Biology NSF AIRE Fellow

Dr. Larkspur Morton will be the Biology NSF AIRE Fellow for the academic years 1999/2000 and 2000/01. During the fall of 1999, she will give a battery of lectures in BI 161 (Introductory Biology) and teach one of the laboratory sections. She will co-teach BI 278 (Mammalian Anatomy and Physiology) with Prof. Cathy Bevier in the spring. During the fall and spring, Larkspur will develop laboratories for a new distributional course, Biodiversity.

During the 2000/01 academic year, Dr. Morton will co-teach the Biodiversity class with Prof. Bevier (Prof. Bevier will teach the class alone after the departure of Dr. Morton at the end of the NSF AIRE grant). During the spring semester, Dr. Morton will teach an existing class (to be determined) to release a faculty member to develop a 400-level research-based course.

Dr. Morton will conduct research in the laboratory of Prof. Herb Wilson. Dr. Morton plans a study of foraging behavior and cooperative breeding in Gray Jays. The work will be done at sites in northern Somerset and Piscataquis Counties.

A portion of Dr. Mortons time will be devoted to outreach of our NSF AIRE activities to colleagues at other small colleges. Dr. Morton plans on attending one national scientific meeting a year to discuss our education through research approach.