OVERVIEW: General Introduction to the Department

It is now widely recognized that the Life Sciences are growing more in the 21st century than other sciences. Whether it's deciphering genomes, dealing with ecological crises, investigating life from the deepsea to rainforests, analyzing adaptations of organisms, or making medical advances, the efforts of biologists are in the news every day, widening our understanding of the natural world and human interactions and survival in that world.

Whitman Biology students (Class of '09) and faculty , May 2009

To prepare our graduates for all careers in the Life Sciences, the Biology major at Whitman College offers a well-rounded degree with coursework covering all the major areas of biology, from the molecular to the ecological. All courses are integrated with modern molecular and evolutionary concepts. The senior year requires a research thesis and comprehensive exams (click Policies and Requirements link here or above). Our students leave Whitman fully prepared to go into any biologically related graduate program, medicine and other health fields, laboratory and administrative positions at biotechnology companies, business and law school, and teaching. And they are prepared to enter the world in any other field as scientifically literate thinkers. In addition to our comprehensive Biology degree, we also offer combined degrees in other Life Science areas: Biology-Geology Biology-Environmental Studies Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology (BBMB: molecular/genomics sciences). Oceanography/Biology: joint 5-year program with University of Washington Forestry and Environmental Management: joint 5-year program with Duke University Individual students have designed their own majors in such areas as: Biology-Psychology, Astronomy-Biology, and Bioethics. SEE Policies and Requirement section for major requirements. SEE TWO YEAR PLAN for course offerings for the next two years.

Faculty and Staff -- Whitman College Biology Department. Current Chair = DELBERT HUTCHISON NOTE: to reduce spam email, *AT* has been inserted into email addresses below. REPLACE THIS with the @ symbol for emailing Kirsten Bohn, Ph.D.: Ecology; bohnk *AT*whitman.edu Heidi E. M. Dobson, Ph.D.; Professor; botany courses, plant ecology, introductory biology: dobsonhe*AT*whitman.edu Kendra Golden, Ph.D., Associate Professor; microbiology, cell biology, nutrition: golden*AT*whitman.edu SEVERINE GROH, Ph.D.: Cell biology, Intro Biology; grohsc *AT*whitman.edu Martha Holt, B.A., Department Technician / Lab Coordinator: holtma*AT*whitman.edu Delbert Hutchison, Ph.D., Associate Professor; population genetics, conservation biology, evolution: hutchidw*AT*whitman.edu DEPARTMENT CHAIR Kate Jackson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; introductory biology, vertebrate zoology, herpetology: jacksok*AT*whitman.edu ON LEAVE Spring 2012 Leena Knight, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; introductory biology, cell physiology and signaling, pathophysiology knightls*AT*whitman.edu ON LEAVE 2011-12 Thomas Knight, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; introductory biology, biostatistics, pathophysiology knightt*AT*whitman.edu ON LEAVE 2011-12 Tim Parker, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; Ecology, natural history, avian ecology: parkerth*AT*whitman.edu ON LEAVE Fall 2011 Michelle Shafer, M.S.; Lab and Imaging Coordinator for Cell and Molecular Biology: shafermr*AT*whitman.edu Daniel M. Vernon, Ph.D., Professor; molecular biology, plant developmental genetics, and genomics: vernondm*AT*whitman.edu Christopher Wallace, Ph.D., Associate Professor; introductory biology; neurobiology, developmental biology: wallaccs*AT*whitman.edu Ginger Withers, Ph.D., Associate Professor; neurobiology, developmental biology: withergs*AT*whitman.edu C. Susan Weiler, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist; phytoplankton ecology; educational/resource initiatives in aquatic and climate research: weilercs*AT*whitman.edu ON LEAVE STARTING 2009 Paul H. Yancey, Ph.D., Professor; animal physiology, marine biology, bioethics; human anatomy and physiology: yancey*AT*whitman.edu

