Faculty Research

The UTRGV Department of Biology offers research in ecology and systematics, physiological ecology, remote sensing, genetics and molecular biology, microbiology, and organismal and cellular physiology.

Ecology and Systematics
I. Integrative and Organismal Biology

Timothy Brush	Professor	Ornithology

Christopher Vitek	Associate Professor	Ecology and Medical Entomology
Teresa Patricia Feria	Associate Professor	Landscape Ecology
Andrew McDonald	Professor	Plant Taxonomy
Matthew Terry	Associate Professor	Developmental Entomology
Robert K. Dearth	Associate Professor	Mammalian Physiology
Karl Berg	Assistant Professor	Behavioral Ecology
Kathryn Perez	Assistant Professor	Ecology and Systematics
Bradley Christofferson	Assistant Professor	Plant Physiological Ecology
Rupesh Kariyat	Assistant Professor	Ecology and Plant-Insect Interactions




Physiological Ecology
Christopher Taylor	Professor	Aquatic Ecology
Fred Zaidan	Professor (Chair)	Herpetology, Energetics


II. Cellular and Molecular Biology

Genetics and Molecular Biology
Scott J. Gunn	Professor	Eucaryotic Genetics
Michael W. Persans	Professor	Plant Biochemistry
Daniele Provenzano	Professor	Bacterial Genetics & Pathogenesis
Boris Ermolinsky	Assistant Professor	Gene Expression
Julie Mustard	Assistant Professor	Molecular Neurobiology
John Trant	Professor	Molecular Endocrinology

Microbiology
Luis A. Materón	Professor	Nitrogen Fixation, Food Microbiology
Kristine L. Lowe	Professor	Microbial Ecology
Erin Schuenzel	Associate Professor	Microbial Genetics
John Thomas	Assistant Professor	Viral Pathogenesis

Organismal and Cellular Physiology
Mohammed Farooqui	Professor	Toxicology
Zen Faulkes	Professor	Neurobiology
Robert Gilkerson	Associate Professor	Cellular Physiology
Megan Keniry	Associate Professor	Cell Biology

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Department of Biology College of Sciences

Faculty Research

I. Integrative and Organismal Biology

II. Cellular and Molecular Biology