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Carl M. Cohen, PhD, is President of Science Management Associates and provides coaching, consultation and training in management and leadership skills to scientists and science executives in both the public and private sectors. Carl has more than 25 years of biomedical research and management expertise, including having been Chief Operating Officer of Biovest International, focused on cancer immunotherapy, and Vice President for Research and Development at Creative BioMolecules. Carl served as Chief of the Division of Cellular and Molecular Biology and Acting Chair of the Department of Biomedical Research at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center of Boston. During that same period he also held the positions of Professor of Medicine and Professor of Anatomy and Cellular Biology at Tufts University School of Medicine Carl received his Ph.D. in Bio-Physics from Harvard University. Along with his wife Suzanne, a psychologist in Wellesley, MA, he is author of the popular book “Lab Dynamics: Management Skills for Scientists” Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2005, now in its second printing.
Susan Ernst, PhD, is a developmental biologist at Tufts University who works on mechanisms that direct and regulate oogenesis and early embryonic cell differentiation. She served as Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts until 2005. Prior to this she was Dean of Natural and Social Sciences, Dean for Research for Arts, Sciences and Engineering, and chaired the Department of Biology for 7 years. She has had leadership roles in programs for scientists preparing for their first academic or independent research positions and while Dean, she introduced a successful mentoring program for junior faculty. Check out Dr. Ernst’s website.
Grace Gill, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Anatomy & Cellular Biology at Tufts University. Research in her laboratory is directed towards understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate transcription. These studies have broad implications for understanding the proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis pathways that are disregulated in human diseases. For Dr. Gill, the excitement of discovery in the laboratory comes from making new and unexpected observations and then figuring out how to fit these new pieces together with other observations in order to solve some small aspect of the puzzle of how biological systems work. She is a Research Advisor for trainees in the Tufts TEACRS Program and has served on numerous university search committees and NIH study sections. Check out Dr. Gill’s website.
Graham Hatfull, PhD, is an HHMI Professor, the Eberly Family Professor of Biotechnology, and Professor and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his PhD at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland with Willie Donachie and then went on to join the labs of Nigel Grindley at Yale and Fred Sanger at the MRC for postdoctoral training. He joined the University of Pittsburgh faculty in 1988. The Hatfull Lab studies myobacteriophages, which are viruses that infect the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis. Dr. Hatfull believes in getting students into research labs as early as possible in their studies. He developed a pilot course that served as a template for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science Education Alliance Program. In this program, students are full participants in an authentic research setting rather then the traditional laboratory classes following “recipes” from a laboratory manual.
Peter Juo, PhD, joined the Department of Physiology at Tufts University School of Medicine as an assistant professor in 2005. Dr. Juo received his doctoral degree in Cell Biology from Harvard University. He did post-doctoral research in the area of neurobiology at UC-Berkeley and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School before joining the faculty in the Department of Physiology at Tufts. Dr. Juo studies localization and regulation of synaptic proteins using C. elegans as a model system. Dr. Juo mentored Jen Kowalski in the Tufts TEACRS Program, who now has a position at Butler University. He currently has a TEACRS trainee, Lina Dahlberg, one postdoc, and three graduate students under his supervision. His research is currently funded by NIH and the March of Dimes. Info on Dr. Juo’s lab can be found here.
Nancy Harrison Kolodny, PhD, is a Professor of Chemistry and the Nellie Zuckerman Cohen and Anne Cohen Heller Professor of Health Sciences at Wellesley College. A member of the Wellesley faculty since 1969, she is an authority on nuclear magnetic resonance and its application to problems in medicine and biology. She served as Dean of the College (Chief Academic Officer) from 1992 until 1999. She regularly teaches courses in introductory and physical chemistry, magnetic resonance, and an interdisciplinary course entitled “The Nuclear Challenge.” In conjunction with researchers at the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, she received a grant from the Sloan Foundation for research on factors that influence women to pursue careers in science. Her scientific research in areas ranging from ocular disorders to mouse models for human disorders to cyanobacterial metabolism has been supported by grants from the National Eye Institute, the National Science Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. She was awarded Wellesley College's Pinanski Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 1991. Check out Dr. Kolodny’s website.
