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The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in May, 1996. Although some courses, students, and faculty members referenced in the story may have changed, it still provides a full and accurate picture of the Biology Department. For current course information and a faculty listing we encourage you to visit the department's homepage.
Biology
Independent research and close faculty contacts aid in the search to uncover the foundations of life
Last fall, Keiko Miller '96 went to Kenya for a field study on the habituation of three types of African antelopes-research that has applications for Kenya's developing tourism industry. In the biology department's developmental embryology lab, Leigh Dealey '96, who is following a pre-veterinary medicine program, observed the growth of chick embryos from week to week. Bryan Horling '96, recently wrote a computer software package that modeled a complex organism's honeycomb-like lattice structure. (See story on page 3.) Such computer programs can help scientists depict how closely related one organism is to another, and thus shed light on the evolutionary process, said Craig Schneider, professor of biology.
The work of these seniors exemplifies the wide range of experiences and opportunities offered to Trinity's biology students. The department is the home of a wide range of courses, laboratories, and field opportunities, a group of highly motivated majors, a dedicated faculty, and one of the College's most popular minors.
Broad exposure
According to its chair, Professor Robert Brewer, the department seeks to provide a "broad basic background" that will enable students to take whatever direction they wish within the discipline, whether it be marine botany, vertebrate zoology, or recombinant DNA research. This foundation in biology begins with the department's unusual team-taught introductory course. "It gives students the opportunity to meet everyone in the department," Brewer said. As a result, students learn early on which professors specialize in the various subfields of biology. In addition, this interaction often prompts students to join research projects with faculty very early in their careers.
The close student-faculty ratio also ensures that biology students get a lot of individual attention. "We take pride in the fact that, unlike the situation at large universities, labs are taught by professors and not by graduate students," said Associate Professor Daniel Blackburn. One result is that many Trinity undergraduates develop the skill necessary to conduct graduate-level research, often co-authoring papers with professors and making presentations of their work at local, regional, and national scientific conferences.
According to Blackburn, students at Trinity have access to state-of-the art equipment and instruments to help them address important research questions. This includes optical microscopes, electrophoretic apparatus (which permits the study of DNA), incubators and climatically controlled growth chambers, data-collection instruments, and computers. Moreover, Blackburn said, students are trained to explore primary scientific literature to see how what they're doing relates to the most current research findings of professional scientists.
Other real-world applications of learning are available through internships and summer jobs with agencies in Greater Hartford and statewide. Hartford Hospital, the Hartford Center for Clinical Research, the Science Center of Connecticut, and the Department of Environmental Protection-to name just a few-have involved students in laboratory and field research, public education projects at local, regional, and national levels, and environmental planning and conservation.
With so much to brag about, biology majors have no doubt they're receiving the best possible education. Keiko Miller, who wants to pursue a career in environmental management, has been studying foraging behavior among squirrels in Hartford's Goodwin Park for her senior honors research project.
Departmental seminar
All of the department's research students, she explained, participate in a seminar in which they must present their work not only to peers but also to the entire biology faculty. "The professors here are committed to undergraduate teaching and undergraduate research," says Miller. "The whole department really supports you," she says, describing how presentations at the early stages of research draw important feedback from the professors, each of whom brings a different perspective to the discussion.
Brewer, for example, specializes in marine invertebrate ecology. Schneider, who takes students on a number of field expeditions to swamps, bogs, and salt marshes all over the state, specializes in marine botany. Blackburn's area of expertise is evolutionary vertebrate biology. Professor Richard Crawford is the department's biochemist, while Professor Donald Galbraith is a genetics expert. Professor John Simmons is a zoologist. Assistant Professors Kathleen Archer and Robin Staples specialize in plant physiology and development, and microbiology and immunology, respectively. Lecturer Gail Hall's training is in reproductive biology, and Lecturer Michael O'Donnell, whose field is environmental and forest biology, is developing a course in urban wildlife.
Interdisciplinary connections
The department is associated with a number of Trinity's interdisciplinary majors and programs, including the biochemistry major, the concentration in biomedical engineering, the Neuroscience Program, and the Interdisciplinary Science Program. In addition, the department offers a variety of courses to non-majors needing to fulfill the natural sciences requirement, and it sponsors what has quickly become one of the College's most popular minors, "Environment and Human Values." The minor is "a coordinated effort between the social sciences and natural sciences exploring the environment and how people affect it and are affected by it," Schneider said.
Helen Limoncelli '97, a biology major, chose the minor because it places biology in the context of history, law, ethical issues, and politics. "Science and biology can't give all the answers," she said. In addition to course work, the minor requires an "integrating experience," which for Limoncelli will be an internship with a Glastonbury, Conn. law firm that specializes in asbestos cases.
Limoncelli said that while she discovered early on that she loved biology, she wasn't a fan of lab work and wanted to pursue a path that involved working more with people. With the support and encouragement of the biology department, she hopes to have a career as an attorney specializing in environmental law. Although she doesn't expect to meet many other biology majors attending law school, she wouldn't trade her major for another.
- by Leslie Virostek