The Department of Biological Sciences hosts an active program of biological sciences seminars. Seminars are held in-person in CPISB 120 on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of each month at 2:00 pm. Our seminar series are free and open to the public.

Academic Year 2022-2023

• October 14^th: Dr. Veronica Padula, Plastic pollution and one health: Perspectives from the Bering Sea

• October 28^th: Dr. Wendy Puryear, Seals, seabirds, and influenza: A tale of two coasts, shifting ecosystems, and viral spillover

• November 11^th: TBD

• December 9^th: Dr. Tanya Cheeke, Evolution and ecology of plant-fungal interactions

• February 10^th: Dr. Brandon Briggs, Bi-Polar Microbiology: Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs on the Ice

• Feb 24^th: Christian Lang, Virus spillover evidence in African wildlife - Seek, and ye shall find!

• March 10^th: Gino Graziano, Control of invasive plants at high latitudes using persistent herbicides

• March 24^th: Courtney Kurtz (title TBA)

• April 14^th: Brooke Napier (title TBA)

• April 28^th: Mario Muscarella (title TBA)

• Spring 2022 Presentations
  • January 21: Dr. Garfield Kwan, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, "How Ocean Acidification Promotes Otolith Biomineralization in Teleost Fish"
  • February 4: Ariel Pezner, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, "Coral Reef Hypoxia: Projections Under Warming and Impacts on Coral Growth"
  • February 18: Dr. Carl Roland, National Park Service, "The intersection of chance and design – monitoring vegetation over space and time in central Alaska’s parklands"
  • March 4: Dr. Doug Causey, University of Alaska Anchorage, "The dynamics of waterfowl populations and subsistence hunting in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta"
  • March 18: Dr. Barbara Wortham, UC Berkley, "How is photorespiration recorded in trees? Lessons from the Los Angeles Basin, CA"
  • April 1: Dr. Kate Sheehan, Frostburg State University, "Parasites and plastics in pelagic food webs"
  • April 15: TBD
• Fall 2021 Presentations
  • September 3: Dr. Jason Burkhead, University of Alaska Anchorage "Copper deviciency and toxicity in human liver disease"
  • September 17: Dr. Mark Rains, University of South Florida "Groundwater Subsidies to Salmonid Streams: A Decade+ of Collaborative Science and Outcomes in Alaska"
  • October 15: Dr. Julie Maresca, University of Delaware "Hard Microbiology: Polyextremophilic microbes in concrete"
  • November 5: Dr. Mecky Pohlschroder, University of Pennsylvania "What bioinfomatics and big data have revealed about Archaea"
  • November 19: Dr. Dan Ruthruaff, USGS "TBA"
• Spring 2021 Presentations
  • March 25: Dr. Erin Larson, Alaska Pacific University "Danger in the Mountains: Disturbance Effects on Biodiversity in Tropical and Temperate Montane Streams"
  • March 5: Dr. Sarah Gerken, University of Alaska Anchorage "Antarctic Cumacea"
• Fall 2020 Presentations
  • October 30: Dr. Kathleen Scott, University of South Florida "Surprising diversity in dissolved inorganic carbon uptake by bacteria"
  • November 6: Dr. Eric Bortz, UAA Biological Sciences "Update on the pathogenesis and spread of COVID-19 in Alaska: from genomics to vaccines"
  • November 13: Dr. Cecilia Martinez Gomez, UC Berkley "Thriving with lanthanides: New life metals in methylotrophy"
  • November 20: Dr. Kirsten Grond, UAA Biological Sciences "The ins and outs of the avian gut microbiome: Why birds matter"
  • December 4: Meg Howard "Chasing Coronaviruses 2002-2020"