Dr. Jennifer Manilay
Professor and Department Chair, Molecular and Cell Biology
Program Director, HHMI Inclusive Excellence in Schience Education Grant GT11066
Email: jmanilay@ucmerced.edu
Over my career, I’ve intentionally sought to expand my knowledge base in diverse research areas related to immunology, hematology, developmental biology and stem cell biology. Since 2012, I have established myself as an investigator of “osteoimmunology,” analyzing the molecular and cellular interactions between the skeletal and immune systems. In addition to my research, I enjoy teaching and experimenting with modern teaching approaches. Currently, I am the Program Director of UC Merced’s HHMI Inclusive Excellence in Science Education projects.
Dr. Laura Beaster-Jones
Associate Teaching Professor of Molecular Cell Biology
Email: lbeaster-jones@ucmerced.edu
I am trained as a developmental biologist studying developmental gene regulation, patterning, and the evolution of segmentation in chordates. My current research focuses on pedagogy and student learning, in particular investigating student self-efficacy, values, sense of belonging, and metacognition.
Dr. Marcos Garcia-Ojeda
Associate Teaching Professor of Biology
President Elect, Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER)
Email: mgarcia-ojeda@ucmerced.edu
I have been at UC Merced since 2006, when I was hired as founding faculty in the Biology Program. I have experience developing and implementing novel and effective teaching methodologies designed to improve student compression and mastery of class material. I have been flipping my upper division biology courses since Fall 2014. The first course I flipped was The Cell (Bio110), an upper division cell biology course required of all biology majors. This was extremely successful and in Fall 2015, I began teaching General Microbiology (Bio120) using flipped pedagogy. I created student-centered active learning activities that promote critical thinking, problem solving and group work. In my courses, I use clicker technology to assess student’s understanding of the material via in class questions. Also, quizzes are administered in lecture using clickers. I am currently teaching Bio120 in the Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL) Lab, taking advantage of the room’s technological tools to enhance group work activities, effective delivery of course content as well as in depth comprehension of concepts. Together, these innovations in the classroom translated to increase student performance and understanding of the material.
As the former Biology Major Faculty Assessment Organizer, I’m intimately familiar with the biology major’s programmatic learning outcomes, their core competencies, and how to assess them effectively. This has influenced the way in which I carry out my own course assessment, focusing on mastery of global concepts. With these in mind, I create assessment questions and exercises that span high Bloom’s taxonomy levels.
Previous Core Team Members
Dr. Petra Kranzfelder
Assistant Teaching Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Email: pkranzfelder@ucmerced.edu
I was trained as both an entomologist studying impacts of coastal watershed land use on aquatic insect communities of estuaries in Costa Rica and a discipline-based education researcher studying student-instructor interactions and classroom discourse in active learning classrooms. My current research focuses on how to improve STEM education at the undergraduate level.
Dr. James Zimmerman
Senior Associate Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraducate Education
Director, Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning
Email: jzimmerman6@ucmerced.edu
I am a nuclear scientist with a long interest in learning and teaching issues. I have led faculty professional development activities at the local, national, and international level. These activities have included the design of assessment protocols for multi-institution projects, SoTL/DBER Teaching Fellowship programs, and the mentoring of university and college faculty team projects designed to improve college learning environments with an emphasis on addressing issues that often discourage women and minorities from pursuing study in the sciences or mathematics.
With Support From
Dean Betsy Dumont
Dean, School of Natural Sciences
Email: edumont@ucmerced.edu
Elizabeth (Betsy) Dumont joined UC Merced as Dean of the School of Natural Sciences in August 2017 and is a Professor in the Life and Environmental Sciences department.
Previously, she served as vice provost for academic affairs and professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Dumont's current research is focused on the morphology and diversification of vertebrates, with current grants to study the biomechanics of shark jaws and the evolution of sensory structures in bats.
Dumont received her bachelor's degree with honors in anthropology from the Indiana University Bloomington and her Ph.D. in physical anthropology from Stony Brook University in New York.
