Integrating Research and Education: Biocomplexity Investigators Explore the Possibilities: Summary of a Workshop (2003)

Chair Louis J. Gross is professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and mathematics and director of the Institute for Environmental Modeling at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research is in computational ecology. He has led the development of a framework to model the biotic impacts of alternative water planning for the Everglades of Florida and has co-directed courses in mathematical ecology and in quantitative skills for biology students. He is the president-elect of the Society for Mathematical Biology and chair of the Theoretical Ecology Section of the Ecological Society of America. He served as a member of the Panel on Mathematics and Computer Science for the recently released National Research Council report Bio2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists. He has received several National Science Foundation grants for undergraduate education and has been active in promoting quantitative training for undergraduate life science students. He designed a year-long course for biology majors to take instead of the traditional calculus course; it shows how mathematical and analytic tools may be used to explore biologic phenomena. He received a BS from Drexel University and a PhD in applied mathematics from Cornell University.

Carol Brewer is an associate professor in the Division of Biological Sciences, an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, and director of undergraduate studies in biology at the

University of Montana. Her research interests include plant physiologic ecology and functional plant morphology, conservation biology of austral ecosystems, and ecology education. She serves on the Governing Board and is vice president for education of the Ecological Society of America, and she is on the American Biology Teacher Journal Advisory Committee. She received a Fulbright Senior Research Award to Argentina. She has been awarded numerous grants by the National Science Foundation and directs the Howard Hughes Medical Institute program at the University of Montana. Dr. Brewer is a member of the National Research Council Committee on Science Education, K-12. She received a PhD in botany from the University of Wyoming.

Diane Ebert-May is a professor in the Department of Plant Biology and director of Assessment in Science Education in the College of Natural Science at Michigan State University. She has served on the Education and Human Resources Committee for the Ecological Society of America, as a member of the National Research Council Committee on Evaluating Undergraduate Teaching, as a member of the Board of Directors, National Association of Research in Science Teaching, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her research group is developing and testing a Web-based concept-mapping tool that enables students in large (and small) science courses to visualize their thinking online as well as to receive immediate feedback. In addition, she is funded by the National Science Foundation to develop a national dissemination network for science-faculty professional development in teaching through biologic field stations and marine laboratories (FIRST II, Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching). Her research continues on Niwot Ridge, Colorado, where she has conducted long-term research on alpine tundra plant communities since 1971. She received her BS in botany from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and her MA and PhD in environmental, population, and organismal biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

David Mogk is a professor of geology at Montana State University (MSU), Bozeman, Montana. He is currently the collections coordinator for the Digital Library for Earth System Education, a facility that is aggregating and distributing high-quality educational resources to enhance learning about the earth. He served on the interim Coordinating Committee of the National Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education Digital Library and was coeditor of Pathways to Progress: Vision and Plans for Developing the NSDL. He has served as program director in the

Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation and is past chair of the Education Committee and Education Division of the Geological Society of America. At MSU, he has been the recipient of the Burlington Northern Award for Excellence in Teaching and the College of Letters and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award. He is also the recipient of the American Geophysical Union Excellence in Geophysical Education Award (2000). His research interests include the evolution of ancient (over 2.5-billion-year-old) continental crust and attendant petrologic processes and spectroscopy of mineral surfaces and the search for life in extreme environments (from Yellowstone hot springs to Lake Vostok ice core); he is co-principal investigator in the Image and Chemical Analysis Laboratory at MSU. He received a BS from the University of Michigan and an MS and a PhD from the University of Washington.

Joan B. Rose is an international expert in water-pollution microbiology and the Homer Nowlin Chair of Water in Agricultural and Natural Resources Systems at Michigan State University. She was previously at the College of Marine Sciences of the University of South Florida. At the National Research Council, she is the vice chair of the Water Science and Technology Board, a member of the Board on Life Sciences, a member of the Committee on Climate, Ecosystems, Infectious Diseases, and Human Health, and a member of the Committee on Indicators for Waterborne Pathogens. Previous National Research Council service includes membership on the Committee on Wastewater Management for Coastal Urban Areas, the Committee on Drinking Water Contaminants, and the Committee on the Evaluation of the Viability of Augmenting Potable Water Supplies with Reclaimed Water. She is author or coauthor of more than 140 manuscripts in environmental microbiology and recently published a book on risk assessment of microorganisms. Dr. Rose was named one of the 21 most influential people in water in the 21st century by Water Technology in 2000 and was awarded the 2001 Clarke Water Prize. She received a BS in microbiology from the University of Arizona, an MS in microbiology from the University of Wyoming, and a PhD in microbiology from the University of Arizona.

