Scientist, Post-doc and Specialist Opportunities-

Our laboratory has been a nice mix of associate scientists, post-doctoral scholars, research specialists, graduate students, and undergraduates. Some of the projects are team efforts while others are being pursued by individuals.

We enjoy having scholars from diverse scientific backgrounds.

Scientist: Dr. Jadwiga Wild, Associate Scientist, Dept. of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin

Post docs: Dr. Jacek Gan, Ph.D. Immunology Department, Inst. of Pathology. Medical Academy in Gdansk, Poland. He is currently an Associate Researcher at the laboratory of Dr. Paul Sondel (U.W Medical School)

Dr. Igor Levchenko, Ph.D. Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. At present, an Associate Scientist with Dr. Tania Baker's lab at M.I.T.

Dr. Jin Feng, Ph.D. Kumamoto University, School of Medicine (with Prof. S. Hiraga). He is at NYU, position unknown.

Research Specialists: Julie Baskfield, Sheryl Rakowski, Lori Schaeffer, Andrea Dudding, Selvi Kunnimalaiy

Ph.D. and M.S. Students-

The Ph.D. and M.S. students who have been in the lab have earned degrees in the departments of Bacteriology (Microbiology since 1998) or Genetics: Stephanie Dellis, Dona York, Frank Wu, Marjeta Urh, Dongzhao Chen, Jiazhen Wu, Jianwei Wu, Ricardo Kruger, Kathleen LaPoint, Lisa Bowers (ongoing research towards Ph.D.), and Zomary Flores and Yanyu Peng (ongoing research towards M.S.)

I am also a trainer in the Training/Ph.D Program/Membership of the following: MBTG, CMB, Genetics, MD/PhD.

Our lab covers a very wide range of approaches to microbiology; from molecular biology and biochemistry to genetics and physiology. We have funds for collaborative Ph.D/M.S. projects that are at the interface of molecular microbiology, plant pathology, and veterinary and human medicine. Thus students gain a wide exposure and have the opportunity to learn many techniques and rigorous ways of thinking about science. Graduate students in the lab (Ph.D.’s) have opportunities to develop teaching skills. I am interested in new approaches to classroom teaching and enjoy working with graduate students who are Teaching Assistants for my undergraduate level Microbial Genetics course (Bacteriology 370) I’ve taught since 1994.

A typical student applies to one of the mentioned Ph.D. programs, enters in the fall and then goes through 3-4 laboratory rotations. At the end of the fall semester, the student and professor decide if their chemistries match. M.S. students can enter the program throughout the year and rotate for two three months. Typically, M.S. students do not receive financial support during their first year in the program.

Undergraduate Teaching-

While developing the Microbial Genetics course (Bacteriology 370), I kept in mind that the subject of molecular genetics is now far too advanced, large, and complex for much value to come from attempting to cover the material in an encyclopedia-like fashion or teaching the definitions of the relevant words in a dictionary-like approach. I cover the principles and encourage students to learn how to apply them. Thinking, and learning to reason from the fundamentals, require serious effort but the methodologies are more efficient and more rewarding than mere memorization.

Anyone who has done any teaching knows that you really learn a subject well when you teach it. This is because, in order to explain it to somebody else, you must first translate the information into your own symbolic code. This concept is the premise for cooperative learning. I encourage cooperative learning by creating a classroom environment that fosters dialogue between students in which key concepts are discussed and explained. This process enables students to go through the cognitive translation process that is usually reserved for instructors in traditional classrooms. Specifically, students are self-organized into groups of 3-4 and given a challenging problem to solve through intra-group interaction. I also encourage students to form study groups, extending the cooperative learning experience to out of classroom environments. Frequently, students are able to provide their peers with more effective explanations than those given by instructors. Since they have just learned the material, students are able to provide a stepwise cognitive map that is often very accessible to their peers. Cooperative learning demands a high level of accountability; students must come prepared and must be active in class.

Hands-on Undergraduate Experience-

I also foster undergraduate research experience. The following students have carried out independent research projects (Bacteriology 699) in my laboratory: Ilya Goldberg*, Kuo-Yuan Hwa, Todd Schatz*, Mike Berger, Kay Rutlin*, Cheryl Vaughan, Kristin Pederson, Brad Anderson, Adeyma Arroyo, Gwynn Daniels, Suvranu Ganguli, Rick Huspen, Jennifer Ehley*, Tim Jicinsky, Sridevi Janumapali, Craig Lasch, Brad Pietz, Sam Rothblum, Sandra Ulbrich, Doug Newton, Jennifer vanAsten, Eric Willkinson, Ryan Maus, Soraya Chaturongakul, Sara Snyder, Jennifer Klein, Jack Bork, Chris Guifore.

*publications while in lab

LAB DIRECTORY: