Jonathan Armbruster is an Alumni Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Auburn University. He received his BS and PhD from the University of Illinois in the Department of Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution. He teaches comparative vertebrate anatomy and evolution and systematics to undergraduate and graduate students. His research is primarily on the evolution and taxonomy of the suckermouth armored catfishes of South America. He is also curator of Auburn University’s Biodiversity Learning Center’s fish collection. Dr. Armbruster also played the role of Darwin throughout Auburn’s celebration of Darwin in 2009.
Lewis Barker is a Professor of Psychology and coordinator of an interdisciplinary program, the Human Odyssey, at Auburn University. He earned an AB in Psychology from Occidental College (Los Angeles) and an MS and PhD in Psychobiology from Florida State University. Before coming to Auburn, he taught at from Baylor University where he was a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience. His teaching and research interests have included human and animal learning and memory, and evolutionary psychology.
Guy V. Beckwith is Associate Professor of History at Auburn University. He earned a BA in English from the University of California at Santa Cruz, an MA in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an interdisciplinary PhD focused on the history and philosophy of technology, also from Santa Barbara. He teaches courses in Technology and Civilization for undergraduates, and a seminar in the Theory of History for PhD candidates. His research interests include the uses of technological imagery in the western literary tradition, and the cultural role of technology in the ancient world.
James T. Bradley is the W. Kelly Mosley Professor Emeritus of Science and Humanities and Professor Emeritus of Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Auburn University. He earned a BS in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and a PhD in Developmental Biology from the University of Washington. He teaches cell biology and bioethics for pre-professional undergraduate students and graduate students in the life sciences. His research interests have included the biochemistry of yolk formation in fish and insect eggs and the endocrine control of insect reproduction.
Richard Dawkins is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was the University of Oxford’s Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008. Dawkins came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, followed by The Extended Phenotype (1982), Climbing Mount Improbable (1996), and The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (2009). His most recent work is The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True (2011).
Gerard Elfstrom is Professor of Philosophy at Auburn University. He earned his BA from Cornell College and an MA and PhD from Emory University, all in philosophy. Though he has taught a variety of philosophy courses, for the past several years, he has primarily offered an introduction to logic. He has done research in applied ethics, the ethics of international relations, and the philosophy of science.
Debbie Folkerts is Assistant Professor of Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Auburn University. She earned a BS in Biology and a MS in Entomology from Auburn University and a PhD in Entomology from the University of Georgia. She teaches a variety of classes on organismal biology at freshman, senior, and graduate levels. Her research interests include carnivorous plant biology, plant-animal interactions, and spider ecology. She dedicates her chapter to the memory of her late husband, George W. Folkerts, who opened her eyes and the eyes of countless students to the wonders of nature, the joys of studying biology, and an understanding of life in the context of evolution through natural selection.
Kenneth M. Halanych is an Alumni Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Auburn University. He also serves as the Marine Biology Liaison for the University. He earned a BS in Biology from Wake Forest University and a PhD in Zoology from the University of Texas. He teaches invertebrate biology and marine biology for students in the life sciences. His research interests included the evolution of major animal lineages, evolution of Antarctic marine invertebrates, and deep-sea biology.
Shawn Jacobsen is the field laboratory coordinator for the Department of Biological Sciences at Auburn University. He received a BS in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University and an MS in Zoology and Wildlife Sciences from Auburn University. He coordinates and teaches ecology and vertebrate biodiversity laboratories. He is interested in all aspects of field biology, especially herpetology, and enjoys writing science fiction.
Jeffrey S. Katz is an Alumni Professor in the Department of Psychology at Auburn University. He earned a BA in Psychology from Ithaca College and an MS and PhD in Experimental Psychology from Tufts University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in Cognitive Neursoscience, Cognitive Psychology, Comparative Cognition, and Sensation and Perception. His research focus is in the area of comparative cognition and has been funded by National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation. Current projects involve abstract-concept learning, change detection, memory processes, and neuroimaging.
David T. King Jr. is Professor of Geology in the Department of Geology and Geography at Auburn University. He is also director of the Concepts of Science program at Auburn. He earned a BS in geology from the University of Louisiana-Monroe, an MS in geology from the University of Houston, and a PhD in geology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He teaches integrated science, introductory geology, and sedimentary and impact geology courses. His research interests include the effects of extraterrestrial impact upon Earth history and the rock record.
Jay Lamar is the Director of Special Programs for the Office of the Provost and University Libraries at Auburn University. She serves directly with the Office of Undergraduate Studies on special lectures and the common reading program and with the Department of Archives and Special Collections in the Ralph B. Draughon Library. For more than two decades she was director of the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities, where she helped forge partnerships between the university and the community. She is co-editor of The Remembered Gate: Memoirs by Alabama Writers.
John F. Magnotti is a doctoral student at Auburn University in Experimental Psychology. He earned a BS in Psychology and Computer Science from James Madison University, and an MS in Experimental Psychology from Auburn University. He has assisted in teaching graduate and undergraduate applied statistics, as well as general psychology. His research interests include basic issues in the comparative study of visual perception and the use of neuroimaging techniques to study fundamental processes of human memory.
Anthony Moss is Associate Professor of Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Auburn University. He earned a BA in Cell Biology from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in Marine Cell Biology and Physiology from Boston University Marine Program. He teaches undergraduate Honors Biology, undergraduate and graduate Cell Biology, Wound Repair, and Light Microscopy. His training was originally in cellular physiology and biochemistry, and he currently studies ctenophore and jellyfish structure and function, as well as the marine microbes associated with jellyfish.
Kelly A. Schmidtke has worked as an instructor and/or researcher in at various institutions in the USA and UK, with economic, philosophy, psychology, and veterinary departments. She earned a BA from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and an MS and PhD from Auburn University. Her teaching and research interests include animal models of human behavior and evolutionary psychology.
Giovanna Summerfield is Associate Dean for Educational Affairs for the Auburn University College of Liberal Arts. She is also an associate professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Auburn University. She received a BA in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of Florida. She teaches Italian and French at the undergraduate and graduate level. Her research and teaching interests focus on the long 18th-century (1660–1830) French and Italian literature (emphasis on Sicilian writers), religious and philosophical movements, women’s studies, and material culture. She is also a published poet and short-story writer.
Anthony A. Wright has taught since 1982 at the University of Texas Medical School as a Professor in the Neurobiology and Anatomy department. He earned a BA in Psychology from Stanford University and an MA and PhD in Psychology from Columbia University. He and collaborators have compared list memory processing, visual working memory, and relational versus item-specific learning in pigeons, capuchin monkeys, rhesus monkeys, and humans including patient groups. His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.