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A Message from the Department Head
It has been some time since the publication of Symbiosis! It feels good to write to you again, and to report some news about our students, faculty, and staff in the Department of Biology. We have returned to campus, and are teaching our courses now as we always have, in-person. Our faculty, graduate students, postdocs, and research groups are busy at work.
How are we doing? While there is a bit of exhaustion from the pandemic adjustments, I am very happy to report some good news. We have mentored nearly 100 undergraduate students in our research labs this year. Our undergraduate and graduate students are winning local, regional, and national awards for their work, and our faculty are routinely being called upon by prestigious agencies including the National Institute of Health and National Science Foundation to perform service, recognizing their outstanding international reputations.
We had 64 December 2020 graduates,107 spring and summer 2022 graduates, including six master's degrees and four PhD degrees. Our faculty and graduate students published 40 scholarly articles and two books. We received 34 Federal or Foundation research grants totaling over 10 million dollars.
We are also completing our final year of an NSF-funded program to revise our undergraduate curriculum to infuse undergraduate research in courses from the freshman to senior level. This is a significant effort that has been enthusiastically accomplished by our faculty and graduate student teaching assistants.
In 2021, over 100 undergraduates presented their research results from BIO 315 Ecology and Evolution Lab at a professional conference and subsequently, the data was reported in the professional publication, Plant Ecology (Young, A.L., K.J. Bloodworth, M.D.T. Frost, C.E. Green, and S.E. Koerner. 2022. Heatwave implications for the future of longleaf pine savanna understory restoration. Plant Ecology). Indeed, our undergraduate curriculum is now nationally recognized as a model for innovative and high-impact teaching practices at mid-sized universities.
Thank you for asking how we are doing! I am proud of our faculty, staff, and student resilience and grit during a trying time in the United States. It is my pleasure to advocate for and support them as they pursue their passions.
Malcolm Schug, PhD
Department Head
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Welcome to our new faculty and staff
Please join us in welcoming new faculy and staff to the Department of Biology:
- Dr. Gwen Robbins Schug, Professor
- Dr. Kimberly Komatsu, Associate Professor
- Dr. Kevin Wilcox, Associate Professor
- Patty Booker, Business Officer
- Page Turner, Administrative Support Specialist
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Farewell, congratulations, and best wishes
At the same time, we bid a bittersweet farewell to several faculty and staff. Included in those leaving the department are three retirees:
- Dr. Bob Stavn (44 years)
- Dr. Bruce Kirchoff (35 years)
- Dr. Christina Moreira (5 years)
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| Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Kasie Raymann
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Research in the Raymann Lab focuses on fundamental questions about ecology and evolution of host-associated microbes using honeybees as a model system. We are interested in understanding how microbes contribute to host health, how microbial communities respond to chemical and environmental disruption, and how bacteria evolve to become virulent within a host. Fundamentally, our research has major implications for honeybee health since microbes are crucial for bee growth and development, metabolism, immunity, and disease prevention.
Our lab consists of a mix of diverse undergraduate and graduate students all working on different aspects of microbial ecology and evolution. I take great pride in our lab environment and strive to make sure everyone feels supported, safe, and included.
Outside of research, my students and I actively participate in community and STEM outreach, science advocacy, and education. Follow us on twitter at @SpartansSciPol and @kasie_raymann.
As an assistant professor in the Biology Department, I teach several undergraduate and graduate level courses. As a teacher, my goal is to share my passion for microbial ecology and evolution with my students and do all I can to make them find microbes as interesting and amazing as I do. My ultimate objective is to create an engaging, friendly, and inclusive learning environment. I pride myself on being a compassionate and understanding educator, taking into consideration the various issues, situations, and backgrounds of my students. One of my favorite aspects of teaching is interacting with and getting to know my students so that I can do everything possible to make sure they are successful.
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Hear from graduate students in the Raymann Lab
Graduate and undergraduate students alike flock to Dr. Raymann’s lab to become better scientists, to get clarification on a plan of study, or even to blow off steam from a stressful day.
Dr. Raymann also co-manages UNCG’s Plant and Pollinator Center, where she and her students are involved in community outreach programs. The lab is a welcoming environment made up of a diverse community of scientists.
Their research benefits from the dynamic Dr. Raymann works hard to cultivate: one of inclusion and camaraderie, hard work, intellectualism, and above all, fun.
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Student Awards
Melika Osareh worked with Dr. John Kiss on understanding how plants respond to simulated microgravity. She will start in a Ph.D. program in biomedical engineering in a joint UNC-NCSU program in the fall. She has won many awards, including North Carolina Space Grant Fellow, Winner of Undergraduate Expo Competition, Nobel Prize Meeting Awardee, and Provost Student Excellence Award.
Beh Reh is a winner of the Goldwater Fellowship, one of the most prestigious science, technology, engineering, and math scholarships in the nation. Beh was featured in the UNCG News for this award and the support he has received as a UNCG NSF STAMPS scholar to continue his research with Dr. Ramji Bhandari.
Undergraduate Research Expo Winners
2022
2021
2020
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| Giving to the Biology Department
There are many ways to contribute to student and faculty success in the Biology Department at UNCG. Our students and faculty benefit greatly from donations of any amount to help with research and travel to conferences to present their research findings.
Support is especially helpful in our current financial climate. Please consider giving by clicking here.
- The Biology Enrichment Fund: A general fund for support of students and faculty research efforts.
- The David L. Remington Fund for Undergraduate Research: Funds undergraduate research in biology.
- The Pat McCaron Fund for Student Support: Funds graduate and undergraduate research in biology.
Please contact Dr. Malcolm Schug (mdschug@uncg.edu) directly for substantial donations or to set up endowment gift funds.
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Sky Kihuwa-Mani - Featured in the UNCG News Class of 2022, Sky has achieved tremendous success at UNCG. The Department of Biology, Lloyd International College, expert pre-med advising, and Native American Student Association of which she was the president for three years, provided support for her to achieve her dream of pursuing admission to a medical program. She will be attending the Mount Sinai School of Medicine MD/Ph.D. program starting in the fall of 2022 with an interest in neuroscience stemming from her research experience in Dr. Joseph Santin’s lab here at UNCG.
Caroline Nelson - Caroline has achieved tremendous success at UNCG. The Department of Biology, UNCG NSF STAMPS program, and NIH Marc-U Star programs, both of which Caroline was a scholar, and her participation in NSF supported Research Experience for Undergraduates at Rochester University and subsequent research at Wake Forest University in Optics Sciences provided support for her to achieve her dream of admission to a medical program. She is also featured by UNCG News in an interview about her experience in research. She will be attending one of the premier Optics science MD/Ph.D. programs in the country at University of Utah this fall.
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| Congratulations, graduates!
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Gifts of any size help enrich our department's student research, travel, conference participation, and research supplies.
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