Biology faculty with Jared Diamond, Feb. 2002. L to R: Charles Drabek, Delbert Hutchison, Ginger Withers, Kendra Golden, Jared Diamond (visiting speaker from UCLA), Heidi Dobson, Paul Yancey, Dan Vernon, Chris Wallace. Dr Diamond gave a talk on his award-winning book Guns, Germs and Steel, which all Whitman entering students read during the summer of 2002. Photo by Chris Bishop

Department Research Facilities A new wing was added in 2001-02 to the Science Building, and the old wing was renovated in 2003-04. Biology gained a new greenhouse, new teaching rooms, new stockroom, and new student-faculty research rooms. General Facilities Equipment Herbarium Greenhouse Electron Microscopy Laboratory Shell Collection REMPEL SLIDE Collection

Above: The 1981 wing of the Hall of Science with Biology on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Right: the atrium of the 2002 wing, with classrooms, displays and lounges used by all departments

• Biology Major and Combined Major Requirements
• AP Credit
• Biology Minor Requirements
• Chemistry Prerequisites for Biology Courses
• THE SENIOR YEAR: REQUIREMENTS FOR GRADUATION--Application for Candidacy; Comprehensive Exams; Thesis; Honors

What Do Our Graduates Do?

Whitman Biology graduates go on into numerous endeavors around the world. Here are examples in the last decade (NOT a complete list):

• GRADUATE SCHOOL: Gabrielle Sterne ('10)--PhD Neuroscience, U. Michigan; Ray Andrell ('07) --Biology MS program (hydrothermal vents physiology), WSU; Rose Kormanyos ('07)--Ecology PhD program, UC Davis; Dawn Holmes ('07)--Neurobiology PhD program, UC Irvine; Zachary Conroy ('07)--Pharmacology, U. Washington; Max Kaiser ('06)--Bioethics, Michigan State; Nancy Day ('05)--Neuroscience, U. Minnesota; Mike Peterson ('05)--Environmental Studies, Western Washington S.U.; Brian Emmenegger ('04)--Cell/Molecular Biology, Duke University; Nathan Thomsen ('04)--Molecular/Cell Biology, UC Berkeley; Katie Wagner ('04)--Ecology/Evolution, Cornell U.; Jeanette Fiess ('02)--Uinv. Hawai'i (Marine Zoology); Jennifer Hom ('02)--U. Rochester (Physiology); Dan Gestaut ('02)--U. Rochester (Molecular Biology)
• MEDICAL SCHOOL: Barbara Mantilla ('10)--Quito; David Shairer ('08)--Albert Einstein; Vinita Gidvani ('08)--NY Medical Coll.; Juli Armstrong ('04)--U. Washington; Robin Horak ('04)-- Jefferson U.; Laura Matsen ('04)--OHSU; Tsering Lhewa, John Houghland ('03)--U. Washington; Sarah Menashe ('02)--Jefferson Medical Coll.; Eric Schmitt ('02)--Tulane U., Md/PhD
• VETERINARY SCHOOL: Mackenzie Adams ('07)--Colorado State; Marni Hamack ('06)--WSU; Aspen Davidoff ('06)--U. Edinburgh; Laura Lambruschi ('06)--U. Illinois. Mee-Ja Sula ('03)--Cornell U.;
• DENTAL SCHOOL: Sheldon Lu ('03)--U. Pittsburg
• OTHER HEALTH-CARE: Yasmeen Al-Marrikhi ('10)--Naturopathy at Bastyr U.; Kristen Marshall ('08)--Medical Service, Mercy Ships, Sierra Leone; Allison Fairbanks ('07)--MS Public Health program, OHSU; Kyrsten Stoops ('03)--Nursing Asst., Yakima Providence Hospital; Mark Bouma ('03)--Physical Therapy program, U. Washington.
• RESEARCH: Brian Kearns ('10)--Field Technician, Prairie Research, KSU; Michell Krall ('10)--Freshwater Mussel Research, Americorps; Emily Davis ('08)--Ecological Research, OSU; Kristen Kirky ('07)--Lake and Coastal Studies, Olympic Nat'l Park; Ryan Choi ('05)--Research Asst., Northern Ariz. U.; Dan Cushing ('03)--Biology Technician, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska; Tsering Lhewa ('03)--N.I.H., Shannon Pierce ('02)--Environmental Scientist, Windward Environmental, Seattle
• OTHER BIOLOGY: Anna Stephenson, Zack Steel ('06)--Naturalists, San Juan Safaris; Vitas Wagner ('05)--North Pacific Fisheries Observer, Alaska/Seattle; Sara Hardee ('05)--Whale Watch Naturalist, San Juan Is., Washington
• PEACE CORPS: Rebecca Como ('08), Mozambique; Elizabeth Roberson ('08)--Honduras; Mo Fitz-Maurice ('05), South Africa
• TEACHING: Marie Westover ('10)--Whitman in China, Shanton U.; Kali Stoehr ('10)--Teach for America, S. Dak.; Joanne Ishikawa ('08)--English in Japan; Erin Cole ('05)--English in Japan; Rick Smith ('02)--Teaching Asst., Tropical Ecology, CIEE, Costa Rica
• FULBRIGHT FELLOWSHIP: Kristin Knight ('01)--U. Potsdam, Germany

