Biology Faculty

Robert Belton
Associate Professor
rbelton@nmu.edu 906-227-1582Office Location:
2107 Weston Hall
Advising: Physiology, Pre-Physical Therapy, General Biology
Research Interests: I am interested in the communication that occurs between cells during embryonic development, and the miscommunication that results in diseases such as cancer.

John G. Bruggink
Professor
jbruggin@nmu.edu 906-227-2342Office Location:
2117 Weston Hall
Advising: Wildlife Biology, Ecology, Mammalogy & General Biology
Research Interests: Wildlife ecology and management, population ecology.

Heng-Hsuan Chu
Assistant Professor
hchu@nmu.edu 906-227-2343Office Location:
2112 Weston Hall
Teaching: Introductory Biology, Plant Kingdom, Plant Physiology
Research Interests: Plant nutrition & abiotic stress, including the effects of mineral deficiencies and toxic metals upon plants.

Giuseppe P. Cortese
Assistant Professor
gcortese@nmu.edu 906-227-2218Office Location:
2007 Weston Hall
Teaching: Human Anatomy & Physiology; courses in the Cellular and Molecular Track of the Neuroscience major
Research Interests: In vitro and in vivo model systems of psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders to study genetic and environmental links associated with neurodevelopment...

Neil Cumberlidge
Professor
ncumberl@nmu.edu 906-227-2215Office Location:
2009 Weston Hall
Advising: Ecology, Physiology, Zoology.
Research Interests: Taxonomy, phylogenetic systematics, evolution, physiology, parasitology, conservation, ecology, and biogeography of the freshwater crabs of Africa and Madagascar. Research interests also include the freshwater crabs of Asia, Aus...

Kurt Galbreath
Associate Professor
kgalbrea@nmu.edu 906-227-1586Office Location:
2119 Weston Hall
Advising: Zoology, Parasitology, Evolutionary Biology, Pre-Vet
Research Interests: Historical biogeography of Holarctic mammals and their parasites, host-parasite co-evolution

Brandon Gerig
Assistant Professor
bgerig@nmu.edu 906-227-2302Office Location:
2003 Weston Hall
Advising: Fisheries & Wildlife Management, Ecology
Research Interests: Applied fisheries ecology; dynamics of fish communities and populations.

Brent Graves
Professor
bgraves@nmu.edu 906-227-1812Office Location:
402 Cohodas Hall
Advising: General Biology, Ecology, Zoology
Research Interests: Behavioral ecology, life history evolution, herpetology

Jennifer Jezylo
Assistant Professor
jemyers@nmu.edu 906 227-2206Office Location:
2804 West Science
Advising: Pre-Veterinarian Medicine, Zoology
Teaching: Human Anatomy & Physiology, Medical Microbiology

Diana Lafferty
Assistant Professor
dlaffert@nmu.edu 906-227-2227Office Location:
2011 Weston Hall
Advising: Fisheries and Wildlife Management, Ecology
Research Interests: Wildlife responses to global environmental change, large landscape conservation, human-wildlife conflict mitigation.

Jill B. K. Leonard
Professor
jileonar@nmu.edu 906-227-1619Office Location:
2115 Weston Hall
Advising: Fisheries & Wildlife Management, Marine Biology, Physiological Ecology
Research Interests: Fish biology, physiological ecology, migration.

Alec R. Lindsay
Professor
alindsay@nmu.edu 906-227-1834Office Location:
2113 Weston Hall
Advising: Ecology, General Biology, Zoology
Research Interests: Conservation genetics, ornithology, animal behavior, evolution.

Donna Maki
Professor
donmaki@nmu.edu 906-227-2443Office Location:
2013 Weston Hall
Advising: Botany, General Biology, Microbiology
Research Interests: Research in my lab involves the study of plant-microbe interactions. The overarching theme involves investigating the microbial ecology of plant-associated microbes and applying that knowledge to improve plant growth.

Erich Ottem
Associate Professor
eottem@nmu.edu (906) 227-1072Office Location:
2109 Weston Hall
Advising: Neuroscience, Neurophysiology, Physiology, Cell and Molecular Biology.
Research Interests: The role of neurotrophic factors and gonadal steroids in the maintenance of neuromuscular junctions and motorneuron dendritic morphology. The influence of gonadal steroids on the physiological functioning...

John Rebers
Department Head & Professor
jrebers@nmu.edu 906-227-1585Office Location:
2001a Weston Hall
Advising: General Biology, Cellular or Molecular Biology, Physiology.
Research Interests: The current focus of my research is the nature of protein/chitin interactions in the arthropod exoskeleton or cuticle. I am investigating the protein domains required for cuticular proteins to bind to the polysaccha...
Alan J. Rebertus
Professor
arebertu@nmu.edu 906-227-2351Office Location:
2005 Weston Hall
Advising: Ecology, General Biology, Botany
Research Interests: Ecology of endangered plant flora; roles of disturbances (fire, wind) and large mammals on community and landscape dynamics.

Josh S. Sharp
Associate Professor
rostrand@nmu.edu 906-227-2380Office Location:
2111 Weston Hall
Advising: Microbiology, Medically-related Professional Fields, General Biology
Research Interests: Gene regulation in bacteria, medical microbiology, RNA degradation, regulators of bacterial virulence gene expression, and toxin secretion systems.

Roger (Mac) Strand
Professor
rostrand@nmu.edu 906-227-2365Office Location:
2121 Weston Hall
Advising: Invertebrate Zoology, Ecology, General Biology.
Research Interests: Stream ecology, ecohydrology, aquatic invertebrate community ecology and bioenergetics, ecology of Lake Superior, upper peninsula stream conservation.

Katherine C. Teeter
Associate Professor
kteeter@nmu.edu 906-227-2177Office Location:
2015 Weston Hall
Advising: Biology, Zoology, Genetics
Research Interests: Population and evolutionary genetics

James VanOrman
Instructor
jvanorma@nmu.edu 906-227-2762Office Location:
3110 Weston Hall
James coordinates laboratories for BI 100, BI 111, and BI 112, and teaches labs for Biology courses as needed.
Biology Staff

Lauren Anargyros
Biology Embedded Advisor
lanargyr@nmu.edu 227-2381Office Location:
3108 Weston Hall

Retired Faculty
- Jackie Bird
- Pat Brown
- Thomas Froiland
- Frank Verley
- Ronald Parejko
- Phil Doepke
- Lowell Neudeck
- Lew Peters
- William Robinson
- Martin Kopenski
- Don Snitgen
- Warren VanDeBerg
- Maynard Bowers
- Gordan Gill
Former Lab Technician
- Duane King
Former Secretaries
- Patricia Wagner
- Susie Piziali