I grew up in Illinois (northwest of Chicago) and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in both biology and chemistry from Monmouth College (Monmouth, IL). I received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Dartmouth Medical School (Hanover, NH), investigating the frequency locus of the bread mold (fungus) Neurospora crassa and the role that the large frequency gene has in circadian rhythms in this model system and also characterized the small frequency gene which appears to encode a spliced, non-coding RNA. I attended Rice University (Houston, TX) for my postdoctoral position with Dr. Janet Braam. We investigated the expression, localization and possible function of calmodulin-related genes in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. I taught as a sabbatical replacement faculty member for three years at Colby College (Waterville, ME) in the areas of genetics, molecular genetics, cell biology and plant development. At Colby College I began my collaboration with Dr. Frank Fekete on the identification and characterization of mercury resistant bacteria in the environment. I have been teaching at Bradley University since the fall of 2002.

Molecules to Cells, biology, chemistry, genetics, plant development and Biotechnology