Faculty
OEB brings together more than 75 faculty, providing critical mass needed for effective graduate training. Our faculty are drawn from 10 departments at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and from across the Five College System (Amherst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke, and Smith Colleges), as well as from off-campus institutions. OEB faculty are engaged in cutting edge research, with research clusters in four broad areas:
Animal Behavior
Behavioral ecology, communication, learning
Ecology
Community ecology, population ecology, landscape ecology, conservation biology
Evolutionary Biology
Evolution, phylogenetics, population genetics, molecular evolution
Organismal Biology
Physiology, morphology, paleontology
All OEB faculty are listed below. To help applicants to our graduate program locate a faculty sponsor, the faculty list can be filtered by four broad research areas. A list of faculty who are activiely seeking graduate students can be found HERE
Name | Research Interests |
---|---|
R. Craig Albertson Professor of Biology, University of Massachusetts |
Evolutionary Developmental Biology |
Tobias Baskin Professor, Biology |
Regulation of Plant Morphogenesis During Growth & Development |
Annaliese Beery Associate Professor, Departments of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Biology, Smith College |
Neuroendocrinology of social behavior |
Jesse Bellemare Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Smith College |
Plant ecology, biogeography and evolution |
Eric L. Bittman Professor Emeritus, Department of Biology |
Circadian Rhythms, Reproduction, and Seasonal Changes in Brain Function |
John P. Buonaccorsi Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Statistics |
Statistical theory, methods and applcations, Quantitative ecology |
Andy J. Danylchuk Associate Professor of Environmental Conservation |
Fish conservation, recreational fisheries, sustainable aquaculture |
Kristen M DeAngelis Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology |
Community ecology and physiology of soil microbes, climate change, plant-soil interactions |
Graziella V. DiRenzo Adjunct Assistant Professor Department of Environmental Conservation Assistant Unit Leader of Wildlife U. S. Geological Survey MA Cooperative Research Unit |
Quantitative ecology, population dynamics, applied ecology |
Lillian Fritz–Laylin Associate Professor of Biology |
Quantitative Evolutionary Cell Biology |
Alexander R. Gerson Assistant Professor, Biology |
Integrative ecological physiology of birds, energetics, water balance, bird migration |
Cynthia Gill Associate Professor of Natural Sciences, Hampshire College |
Human and comparative physiology, neuroscience, endocrinology, herpetology, conservation biology, and behavioral biology |
Gary B. Gillis Norman Wait Harris and Emma Gale Harris Foundation Professor of Biological Sciences; Associate Dean of Faculty; Director of the Science Center, Mount Holyoke College |
Biomechanics and neuromuscular control of vertebrate locomotion |
Barry Goodell Research Professor, Department of Microbiology |
Fungal biochemical mechanisms involved in human disease, and also involved in the degradation of lignocellulose biomass and xenobiotics |
Steven Goodwin Deputy Chancellor and Chief Planning Officer; Professor of Microbiology |
|
Rachel Hestrin Assistant Professor, Stockbridge School of Agriculture |
Plant-microbe interactions, biogeochemistry, ecosystem response to change, sustainable agriculture |
Brigitte M. Holt Associate Professor of Anthropology |
Biocultural evolution of the genus Homo, functional morphology and biomechanics of the appendicular skeleton, paleoecology, forager ecology, Old World prehistory, Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene ecology, bone mass and physical activity. |
Abigail Jensen Associate Professor, Department of Biology |
Molecular and cellular mechanisms of vertebrate retinal development and retinal disease. |
Ilia Karatsoreos Associate Professor, Psychological and Brain Sciences |
The general research objective in our lab is to understand the neural and physiological systems that the brain and body use to protect us from harm and adapt to changes in the environment. We focus on biological rhythms, stress, immunology, and metabolism |
Rolf O. Karlstrom Professor, Department of Biology |
Developmental neurobiology; axon guidance and forebrain patterning |
Paul S. Katz Director of Neuroscience and Professor of Biology |
Neuroethology, central pattern generators, single neuron RNA-seq, developmental neuroscience, evolution of neural circuits, molluscan systems
|
Diane A. Kelly Senior Research Fellow, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences |
Neurobiology, biomechanics, and evolution of reproductive systems. |
Jane Kent Professor, Department of Kinesiology |
Quantifying age, gender, and activity based changes in human skeletal muscle function. Measuring the roles of neural activation, intramuscular metabolism, contractile function and blood flow in the development of muscle fatigue in a variety of populations. |
Michael L. Lavine Emeritus Professor, Mathematics and Statistics |
Statistical Theory and Methods |
R. Mark Leckie Professor and Department Head, Geosciences |
Micropaleontology, Biostratigraphy, Paleoceanography |
Stephen D. McCormick Adjunct Professor of Biology Research Physiologist, Conte Anadromous Fish Lab |
Environmental Physiology of Fish |
Jeffrey E. Podos Professor, Department of Biology |
Mechanisms and evolution of vertebrate behavior, bioacoustics |
Luke Remage–Healey Program Leader / GPD of Neuroscience and Behavior Program; Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences |
Neural basis of behavior |
Alan M. Richmond Lecturer in Biology Curator of Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles , NaturalHistory Collections |
Phylogeography of New England amphibians and reptiles |
Allison H. Roy Research Associate Professor of Environmental Conservation |
Freshwater ecology, fish and macroinvertebrates, urban ecology, conservation |
Paul R Sievert Research Associate Professor of Environmental Conservation |
Conservation biology, physiological ecology and biostatistics |
L. David Smith Professor of Biological Sciences, Smith College Director of the Environmental Science and Policy Program |
Ecology and evolution of marine predator-prey interactions |
Michelle Staudinger Adjunct Assistant Professor, Environmental Conservation Science Coordinator, DOI Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center |
Climate change impacts on coastal biodiversity and trophic relationships |
John Stoffolano Professor, Stockbridge School of Agriculture |
Behavior and physiology of flies especially of the adult crop organ and the mechanisms regulating filling and depletion |
Tammy L. Wilson Research Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Conservation USGS Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Assistant Unit Leader |
Landscape ecology, spatial ecology, wildlife conservation and management, structured decision-making |