Leadership

Leadership within GEP is distributed across five specialized Committees—Assessment, Curriculum, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI), Professional Development, and Science & IT—each of which addresses specific priorities and are overseen by the Steering Committee.

Steering

Provides overall guidance and leadership of GEP and coordinates the specialized committees

Laura Reed, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biology at The University of Alabama. Research in the Reed Lab focuses on understanding how evolutionary, genetic, and environmental factors interact to shape complex metabolic traits, including diseases like obesity and type-2 diabetes. Laura took over as the GEP’s Program Director in 2017. Within the GEP, Laura is also the Project Leader of the Pathways Project, Chair of the Steering Committee, oversees the Virtual TAs, the Staff, and all financial aspects of the partnership.

Assessment

Assesses the effectiveness of GEP strategies for both student & faculty outcomes

Christy Fleet, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biology at Emory & Henry University in southwest Virginia. She teaches undergraduate courses in Genetics, Biochemistry, and Physiology. Her research focuses on transcriptional control of plant development.

Lori Boies, Ph.D., MPH is a Research Assistant Professor at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. She joined the GEP in 2021, and integrates the Pathways Project in her advanced biology course: Genes, Genomes, and Genomics. Additionally, she is the Program Director of the MS in Medical Genomics slated to start in Fall 2026 at St. Mary’s University.

Curriculum

Develops & updates curriculum & specialized pedagogy for all levels of undergraduate biology

Ph.D. in Computational Cancer Biology transitioning into Integrative Omics with a focus on Women’s Health for her postdoc. Tess has a passion for coding literacy, teaching, science communication, and belonging in STEM.

Andrea Perreault, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at Elon University. She primarily teaches genetics and is going to be teaching a genomics course for the first time in January 2026! Dr. Perreault’s research group focuses on computational cancer genomics and how genetics and epigenetic factors impact cancer development.

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Establishes best practices & training for creating & maintaining an inclusive & safe environment for all GEP members & students

Maire Sustacek, Ph.D. is a biology faculty at Minneapolis Community and Technical College in Minneapolis, MN, where she teaches Genetics and Microbiology courses. She earned her Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology and Genetics at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in 2009. Her past research interests include repair and recombination of large DNA repeats in yeast and human cancer. Her current work focuses on CUREs and other best practices for making STEM education more accessible and inclusive.

Catherine (Cathy) Silver Key, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at an HBCU: North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC. She teaches undergraduate and graduate Genetics, a sophomore CURE called Drosophila Behavioural Genetics (DaBuGs) and undergrad Developmental Biology. Her Ph.D. is in Microbiology and Immunology from UNC-Chapel Hill. She also completed an IRACDA post-doc called SPIRE at UNC-CH. Her current research focuses on Drosophila behavioral genetics, including alcohol-induced behaviors, and the impact of CUREs on student education.

DEI Journal Club

The DEI Journal Club sets a regular meeting time at the beginning of each semester.

Brian Schwartz is a professor of Biology at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia, where he teaches general biology, genetics, developmental biology, and evolution. He earned a B.S. in Biology from the University of Memphis and a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin.

Professional Development & Mentoring

Maintains training & professional development opportunities for all GEP members & includes the Regional Nodes, New Member Training, & Mentoring subcommittees

Daron Barnard, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biology and Director of the Aisiku STEM Center at Worcester State University in Massachusetts. He teaches undergraduate courses that focus on molecular and cellular biology including Genetics, Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology, Developmental Biology and Bioinformatics. His research interests focus on mechanisms that regulate mRNA translation and control early development in the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis.

Jeff French earned his Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of South Carolina in 2008, just after being hired into full-time teaching at North Greenville University (NGU, Carolinas Node), a 2,000-student private Christian college in the Upstate of SC. His graduate training was partly ecology, partly molecular, and his molecular evolution research switched from wet-lab work to a bioinformatics approach in 2005. At NGU, he previously served as Chair of Biology and is now Associate Dean of Science and Math. He joined the GEP through online training in late 2020. He uses GEP curriculum in his sophomore-level genetics course and has had independent research students practicing annotation since 2021, recently under the framework of the Pathways project.