Jennifer Kowalski, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at Butler University in Indianapolis, IN. Butler is a private master’s level comprehensive university with an emphasis on both liberal arts education and professional training. Dr. Kowalski received her Ph.D. in cell biology from Harvard University, then did postdoctoral work in C. elegans neurobiology at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston where she was an IRACDA fellow in the TEACRS program. She began her position at Butler in the fall of 2009. Dr. Kowalski’s current research uses the model nematode, C. elegans, to understand the molecular control of synaptic transmission with a particular focus on the role of protein modification by ubiquitin. Her teaching roles at Butler so far have included a two-semester introductory biology course for majors, as well as an upper level animal physiology course. As a first-year faculty member, Dr. Kowalski has submitted both internal and external research grants, organized a quarterly research meeting for Indianapolis C. elegans researchers, and has begun mentoring students in her research laboratory. Check out Dr. Kowalski’s website.
Krishna Kumar, PhD, is a Professor of Chemistry at Tufts University, member of the Cancer Center at Tufts Medical Center, and an Adjunct Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Tufts. Dr. Kumar received his Ph.D. at Brown University and served as a Skaggs Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Scripps Research Institute and Skaggs Institute in Chemical Biology. Dr. Kumar’s research interests include bioorganic chemistry and chemical biology, with a focus on protein design and evolution and the generation of better antibiotics and catalysts. Dr. Kumar has received numerous awards for his work, including an NSF CAREER award and the distinction as “Top 100 Young Innovators in the World” by MIT Technology Review. Dr. Kumar served as the chair of the Tufts Dept. of Chemistry from 2006-2009. Check out Dr. Kumar’s website.
Jane Liu, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Drew University, a small liberal arts college in Madison, NJ. Dr. Liu received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University and also trained as a TEACRS postdoctoral fellow at Tufts University in the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology. She began her position at Drew in the fall of 2009. Dr. Liu’s research program at Drew, which draws on her training as both a chemist and a biologist, focuses on studying the molecular mechanisms of gene expression regulation in Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera. Check out Dr. Liu’s website.
Peggy McIntosh, PhD, associate director of the Wellesley Centers for Women, is also the founder and co-director of the National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum (Seeking Educational Equity & Diversity). The SEED Project helps teachers create their own year-long, school-based seminars on making school climates, K-12 curricula, and teaching methods more gender fair and multi-culturally equitable. Dr. McIntosh directs the Gender, Race, and Inclusive Education Project, which provides workshops on privilege systems, feelings of fraudulence, and diversifying workplaces, curricula, and teaching methods. Dr. McIntosh has taught English, American Studies, and Women's Studies at the Brearley School, Harvard University, Trinity College (Washington, D.C.), Durham University (England), and Wellesley College. She is co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Women's Institute, and has been consulting editor to Sage: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women. In 1993-1994, she consulted with women on 22 Asian campuses on the development of Women's Studies and programs to bring materials from Women's Studies into the main curriculum. In addition to having two honorary degrees, she is a recipient of the Klingenstein Award for Distinguished Educational Leadership from Columbia Teachers College. Here’s Dr. McIntosh’s homepage.
Kelly McLaughlin, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Biology and the Biology Graduate Program Director at Tufts University, where she teaches courses in molecular development, cell biology, and introductory biology. Dr. McLaughlin also co-directs a graduate level pedagogy course as part of the department’s Teaching Assistant training program. She has long been committed to the improvement of science education, dedicating much of her time to educational projects such as the Teachers as Scholars program (K-12 educators,), and the Tufts Graduate Institute for Teaching (GIFT) Program. Over the years, her efforts to improve the educational experience for her students has been recognized via numerous awards including the National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences (NRC/HHMI), Undergraduate Initiative in Teaching Award (Tufts University/UNITE), and Certificate of Distinction in Teaching Award (Harvard College). The research conducted in the McLaughlin lab focuses on understanding how organs and tissues are created during development. Dr. McLaughlin obtained a bachelor's degree from Wheaton College and a doctorate in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Massachusetts, and trained as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Medical School before joining the faculty at Tufts in 2001. Here is Dr. McLaughlin’s website.
