Fall 2009
Prospective students: Click here to download a pdf presentation on the Biology Department (3MB) Click here to download a pdf presentation on Field Biology at Sweet Briar (4.5MB)
Fall Events 2 September: Naturalist-in-Residence Mike Hayslett is lecturing at the Science Museum of Virginia.  On 9 September he is lecturing at Hampton University. 11-13 September: Isolated Wetlands Conference and Vernal Pond Building Workshop, with Tom Biebighauser. For more information contact Mike Hayslett. 25 September: Emeritus Professor Ernest P. Edwards turns 90! 26 September: Research Professor Lincoln Brower is lecturing at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond VA. 10 October: Natural History Workshop for Teachers.  For more information contact Linda Fink or Mike Hayslett. 2-4 November: Visit by evolutionary biologist / writer Olivia Judson.  For more information contact Janet Steven.
Alumnae News (also see the Alumnae webpage) Katie Wood Rea '01 switched careers a year ago from intensive care nurse to Drug Safety Associate at PRA International.  She reports adverse drug events to regulatory authorities, for several pharmaceutical companies. Stephanie Jefferson '03 received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Florida and has started a postdoctoral fellowship in the neuroscience lab of Theresa Jones at the University of Texas at Austin. Laurel Speilman Rodgers '03 spent Spring 2009 as Visiting Instructor in our department, teaching Introduction to Cells and Microbiology.  While teaching full time, she also defended her Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Anatomy at the University of Arizona.  She has now moved to a postdoctoral fellowship in North Carolina. Lindsay Kinyon Ashton '03, who has been teaching high school science, is changing careers and starting this fall at the VCU School of Dentistry. Cara Cherry '06 is in her fourth year of vet school at VA Tech.  She is in a research-focused track, and is spending most of this year in a series of 3-week rotations.  Cara is going all over the country: USDA Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health in Colorado. FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine; the NIH for a pathology rotation; the CDC for epidemiology; the ports of Los Angeles to inspect quarantined animals, and possibly to the Dominican Republic for a public health rotation. Dawn Slekis '08 is starting an M.S. program in Environmental Toxicology at Texas Tech. Sam Clark '09 has extended her contract with the School for Field Studies in Baja, Mexico.  She is working on mangrove restoration and fisheries monitoring, teaching kayaking, setting up a recycling program on the local beaches, and trying to establish a spay/neuter clinic. 2009 graduates who have reported back to us include Doreen McVeigh (M.S. program in Biology at Hood College), Sarah Barta (employed by biotechnology company Wuxi Apptec Corp in St. Paul), Jessica Cheverton Taylor (employed in the histology department of Pathology Consultants of Central Virginia) and Murphy Horne (law school at W&L).

Recent faculty and alumnae publications

Brower, L.P., L.S. Fink and P. Walford. 2006. Fueling the fall migration of the monarch butterfly.  Integrative and Comparative Biology 46 (6): 1123-1142.

Fink, L.S. and R.I. Vane-Wright. 2007.  Lincoln Brower's European tour.  Antenna 31 (4): 203-207.

Harris, PR, Wright, S, Serrano, C, Riera, F, Duarte, I, Torres, Javiera, Pena, A, Rollan, A, Viviani, P, Guiraldes, E, Schmitz, JM (SBC '03) , Lorenz RG, Novak, L, Smythies, LE, Smith, PD.2008. Helicobacter pylori gastritis in children is associated with a regulatory T Cell response. Gastroenterology 134: 491 - 499.

Morrissey, J.F. and J.L. Sumich. 2008. Introduction to the Biology of Marine Life, 9th Edition.  Jones and Bartlett Publishers.  ISBN-13: 9780763753696

Morson, J. and J.F. Morrissey. 2007. Variation in the morphology of the electric organ in the little skate, Leucoraja erinacea, and its possible role in courtship.  Environmental Biology of Fishes 80 (2-3): 267-275.

Penny, R.H. (SBC '08) and J.C. Steven. 2009. Sexual dimorphism in pollen grain size in cryptically dioecious Thalictrum macrostylum. Plant Systematics and Evolution 279:11-19.

Rodgers, L.S. (SBC '03), S. Lalani, R.B. Runyan, and T.D. Camenisch. 2007. Differential growth and multicellular villi direct proepicardial translocation to the developing mouse heart.  Developmental Dynamics 237 (1): 145-152.

Robeva, R.S., J. R. Kirkwood, R.L. Davies, L. Farhy, B.P. Kovatchev, M. Straume and M.L. Johnson. 2007. An Invitation to Biomathematics.  Academic Press. ISBN 978-0120887712.

Schmitz, J.M. (SBC '03), V.J. McCracken, R.A. Dimmitt and R.G. Lorenz. 2007. Expression of CXCL15 (Lungkine) in murine gastrointestinal, urogenital, and endocrine organs.  Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry 55 (5): 515-524.

Slayback, D.A., L.P. Brower, M.I. Ramirez, and L.S. Fink. 2007. Establishing the presence and absence of overwintering colonies of the monarch butterfly in Mexico by the use of small aircraft.  American Entomologist 53 (1): 28-40.

Slayback, D.A. and L.P. Brower. 2007. Further aerial surveys confirm the extreme localization of overwintering monarch butterfly colonies in Mexico.  American Entomologist 53 (3): 146-149.

Steven, J.C., L.F. Delph, and E.D. Brodie III. 2007. Sexual dimorphism in the quantitative-genetic architecture of floral, leaf, and allocation traits in Silene latifolia.  Evolution 61 (1): 42-57.

The biology alumnae page reports on graduates' new jobs, graduate programs, and careers. New information was added in August 2009.

About the Biology Department

     We share a commitment to our students and the college, a fascination with the natural world, and enthusiasm for teaching and research.

•  We provide a comprehensive biology curriculum for students interested in research, education, conservation and the health professions.  A strong program is never static, and we have recently added courses in Marine Biology, Biomathematics, Insect Biology and Conservation Biology.  In addition to a Biology major, we offer a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major jointly with the Department of Chemistry.
•  Field biology is an important component of our curriculum.  We take advantage of our 3200 acre campus in Field Natural History, Plant Kingdom, Ecology, and Insect Biology.
• Faculty research is supported through an institutional faculty grants program.  In addition, we have been successful in obtaining grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Jeffress Memorial Trust, LI-COR, the Virginia Academy of Sciences, and the Virginia Commonwealth Health Research Board. 
• Our state-of-the-art equipment has been obtained through NSF-ILI, CCLI and research grants, Jeffress Research Grants, and an endowment from the Kresge Foundation.
•  We encourage and support student research.  Biology majors gain research experience in lab courses before completing a semester or more of independent research.  Research is required for the B.S. degree and is optional for the B.A. degree.   Research students participate in a colloquium and present their research at a departmental symposium.  We continually increase our expectations for student research, and our students continually rise to the challenge.
•  We enjoy collaboration with one another, as well as with faculty in other departments.  Members of the Biology Department have conducted joint research projects with members of the Chemistry Department and with an Environmental Science colleague at a nearby institution; have written a biomathematics textbook with members of the Mathematics Department and colleagues at the University of Virginia School of Medicine; and have taught interdisciplinary courses with colleagues in Studio Art, Creative Writing, Math and Chemistry.