MENU

Announcements

Congrats to our graduates!

July 1, 2025

 
The Department of Biology graduated over 200 students this year! We’re so proud of all of our graduates, and are excited to share some of their stories with you! Amanda Lark, B.S. Biological Science Recent biology department graduate Amanda Lark worked with Associate Professor Dhruba Naug. She investigated the correlations between different modalities of learning [Read More...]


Biology Associate Professor Kim Hoke named Monfort Professor

July 1, 2025

 
Each year, Colorado State University celebrates the teaching, research and service achievements of CSU students, alumni and friends, academic faculty, administrative professionals and classified staff. Click on the name of the award to see more information on this year’s teaching honorees, and scroll down to see even more outstanding members of the Ram Family honored with [Read More...]


Zoology alum is saving lives, one dog at a time

July 1, 2025

 
Jess Cytron graduated from Colorado State University in 2013 with a degree in zoology from the College of Natural Sciences and a passion for helping animals. She’s managed to turn that passion into a successful and rewarding career in animal welfare. Cytron is now shelter manager at Fort Collins’ Animal House Rescue and Grooming. “Animal House serves as [Read More...]


Biology duo work on research, travel and learning longbow

July 1, 2025

 
Biology department duo Professor Marinus Pilon and Professor Elizabeth Pilon-Smits share their complementary skills, lab space, and coffee breaks as they work together as co-professors, researchers, and mentors. As professors, each has their own area of research and each teaches different classes. Pilon teaches Cell Biology and Plant Metabolism, while Pilon-Smits teaches Phytoremediation and Plant [Read More...]


Outstanding Grad: Holly Perretta

July 1, 2025

 
The college experience has been anything but typical for biology student Holly Perretta. The Fort Collins local will be graduating from the College of Natural Sciences this spring with a degree in biological science after just two years, thanks to the Colorado Early College program. Colorado Early Colleges Fort Collins is a tuition-free, open enrollment public [Read More...]


Methane-mapping work recognized with Climate Leadership Award

July 1, 2025

 
Colorado State University research in methane mapping was recognized during the 2018 Climate Leadership Conference, held in Denver Feb. 28-March 2. National Grid, an electricity, natural gas and clean energy delivery company, accepted a Climate Leadership Award in the “Innovative Partnerships” category for its partnership with CSU, Environmental Defense Fund and Google Earth Outreach. Together, the organizations are [Read More...]


Climate change, evolution, and what happens when researchers are also friends

July 1, 2025

 
Phytoplankton provide useful models for studying the evolution of carbon cycling traits in response to climate change, according to a new paper in Trends in Ecology and Evolution. What happens when six graduate students in different fields, who happen to be friends, put their heads together on an emerging issue in climate change? They get published [Read More...]


NYC utility improves safety of natural gas pipelines, thanks to CSU science

July 1, 2025

 
Maps like this one of Staten Island, along with 11 other cities, pinpoint methane leaks from natural gas pipelines. The maps are generated by CSU methane analyzers capturing data from Google Street View cars.                  Colorado State University research that uses Google Street View cars to map natural gas methane [Read More...]


Program lets undergrads help teach classes and engage students

July 1, 2025

 
As an undergraduate assistant called a TA-squared, Taylor Bailey (center) helps students in an introductory biology lab. A program at Colorado State University is helping undergrads get more involved in the classroom – as students and as instructors. The Institute for Learning and Teaching (TILT) calls it the learning assistant, or LA, program. It lets undergraduates who [Read More...]


Biology Professor Alan Knapp named fellow of American Geophysical Union

July 1, 2025

 
Alan Knapp, a professor in the Department of Biology at Colorado State University, was inducted as a 2017 fellow in the American Geophysical Union, a scientific organization dedicated to studying and communicating earth and space sciences. The designation recognizes Knapp’s lifelong work on grassland ecology and climate change, and was presented in December at the organization’s 2017 fall [Read More...]


Are amoebae safe harbors for plague?

July 1, 2025

 
Fluorescent confocal images of amoebae after experimental co-culture with Yersinia pestis. Credit: David Markman/Colorado State University Amoebae, single-celled organisms common in soil, water and grade-school science classrooms, may play a key role in the survival and spread of deadly plague bacteria. New Colorado State University research shows that plague bacteria, Yersinia pestis, not only survive, but thrive and replicate [Read More...]


Biology faculty member discusses science and philosophy with Dalai Lama

July 1, 2025

 
Following up on her recent summer trip, Colorado State University Associate Professor of Biology Meena Balgopal returned to India to teach science workshops for 40 Tibetan Buddhist monastics in December. During this trip, she had the opportunity to speak with the Dalai Lama as well. “In this photo, he’s telling me that Indian philosophy plays an important role [Read More...]


