Marion Field Fass, Professor and Chair of the Biology Department and Chair of the Health and Society Program  (www.beloit.edu/health). 
B.A., University of Pennsylvania; Sc.D., Johns Hopkins University

Office: Center for the Sciences 338
Phone: 608 363-2784
Email: fassm@beloit.edu

Marion Field Fass is interested in the intersection of individual biological, public health, sustainability, and environmental factors that lead to the emergence of new diseases.  She has engaged with the interdisciplinary perspectives necessary to understand these relationships, and the opportunities to build curricula for undergraduate students that combine scientific investigations with social and cultural understanding and that motivate students to work for social justice.  Her research has focused on the measurement of community health needs and on methods of assessment of student learning.  Her courses include Human Biology, Microbiology, Emerging Diseases, Global Health, and a first-year course on Slow Food (Beloit College Magazine, Summer 2008).

Demetrius (Micho) Gravis, Assistant Professor of Biology
B.A., Western State College of Colorado, Ph.D., University of Iowa

Office: Center for the Sciences 334
Phone: 608 363-2367
Email: gravisd@beloit.edu

Demetrius (Micho) Gravis teaches courses in molecular biology, cell biology, and immunology and conducts research in these areas as well.  His primary research interests focus on the molecular mechanisms of cell signaling (signal transduction) and gene expression in leukocytes, the cells of the immune system.  He uses the tools of molecular genetics, cell biology, biochemistry, and pharmacology to examine how leukocytes are activated to respond to infection, the process of cell signaling and chemotherapy response in cancer cells, and how extracellular and intracellular signals regulate cell growth and cell death.  He routinely works with students on his own research projects, promotes student research opportunities on and off campus as Director of the Biomedical Research Scholars Program, and serves as Chair of the Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC).

Yaffa L. Grossman, Professor of Biology
B.A., Amherst College, M.S., University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Ph.D., University of California, Davis

Office: Center for the Sciences 332
Phone: 608 363-2219
Email: grossman@beloit.edu

Yaffa Grossman is a physiological plant ecologist with research interests in plant carbon allocation, growth analysis, modeling, and sustainability. She is beginning to explore restoration ecology in the urban context. She has strong interests in interdisciplinary education, has chaired the Environmental Studies program at Beloit, and is the Director of Beloit College Sustainability Fellows Program.  She teaches Botany, Biometrics, Environmental Biology, and Ecology, and topics courses in physiological plant ecology, conservation biology, environmental sustainability, and environment and society.

Kathryn Johnson, Assistant Professor of Biology
B.S., Beloit College, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University

Office: Center for the Sciences 333
Phone: 608 363-2429
Email: johnsonkms@beloit.edu

Kathryn Johnson is a physiologist who specializes in human and animal physiology.  Her academic interests are diabetes and obesity and their effects on body function.  Her research focuses on the physiological mechanisms of novel diabetes therapies and alterations in cortisol levels in humans.  Student involvement is an essential part of her research, and she is always interesting in talking to potential student researchers.  She also is an avid sports fan, and may often be found in the gym or on the field participating or volunteering, and, of course, supporting Buccaneer athletics.  Off campus, you may find her riding and showing her horse at a local dressage farm.  She teaches Human Biology, Zoology, Human Anatomy and Physiology, and Neurobiology.

John R. Jungck, Professor of Biology and Mead Family Professor of Sciences
B.S., M.S., University of Minnesota; Ph.D., University of Miami

Office: Center for the Sciences 336
Phone: 608 363-2267
Email: jungck@beloit.edu

John Jungck has specialized in mathematical molecular evolution, history and philosophy of biology, and science education reform. In 1986, he co-founded the BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium, a national consortium of college and university biology educators devoted to curricular reform across the nation. It promotes quantitative, open-ended problem solving, collaborative learning, peer review, research, and civic engagement/social responsibility. He is a Fulbright Scholar (Thailand), a Mina Shaughnessy Scholar, a Fellow of the National Institute of Science Education, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  He teaches Genetics, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Evolution and topics courses on bioinformatics, Darwin, and science and culture. 

Carol Mankiewicz, Professor of Biology and Geology
B.S., M.S., University of California-Los Angeles, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison

Office: Center for the Sciences 337
Phone: 608 363-2371
Email: mankiewi@beloit.edu

Carol Mankiewicz is interested in the interactions of organisms with their physical environment. The organisms that fascinate her the most are those that have the potential to be fossilized; these organisms either have hard parts such as shells or they have some behavior such as making burrows in the sediment that can be preserved. She focuses on organisms that live in aquatic, particularly shallow-marine, systems, and studies both modern systems and their ancient counterparts preserved in the rock record. She teaches Marine Biology, Environmental Biology, and Sedimentology, and topics courses on water, estuaries, paleoclimate, soils, and the natural history of South America. 

Ken Yasukawa, Professor of Biology
B.S., State University of New York-Stony Brook, M.A., Ph.D., Indiana University

Office: Center for the Sciences 335
Phone: 608 363-2314
Email: yasukawa@beloit.edu

Ken Yasukawa is a behavioral ecologist, meaning that he studies the way that an animal's behavior affects its interactions with the environment.  His research focuses on the reproductive behavior and ecology of birds, especially the Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus). He is also a field biologist because he studies birds in the wild, primarily at the Newark Road Prairie, which is about 8 miles from the Beloit College campus. Many of his research projects have been conducted with students and presented at national professional meetings or published in primary biological journals. He is also interested in improving science education, from elementary school through college. He teaches Zoology, Biometrics, Population Biology, and Animal Behavior, and topics courses in animal cognition and game theory. 

Amy Briggs, Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology
B.A., Lawrence University, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison

Office: Center for the Sciences 331
Phone: 608 363-2349
Email: briggsa@beloit.edu

Amy Briggs is a molecular biologist specializing in plant pathology. She uses biochemistry, microscopy, bioinformatics, molecular biology, and genetics techniques to study the molecular mechanisms by which the plant Arabidopsis thaliana responds to bacterial and fungal infections. Outside of the classroom and laboratory, Amy is an avid science fiction reader, gardener, and seamstress. She teaches Human Biology, Microbiology, and Emerging Diseases.