Biology

Dr. Datta’s lab focuses on understanding how sensory cues — particularly odors — are detected by the nervous system, and how the brain transforms information about the presence of salient sensory cues into patterns of motivated action. 

Register in advance, by visiting: go.middlebury.edu/BioSeminarDatta

Sponsored by the Department of Biology.

Talk by Vaughn Cooper Ph.D., Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The Cooper laboratory studies how bacterial populations evolve to adapt to new hosts and environments, particularly in biofilms. Other major interests include the evolution of antimicrobial resistance and why genome regions mutate/evolve at different rates. Register in advance, by visiting: go.middlebury.edu/BioSeminarCooper.

Sponsored by the Department of Biology.

During this present phase of neoliberal capitalist colonial crisis there has been a considerable increase in the number of mainstream institutions claiming to be interested in “anti-racism”, including educational & medical institutions. While we see the word “anti-racism” everywhere in the private & public spheres, we see no changes in the behaviors nor the outcomes of the actions of these scientists claiming to be against racism, especially in the field of biology. Utilizing both settler-colonial critique & evolutionary thinking, Dr.

Race/ism was created by European colonizers in order to seize land, labor, & gain control of the means of production. For every capitalist crisis, market disaster, & form of resistance that colonizers met from colonized peoples, they created a “new race”. Many scholars’ approach to battling the racist wielding of biological essentialism by European scientists has focused on highlighting the dangers of the biologicalization of race. Dr.

Dr. Gonzalez is a forest ecologist, climate change scientist, and lead author on four reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the organization awarded a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He advances action on human-caused climate change through scientific research revealing new insights on ecosystem impacts and carbon solutions, and helps local people, national parks, and policymakers use the scientific results to conserve nature and protect human well-being. Sponsored by the Department of Biology.

Please register in advance for this science-oriented talk at: go.middlebury.edu/BioTurnerScience

Please register in advance for this public talk at go.middlebury.edu/BioTurnerPublic

Seminar by Janet Shibley Hyde, PhD, Univ of Wisconsin, Madison: “Men Are from Earth, Women Are from Earth: Psychological Gender Differences and Similarities”. The media portray women and men as vastly different psychologically – Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. Is this portrayal accurate, or are women and men actually similar psychologically? Prof. Hyde answers these questions using massive data sets and the technique of meta-analysis.

Register in advance at: go.middlebury.edu/BioHyde

Biology-ES-ConBio thesis Presentations, Feb. 11 & 12:
Annie Blalock ’21, Feb. 11: Please register in advance at go/BioThesisBlalock
“Functional Trait Diversity of Aquatic Insect Communities and Stoichiometric Constraints”
Phoebe Oehmig ‘21, Feb. 12: Please register in advance at go/BioThesisOehmig

Biology-ES-ConBio thesis Presentations, Feb. 11 & 12:
Annie Blalock ’21, Feb. 11: Please register in advance at go/BioThesisBlalock
“Functional Trait Diversity of Aquatic Insect Communities and Stoichiometric Constraints”
Phoebe Oehmig ‘21, Feb. 12: Please register in advance at go/BioThesisOehmig