Skip to Main Content

Department of Biological Sciences College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics

Meet Us

Department Leadership

Susanne Lindgren

Chair & Professor

Photo of Susanne Lindgren
  • Specialty & Interests: Microbiology, Prevalence and Pathogenic Mechanisms of Salmonella and E.coli, Vaccine Development, and Biosource Tracking of Bacterial Contaminents in Water

Robin Altman

Assistant Chair & Associate Professor

Photo of Robin Altman
  • Specialty & Interests: Cardiovascular Physiology, Blood-Brain Barrier, Alzheimer's Disease, Cognitive Dysfunction

Robert Crawford

Graduate Coordinator & Professor

Photo of Robert Crawford
  • Specialty & Interests: Tales From the Microbe-Host Interface

Full-Time Faculty

Evangeline Ballerini

Assistant Professor

Photo of Evangeline Ballerini

Jim Baxter

Professor

Photo of Jim Baxter
  • Specialty & Interests: Plant-Mycorrhizal Interactions, Community Ecology, Biodiversity

Ron Coleman

Professor

Photo of Ron Coleman
  • Specialty & Interests: Evolutionary Ecology, Behavior, Fishes, Amphibians, Reptiles, Fisheries, Conservation

Clint Collins

Assistant Professor

Photo of Clint Collins
  • Specialty & Interests: functional morphology of vertebrates and movement ecology

Tim Davidson

Associate Professor

Photo of Tim Davidson
  • Specialty & Interests: Marine Ecology, Invasive Species, Environmental Science, Biological Conservation

Arik Davidyan

Assistant Professor

Photo of Arik Davidyan
  • Specialty & Interests: Biology Education, Diversity Equity and Inclusion in STEM Education, Exercise and Stress Physiology, Science Communication

Anna Doty

Assistant Professor

Photo of Anna Doty
  • Specialty & Interests: Ecophysiology, Ecology, Mammalogy, Conservation physiology

Jonathan Gilkerson

Assistant Professor

Photo of Jonathan Gilkerson
  • Specialty & Interests: Plant Physiology, Arabidopsis thaliana, Physcomitrella patens, Cell Signaling, Abiotic and Biotic Stress

Lani Gleason

Associate Professor

Photo of Lani Gleason
  • Specialty & Interests: Ecological & Evolutionary Genomics, Molecular Ecology, Ecophysiology, Marine Biology

Enid Gonzalez-Orta

Professor & SEE Director

Photo of Enid Gonzalez-Orta
  • Specialty & Interests: microbial ecology and plant-bacterial interactions

Brett Holland

Professor

Photo of Brett Holland
  • Specialty & Interests: Experimental Evolution, Evolutionary Genetics, Sexual Selection, Social Behavior (BIO 20)

Christine Kirvan

Professor

Photo of Christine Kirvan
  • Specialty & Interests: Infectious Disease, Autoimmunity, and Molecular Mimicry

Jamie Kneitel

Professor

Photo of Jamie Kneitel
  • Specialty & Interests: Community Ecology, Seasonal Wetlands, Disturbance Ecology, Spatial Ecology, Conservation Biology

Marina LaForgia

Assistant Professor

Photo of Marina LaForgia
  • Specialty & Interests: community ecology, plant ecology, seed banks, functional traits, temporal variability, climate change, invasive species, grasslands

Chris Lopez

Assistant Professor

Photo of Chris Lopez
  • Specialty & Interests: Microbiology; pathogenic bacteria; host-microbiota interactions; food microbiology

Jennifer Lundmark

Professor

Photo of Jennifer Lundmark
  • Specialty & Interests: Cardiovascular Physiology; Northmanology

Kelly McDonald

Professor & CSMS Director (on sabbatical 2023-24)

Photo of Kelly McDonald
  • Specialty & Interests: Biology Education, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Biotechnology and Bioinformatics

Joya Mukerji

Assistant Professor

Photo of Joya Mukerji
  • Specialty & Interests: Inclusive STEM Success, Biology Education, Molecular & Cellular Biology / Virology, CUREs (course-based undergraduate research experiences)

Kimberly Mulligan

Associate Professor

Photo of Kimberly Mulligan
  • Specialty & Interests: Molecular and Cellular Biology, Cell to Cell Communication, Neurodevelopment and Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Hao Nguyen

