaching efficacy beliefs
Gary Dodson
General:
Specific:
- Behavioral ecology of insects, spiders, and other animals; especially mating system theory, animal contest resolution, and the effects of sexual selection
- Conservation biology and the use of invertebrates in environmental monitoring
- Evolutionary ecology of insect-induced plant galls
Robert Hammersmith
General:
- Genetics
- Cellular development
Specific:
- Mechanisms of surface patterning in ciliated protozoa (Oxtricha fallax) and the role of preformed structure in non-nuclear inheritance
- Genetics of protozoa
Kamal Islam
General:
- Ornithology
- Wildlife biology and management
- Taxonomy
Specific:
- Conservation of rare and endangered species
- Comparative field-based studies that investigate the evolution of mating systems, particularly sexually-selected traits such as courtship displays and vocalizations
- Gamebird biology and management
- Demographic studies
- Landscape ecology (habitat fragmentation)
- Habitat selection
- Effects of cowbird parasitism on neotropical migrant songbirds
Susan Johnson
Associate Dean, College of Science and Humanities
General:
- Science education
- Biology education
Specific:
- Development and implementation of in-service models for enhancing the teaching of science in grades K-12, with special interest in elementary grades and systemic reform
- The development of PDS (Professional Development School) sites for simultaneous renewal of public schools and university teacher education programs
- Performance assessment of science knowledge and skills
Thomas Lauer
2003 Outstanding Junior Faculty Award
General:
- Aquatic ecology
- Limnology
- Fisheries
- Exotic species
- The Great Lakes
Specific:
- Yellow perch management
- Competitive interaction among sessile invertebrates with emphasis on the zebra mussel
- Sponges and bryozoans
- Community fisheries of the Wabash River
- Warm-water pond and lake management
David LeBlanc
General:
- The relationships between natural and man-made environmental stresses and tree growth, mortality, and forest structure and composition
Specific:
- Evaluating the impacts of air pollution, climate stresses, global warming, competition, and soil fertility on tree growth and mortality
- Primary research techniques involve analysis of tree-rings and long-term monitoring of tree and forest conditions
Susan McDowell
General:
Specific:
- The role of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) isoforms in human cardio-pulmonary health and disease progression
- Using site-directed mutagenesis to create dominant-negative PI3K mutant isoforms and adenoviral expression
- The functions of specific isoforms in coronary artery endothelial cells and cardiac myocytes
John L. McKillip
General:
Specific:
- Development of DNA- and RNA-based methods for pathogen detection in foods
- Conventional, multiplex, and real-time PCR approaches to detect Bacillus spp. in dairy products and other foods
- DNA fingerprinting (rep-PCR), SYBR Green-based melt curve analyses, fluorescent molecular beacons, and real-time RNA amplification (NASBA - nucleic acid sequence-based amplification) to monitor enterotoxin gene expression in Bacillus cereus in contaminated foods
James Mitchell
General:
Specific:
- Biology and efficacy of microbial pesticides (bioherbicides) of weeds
- Optimizing yields of industrial fermentations utilizing response surface methodology
- Biological control of plant pathogens
- Integrated pest management (IPM) of fruit, vegetable, and ornamental diseases
- Biology of mycorrihizal fungi
Melissa Mitchell
General:
- Elementary and secondary science education
- Integrated curricular materials for science and mathematics
- Teaching the nature of science
Specific:
- Attitude change models and cognitive response approaches to predict, explain, and influence science-related classroom-based behavior
James Olesen
General:
- Molecular and cell biology
Specific:
- The effects of ectopic expression of genes on cell populations
- Retroviral gene transfer
- Mechanisms of cell cycle progression
- Mechanisms of apoptosis
- Mechanisms of cancer progression
- Chromosome/chromatin structure
- Electron microscopy
Mark Pyron
General:
Specific:
- Ecology of aquatic communities
- Population ecology of aquatic species
- Behavioral ecology (sexual selection)
- Conservation of aquatic resources
William D. Rogers
General:
Specific:
- Effective strategies for teaching nonmajors in biology
- The role of natural science courses in general education programs
- Factors that affect student attitude toward science
- The biological connection to teaching and learning
- Curriculum development
Donald Ruch
General:
- Cytological and molecular taxonomy of the fungal family Pilobolaceae (Zygomycota)
Specific:
- Comparative ultrastructural and cytochemical analysis of spores and sporangia
- Population and phylogentic investigation of the Pilobolaceae using AFLP
- rDNA sequencing to elucidate taxonomy within the Pilobolaceae with the intent of assisting the production of a monograph for the family
Carolyn Vann
Biotechnology Program Director
- Determination of the function of a recently discovered cell organelle, the vault, which is a large hollow structure of 3 protein and 3 RNA species in human cells. Approaches being applied are interfering RNA to decrease gene expression of specific components, determining interactions with other molecules in the cell, and bioinformatics.
- Examination of the role of the vault in multi-drug resistant cancer. We have been using interfering RNA to down regulate genes in the apoptotic pathway which are being over-expressed in an effort to restore drug sensitivity to the cancer cells.
- Construction of mutant pancreatic b-cell receptors to identify functional domains for a collaborative study on diabetes with Eli Lilly. The ultimate aim of the research is to contribute to the development of new drugs to enhance insulin secretion for diabetics.