Biology Research

Faculty-Student Research in Biology

Cory Summersette and Andrea Rockel gained research experience while working on summer projects. They are presently in graduate school at East Tennessee State and Wake Forest, respectively.

Faculty maintain active research programs to provide hands-on training for students. Research areas include the fields of cytogenetics, biotechnology, environmental consulting, field biology, and landscape ecology. Students may participant in summer research projects. Research skills are also taught as part of regular course work.

Students prepare for graduate studies through rigorous course work and hands-on research inside and outside the classroom. Academic credit is available for independent projects. Over the past five years, about 15 undergraduate and graduate students have received research training while working with Scott Pearson, Alan Smith, and Jo Ann Croom.

Links to some products of faculty-student research:

Uses of Spatial Data and GIS in Western North Carolina, a website hosted by MAIN
Mapping bird habitats in the Blue Ridge Mountains
Appalachian Yellow-bellied Sapsucker research
Student summer research projects: Crystal G. Loan, Kristy L. Pyatte

Angela Hunter and Dawn Dextraze presented the findings of their research projects at the 2001 Southern Appalachian Man-and-the-Biosphere Conference.

Research and internship opportunities emerge from collaborative projects with natural resource agencies. Students have worked with agricultural, forestry, parks and wildlife agencies and non-governmental organizations such as the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition . Individual classes may assist agencies with labor intensive research needs.

A introductory biology class assisted NC Forest Service in a survey for hemlock wooly adelgids in Yancey County.

Biology Home Page
Updated 13 December 2002