Erin Dolan is the Georgia Athletic Association Professor of Innovative Science Education at the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

. Dolan is a

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

known for her research on engaging students in science research.

Education and career

Dolan has a B.A. in biology from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

(1993) where she did an honors thesis on SCPb, a

neurotransmitter A neurotransmitter is a signaling molecule secreted by a neuron to affect another cell across a Chemical synapse, synapse. The cell receiving the signal, or target cell, may be another neuron, but could also be a gland or muscle cell. Neurotra ...

in the American lobster. She earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

where she worked on developmental plasticity in the nematode

Caenorhabditis elegans ''Caenorhabditis elegans'' () is a free-living transparent nematode about 1 mm in length that lives in temperate soil environments. It is the type species of its genus. The name is a Hybrid word, blend of the Greek ''caeno-'' (recent), ''r ...

. Following her Ph.D., she worked at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

for two years before moving to

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

in 2002. In 2011, Dolan moved to the

where she was named the Georgia Athletic Association Professor of Innovative Science Education in 2016. From 2014 until 2016 she was the executive director of the Texas Institute for Discovery Education in Science at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. In 2010 Dolan was named Editor-in-chief of the journal CBE: Life Sciences Education.

Research

As a neuroscientist, Dolan worked on sensory signalling, gene expression, and nerve development in the nematode

. Following her graduate work, Dolan started researching science education where she focuses on the development of programs to increase retention of students in science disciplines and how social and cultural phenomena impact student learning and development, particularly in course-based undergraduate research experiences called CUREs.

Selected publications

* * * *

Awards and honors

* Bruce Alberts Award for Excellence in Science Education (2018) * Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education,

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) is a learned society that was founded on December 26, 1906, at a meeting organized by John Jacob Abel (Johns Hopkins University). The roots of the society were in the American Ph ...

(2017) * Excellence in Education of the

American Society of Plant Biologists The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is a non-profit professional society for research and education in plant science with over 4,000 members world-wide. It was founded in 1924, as the American Society of Plant Physiologists (ASPP). T ...

(2013)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dolan, Erin University of California, San Francisco alumni Wellesley College alumni University of Georgia faculty Living people Nematologists Women biochemists Science teachers American neuroscientists 1971 births