Research for the required Senior Thesis can take many forms. Some students work with Whitman faculty on or off campus, often during the summer after their junior year. Others find qualifying projects while studying abroad during their junior year. Many students conduct research over the summer on or off campus through INTERNSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, or SCHOLARSHIPs. [Note: the terms "Fellowship" and "Scholarship" refer to intellectually-engaging research programs and usually fit our major research requirement readily; however, "Internship" refers to pre-career training, and so must include original research with intellectual engagement of the intern in order for it to qualify for our requirement.] EXAMPLES: 1. The National Science Foundation REU fellowships/internships program. 2. Internmatch, the largest internship searching company in Washington State (covers all fields, not just sciences). These internships do not automatically fit our research requirement, but often they do. 3. Whitman's Louis B. Perry Research Scholarship: designed for a faculty-student team doing collaborative summer research. 4. The Summer Whitman Internship Grant (WIG) provides funding for students to participate in unpaid summer internship experiences to which they have already been accepted. Internships must be relevant to the applicant's educational goals and career interests; these do not automatically fit our research requirement, but often they do. Examples of Whitman student research projects: Christopher Allen: Sequence Analysis of a Human Cell Division Control Gene. Laura Beaster: Oxygen evolution and quantum yield of photosystem II in Pisum sativum. Shawn Ferguson: Fecal pellet analysis for diet determination of a mixed colony of bats in Western Washington. David Holznagel: A DNA microsatellite based phylogeny of Glycine species native to Australia. Rose Hyde: Reproductive constraints: Changes in pollen viability over the flowering season in Banksia. Examples of Whitman student PRESENTATONS at (inter)national meetings (*=undergraduates): Fiess* J, Hudson* HA, Hom* JR, Kato C, and Yancey PH (2001). Phosphodiester amine, taurine and derivatives, and other osmolytes in vesicomyid bivalves from cold seeps: correlations with depth and symbiont metabolism. 2nd Internat'l Hydrothermal Vent Symposium, Brest, France. See photo, upper right. Anderson* TM, Hutchison D, and Vernon DM (2004). A possible role for RNA-mediated gene duplication in the evolution of a huge plant superfamily. American Society of Plant Biology, Orlando, FL, July 2004 [invited minisymposium talk and poster presentation] Day* NF, Talbot* E, Dobson HEM, Wallace CS, Withers GS (2005). Separating experience-expectant organization from experience-expectant plasticity in the mushroom bodies of the solitary bee Osmia lignaria. Undergraduate Poster Session, Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Washington DC, Nov. 11- 1 Laxson*, C, Condon N, Drazen J, and Yancey PH (2010). Increasing TMAO:urea ratios with depth in Chondricthyes: a physiological depth limit. 12th Internat'l Deep-Sea Biology Symp., Reykjavik, Iceland Aegerter* ER, Stoehr* KR, Bhatt* EM, Knigh LS and Knight TA (2010). Microstimulation and anterograde tracer determination of cortical and collicular projections to the oculomotor brainstem of the mouse. Society for Neuroscience abstract 676.6

