Biology at Macalester College

20 faculty and 39 courses in Biology at Macalester College.

Faculty

• Mark Davis, Professor Emeritus h-index 31
  . I taught Ecology, Field Botany, Animal Behavior and Ecology, and Conservation Biology. The best part of teaching at Mac was being able to teach and interact with very smart and very interesting students. One of my great joys was turning s
  Notable: “Cognitive and emotional components of anxiety: Literature review and a revised worry–emotionality scale.” (1981) · 614 citations
• Mary Heskel, Associate Professor and Department Chair h-index 25
  Notable: “Constraints on the evolution of phenotypic plasticity: limits and costs of phenotype and plasticity” (2015) · 681 citations
• Paul Overvoorde, Professor of Biology h-index 22
  Cell and molecular biology, chemical biology, genetics, genome biology, and plant physiology. His research program focuses on elucidating how plant cells perceive and respond to the plant hormone auxin. Grants from the National Science F
  Notable: “Functional Genomic Analysis of theAUXIN RESPONSE FACTORGene Family Members inArabidopsis thaliana: Unique and Overlapping Functions ofARF7andARF19” (2005) · 1,156 citations
• Sarah Boyer, O. T. Walter Professor of Biology h-index 21
  Notable: “Is the 16S–23S rRNA Internal Transcribed Spacer Region a Good Tool for Use in Molecular Systematics and Population Genetics? A Case Study in Cyanobacteria” (2001) · 332 citations
• Mary Montgomery, Associate Professor of Biology h-index 17
  Notable: “Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans” (1998) · 15,300 citations
• Phillip Rivera, Associate Professor h-index 17
  Notable: “Notch1 Is Required for Maintenance of the Reservoir of Adult Hippocampal Stem Cells” (2010) · 297 citations
• Robin Shields-Cutler, Associate Professor h-index 15
  Notable: “US Immigration Westernizes the Human Gut Microbiome” (2018) · 837 citations
• Jerald Dosch, Associate Professor of Biology (NTT) and Director, Katharine Ordway Natural History Study Area h-index 11
  Notable: “Continent-wide analysis of how urbanization affects bird-window collision mortality in North America” (2017) · 96 citations
• Emily Twedell, Visiting Faculty h-index 9
  Notable: “Functional Dissection of Basal Ganglia Inhibitory Inputs onto Substantia Nigra Dopaminergic Neurons” (2020) · 128 citations
• Mike Anderson, Laboratory Instructor and Technician in Biology h-index 9
  Notable: “Avian assemblages in native Acacia and alien Prosopis drainage line woodland in the Kalahari, South Africa” (2002) · 100 citations
• Stotra Chakrabarti, Assistant Professor h-index 8
  Notable: “Prioritizing India’s landscapes for biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being” (2023) · 143 citations
• Eddie Hill, Professor Emeritus h-index 3
  Notable: “Ultrastructure of Zoosporogenesis in Allomyces macrogynus” (1974) · 20 citations
• Kristi Curry Rogers, DeWitt Wallace Professor of Biology & Geology h-index 3
  Es on the evolutionary history of Titanosauria – the latest surviving and perhaps most diverse lineage of long- necked sauropod dinosaurs. Titanosauria includes over 40 species that had a near- global distribution during the Late Cret
  Notable: ““Titanosaur Tails Tell Two Tales; A Second Malagasy Titanosaur with Saltasaurid Affinities.”” (2002) · 8 citations
• Jim Smail, Professor Emeritus
• Joseph Ly, Laboratory Supervisor and Instructor
• Kathleen Parson, Professor Emeritus
• Lin Aanonsen, Professor Emeritus
  Es on spinal mechanisms by which chronic pain is transmitted and induced. She involves students in every aspect of her research and accompanies them to meetings of the Society of Neuroscience where they present their work. Aanonsen teaches
• Linda Jeanguenin, Visiting Faculty
  Es on the single-cell transcriptomic responses in plants exposed to bacterial pathogens. She uses CRISPR-Cas9 technology to generate plant knock out mutants to dissect the roles of specific genes in plant immunity. Outside Macalester, Linda
• Liz Jansen, Assistant Professor of Biology (NTT) - Retired
• Michelle Tong, Assistant Professor

Courses

• Creatures and Curiosities BIOL 101
• Biotechnology and Society BIOL 104
• Lakes, Streams and Rivers BIOL 106
• Plants, Environment, and Society BIOL 110
• Women, Health and Reproduction BIOL 117
• Ecology and the Environment BIOL 170
• Biodiversity and Evolution BIOL 180
• Genetics BIOL 190
• Topics Course BIOL 194
• Cell Biology BIOL 200
• Outdoor Environmental Education in Theory, Policy and Practice BIOL 275
• Sustainable Cities: Urban Environmental Science BIOL 277
• Invertebrate Animal Diversity BIOL 302
• Neuroanatomy BIOL 304
• Ornithology BIOL 306
• Agroecology BIOL 310
• Microbiology BIOL 312
• Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience BIOL 316
• Computational Biology BIOL 320
• Advanced Genetics BIOL 322
• Aquatic Ecology BIOL 344
• Evolutionary Biology BIOL 350
• Biochemistry I BIOL 351
• Biochemistry II BIOL 352
• Molecular Medicine BIOL 353
• Chemical Biology BIOL 354
• Immunology BIOL 357
• Big Data in Ecology BIOL 359
• Arctic Ecology BIOL 362
• Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy BIOL 365
• Plant Ecophysiology BIOL 366
• Developmental Biology BIOL 369
• Ecosystem Ecology BIOL 370
• Animal Behavior: Fundamentals and Applications BIOL 380
• Wildlife Monitoring Techniques BIOL 385
• Seminar in Neuropharmacology BIOL 400
• Mechanisms of Memory BIOL 401
• + 2 more courses

Roster/catalog compiled from the college’s public directory. Faculty counts are directory headcounts; the named list may be a subset. h-index shown only for ORCID-backed or high-confidence OpenAlex matches. Data as of 2026-07-02.