Mitch McVey, PhD, is an alum of SPIRE, the IRACDA postdoctoral training program at the University of North Carolina. He is as an excellent example of the success that alumni of the IRACDA fellowship programs have achieved. Dr. McVey attended the University of Colorado at Boulder as an undergraduate. Upon graduating, he taught 9th grade Biology in the Teach For America Program while working towards a teaching certificate in secondary school science from the University of Texas Pan-American. He then went on to complete his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At the University of North Carolina, Dr. McVey combined his interest in research and teaching as a SPIRE postdoctoral fellow. Today he holds an Assistant Professor position at Tufts University in the Department of Biology. The McVey research laboratory trains graduate and undergraduate researchers in molecular biology by studying DNA repair mechanisms using Drosophila melanogaster. He has received a New Scholar in Aging Award through the Ellison Medical Foundation and a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. Dr. McVey is also active in the TEACRS program at Tufts University, serving as a research advisor and member of the Executive Committee, and as a general mentor to TEACRS fellows. Check out Dr. McVey’s website.
Ken Miller, PhD. Kenneth R. Miller is Professor of Biology and Royce Family Professor for Teaching Excellence at Brown University in Providence, RI. He did his undergraduate work at Brown, and earned a Ph D in 1974 at the University of Colorado. He spent six years as Assistant Professor at Harvard University before returning to Brown University in 1980. His research work on cell membrane structure and function has produced more than 50 scientific papers and reviews in popular and scientific journals such as Cell, Nature, and Scientific American. Miller is coauthor, with Joseph S. Levine, of four different high school and college biology textbooks which are used by millions of students nationwide. In 2005, he was lead witness in the landmark Kitzmiller v. Dover trial on the teaching of “intelligent design” in public schools. He is a member of the American Society for Cell Biology, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In 2009 his honors included the AAAS Award for Advancing the Public Understanding of Science, the James Gregory Medal (given by St. Andrews University), and the Gregor Mendel Medal (from Villanova University). He is the author of Finding Darwin's God (A Scientist's Search for Common Ground between God and Evolution), and Only a Theory (Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul). Check out Dr. Miller’s website.
Sinaia Nathanson, PhD, is a social psychologist specializing in conflict resolution and organizational behavior. Dr. Nathanson earned her Masters degree at Harvard and her Doctorate at Tufts University. As a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Tufts University, she teaches introduction to psychology, social psychology, conflict resolution, leadership and group dynamics. She also leads courses on negotiation and mediation at the Tufts Gordon Institute’s Master of Science program in Engineering Management and at the Tufts Program on Peace and Justice. Additionally, she directs GIFT (Graduate Institute for Teaching), a Tufts program that trains postdocs and Ph.D. students to teach higher education. Dr. Nathanson has consulted for numerous organizations in the US and abroad on organizational development and has run training sessions in negotiation and mediation of interpersonal conflicts. Specifically she designs and conducts workshops for medical centers regarding negotiating intra-departmental and inter-departmental disputes, and for academic settings on the prevention of faculty-student conflict escalation. Her research interests focus on conflict escalation in ongoing relationships, group decision-making, third-party intervention and leadership. Dr. Nathanson’s website can be found here.
Karlett J. Parra, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico. Dr. Parra received her doctorate degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from SUNY Upstate Medical University and continued as a post-doc in the lab of Dr. Patricia M. Kane studying structure, function and assembly of the Vacuolar H+-ATPase. She was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Le Moyne College before joining the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at Ball State University. Dr. Parra subsequently moved her research program to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Mexico School of Medicine. Her research continues to focus on the structure, function and assembly of the V-ATPase using S. cerevisiae as a model system. Check out Dr. Parra’s website.
Naomi Rosenberg, Ph.D., is Dean of the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University and Vice Dean for Research at Tufts University School of Medicine. Her research career focused on mechanisms of leukemia development and retrovirus pathogenesis and she remains active in graduate teaching. She has served on numerous federal committees, including the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) of NIH and the Board of Scientific Counselors of the NCI and currently serves on the RAC Biosafety Working Group. Graduate education has been a very important part of her career and she is a member of the AAMC GREAT group Steering Committee. Over forty graduate students and fellows trained in her laboratory and most of them remain engaged in scientific pursuits. Her interests in graduate and post-graduate training focus on interdisciplinary approaches and on enhancing access to careers in biomedical science. In addition to coordinating the many graduate training programs in the Sackler School, Dr. Rosenberg’s office also runs the Building Diversity in Biomedical Sciences (BDBS) Program for undergraduates who want summer research experience, and the Post-Baccalaureate Research Program (PREP), which offers 1 to 2 year research apprenticeships for recent graduates who are interested in pursuing research careers. Dr. Rosenberg spearheaded the creation of the Training in Education and Critical Research Skills Program (TEACRS) at Tufts. Here is Dr. Rosenberg’s website.
