Kristen DeAngelis

For the Microbiology Honors Colloquium, we take a tour of eight microbiology labs around campus, including sequencing facilities, animal facilities, greenhouses, microscope facilities, or anything that is critical, unique, or just cool. Students take turns hosting each visit by interviewing and then introducing the scientist whose lab we are visiting. They then have an opportunity to ask questions about their profession and career, career paths, and more. We also design the department T-shirts, and take at least one longer microbiology-themed field trip to somewhere else in the area.

Here are some nice things that students said about last year’s class:

This was my favorite course this semester and one of my favorites in college. Meeting professors in their lab and outside of a traditional classroom setting was awesome and allowed the professors to appear like normal people and allow the students to see themselves as a future researcher.

and,

Continue reading “Thanks to the scientists sharing the next big thing in Microbiology with the UMass Honors Undergraduate Colloquium” →

I summarized my 8 weeks spent with http://stemteachingcourse.org, and presented this to my department in a powerpoint with plenty of citations. Here is a link to the slideshare, and here is a link to the powerpoint files.

Kristen DeAngelis and Ph.D. candidate, Gina Chaput, have received an in-kind award from the DOE Environmental Molecular Science Laboratories. Entitled “Iron Chelator-Mediated Biotransformation of Lignin by Novel sp., Tolumonas lignolytica BRL6-1, in Anoxic Conditions,” this award has the estimated value equal to $59,236.00 and will provide equipment and analyses for Gina’s dissertation. Gina is currently studying how the bacteria Tolumonas lignolytica BRL6-1 modifies plant material known as lignin under conditions that lack oxygen. These analyses will allow her to look at compounds produced by BRL6-1 specifically in response to lignin as well as detect changes to the lignin structure over time.