
Kaia Doan and Olivia Brech are working with Professor Carrie Woods, as part of their summer research program, and are testing the heterogeneity hypothesis in the intertidal zone at Tongue Point in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. They are examining habitat associations of intertidal species to particular substrate types and whether rugosity is an adequate measure of habitat heterogeneity. Their research is an extension of an Independent Project in Ecology in fall 2022. Brech and Doan are so committed to their research! They camped for 2.5 weeks straight to collect their data, and are among the nearly 100 students participating in Puget Sound's long running summer research program.
The Department of Biology wishes to acknowledge a heartfelt congratulations to the graduating class of 2023! You have completed one of the stepping stones on your life journey. Now, on to the next stone.
Watch and listen to this marvelous biological environment that surrounds you, that is you, and continue to learn from it. Now is the time to use your education and the skills you've learned here at the University of Puget Sound to push the boundaries of the known, explore the unknown, and make the discoveries that will help our planet become a better place.
We have been a family and a community these last four years. And although our bittersweet parting will be replaced with cherished memories, we are excited to share all that you will accomplish in the future. So please stay in contact with us.
To the graduating class of 2023, the faculty and staff of the Department of Biology would like to send a very heartfelt congratulations! You made it! Thank you for all of your hard work and contributions that have made our biology family and community such a success. You will be missed, we assure you. Graduation is an important moment. But, as all endings do, it signifies a new beginning. Graduation is not the end goal in itself, but it is instead a stepping stone along the larger journey on the road of your life. We hope that all of your future aspirations and dreams in life are reached.
Please stay in touch and send us updates as you travel down that road. We love hearing from our alumni!
This award is given to the student considered to be the outstanding senior in biology based on a combination of scholarship, research, and service to the department & community.
Winners:
This award is given to the graduating student who has demonstrated exceptional research dedication and engagement.
Winners:
This award is given to the graduate who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to service to the Biology Department and the broader community during their time at the University of Puget Sound.
Winner:
This award is given in recognition of an outstanding oral presentation describing excellent biological research at the Phi Sigma Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Winner:
Given to the students who have demonstrated outstanding dedication and talent for helping other students to learn and appreciate the science of biology during their service as an Instructor Assistant.
Winners:
Awarded by the university to degree candidates who have exhibited academic excellence and breadth of scholarly achievement and who have a GPA of 3.7 or higher.
Winners:
These graduates are selected by the biology department based on their research, GPA, and contribution to the University. Only 10% of the graduating seniors can receive departmental honors. The award is noted on their transcripts and in the commencement program.
Winners:
A self-professed "outdoor bum," Peter Hodum, professor of biology and environmental policy and decision making, spends his non-teaching days by the sea studying birds. Seabirds were a passion he discovered as a first-year student doing summer research at Bowdoin College. That opportunity was "revelatory and transformative," he says. Now, his research centers on seabird conservation, specifically community-based conservation – an approach that centers local communities in the work.
The Department of Biology is thrilled to announce that Dr. Katherine Crocker will be joining us as a tenure-line Assistant Professor this fall. Katherine is an interdisciplinary biologist studying how the environmental conditions experienced by an individual affect the health and phenotype of their *descendants*. These transgenerational effects of environmental stress are fascinating, and we can't wait to learn more about them from Katherine and their future.
Rose Marie Leslie '12 has a real passion for providing care and health education to patients of all ages, and she is making a difference by helping slow the spread of health misinformation by using TikTok. After graduating from the University of Puget Sound with a B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology and a minor in Spanish, Leslie attended medical school at the University of Minnesota and started posting a "Daily Doctor Fact" on TikTok. In late 2019 she posted about vaping which got a big enough response that Rolling Stone magazine, Good Morning America, and others did stores about her! Leslie is now a primary care doctor at Allina Health in Faribault, MN and continues to be active on TikTok.
Scientists are puzzled by the amount of methane in the ocean, so Clarissa Troutman '22, who has a molecular and cellular biology major, is looking for answers. Troutman was digging into the so-called "marine methane paradox" during the summer of 2021 alongside her faculty advisor, Professor Oscar Sosa. She collected samples of seawater and plankton from Commencement Bay, enriched them in the lab, and then measured their methane concentration. Her research is helping scientists understand the role of plankton in the global carbon cycle.
The fruit in the field and greenhouse are now ripening quickly all at once. We have dozens of different genotypes of new light receptor gene combinations that we have bred using Mendelian genetics and are isolating using molecular genotyping. After a 2-hour treatment with dilute hydrochloric acid to mimic passage through the stomach of a seed disperser the seeds are dried (photo on the right) before they are used for phenotypic experiments or for growing, crossing, and segregation in the next generation
![]() |
![]() |
On the rooftop of Thompson Hall, a figure emerges in a full beekeeper suit, a head-to-toe covering including a white jumpsuit, a wide-brimmed hat with a mesh face veil, and thick protective gloves. Carefully, he approaches the hive, a five-foot-tall stack of wooden boxes located behind a greenhouse near the edge of the roof. Adam Schmidt ’23, the molecular and cellular biology major inside the suit, isn’t interested in the colony of several thousand bees for their honey—he wants to study their brains in an attempt to understand the progression of neurodegenerative diseases in humans.
![]() |
![]() |
Photos by Sy Bean
NSF awarded a Research Experience for Post-Bac Students (REPS) supplement to Sam Barnwell and the Madlung lab! This supplement is specifically for recently graduated students who missed out on a research experience due to COVID-19 during their time in college. The supplement pays 12 months of salary for the post-bac for doing full-time research in an NSF-supported lab. Sam started with us last week and already got her first batch of DNA sequencing results back last Friday. Congratulations on the NSF award and welcome to the lab, Sam, we are glad you are here! |
![]() |
![]() |
This September, summer research students from all across campus gathered together for the Summer Quest Symposium where they presented their research to the campus community. It was inspiring to see so much incredible, student-driven research. Biology had 23 students presenting at the conference and they all did great
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Peter was awarded the Walter Lowrie Sustained Service Award for his incredible service to the Puget Sound community. A stalwart champion of interdisciplinary thinking and experiential learning, Peter has helped build institutional programs that make a Puget Sound education distinctive. From expanding the community engagement focus on the Slater Museum of Natural History, to developing what has become the Environmental Policy & Decision-Making Program, to his innovative inter-institutional and international teaching, Peter’s work is felt across campus, across the community, and beyond borders. Thank you, Peter! We are so pleased you have received this awesome recognition of your work.
We are delighted to congratulate Puget Sound Biology faculty member Andreas Madlung, who has been named as a Distinguished Professor! Distinguished Professors are selected as the very top few Full Professor files read by the Faculty Advancement Committee each year. This award celebrates his exceptional teaching, research, and service to the university.
Congratulations to Peter Hodum who, not only has just received a promotion to Full Professor, but has also won the Bartanen Faculty Research. Peter has an active research lab with multiple lines of research centered around conservation biology of birds and island ecosystems, and with direct applications to boots-on-the-ground conservation work and public policy. He is a fantastic mentor to our students and a valued collaborator to local and international scientists. Just since 2019, he has contributed to 9 peer-reviewed publications, 1 book chapter, 1 state recovery plan, 1 oral conference presentation, and 1 poster conference presentation; he also has obtained $750,000+ in grant funds and written two popular articles.
Dr. Bryan Thines who was awarded tenure in May 2021! We are thrilled! Bryan is a true teacher-scholar, an excellent molecular biologist, a fearless innovator, and a fantastic mentor to our research students.