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Biology Faculty and Staff

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

Jeremy Hyman

Professor and Department Head

Evolution, behavioral ecology, ornithology

Greg Adkison

Instructor

Physiology related to nutrition and mind; Experimental design and analysis; Statistical inference (philosophies and application)

Barbara Ballentine

Associate Professor

Evolution and behavioral ecology

Joseph Barnes

Adjunct Instructor

Chris Beyer

Adjunct Instructor

Cellular and molecular biology

Indrani Bose

Professor

Genetics and Molecular biology

Beth Budden

Associate Instructor

Human anatomy and physiology

Heather Coan

Associate Professor

Regenerative medicine and the genetics that underlie diseases of bones and joints

James Costa

Professor and Director Highlands Biological Station

Evolutionary genetics and behavior of social insects, especially social Lepidoptera and Symphyta

Megan Eckardt

Associate Instructor

Arthropod behavior, kin selection, kin-specific communication and signaling

Weaver Haney

Instructor

Microbiology and organismal biology

Darby Harris

Associate Instructor

Molecular physiology, genetics

Jacob Heiling

Assistant Professor

Floral trait evolution

Maureen Peters Hickman

Associate Instructor

Molecular biology and forensic science

Sonja (Sunny) Himes

Associate Instructor

Environmental biology, botany, general biology

Karen Kandl

Associate Instructor

Ecology, anatomy/physiology

Olivier Larouche

Assistant Professor

Evolution, Aquatic Ecology, Ichthyology

Luiz Lima Da Silveira

Associate Professor

Insect diversity, ecology, and evolution

Joe Bill Mathews

Associate Instructor

Anatomy and physiology, animal physiology

Kathy Gould Mathews

Professor and Director of the WCU Herbarium

Plant systematics

Seán P. O'Connell

Associate Professor

Microbial ecology, diversity of bacteria and archaea in soils and waters, zymurgy

Joseph Pechmann

Professor

Population and community ecology, herpetology, wetlands ecology

Malcolm R. (Mack) Powell

Professor

Immunology and infectious diseases

Anne Rea

Adjunct Instructor

Anjana Sharma

Associate Instructor

Plant biology, Microbiology, General biology

Amanda R. Storm

Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director

Molecular biology, protein biochemistry, plant metabolism

I. Noa Sparks

Adjunct Instructor

Wildlife biology and human anatomy/physiology

Subhshri Sahu

Assistant Professor

Drosophila biologist, Genetics, Molecular Biology, Nutritional control of stem cells in fly ovaries

André C. Velásquez Landmann

Assistant Professor

Plant–microbe interactions

Robert Youker

Associate Professor

Molecular biology; protein dynamics involved in apical sorting, signal transduction, and cellular quality control pathways.

Emeritus Faculty

Richard C. Bruce, Ph.D., Duke University; life histories, ecology, and evolution of plethodontid salamanders

Kefyn M. Catley, Ph.D., Cornell University; arthropod systematics, evolutionary biology, science education, cello, photography of nature

Frederick A. Coyle, Ph.D., Harvard University; systematics, behavior, and ecology of spiders

Beverly Collins, Ph.D., Ph D, Rutgers State University of New Jersey New Brunswick; conservation, restoration, and dynamics of plant communities

Laura E. DeWald, Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; ecological genetics, restoration ecology, conservation biology

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

Thomas H. "Tom" Martin, Ph.D., North Carolina State University at Raleigh, zoology, population and community ecology of aquatic organisms

Allen Moore, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin; aquatic ecology

Sabine J. Rundle, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; protein phosphorylation in plant growth and development

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

C. Paul Wright, Ph.D., University of Utah; lethal mutants and developmental genetics of Drosophila melanogaster

Other Faculty and Staff

Krista Schmidt, M.S.L.S., Librarian and Liaison to Biology, and Chemistry and Physics

Misty Cope, Administrative Support Associate 

Carly Miller, Temporary Administrative Support Associate

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