Professor

Photo of Hao Nguyen
  • Specialty & Interests: Cell and Molecular Biology; Colon Carcinogenesis

Erin Olsan

Assistant Professor

Photo of Erin Olsan
  • Specialty & Interests: Molecular and Cellular Biology, Microbiology, Host-Microbiota Interactions

Tom Peavy

Professor

Photo of Tom Peavy
  • Specialty & Interests: Molecular Genetics

Andrew (Drew) Reams

Associate Professor

Photo of Andrew (Drew) Reams
  • Location: TSC 4007
  • Phone: (916) 278-7678
  • Website
  • Specialty & Interests: Genetics, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Cancer Genetics, Experimental Evolution

Adam Rechs

Professor

Photo of Adam Rechs
  • Specialty & Interests: Neurophysiology, Digestive Physiology

Rosalee Sprowls

Professor (FERP)

Photo of Rosalee Sprowls
  • Specialty & Interests: Human Anatomy, Neuroscience, Electron Microscopy

Clayton Visger

Associate Professor

Photo of Clayton Visger
  • Specialty & Interests: Evolution, Bioinformatics, Genomics, Ecological Modeling

Michael Wright

Associate Professor

Photo of Michael Wright
  • Specialty & Interests: Cellular Neuroscience, Motor Pattern Generation

Part-Time Faculty

Ruth Ballard

Photo of Ruth Ballard
  • Specialty & Interests: Human Molecular Genetics, DNA Forensics

Mike Baad

Photo of Mike Baad

Christine Bendorf

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.
  • Location: TSC 3001
  • Phone: (916) 278-6125
  • Specialty & Interests: Genetics

Larissa Eiselein

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.
  • Location: TSC 4001
  • Phone: (916) 278-2818

Alan Ernst

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.

Patrick Foley

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.

Lee Kavaljian

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.

Christina Strandgaard

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.

Rob Titus

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.
  • Specialty & Interests: California Fish & Game Liason

Marcie Woolsey

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.

Semarhy Quiñones-Soto

Photo of Semarhy Quiñones-Soto

Cathy Ishikawa

Photo of Cathy Ishikawa
  • Specialty & Interests: Biology Education, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in STEM Education, Ecology

Staff

Nancy Angell

Administrative Support to the Chair

Photo of Nancy Angell
  • Specialty & Interests: Administrative Support to the Chair

Nancy Burford 

IST-II - Microbiology

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.
  • Specialty & Interests: IST-II - Microbiology

Don Thompson

IST II - Genetics/Microscopy

Photo of Don Thompson
  • Specialty & Interests: Genetics & Microscopy

Anna Lopez

ASA II

Photo of Anna Lopez
  • Specialty & Interests: Administrative Support Assistant II

Laura Zamora

ASA II & Graduate Secretary

Photo of Laura Zamora
  • Specialty & Interests: Administrative Support Assistant II

Samuel Curtis

IST II - Vivarium

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.
  • Specialty & Interests: Organismal Biology & Live Collections

Daniel Pfarr

IST II- Greenhouse

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.
  • Specialty & Interests: Botany

Douglas Whited

IST II- Stockroom

Photo of Douglas Whited
  • Specialty & Interests: Stockroom

Caity Fox

IST-II - Cell/Molecular

Photo of Caity Fox
  • Specialty & Interests: IST-II - Cell/Molecular

Michael Eisner 

ISA II - Stockroom

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.
  • Specialty & Interests: ISA II - Stockroom

Mikey Davila

IST II - Anatomy/Physiology

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.
  • Specialty & Interests: Anatomy/Physiology

Michael (Squid) Almazan 

IST II- Organismal Biology

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.
  • Specialty & Interests: Organismal Biology/Ecology

Emeritus

Mike Baad

Photo of Mike Baad
  • Specialty & Interests: Plant Taxonomy, Ecology, Biosystematics

William Avery

Professor (Retired)

Photo of William Avery
  • Specialty & Interests: Community Ecology, Marine Ecology, Invertebrates, and Paleontology

Lee Kavaljian

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.
  • Specialty & Interests: Botany

Tom Landerholm

Professor (In memoriam)

Photo of Tom Landerholm
  • Specialty & Interests: Cell and Developmental Biology

Nick Ewing

Place holder image for faculty/staff member.
  • Specialty & Interests: Plant Molecular Biology
Total Members: 59