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Schuellein Chair in Biological Sciences

The Schuellein Chair in the Biological Sciences recognizes outstanding accomplishments and contributions of a faculty member in the Department of Biology, with particular emphasis on excellence in mentoring students through research. The position was created through a planned gift from Robert J. Schuellein, Ph.D. (‘44).

Dr. Schuellein helped establish the Department of Biology’s graduate program and mentored many of the program’s first graduates.

The current chair is Dr. Ryan McEwan.

About the chair

Dr. Ryan McEwan, the Environmental Biology Program director, became the third Schuellein Chair in Biological Sciences in 2021. Dr. McEwan's research focuses on forest ecology and spans from the tropical forests of Taiwan to the boreal forests of the Siberian Arctic in Russia, with a main emphasis on temperate forests of eastern North America. The Smithsonian, the National Science Foundation and the USDA Forest Service, among others, have funded Dr. McEwan's projects. He's also partnered with many regional organizations. 

Ryan has provided research opportunities for more than 100 undergraduates, many of whom have gone on to careers in science. 

Faculty Profile


DR. AMIT SINGH

Dr. Amit Singh, Department of Biology, became the second Schuellein Chair in Biological Sciences in 2019. Dr. Singh has done extensive research in Drosophila genetics of patterning and growth to model human diseases at University of Dayton. He enjoys a hands-on approach to his research and his teaching.

Amit has been on the faculty in the Department of Biology since 2007. He recently served as director of graduate studies in biology and serves as the interim director of the Center for Tissue Regeneration and Engineering at Dayton (TREND).

Faculty Profile

DR. CARISSA KRANE

Dr. Krane was the first Schuellein Chair in Biological Sciences at the University of Dayton. She is a Professor in the Biology Department with a joint appointment in Bioengineering. She earned her Honors B.S. degree in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology from Marquette University and her Ph.D. degree in Molecular Genetics from Washington University in St. Louis. Carissa was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine in the Program of Excellence in Heart and Lung Biology prior to joining the faculty in the Department of Biology in January 2001. Dr. Krane has secured significant and ongoing funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Lung Association for her work on Aquaporins, membrane proteins that control the water content of cells.

Dr. Krane has mentored scores of students and contributed to a number of industry-sponsored interdisciplinary research contracts and multidisciplinary teaching efforts. She received the College’s award for outstanding teaching in 2008, the George B. Noland Award for Research in 2014 (given by UD’s Chapter of Sigma Xi) and has been formally recognized by the American Physiological Society for her service as a research mentor to undergraduate student summer research fellows.

Outside the classroom and lab, Dr. Krane has brought significant leadership to a number of settings. She is currently serving a second term as President of the Academic Senate, and has also served as Associate Director of the University Honors Program where she supervised honors thesis research and developed the Berry Summer Thesis Institute. She is currently in the second year of a three year term of national service on the American Physiological Society’s Education Committee.

Faculty Profile


CONTACT

Schuellein Chair in Biological Sciences

Science Center
300 College Park
Dayton, Ohio 45469
937-229-3427
Email