Biology faculty members are committed to excellence in teaching and research, engaging students in coursework and creative inquiries by promoting the free and friendly interchange of ideas.
Current Faculty
Seán P. O'Connell, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Department Head; microbial ecology, diversity of bacteria and archaea in soils and waters, zymurgyThomas H. Martin, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Assistant Department Head; population and community ecology of aquatic organisms, with particular emphasis on the life history and population dynamics of littoral predators and their prey, and on stream fish movement and habitat fragmentation
Greg Adkison, Ph.D., Instructor; human biology, environmental biology
Indrani Bose, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; molecular biology of Cryptoccucus neoformans virulence
Kefyn M. Catley, Ph.D., Professor, Science Education Coordinator, Director Western Regional Science Fair; systematics and biology of spiders
Chris Coburn, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; control of gene expression
Beverly Collins, Ph.D., Associate Professor; plant community ecology
James T. Costa, Ph.D., Professor; Director, Highlands Biological Station; evolutionary genetics and behavior of social insects, especially social Lepidoptera and Symphyta
Laura E. DeWald, Ph.D., Associate Professor; ecological genetics, restoration ecology, conservation biology
Weaver Haney, M.S., Lecturer; microbiology
Sonja Himes, M.S., Lecturer; anatomy and physiology, environmental biology
Jeremy Hyman, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; evolution, behavioral ecology, ornithology
Karen Kandl, Ph.D., Lecturer; anatomy and physiology, ecology
Joe Bill Mathews, DVM, Lecturer; anatomy and physiology, animal physiology
Kathy Gould Mathews, Ph.D., Associate Professor; H. F. and Katherine P. Robinson Professor of Biology; plant systematics
Ron C. Michaelis, Ph.D., Instructor; biochemistry, human genetics, general biology
Jessica L. Moore, Ph.D., Associate Professor; genetics, cancer biology
Joseph Pechmann, Ph.D., Associate Professor; population and community ecology, herpetology, wetlands ecology
Malcolm R. (Mack) Powell, Ph.D., Professor; immunology and infectious diseases
Sabine J. Rundle, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director; molecular biology of plant development
Lori Seischab, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; molecular pathology and biophysics
Anjana Sharma, Ph.D., Instructor; human biology, plant biology.
Emeritus Faculty
Richard C. Bruce, Ph.D., Duke University; life histories, ecology, and evolution of plethodontid salamandersFrederick A. Coyle, Ph.D., Harvard University; systematics, behavior, and ecology of spiders.
Fred D. Hinson, Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; microbiology, bacterial cytotechnique, antigen-antibody reactions involving Salmonella species.
James Horton, Ph.D., University of North Carolina; plant anatomy
Roger H. Lumb, Ph.D., University of South Carolina; lipid biochemistry, dynamics of lipids in membranes
Henry R. Mainwaring, Ph.D., University College of Wales, Aberystwyth; mycology, cell biology, DNA content and cell division rates
Allen Moore, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin; aquatic ecology
James W. Wallace, Jr., Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin; plant biochemistry, physiology, and distribution of secondary metabolites; medicinal plants of the southern Appalachians; biological photography
Jerry L. West, Ph.D., North Carolina State University; fishery biology, ecology of fish in the southern Appalachians
C. Paul Wright, Ph.D., University of Utah; lethal mutants and developmental genetics of Drosophila melanogaster