Marietta College Biology Department Home Page

Biology and Environmental Science

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Biology at Marietta College is your gateway to many exciting educational opportunities. Our department emphasizes small classes with plenty of opportunity to interact with the faculty. From Anatomy to Immunology and on to Zoology, our courses cover the traditional areas of biology as well as the newest areas of research.

We are particularly excited about our facilities in the Rickey Science Center, opened in the spring of 2003. Click here for a tour of our facilities in the Rickey Science Center. All of our laboratories and equipment are available to students. Many of our courses emphasize field trips to the local natural areas along the Ohio River.

We have placed a lot of material on our web site for the use of our students and anyone else who is interested. You can access the material from the menu at the left.

News:

On October 4th, 2008, a group of 10 students went to Cleveland to see the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

Left, the group hears about a mastodon skull from Brian Redmond, Curator of Archaeology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. In addition to seeing the displays in the galleries, the group was able to see the wild animals in the Perkins Wildlife Center and tour some of the research spaces in the museum.

Right, the group at the rainforest exhibit of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. It was a beautiful fall day and we had almost 4 hours at the zoo - not enough time to see the whole zoo, but enough time to see quite a bit. Most of the students were from Dr. McShaffrey's zoology class.

Keira Hambrick (below left) and Melissa Browne (below right) received Investigative Summer Grants to pursue research projects. On September 25th they presented the results of their summer work at the Fall Investigative Studies Symposium. Melissa's project was "The Impact of a High Fat Diet on Ostearthritis in C57/BL6 Mice ", with faculty mentor Dr. Steve Spilatro. Keira's project was titled "The Effects of Manganese Concentrations on the Survival and Development of Larval Grass Shrimp (Palaemonetes kadiakensis) ", faculty mentor Dr. Dave McShaffrey. Congratulations to both Melissa and Keira!

Photos by Grace Johnson

Fall classes are in full swing. Below, students in Cell Biology look on as Dr. Spilatro explains a procedure; right the Zoology class spending an afternoon along (and in) the Little Muskingum River at the Barbara A. Beiser Field Station.

	The Department of Biology and Environmental Science welcomes 2 new faculty members:
	Jennifer Hancock comes to us from Ohio University, where she conducted research on movement in birds and will be completing her PhD. She will be teaching anatomy and physiology in both the Biology and Environmental Science Department and for the Physician's Assistant Program, as well as Human Anatomy for the Sports Medicine Department.	Dr. Katrina Lustofin comes to Marietta from Washington College in Maryland. Her PhD is from the University of Illinois where she worked on toxicology of plant chemicals on various animal models. She will be teaching general biology and advanced courses in developmental biology.


	Road construction at the Barbara A. Beiser Field station is ahead of schedule and should be ready for students early in the fall semester. Fall 2007 marked the opening of the Barbara A. Beiser Field Station. The first class was on site and conducting field work September 4th, 2007. Dedication of the station, made possible by the generosity of Ralph Voorhees and dedicated to the memory of his wife, Barbara A. Beiser Voorhees, was held on September 15th, 2007. Ralph Voorhees with his nephew Dave Sands, a Marietta College graduate, at the dedication.	Above/below: Pictures of the road construction. Overall road length is almost 4/10ths of a mile. When complete, the road will allow college vehicles to drive to the college property in the middle of the larger Barbara A. Beiser Nature Preserve. Marietta College manages the nature preserve for the Friends of Lower Muskingum River, a land conservancy organization. The two properties together comprise the Barbara A. Beiser Field Station.