Vivian Siegal, PhD. is Director of the Center for Science Communication and Research Professor of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, as well as Editor-in-Chief of Disease Models & Mechanisms and Executive Editor of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. She began her editorial career in 1994 as a Senior Editor at Cell, where she rose through the ranks, eventually becoming Editor of Cell and Molecular Cell, and founding Editor of Developmental Cell. She left Cell Press in 2003 to help launch Public Library of Science as its founding Executive Director and one of the launch editors of PLoS Biology. At Vanderbilt University and beyond, she runs workshops and courses on manuscript writing and publication strategy. Dr. Siegel holds a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and mathematics from Bowdoin College and a doctorate in genetics from UCSF. Here is Dr. Siegal’s website.
Abraham L. (“Linc”) Sonenshein, PhD, is Professor and Acting Chair of the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine, where he has been a member of the faculty at Tufts since 1972. He holds degrees from Princeton University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to teaching medical and dental students, he has trained 20 Ph.D. graduates and 30 postdoctoral fellows. Dr. Sonenshein’s current research focuses on mechanisms of gene regulation in Bacillus, Clostridium, Listeria, Staphylococcus, and other Gram-positive bacteria; control of virulence genes; and use of bacterial spores as vaccine delivery systems. His research has been funded continuously since 1972 by the National Institutes of Health, with additional support from the National Science Foundation and the Gates Foundation. Check out Dr. Sonnenshein’s website.
Karan Watson, PhD, P.E, is currently Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academics at Texas A&M University. She has served as Vice Provost since December, 2008, and before that, held many influential positions at Texas A&M such as Dean of Faculties, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the Dwight Look College of Engineering, and Associate Provost for Diversity. She joined the faculty of Texas A&M University in 1983 and is now a Regents Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Dr. Watson is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the American Society for Engineering Education. Her awards and recognitions include the U.S. President's Award for Mentoring Minorities and Women in Science and Technology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science Mentoring Award, the IEEE International Undergraduate Teaching Award, The Texas A&M University Association of Former Students Award for Student Relations, and the College of Engineering Crawford Teaching Award. In addition, Dr. Watson has chaired the graduate committees of 32 doctoral students and more than 60 master's degree students and serves on the Board of Directors for ABET, Inc., formerly the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. She is known for several popular teaching tools such as her stories of wisdom and leadership from her Cherokee tradition and he Diversity Scenario Case Studies for STEM Faculty. In Dr. Watson’s words, “Faculty should be advocates for diversity; administrators need to be convinced that diversity has intrinsic value and that it promotes intellectual excellence, broadens the total range of an institution’s experience, and stimulates the exchange of ideas. Diversity should be seen as a moral imperative, an aspect of social justice. These cases, adapted from actual situations, can serve as catalysts for dialogue about challenges facing academic leaders.” Go here for Dr. Watson’s website.
Robin Wright, PhD, earned a BS degree from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. from Carnegie-Mellon University. After postdoctoral training at UC, Berkeley, she was a faculty member in the Zoology Department at the University of Washington in Seattle. She moved to Minnesota in 2003, and is currently Associate Dean in the College of Biological Sciences and professor of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development. Her research focuses on the genetics and physiology of cold adaptation in yeast using genetic, cell biological, ecological, and evolutionary approaches. In addition, her laboratory is well known as a great place for undergraduates to pursue research. Over the past 20 years, she has mentored nearly 100 undergraduate researchers. Dr. Wright has taught both large and small classes, from freshman seminars to large introductory biology courses. At the University of Minnesota, she has helped to develop and co-teaches in an orientation/enrichment course required for all ~350 freshmen in the college. She has also been a leader in development of Foundations of Biology, an innovative, team-based introductory biology course for biological sciences majors, taught in a scale-up style classroom. Dr. Wright currently serves on the Education Committee of the American Society for Cell Biology and as chair of the Education Committee for the Genetics Society of America. In addition, she is a senior editor of the journal Life Science Education. She is also a member of the Advisory Committee and a mentor for the HHMI/National Academies of Science-sponsored Summer Institute on Biology Education. Check out Dr. Wright’s website.
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