Teaching

I am deeply committed to undergraduate and graduate education. I have inspired several students to choose careers in science and they are broadly trained in plant, animal and human biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, immunology and physiology. I have graduated twenty seven M.S. & Ph.D. students since 1997. Many of my students are independent faculty members (at UF, SUNY, U Puerto Rico) or employed in industry or federal/state research institutions. Many of my student publications have been featured on the cover of Nature Biotechnology or Plant Physiology.

I have edited a book (with Chris Chase as Co-editor) a book on Molecular Biology & Microbiology and this has been already sold out. I have written a large number of reviews in journals and chapters in books to educate graduate students. I have conducted workshops in Asia, South America or Europe with international scientists or in my own lab with scientists from five continents and trained them in chloroplast molecular biology & genomics. I continue to teach undergraduate courses with large enrollment (several hundred students) and direct honors undergraduate theses of several students, some of whom published their research in premier journals ( Nature Biotechnology, Nucleic Acids Research, etc) and received Goldwater Award or Rhodes Scholarship or awards from ASPB.

Courses

University of Central Florida

B.S., M.S. Biotechnology/M.B.A. degree programs: I developed the B.S. Biotechnology new degree program working in collaboration with Dr. Roseann White. I am also developing a M.S. degree program in Biotechnology along with M.B.A. degree program in the Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences. These degree programs will meet the needs of the new biomedical cluster that is in development in Orlando, including the new medical school at UCF.

General Education Program Course on Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering: This course was approved by the GEP committee and Faculty Senate, and offered to ALL majors across the campus for the first time in Fall 2004 (enrollment about 280). This is the first GEP course outside the college of Arts & Science. This is an introductory course that teaches basic concepts in molecular biotechnology of plants, animals and humans.

MCB 5654 Applied Microbiology is a newly developed course with current information in this subject area, current literature from recent publications and books are used to modernize this course.

MCB 5937 Molecular Biotechnology is also a newly developed course, offered for the first time at UCF. A test book published in 1988 is used for this course, in addition to literature in current journals. This course had the highest enrollment among graduate courses offered in this department.

MCB 3930H Biotechnology Honors Seminar is an interdisciplinary new seminar course developed by me and offered for the first time at UCF. This course had the highest enrollment among honors courses offered and the upper limit on enrollment was increased to accommodate students on the long waiting list. This course is attracting students from 25 different majors on campus.

MCB 2930 Biotechnology is an interdisciplinary GEP course developed for students in all majors. When offered for the first time last year, it attacted students from a widely different majors. When converted, this will be the first GEP course offered by our college.

MCB 6938 Plant Molecular Biology offers a broad and deeper understanding of the molecular aspects of the plant cell and various approaches used for genetic modification of food crops and consequences. Cell organelles including the nucleus, chloroplasts and mitochondria are studied in depth.

University of Idaho/Washington State University

BOT ID & WS 556: Advanced Plant Molecular Biology (3 credits) with special emphasis on modern approaches to genetic engineering; this has been a cross-listed course between Washington State University and the University of Idaho (only seven miles apart) since I introduced it in 1987. This course has had good enrollment and excellent student participation from both universities. Student evaluations are available.

BOT 452: Plant Molecular Biology that emphasizes basic concepts in prokaryotic and eukaryotic molecular biology and gives a thorough introduction to the core topics of plant molecular biology; this course has been taken by students from several departments (Plant, Soil and Entomological Sciences; Bacteriology, Biochemistry, Biology etc.). Student evaluations are available.

Auburn University

BY/MB 604/704: Advanced topics in Plant Biology and Microbiology

BY/MB 604/704 F: Molecular Biology of Organelles

BY/MB 604/704 I: Molecular Biology of Photosynthesis

BY/MB 558/658: Photosynthesis

BY/MB 549/649: Cell Biology

BY/MB 101: General Biology