SABER Executive Committee

Stanley Lo, President

University of California San Diego, Email: smlo@ucsd.edu

Dr. Stanley Lo is an Associate Teaching Professor (with tenure) in Cell and Developmental Biology and Affiliate Faculty in Mathematics and Science Education at the University of California San Diego. His research examines how faculty conceptions of teaching, learning, mentoring, and diversity informs the way they design courses and interact with students, ultimately leading to equitable outcomes. He teaches a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses, including an introductory course-based undergraduate experience (CURE) on soil microbiome, a capstone primary literature course in genetics using the CREATE method, a pedagogy course for first-time teaching and instructional assistants, and a STEM identity course for Ph.D. students in Mathematics and Science Education. Prior to moving to San Diego, Dr. Lo was a Research Associate in Learning Sciences at the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching at Northwestern University. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Harvard University and B.S. and M.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University. Between college and graduate school, he taught high school science at Phillips Exeter Academy, where he first developed his interests in education research. In addition to SABER, Dr. Lo has been involved with other professional organizations such as the Summer Institutes on Scientific Teaching, the Gordon Research Conference on Undergraduate Biology Education Research, and the National Association for Research in Science Teaching and journals such as CBE-Life Sciences Education and CourseSource. He hopes to build on our existing community to ensure equitable access and transparent pathways toward leadership. He would like to learn more from everyone about how to foster equity and inclusion at SABER, build collaborations between institution types, bridge education research and practice, and create interdisciplinary DBER connections.

Marcos E. Garcia-Ojeda, President-Elect

University of California, Merced, Email: mgarcia-ojeda@ucmerced.edu

A founding faculty member at UC Merced, I followed my professional interests and transitioned to a tenured teaching faculty position in 2014, leading me to biology education research. Thanks to Brian Sato and the UC STEM-LEC Network, I discovered SABER, and have been involved with it for 5 years. Since I attended my first meeting in 2017, I have presented 2 research talks (2018, 2020), joined the DEI Committee (Jan 2020), and the PEER Network (Aug 2020). SABER has provided me with a supportive community of scholars who foster and practice BER and fellow professors who use active, inclusive, student-centered, evidence based pedagogical best practices, and has helped me grow into leadership roles in BER on my own campus. SABER's mission to advance BER aligns with my professional activities. Our students at UCM are >50% Latino and >70% 1st gen and face structural barriers to success. I use student-centered, evidence-based practices that benefit these PEERs. I study how different learning spaces influence learning. Dr. Petra Kranzfelder and I collaborated to understand how STEM instructors' discourse moves affect student learning. As co-PI of our HHMI Inclusive Excellence Grant, I design and implement faculty development in Inclusive Pedagogy. I mentor faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students in BER and serve on multiple administrative committees. My teaching, scholarship, and service record makes me a strong candidate for the presidency of SABER. The use of evidence-based practices for inclusive, effective learning is positively transforming the experiences of PEERs and other biology students nationwide. SABER's pioneering work in creating a BER community, and sharing best practices for inclusive, anti-racist education contributes to this transformation. I am committed to sustaining and expanding SABER's impact. As president, I will grow our currently R1/majority-White institution-based membership to include PEER faculty and students at 2- and 4-year Minority Serving Institutions. Beyond the US, I will explore partnerships with BER scholars in Latin America and Asia, extending membership opportunities, hosting transnational exchanges, and building international BER consortia.

Jenni Momsen, Past President

North Dakota State University, Email: jennifer.momsen@ndsu.edu

Trading the plants and pollen of local wetlands for the students and faculty of biology classrooms, Dr. Jenni Momsen joined the biology education research community just as SABER took seed. Her research on modeling and systems thinking, assessment, and more recently equity and inclusivity impacts her vision for SABER and the role of the executive committee. As our society continues to grow, we must work to expand the accessibility of our meetings, develop tools to support our members as they enter diverse career pathways, and expand the impact of our research beyond the biology classroom.   

Miriam Segura-Totten, Secretary

University of North Georgia, Email: mstotten@ung.edu

Dr. Miriam Segura-Totten is a biology professor and the Harry B. Forester Eminent Scholars Chair in Biological Sciences at the University of North Georgia (UNG). She has an A.B. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. During her seventeen-year teaching career, Dr. Segura-Totten has engaged undergraduates in research within a traditional setting, in courses that integrate her scholarly interests, and as part of national initiatives to infuse research into the curriculum. Most recently, her research interests focus on innovative and evidence-based teaching, particularly on methods that promote critical thinking in undergraduates. Dr. Segura-Totten’s teaching was recognized in 2016 through UNG’s most prestigious honor, the Distinguished Teaching Award, and in 2017 through the University System of Georgia Regents’ Teaching Excellence Award (Felton Jenkins, Jr. Hall of Fame Faculty Award). In 2017, she was honored to be named one of the Inspiring Leaders in STEM by INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine. She has been the Themed Issue senior editor for the Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education since 2017. Within SABER, Dr. Segura-Totten is invested in continuing to make the society an inclusive and welcoming environment to all. To this end, she helped to create the PEER (Persons Excluded because of their Ethnicity or Race) Network SABER special interest group in 2020.

Kristine Callis-Duehl, Treasurer

Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Email: kcallis-duehl@danforthcenter.org

Dr. Kristine L. Callis-Duehl received her PhD in Biology from the University of Florida in 2013, where she participated in Biology Education Research (BER) research on group discussions and in-service teacher professional development. During her joint postdocs at UC-Irvine and UC-Davis, part of her research involved online learning and learning games for K-5. As an assistant professor at East Carolina University (2015-2019), her research has focused on: online learning, scientific argumentation, and recruitment/retention of underserved populations of students. Kris became the Director of Education Research and Outreach at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, MO in the summer of 2019. As treasurer, she is looking forward to helping SABER and the community continue to emphasize, pursue and communicate cutting edge biology education research and possibly expand SABER’s scope into regional conferences beyond SABER-West.

Mary Pat Wenderoth, Historian

University of Washington, Email: mpw@uw.edu

Mary Pat Wenderoth is a Teaching Professor in the Biology Department at the University of Washington, Seattle (UW) where she teaches animal physiology courses and conducts biology education research on how students learn biology. Her main research interests focus on assessing implementation of cognitive science principles in the classroom, particularly those associated with conceptual change, use of first principles in constructing conceptual frameworks in physiology and student metacognition. She also does research on academic achievement gaps in STEM and effectiveness of professional development efforts to close those gaps. She received the UW Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001and has served as the co-director of the UW Teaching Academy. She was recognized by the National Association of Biology Teachers as the Biology Education Researcher of 2017. She received the Claude Bernard Distinguished Lectureship of the American Physiology Society Teaching of Physiology Section in 2019. She is co-founder of the UW Biology Education Research Group (UW BERG) and the national Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER). She also served as President of SABER from 2010-2019.  She served as a facilitator at the HHMI Summer Institute for Undergraduate Biology Education from 2007 -2011. Dr. Wenderoth earned her B.S. in Biology from the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., a M.S. in Women’s Studies from George Washington University, a M.S. in Exercise Physiology from Purdue University and her Ph.D. in Physiology from Rush University in Chicago.  The Historian role has been created to facilitate communication, both between the executive committee and other SABER committees and with our membership more broadly.