2024-2025 Department Seminars

Most Mondays, 3:30-4:30 PM, 141 Olin (unless otherwise specified)

Biology Majors need to attend 10 seminars to fulfill the seminar requirement for comps. Seminar attendance counts toward the seminar requirement beginning in spring term of sophomore year after declaring a biology major. The seminar requirement must be met by the end of the fifth week of spring term of senior year. If you have any questions, please contact Rika Anderson. Scroll to bottom for other seminar series of note.

Fall Term 2024

  • September 16 – First day of classes; no seminar
  • September 23 – Carleton Bio faculty. “Biology Department Research Lightning Talks!”
  • September 30 – No seminar.
  • October 7 – Roger Faust ’19, Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Studies, Carleton College. “Empowering Tribal Communities in Natural Resource Management: A Community Centered Approach.” Hosted by Raka Mitra.
  • October 14- Micah Miller, Director of Arctic and Loon Research Programs and Waterbird Research Scientist, Biodiversity Research Institute. “What we can Learn from Waterbirds – Adventures and Lessons from Sea Ducks and Loons.” Hosted by Amanda Hund’s research group.
  • October 21 – Midterm break; no seminar.
  • October 28 – No seminar
  • November 4 – Michelle Tong, Assistant Professor of Neurobiology, Department of Biology, Macalester College. “Expanding our knowledge of extracellular mechanisms of stability.” Hosted by Raka Mitra.
  • November 11 – Grace Vaziri, Post-Doctoral Associate, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, University of Minnesota. “Winter break? The effects of overwintering, over time and space, on immune gene expression in wood frogs.” Hosted by Amanda Hund’s research group.
  • November 18 – No seminar
  • November 25 – No seminar

Winter Term 2025

  • January 6 – First day of classes; no seminar
  • January 13 – Layla Oesper, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Carleton College. “Tumor Evolution: What is it? How do we measure it? What does it tell us?” Hosted by Mark McKone.
  • January 20 – Dr. Audrey Barker-Plotkin ’92, Senior Researcher and Site Manager, Harvard Forest, Harvard University. “Causes and Consequences of Oak and Hemlock Tree Mortality from Invasive Insects.” Hosted by Mark McKone.
  • January 27 – Biology comps presentations.
  • January 28 – Biology comps presentations from 12:00-1:00 in Hulings 316.
  • February 3 – Darwin Day Seminar with Mingzi Xu, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota. “The Evolution & Genomics of Sexual Signals and Mating Preferences.” Hosted by Mark McKone and Amanda Hund.
  • February 4 – Biology comps presentations from 12:00-1:00 in Hulings 316.
  • February 5 – Biology comps presentations from 3:30-4:30 in Olin 149.
  • February 10 – Midterm break; no seminar.
  • February 11 – Biology comps presentations from 12:00-1:00 in Hulings 316.
  • February 13 – Biology comps presentations from 12:00-1:00 in Olin 149.
  • February 17 – Biology comps presentations.
  • February 18 – Biology comps presentations from 12:00-1:00 in Hulings 316.
  • February 24 – Biology comps presentations.
  • March 3 – Cameron McDonald Hyman ’09, MD PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Oncology, and Transplantation, University of Minnesota. “Modulating T-cell Metabolism to Enhance Cellular Therapies for Blood Cancers and Inflammatory Diseases.”
  • March 10 – Vaishali Bakshi, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin at Madison. “Amygdala neuroplasticity after trauma-like stress exposure: a preclinical model for PTSD-like deficits.” Hosted by Sarah Meerts and Jenn Wolff.
  • March 17 – No seminar

Spring Term 2025

  • March 31 – First day of classes; no seminar
  • April 7 – Peg McCarthy, University of Maryland School of Medicine, “Sex Differences in the Brain at the Intersection of the Endocrine, Immune and Nervous System.” Hosted by Sarah Meerts.
  • April 14 – Masaru K. Nobu, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology. “Topic TBA. “From the origin of life to two domains.” Hosted by Rika Anderson.
  • April 21 – Kevin Monahan, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Rutgers University. “The epigenetic basis of our sense of smell.” Hosted by Rou-Jia Sung.
  • April 28 – Biology comps presentations.
  • May 5 – Midterm break; no seminar.
  • May 12 – Biology comps presentations.
  • May 19 – Biology comps presentations.
  • May 26 –
  • June 2 –

Other Seminar Series of Interest: