SUSAN KARCHER

Assistant Professor
LILY G-225
494-8083

I teach BIOL 542, an upper-level laboratory course, which I designed. By using a project-oriented approach in the class, we give students the opportunity to learn a wide variety of current laboratory methods. I also teach BIOL 242, Genetics and Molecular Biology Laboratory, in which students perform experiments including genetic crosses in Drosophila, recombinant DNA cloning, and polymerase chain reaction. I direct an NSF-funded Curriculum Development project to introduce transgenic plants in undergraduate laboratories. This education system, called Blue Plants, was selected as one of ten systems nationwide to be developed for undergraduate research in the Curriculum for Undergraduate Research and NSF-sponsored Research Link 2000 program. Outside of the classroom, I am an active member of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education (ABLE), an organization that presents workshops of outstanding biology laboratory exercises to promote education in this area. Within the organization I have served in several capacities, including editor of the annual proceedings volume, and am currently Chair of the Workshop Selection Committee for Annual Workshops. In addition, I serve as Editor of the Journal Watch feature of Bios , the quarterly publication of the biology honor society, Beta Beta Beta, and am a member of Project Kaleidoscopes Faculty of the 21st century.