Melody_Neumann

25 Willcocks Street

Department of Cell and Systems Biology

University of Toronto

Toronto, ON

M4S 1W7

416 978 7431

Hats I Wear:

I coordinate a large second year cell and molecular biology course and a third year eukaryotic gene expression course. I design labs and advanced labs for introductory and more advanced courses. I teach a 3rd year plant molecular lab biology course. I look after and teach a lot of TAs. I'm in charge of a major overhaul of our first and second year bio curriculum...gulp....

I am on a lot of committees...

Robes I Wear:

BSc Simon Fraser University (1990)

MSc University of British Columbia (1993)

PhD University of Sydney, Australia (2000)

What I'm trying to accomplish....

I like trying to make biology as relevant as I can to the students, so I've spent a lot of time chasing money to update antique equipment, designing current and relevant lab activities, and introducing new technological tools and examples into lectures (eg. designed new animations where necessary). I would love to have a department-wide (cross-university??) research project to which teachers in different courses could contribute data (some other universities have these). I believe students would really enjoy contributing to real research and learn more that way. A large undergraduate research project would allow more students to experience real research since very few actually get the opportunity to do a research project during their undergraduate career.

I think scientific writing is really important, particularly given that many students have very little opportunity to write and learn from their writing in our programs. I am always trying to find ways to make that activity less painful for both them and me!

My spare time.....

My spare time is spent with my family—mostly doing toddler activities which involve exploring our neighbours' driveways and backyards, hanging out in playgrounds, pretending to drive the car, and letting the weeds in my yard run wild.....I call it biodiversity, I'm sure my neighbours have another name for it....