Fall 2017 – Winter 2018 Biology Department Newsletter

July 1, 2025

 
It was a busy year, one that’s slipped by, with our attention focused on completing and moving into the Biology Building. But that’s not all that’s been happening — we’ve kept going on the other parts of being a comprehensive research and teaching department. We continue to take in record numbers of undergraduate students (about [Read More...]


Google Street View cars are eyes on the ground for urban methane leaks

July 1, 2025

 
A set of Google Street View mapping cars, specially equipped with cutting-edge methane analyzers, are allowing Colorado State University researchers to “see” invisible methane leaks from natural gas lines beneath our streets. The technical and computational challenges of measuring methane, and the complex methodologies used to collect, analyze and publicize the data, are detailed in [Read More...]


Norwegian crab fishing study hooks CSU bioinformatics researcher

July 1, 2025

 
The issue of the red king crab in Norwegian waters is a spiny one. It is an invasive species that disrupts lucrative cod fisheries. It has a poorly understood impact on local ecosystems. But it has also recently become a revenue-generating catch for the country – and one that locals would like to be able [Read More...]


Making tastier tomatoes at this year’s CSU Thornton-Massa Lecture Nov. 12

July 1, 2025

 
You know the experience: You slice into a red, juicy, store-bought tomato, take a bite and…nothing. This familiar, flavorless experience might someday be less common thanks to the work of Harry Klee, professor of horticultural sciences at the University of Florida and featured speaker at this year’s Thornton-Massa Lecture, 3:30 p.m. Nov. 12, at the Lory Student [Read More...]


105 contraband specimens donated to biology department, thanks to student’s work

June 25, 2025

 
Whether smuggled in by container ship to New York, or by passenger plane to LAX, a dead endangered or exotic animal without paperwork will often end up confiscated by the U.S. government – and then shipped to a vast storage warehouse in Colorado. Now, however, such an item could forge a new life in education, [Read More...]


Grand opening celebration for new Biology Building and Chemistry Research Building

June 25, 2025

 
Colorado State University celebrated the grand opening of the new Biology Building and the new Chemistry Research Building on Oct. 12 with a ribbon cutting ceremony and tours of both buildings. “It’s been a long time coming,” said Jan Nerger, dean of the College of Natural Sciences. “It took many dedicated and stalwart people to make it happen.” The state-of-the-art buildings [Read More...]


In Antarctic dry valleys, early signs of climate change-induced shifts in soil

June 25, 2025

 
There are no plants, birds or mammals in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, which are located in the largest region of the Antarctic continent. Photo: Ashley Shaw In a study spanning two decades, a team of researchers led by Colorado State University found declining numbers of soil fauna, nematodes and other animal species in the McMurdo Dry [Read More...]


Long-term Antarctica soil research uncovers climate-related changes

June 25, 2025

 
Watch the video by Ron Bend, Colorado State University, at https://youtu.be/cDp5mrhKDJw. In a nondescript room on Colorado State University’s Foothills Campus, a large freezer stores almost 30 years of soil samples from Antarctica. University Distinguished Professor Diana Wall, director of the School of Global Environmental Sustainability (SoGES) and a professor in the Department of Biology, has traveled each [Read More...]


Take a tour of the new CSU Biology Building [VIDEO]

June 25, 2025

 
The new Colorado State University Biology Building offers welcoming study spaces, inspiring displays, state-of-the-art classrooms, and cutting-edge research laboratories. Thanks to funding by the student-led University Facility Fee Advisory Board, it was built with a forward-looking, student-friendly design. The building opened its doors in time for the start of the fall semester this year and houses the [Read More...]


Biology Professor Alan Knapp named University Distinguished Professor

June 25, 2025

 
Each year, Colorado State University celebrates the teaching, research and service achievements of CSU students, alumni and friends, academic faculty, administrative professionals and classified staff. Click on the name of the award to see more information on this year’s teaching honorees, and scroll down to see even more outstanding members of the Ram Family honored with [Read More...]


Study: undergraduate biology students learn through writing

June 25, 2025

 
According to a new study led by College of Natural Science’s Associate Professor of Biology Meena Balgopal, writing activities can be beneficial for undergraduate biology students, especially those identifying as first generation college students and minorities. The semester-long study was conducted at Colorado State University in a foundational cell biology course taught by Professor of Biochemistry [Read More...]


CSU professor teaches biology to monks in India

June 25, 2025

 
Some of us spent our summers hiking, studying, or working. Colorado State University Associate Professor of Biology Meena Balgopal spent part of hers teaching biology to Buddhist monks in India. With support from the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI), a program sponsored by Emory University and Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Balgopal taught first-year biology to 105 Buddhist monks. [Read More...]