Training and Mentoring

Coordinates training and mentoring of new and existing members

Jennifer (Jenni) Kennell received her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) in 2005 and is now a Professor of Biology at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. She regularly teaches classes related to genetics, including an intermediate level molecular genetics course in which she has incorporated the GEP curriculum and research projects since she joined the GEP in 2014. Her current research focuses on characterizing the role of a family of predicted HAD-domain containing phosphatases in fruit fly metabolism and behavior. During the 2024-2025 academic year she served as the Director of Regional Nodes and she is excited to now serve as a Director of Training and Mentoring.

Melinda A. Yang received her Ph.D. in Integrative Biology with a Designated Emphasis in Computational Genomics from UC Berkeley and is now an Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Richmond in Richmond, VA. Her research focuses on the use of computational and population genomic methods to study evolutionary history, particularly in humans of East Asia. She regularly teaches classes on bioinformatics and human evolutionary genomics, and implements GEP research projects in an introductory biology course focused on research methods. She served as the Director of Regional Nodes in the 2023–2024 academic year, and looks forward to helping more GEP members implement GEP science projects and make connections as Co-Director of Training and Mentoring.

Regional Nodes

Coordinates events for regional clusters of participating GEP institutions

Kellie Agrimson, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Carroll College in Helena, MT. She teaches Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Reproductive Science and Medicine, Cell Biology, and Developmental Biology. Kellie earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at Washington State University in 2016 and was an IRACDA Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Minnesota. Her research has included characterizing the role of Liver Receptor Homolog 1 (LRH1) in the mouse testis and manipulating Retinoic Acid levels to study spermatogenesis during the first wave and establishment of spermatogonial stem cells in the mouse testis. Currently, her lab is focused on using CRISPR/Cas9 to ask questions about the role of LRH1 in human testicular cancer cell lines.

Cheryl Bardales received her Ph.D. from Penn State University and a M.Ed from Ohio State University. She is an Assistant Professor of Biology at LSU of Alexandria, where she teaches Genetics, Cell and Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry. She is currently developing a Bioinformatics and Genomics course and credits the Genomics Education Partnership (GEP) with inspiring and informing the new class, which will incorporate GEP research components along with introductory R and Python programming. Dr. Bardales is passionate about expanding undergraduate research opportunities and integrating computational tools into life sciences education. Her teaching focuses on making complex biological concepts accessible and empowering students to apply data-driven approaches in modern biology. She is actively involved in curriculum development that emphasizes interdisciplinary skills and high-impact learning experiences.

Science & IT

Advises on development of new research questions and on issues related to the web framework

Clare Scott Chialvo is an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at Appalachian State University, a regional comprehensive in Boone, NC. She teaches evolutionary biology, genetics’ labs, and a genomics CURE. Her research interests focus on understanding the evolution of plant-insect interactions with a focus on adaptations that allow insects to feed on toxic hosts. Currently, her lab is examining these questions in mushroom-feeding Drosophila that can feed on deadly Amanita mushrooms along with many edible species. Clare is leading the development of the detoxification gene project for the GEP.

Amanda Stahlke is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Colorado Mesa University, a PUI in western Colorado. She teaches introductory biology courses for majors and nonmajors, as well as Genetics. Her research focus is genome biology, population genomics, and evolution of biocontrol agents, such as the tamarisk beetle (Diorhabda spp.). She and Dr. Zeynep Özsoy are developing the tamarisk beetle science project as a case study for GEP approaches in non-model insects.

Page Last Updated: June 26, 2025

About

Directories

Members

Curriculum

Research Projects

Students

Leadership

Committees

Steering

Laura K. Reed

Assessment

Christine Fleet

Lori Boies

Curriculum

Tess Cherlin

Andrea Perreault

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Maire K. Sustacek

Cathy Silver Key

DEI Journal Club

Brian Schwartz

Professional Development & Mentoring

Daron Barnard

Jeffrey French

Training and Mentoring

Jenni Kennell

Melinda Yang

Regional Nodes

Kellie S. Agrimson

Cheryl Bardales

Science & IT

Clare Scott Chialvo

Amanda Stahlke