Elizabeth Carvellas is department co-chair and teacher of biology at Essex High School in Essex Junction, Vermont. Her professional interests include interdisciplinary learning, the new National Science Education

Standards, and professional development of teachers. She has led several field studies in biology and art in Andros Island, the Bahamas, and Belize. She designed a course that integrates marine biology, botany, art, photography, and journal writing during eight evening sessions; a pool session to practice snorkeling; and a culminating eight-day field study on Andros Island. Students stay at the Forfar Field Station, run by International Field Studies of Columbus, Ohio. While on the island, each student completes a series of art and biology projects related to the unique aspects of the coralreef ecosystem and the botany of the region. On returning, students share their work with parents and community members at an evening presentation.

Angelo Collins is executive director of the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation. The mission of the foundation is to enhance the quantity of high-quality high-school science teaching. She began her career as a high-school science teacher and received the National Association of Biology Teachers Outstanding Teacher Award. She has had the opportunity to serve as the director of the Teacher Assessment Project at Stanford University, which provided research to inform the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. She was the director of the project that produced the National Science Education Standards. She also was the principal investigator for ScienceFEAT (Science for Early Adolescence Teachers), an award-winning program to enhance the science knowledge and pedagogic skills of middle-grades science teachers. Most recently, she has worked with the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium on developing standards and performance-based assessments for beginning science teachers. Her research interests lie at the intersection of science teaching, alternative assessment, and policy. She received her PhD from the University of Wisconsin.

Monica Elser is education liaison for the Center for Environmental Studies at Arizona State University. She developed the Ecology Explorer Web site for the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long Term Ecological Research projects work with K-12 students. She has organized and developed pedagogy seminars for graduate/K-12 fellows and internships and workshops for teachers. She has helped to develop a program to retain minority-group students in the biologic sciences at the University of California, Davis. She has done poster and workshop presentations at various professional meetings, including the Ecological Society of America, the National Science Teacher Association, and the Arizona Association for Environmental Education. She received her BS from the University of Notre Dame, her MS in

ecology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and her MEd in curriculum and instruction from Arizona State University

John W. Farrington is associate director for education and dean of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). He has primary responsibility for all the institution’s education programs, especially the joint program with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in oceanography and applied ocean sciences and engineering. He has oversight responsibility for WHOI participation in the Marine Biological Laboratory-WHOI Library in Woods Hole. His scholarly interests include marine organic geochemistry, biogeochemistry of organic pollutants, biochemistry of marine organisms, environmental quality, and education. He is a trustee of the Bermuda Biological Station for Research and a member of the Board of Trustees of the New Bedford Oceanarium. He has served on committees and panels for international, national, and local organizations including the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization-Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the National Research Council, the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Energy, and the Lloyd Center for Environmental Studies. He has participated in four major field programs and eighteen oceanographic cruises, eight as chief scientist. He has been honored by the Massachusetts Marine Educators Association, the University of Rhode Island Alumni Association, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the New England Aquarium. He received a BS and an MS in chemistry from Southeastern Massachusetts University (now University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth) and a PhD in oceanography from the University of Rhode Island.

John Jungck is Mead Chair of the Sciences and professor of biology at Beloit College. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Professor Jungck is principal investigator and cofounder of the BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium. Over the last 16 years, he and his colleagues at other institutions have been leading the effort to build the BioQUEST Library, a collection of computer-based tools, simulations, databases, and textual materials that support collaborative, open-ended investigations in biology. The modules are developed on campuses around the country; each simulates or models a different biologic system and allows students to analyze massive amounts of data and visualize the relationships among variables. Each module must involve students actively in learning, go through an intensive peer-review process, and be proved effective in the classroom. His research is in mathematical molecular evolution and com

putational biology (bioinformatics) and their application to teaching and learning biology.

Kim Kastens is an adjunct professor and codirector of the Earth and Environmental Science Journalism Program at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. As an educator, she is interested primarily in science education for nonscientists. She co-founded the Earth and Environmental Science Journalism program, and she has written educational software to help precollege students learn to read maps and to interpret data from environmental sensors.

Felicia Keesing is assistant professor of biology at Bard College. A community ecologist, she studies the consequences of interactions among species, including how savanna communities in Kenya respond to the removal of large herbivores, such as elephants and zebras. In the United States, she studies how interactions among vertebrate species and their habitats influence Lyme disease risk for humans. She also conducts educational research on how students learn about the nature of knowledge. Her work has been published in a variety of journals, including Ecology, Conservation Bi ology, BioScience, Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, and Trends in Ecology and Evolution. In 2000, she was awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). She received her PhD in 1997 from the University of California, Berkeley.

