Faculty Research & Directory

To gain research experience, many students participate in an Independent Study course taken for academic credit during the semester or over the summer. This opportunity is arranged on an individual basis with a faculty member.

Students should browse faculty research topics and projects, listed below, to identify areas of interest and then submit an Application for Independent Study form. A faculty member will then reach out with more information such as their laboratory focus, work you may be involved in, your level of commitment, and answers to any questions.

More than half of our faculty study infectious diseases and ways to mitigate their spread. Some of the current pressing topics being explored and taught in our undergraduate and graduate programs are fighting infectious diseases, climate change resiliency, and microbial-based production processes.

Browse our faculty and sort by their research and teaching interests below:

Photo of Verena Carvalho

Lecturer

Photo of Kristen DeAngelis

Molecular Microbial Ecology

Photo of Barry Goodell

Biomass Deconstruction by Fungi; Fungal and Neurodegenerative Disease; Biomaterials Structural Durability

Photo of Erika Hamilton

Director of Microbiology Laboratory Teaching Services & Senior Lecturer II

Photo of James Holden

Physiology and ecology of hyperthermophilic archaea; Geomicrobiology of geothermal environments

Photo of Jeffrey Kane

Applied Molecular Biotechnology Advisor & Senior Lecturer

Photo of Michele Klingbeil

Parasitology, the replication and repair of mitochondrial DNA (kinetoplast DNA network) in African trypanosomes

Electromicrobiology in Biogeochemistry and Bioenergy and Biofabrication of Sustainable Electronics

Photo of Yasu Morita

Mycobacterial Pathogenesis: Glycobiology, Biochemistry, and Cell Biology

Mandy Muller

Herpesviruses, Viral-Host Interplay, RNA Biology

Photo of Klaus Nüsslein

Microbial ecology of terrestrial and subterrestrial ecosystems

Undergraduate Program Director & Senior Lecturer

Molecular Evolution and Population Genomics of Arthropod-borne Microbial Pathogens

Photo of Steven Sandler

DNA Replication, Recombination and Cell Division in E. coli

Bacterial Cell Walls

Photo of Wilmore Webley

Entry, survival, and host range of the obligate intracellular pathogens, Chlamydiaceae

Photo of Guang Xu

Research Professor