The Award-winning Department of Biology!

June 25, 2025

 
The Biology Department strives for excellence, and we deliver.  Please look over the long list of accomplishments this year in Biology, at all levels from undergraduates to Professors, from departmental awards to international recognition!   Department of Biology Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring: Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching:  Corey Handelsman and Jenna McAleer [Read More...]


‘Spectacular-looking’ endangered frog species discovered in Ecuador’s cloud forests

June 20, 2025

 
CSU’s Chris Funk, USFQ’s Juan M. Guayasamin, and colleagues have discovered a new species of frog, which they’ve named the Ecuadorian rainfrog. Credit: Centro Jambatu     It’s not every day someone gets to say, “I’ve discovered a new species.” It’s a claim that Colorado State University biologist Chris Funk can happily make. Funk and his [Read More...]


Zookeeping is destiny for Carson Jones

June 20, 2025

 
Professional science master’s student Carson Jones with Bodhi, one of three elephants at Denver Zoo’s Toyota Elephant Passage.  Many people don’t know what they want to be when they grow up. Others, like Carson Jones, have always known. “My parents would tell you I’ve wanted to be a zookeeper since I was about 2 years old,” [Read More...]


Young Investigators Award goes to Ph.D. grad Sarah Fitzpatrick

June 20, 2025

 
A recent Ph.D. graduate of the Department of Biology, Sarah Fitzpatrick, received a Young Investigators Award from the American Society of Naturalists for her work studying the effects of gene flow on wild animal populations. Now an assistant professor at Michigan State University, Fitzpatrick said: “I am extremely honored to receive the ASN Young Investigators [Read More...]


SoGES Director Diana Wall receives top honor from Ecological Society of America

June 18, 2025

 
Colorado State University Distinguished Professor Diana Wall was recognized March 1 by the Ecological Society of America, which announced that she will receive its highest honor, the 2017 Eminent Ecologist Award, at the society’s annual meeting in August. The award honors a senior ecologist for an outstanding body of ecological work or sustained ecological contributions [Read More...]


Fall 2015 Chair Welcome

April 18, 2025

 
Where did the summer go? Welcome back for another academic year after an eventful summer that saw progress on the new Biology Building, many students get their diplomas and many new students arriving, faculty, post-doc and graduate student awards, new funding for research and other updates about the Biology program at Colorado State University! [Read More...]


Researching Droughts, Deluges, and Carbon Cycles in Grasslands

December 19, 2022

 
Melinda Smith, a professor in the Department of Biology and the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, was recently featured in an article published on Elements, a site dedicated to the research and projects of the College of Natural Sciences along with each department at CSU. The article focuses on the important research Smith’s team is [Read More...]


Joe von Fischer in the News: Environmental Defense Fund and Google Earth project on mapping methane!

July 12, 2022

 
Our own Joe von Fischer has found fame in finding methane!  A broader description of the project is published online at CSU Today: http://www.today.colostate.edu/story.aspx?id=10267 The EDF put together a really nice web page describing the project:  http://www.edf.org/climate/methanemaps The story was picked up broadly and already appeared in the Washington Post, Bloomberg, and Scientific American.  Some [Read More...]


Harold Harrington’s Legacy as Curator of the Colorado State University Herbarium

January 28, 2022

 
by Jennifer Ackerfield Harold David (H.D.) Harrington developed his deep love of and respect for plants during his childhood on a farm. He was born in De Motte, Indiana, on Mar. 14, 1903, living there until 1909 when the the family moved to Mitchell, South Dakota.  They moved yet again in 1911 to Graettinger, Iowa, [Read More...]


Herbarium Collections Manager, Jennifer Ackerfield, featured on Alien Plantation Blog

January 28, 2022

 
Jennifer Ackerfield, Herbarium Collections Manager in the Biology Department, was recently featured as a guest blogger on Alien Plantation. Ackerfield wrote about the importance of herbaria in the 21st century and beyond in a blog titled “Botany is not dead, but this plant is”. Read her guest blog here: https://alienplantation.wordpress.com/2016/10/24/guest-post-botany-is-not-dead-but-this-plant-is/#more-875     [Read More...]


Job Opportunity: Research Proposal Coordinator

September 13, 2019

 
The Department of Biology at Colorado State University, located in Fort Collins, CO, seeks to hire a full-time Research Proposal Coordinator to research and support the preparation of complex scientific research proposals to a wide variety of federal, state, industry, foundation, and other sponsors. Key responsibilities include proposal development, investigating the availability of funding programs, [Read More...]