Category: Biology

Cholani Weebadde is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences at Michigan State University (MSU). She received her Ph.D. degree with a dual major in the Genetics and the Plant Breeding and Genetics programs of Michigan State University in 2005. As the Plant Breeder for International Programs, Dr. Weebadde interacts closely with MSU breeders to help expand their programs by reaching out to the global plant breeding community through initiating collaborative research and capacity building programs. Dr. Weebadde is currently on a 100% teaching appointment and teaches plant breeding and biotechnology courses. She also teaches Biology to non-biology majors through the Center for Integrative Studies in General Sciences (CISGS). During summer, she continues mentoring graduate and undergraduate students in strawberry breeding research with a focus…

Shahnaz Masani is an assistant professor at Lyman Briggs College & the Department of Physiology.  Her mission as educator is not only to teach, but also to inspire; to create life-long learners and informed, thoughtful citizens. She strives to design an inclusive, engaging & challenging classroom. She uses a flipped approach to teaching, with an aim to help students identify and link core concepts and develop their science process skills by constructing and testing hypothesis, analyzing data, and constructing scientific arguments in lab and lecture. Her research focuses on identifying novel pedagogical approaches in biology education, with an emphasis on interventions focused on increasing inclusivity & equity in the classroom.

Jinjie Liu is an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University who focuses on education and research. She teaches cell and molecular biology courses at Biological Sciences Program and established a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) curriculum for the Cell and Molecular Biology laboratory course, providing students with more inclusive research experiences and aiming to inspire them for a STEM career. She assesses students’ learning outcomes and scaffolds their learning process as part of her education research focus. Her science research interest is in lipid metabolic engineering and lipid-mediated signaling pathways.

I’m an evolutionary geneticist in the Plant Biology department at Michigan State University. My lab studies how evolution shapes trait variation within plant species. I’ve been working at MSU since 2019. Before coming here, I was a postdoc at the University of California, Davis, and a PhD student at the University of Toronto. I’m originally from southern California but I kind of like winter. In addition to being a professor, I’m mom to one kiddo (born in 2021), and a mediocre triathlete.

Corey Higley is an Assistant Professor with the Biological Sciences Program at Michigan State University. She is an aquatic ecologist with a background in higher education scholarship and undergraduate learning pedagogy. Corey earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and her MS and PhD from Michigan State. Her dissertation research focused on assessing pedagogical approaches that influence student attitudes about the environment as an outcome of learning in environmental and natural resources courses. Corey teaches introductory organismal biology lab and lecture courses, as well as various field courses and study abroad!

My name is Jonathan Hardy and I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University. I teach a 300-level course in Microbiology with about 480 students per semester. The course is team-taught with another professor and is a flipped course, with all lectures in the form of 10 to 20-minute videos. We use the online Desire to Learn (D2L) program to provide the lectures and for formative assessments. The course includes one 80-minute in-person section for the students each week, where they are broken into groups of four for active learning. The groups are carefully assigned using CATME to match the students and form productive groups. I greatly enjoy teaching this class, although it is a lot of work. The sections are…

Neal Hammer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Michigan. The Hammer laboratory studies Staphylococcus aureus pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance from a metabolic perspective. Dr. Hammer’s teaching appointment began in 2017 and focused on Introductory Microbiology, an upper level science course with an enrollment that exceeds 400. The format of the course was initially a didactic lecture, but active learning was impeded by poor attendance. To enhance student learning by increasing active participation, in 2018, the course was ‘flipped’ to a hybrid online, in-person format. Since then Dr. Hammer and his colleagues have been fine-tuning the format and content. His major goal is to help students appreciate the importance…

I am an Assistant Professor in Lyman Briggs College and the Department of Physiology at Michigan State University. I earned my Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania and was previously a Teaching Professor at the University of Washington where I won the university-wide Distinguished Teaching Award. I use evidence-based teaching strategies in all of my teaching and have taught in a variety of courses and settings, including introductory and advanced science courses for majors and pre-service teachers, methods courses, individual student research projects, and professional development for K-16 teachers and mentored co-teaching with grad students and postdocs. I use a mechanistic approach to biology and my exams are at higher Bloom’s levels where students’ must synthesize information and solve novel problems. I am a biology education researcher and…

Phillip Delekta is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University. He is also the Course Director of MMG 301 Introductory Microbiology and MMG 494L Summer Undergraduate Research Institute in Genomics. Phillip earned his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Michigan. During his postdoctoral studies in virology at the University of Michigan, he completed the Postdoctoral Short-Course on College Teaching in Science and Engineering by the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at UM and gained his first lead instructor experience teaching part time at Eastern Michigan University. During a second postdoctoral fellowship in bacteriology at MSU, he received certification with distinction for completion of An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching by the Center for the Integration…

Beth Brisco-McCann is an instructor in the Department of Plant Biology at Michigan State University. She completed her Bachelors in Plant Biology at the University of British Columbia, her Masters degree in Biotechnology from the University of Toronto, and her Doctorate in Plant Breeding and Genetics from MSU. She currently teaches PLB105 (Introductory Plant Biology) and ISB202 (Applications of Environmental and Organismal Biology). In these large lecture courses, Beth employs multiple active learning methods to engage students with the material, including iClicker questions and group activities. She has taught both online and in-person formats and is always seeking ways to improve the educational experience of her students. Her ultimate goal is to impart the importance of science in her students’ lives and wonder of the world around them.