The STEM Education Laboratory’s main areas of research include instructor and Learning Assistant (LA; peer undergraduate instructor) professional development and LA impacts, applied programming experiences in biology, student conceptual understanding and problem solving in biology, and practices that support an inclusive science community.

The Benedict laboratory studies how birds communicate and interact, exploring evolution and social behavior through field and lab research.

The Burns laboratory studies how natural chemicals in the body affect reproductive health. The lab also examines how fish oil affects the outer layers of cells and how cells communicate with each other.

The DeKrey laboratory studies how drugs, foods, and harmful substances affect the immune system and the body’s ability to fight disease, with a focus on intestinal immunity.

The Franklin laboratory studies plant communities and their responses to flood and fire.

The Gomez laboratory studies how soil fungi, plant roots, and insects affect one another. Researchers aim to improve plant growth by supporting helpful relationships between fungi and roots while limiting insect damage.

The Han laboratory studies how behaviors and lifestyle choices may contribute to diseases like cancer, focusing on what happens at the molecular level in the liver.

The Haughian laboratory investigates how cancer cells grow and function to help develop better treatments for cancer.

The Holt laboratory explores two areas of research: biology education and ecology. Researchers study how students learn biology and understand climate change, as well as how environmental disturbances affect lichen communities.

The James laboratory studies how cells move and join together to form tissues, using zebrafish eye development to understand the process.

The Leatherman laboratory investigates how the cells around adult stem cells affect their growth and function, using fruit flies to uncover how stem cells work.

The Mackessy laboratory studies snakes and their venom.  Engage yourself in the variances between different types of reptile venoms while exploring potential new poison compositions and structures.

The McGlaughlin laboratory explores the genetic diversity of rare and endangered plants to uncover how new species develop and help protect plant diversity.

The Pullen laboratory explores how inflammation shapes the immune system’s response to cancer and other diseases, with the goal of better understanding how the body fights illness.

(More information coming soon)