Herbert Levitan is a section head and program director for the Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement Program and the Director’s Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars at the National Science Foundation. He was a faculty member in the Zoology Department of the University of Maryland, College Park, for more than 20 years and was the senior staff associate at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in neurophysiology, electrophysiology, pharmacology, and cell biology. He was a Fulbright fellow in Yugoslavia. He received his PhD in electrical engineering from Cornell University and did postdoctoral research in neurobiology at the Brain Research Institute of the University of California, Los Angeles, the Centre d’Etude de Physiologie Nerveuse in Paris, France, and the National Institute of Mental Health.

Cathryn A. Manduca is director of the Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College. The center is engaged in several projects that support effective science education nationwide, including development of an on-line community center for the Digital Library for Earth System Education, professional development workshops and on-line resources for geo

science faculty, and an interdisciplinary effort by the National STEM Education Digital Library to understand how faculty engage students with data in their courses. Until June 2001, she was coordinator of the Keck Geology Consortium undergraduate research program, which sponsors up to eight collaborative research projects each year involving students around the country. She serves on the American Geophysical Union Committee for Education and Human Resources and as second vice president of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. She is coauthor of three reports aimed at mobilizing in the geoscience and digital-library communities: Shaping the Future of Undergraduate Earth Science Education, The Digital Library for Earth System Education—A Community Plan, and Pathways to Progress—Vision and Plans for the National STEM Digital Library.

M. Patricia Morse is a marine biologist and science educator at the University of Washington (UW). For 34 years, she was professor of biology at Northeastern University. The last 4 of those years were spent as a program director at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the Division of Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Education as a specialist in biology and environmental science in instructional-materials development. Her work in functional morphology involves microscopic analysis (transmis-sion and scanning electron and confocal microscopy) of the bivalve heart-kidney system and molluscan meiofaunal ecology and systematics studies. She serves as project director for the Independent College Office on an NSF K-12 partnership project and chairs the National Research Council Committee on Attracting Science and Mathematics Ph.D.s to K-12 Educa tion. She also serves on the advisory group for the UW Sustaining Seattle Teachers Initiative. Dr. Morse is a past president of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, and of the American Society of Zoologists (now the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology) and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a member of the Board of Trustees at Bates College, serves on the editorial boards of Acta Zoologica and American Zoologist, is vice-chair of the International Union of Biological Sciences Commission for Biological Education, and chairs the Education Committee of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. Dr. Morse received a BS from Bates College and an MS and a PhD from the University of New Hampshire.

Susan Singer is a professor of biology and Humphrey Doerman Professor of Liberal Learning and the director of Carleton College’s Center for Learning and Teaching. She has taught introductory biology, plant biology, plant development, and developmental genetics for the last 15 years. Her

research focuses on the development and evolution of flowering in plants. She has written numerous scientific publications on plant development, edited a plant-development laboratory manual, and written for college textbooks. She is past chair of the American Society of Plant Biologists Education Committee and a current member of the Education Committee of the Society for Developmental Biology. As a program officer in developmental mechanisms in the Biology Directorate of the National Science Foundation, she was involved in the development of a new funding initiative in the evolution of development and served as the directorate representative to the National STEM Digital Library Initiative. She received a BS and a PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Cary Sneider is vice president for programs at the Museum of Science in Boston. Before assuming that position, he was the director of astronomy and physics education at the Lawrence Hall of Science, directing state and federal grants, developing new instructional materials, and designing and presenting a wide variety of professional-development experiences for teachers. He has conducted research on how to help students to unravel their misconceptions in science and explored new ways to link science centers and schools to promote student inquiry. He served on the National Research Council’s Working Group on Science Content Standards for the National Science Education Standards and in 1997 was awarded the National Science Teachers Association’s Citation for Distinguished Informal Science Education. He has been a member of the Creation of Study Environments (COSE) K-12 since 1999.

Benjamin van der Pluijm is professor of geological sciences and director of the interdisciplinary Global Change Program at the University of Michigan. His research interests, structure and tectonics, focus on the deformation of earth materials on all scales, in which he has published over 100 refereed articles. He has also published a textbook and edited several volumes in the field. He is editor of GEOLOGY, the leading journal for innovative and provocative contributions in the earth sciences, and serves on several editorial boards. In recent years, his teaching has concentrated on the integration of natural science and social science principles for incoming undergraduates using global environmental change as the central issue. The classes also make extensive use of evaluation instruments and student feedback mechanisms in support of effective learning.