Oct. 2001: 3 Whitman students present their work at the 2nd Internat'l Hydrothermal Vent Symposium, Brest, FRANCE Published: Fiess* J, Hudson* HA, Hom* JR, Kato C, and Yancey PH (2002). Phosphodiester amine, taurine and derivatives, and other osmolytes in vesicomyid bivalves from cold seeps: correlations with depth and symbiont metabolism. Cahiers de Biologie Marine 43: 337-340)

Examples of Whitman Student PUBLICATIONS (*=undergraduates) Cushing, D.A.*, Forsthoefel, N.R., Gestaut, D.R.*, & Vernon, D.M. (2005). Arabidopsis emb 175 and other ppr knockout mutants reveal essential roles for PPR proteins in plant embryogenesis. Planta, 221: 424-436. Rosenberg*, N.K., R.W. Lee, P.H. Yancey (2006). High contents of hypotaurine and thiotaurine in hydrothermal-vent gastropods without thiotrophic endosymbionts. J. Exp. Zool. 305A: 655-662. Brand*, G.L., R.V. Horak*, N. LeBris, S.K. Goffredi, S.L. Carney, B. Govenar, P.H. Yancey (2007). Hypotaurine and thiotaurine as indicators of sulfide exposure in bivalves and vestimentiferans from hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. Mar. Ecol. 28: 208-218. Samerotte*, A.L., J.C. Drazen, G.L. Brand*, B.A. Seibel, P.H. Yancey (2007). Contents of trimethylamine oxide correlate with depth within as well as among species of teleost fish: an analysis of causation. Phys. Zool. Biochem. 80: 197-208 Withers, G.S., Day*, N.F., Talbot*, E., Dobson, H.E.M., Wallace, C.S. (2008) Experience-dependent plasticity in the mushroom bodies of the solitary bee Osmia lignaria (Megachilidae). Developmental Neurobiology, October 2007 epub. Knox*, A. and K. Jackson (2010). Ecological and phylogenetic influences on maxillary dentition in snakes. Phyllomedusa 9: 121-131. Moore*, K. and K. Jackson (2010). A quantitative analysis of two scale characters in snakes. Amphibia-Reptilia 31: 175-182. Moyer*, K. and K. Jackson (2011). Phylogenetic relationships among the Stiletto Snakes (genus Atractaspis) based on external morphology. African J. Herpetol. 2011: 1-17. Laxson*, C., N. Condon, J. Drazen, P.H. Yancey. Increasing TMAO:urea ratios with depth in Chondricthyes: a physiological depth limit? Phys. Zool. Biochem. 84:494-505.

Oct. 2006: Ray Andrell spends 6 weeks at sea on the Atlantis, diving in the Alvin sub to collect specimens for his thesis

Calendar of Events

• The 2011-12 REMPEL LECTURE

• CATALOG of all course offerings!
• The Virtual Fetal Pig Dissection--developed by Prof. Earl Fleck with a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; cited in an Oct. 2006 N.Y. Times article on widely-used educational sites.
• Human Anatomy and Physiology, Biol 120
• Marine Biology, Biol 278
• Cell Biology, Biol 309
• Physiology, Biol 310
• Bioethics Seminar, Biol 401/402
• Though not a Whitman course, this is a site for obtaining PRACTICE GRE EXAMS

What do you do with a biology degree after college? I trust that you have talked with the following:

• Parents
• Family Friends
• Student Friends
• Professors

Here are some other Web resources that may be of use.

• Interested in pursuing a career in human genetics after college?
• Here is a database of biotech jobs that provides many services necessary for finding work in the realm of science (resume postings, employer databases, etc.)
• American Medical Student Association: Premeds at University of Pennsylvania. Check out the American Medical Student Association, University of Pennsylvania Premedical Chapter . Here you can find more information about The American Medical Student Association.
• Have you considered Clinical Laboratory Science as a career path? This can be pursued (usually at low cost) in the fourth year of college, or in post-graduate work. Many industries and research facilities and hospitals need people in this area, and there is a shortage that is reaching a critical point. SEE these web sites:
  American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
  American Society of Clinical Pathologists
• If you are interested in dentistry check out the American Dental Association homepage.
• How about an alternative to getting your M.D. Check out Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) by visiting the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine or The School of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
• How about physical therapy? Also, check out the Physical Therapy WWW Page.
• Interested in being a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant? Check out these URLs.

Below we list some interesting Web sites you may wish to visit. If you go to the Home Pages for the various Biology web courses you will find many more resources.

• Whitman's widely used Virtual Fetal Pig Dissection--developed by Prof. Earl Fleck with a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
• College Scholarships, Grad School and GRE Information
• PRACTICE GRE exams!
• REMPEL SLIDE COLLECTION
• Look at the World Wide Web Virtual Library: Biosciences for entrance into the world of biology on the Internet.
• Microbiology: An excellent site for almost all Microbiology topics can be found at Microbes.Info
  
• Evolution /Creation Controversy Frequently Asked Questions. In this FAQ you will find answers to many of the questions asked by creationists about evolutionary theory.
  Note that courses in our department are completely integrated with evolutionary theory and facts, since, as T. Dobzhansky put it so well, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." The Genome Project is particularly illustrative of this--many details of the Human Genome announced in Feb. 2001 are incomprehensible without evolutionary understanding. The recent rise of the "Intelligent Design" or ID movement has not made an impact on biology primarily because its hypotheses cannot be tested and/or falsified, two features necessary for consideration in science. Moreover, some of the more scientific-sounding ID proposals such as "Irreducible Complexity" or IC make little sense. An IC system is said to be one that ceases to function if any single part is damaged. Thus it is proposed, such a system could not have evolved in gradual steps. This idea falls apart quite quickly when examined closely. First, evolution can indeed come up with IC systems (e.g., through loss of overlapping functions). Second, IC, if it were a result of "design", would be judged as incompetent, not intelligent. As any engineer knows, a designer will make any crucial system to be either as SIMPLE (not complex) as possible, so that failure is unlikely, or as REDUNDANT (not irreducible) as possible so that there are back-ups when critical parts fail. For example, think about how we'd regard an automobile designer who made a car with no spare tire, no hand brake, no multiple bolts and rivets to hold parts together. Finally, the systems presented by the ID movement as "IC"--the bacterial flagellum (of which there are 100s of different related types), mammalian blood-clotting, etc.--are not irreducible in any straightforward way and show clear signs of evolutionary history. For example, if the flagellum loses its so-called paddle, it still functions as a protein-secretory motor, which structural analysis indicates is the ancestral function of the motor.
• The Tree of Life Phylogeny Navigator. At his site you will find a series of pages showing the phylogeny or classification of a group of organisms. It is under construction at present but clearly shows what is possible in the future on the internet.
• Developmental Biology: Visual Models of Morphogenesis: A Guided Tour. Patterns of development in biological systems are often difficult to portray. This site provides some fine graphics allowing you to visualize developmental patterns.
• Birding in Walla Walla and Vicinity: Go to the local Blue Mountain Audubon page for lots of useful information. Also, Shirley Muse suggests the following locations for good birding in the Walla Walla valley.

Last update 3-Oct-2011