CP NJIT Biology: How Life Works

James Morris is Professor of Biology at Brandeis University. He teaches a wide variety of courses for majors and non-majors, including introductory biology, evolution, genetics and genomics, epigenetics, comparative vertebrate anatomy, and a first-year seminar on Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. He is the recipient of numerous teaching awards from Brandeis and Harvard. His research focuses on epigenetics. He currently pursues this research with undergraduates to give them the opportunity to do genuine, laboratory-based research. Dr. Morris received a PhD in genetics from Harvard University and an MD from Harvard Medical School. He was a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University and a National Academies Education Fellow and Mentor in the Life Sciences. He is also a reader for the AP® Biology exam and an author of Biology for the AP® Course.

Alain Viel a native of Vesoul (France), earned his PhD in developmental Biology from the University of Paris VI (France), studying under the guidance of Prof. Hermann Denis and Marc le Maire. His research focused on the storage of proteins and RNAs during amphibian oogenesis and using biochemical approaches. As a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Daniel Branton’s lab at Harvard University, he made significant strides in understanding the structure-function relationship of spectrin and the role of spliced variants of the tumor suppressor Hdlg. 

In 2004, Viel became a senior lecturer in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. He created LS100, a course where Harvard undergraduate students experience how science is done through the practice of experimental inquiry. His interest in developing accessible teaching material prompted Viel to create a blended-learning biochemistry course (MCB63) concomitantly with a version of the course for HarvardX (MCB63X). He has also developed an online course introducing non-scientists to CRISPR and its application in the life sciences. 

Viel is the faculty co-director of LabXchange, an educational platform created at Harvard University. LabXchange offers an integrated teaching and learning ecosystem, engages with a diverse, global community, and distributes free high-quality STEM educational material, allowing everyone, everywhere, to chart a path in science.

Viel’s influence extends beyond the classroom. As a founding member of BioVisions, a collaboration between scientists, teaching faculty, students, and media professionals, he has contributed to science visualization on a global scale. His collaborations with Prof. Lue have resulted in award-winning animations depicting biological processes in the context of the cell. These animations are widely used in high schools, colleges, museums, and TV series across the United States and Europe.

Viel was awarded the UNESCO Chair on Life Sciences and Social Innovation in 2023 for his contributions to digital education. 

Daniel L. Hartl is Higgins Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. He has taught highly popular courses in genetics and evolution at both the introductory and advanced levels. His lab studies molecular evolutionary genetics and population genetics and genomics. Dr. Hartl has been awarded the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal from the Genetics Society of America, the Samuel Weiner Outstanding Scholar Award, and the Gold Medal of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Naples, Italy. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has served as President of the Genetics Society of America and President of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. Dr. Hartl’s PhD is from the University of Wisconsin, and he did postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining the Harvard faculty, he served on the faculties of the University of Minnesota, Purdue University, and Washington University Medical School. In addition to publishing more than 450 scientific articles, Dr. Hartl has authored or coauthored 35 books.

Andrew H. Knoll is Fisher Research Professor of Natural History in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He is also Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and taught introductory courses for many years in both departments. Dr. Knoll’s research focuses on the early evolution of life, Earth dynamic environmental history, and the interconnections between the two. He has also worked extensively on the early evolution of animals, mass extinction, and plant evolution, and he served on the science team for NASA’s MER mission to Mars. Dr. Knoll received the Phi Beta Kappa Book Award in Science for Life on a Young Planet. In 2018, he was awarded the International Prize for Biology and in 2022, he received the prestigious Crafoord Prize in Geosciences for his research on Earth’s early history. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a foreign member of the Royal Society of London. Dr. Knoll received his PhD from Harvard University and taught at Oberlin College before returning to Harvard.

Robert Lue was Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University and the Richard L. Menschel Faculty Director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. Dr. Lue had a longstanding commitment to interdisciplinary teaching and research and chaired the faculty committee that developed the first integrated science foundation in the country to serve science majors as well as pre-medical students. The founding director of Life Sciences Education at Harvard, Dr. Lue led a complete redesign of the introductory curriculum, redefining how the university can more effectively foster new generations of scientists as well as science-literate citizens. Dr. Lue also developed award-winning multimedia, including the animation The Inner Life of the Cell. He coauthored undergraduate biology textbooks and chaired education conferences on college biology for the National Academies and the National Science Foundation and on diversity in science for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institutes of Health. In 2012, Dr. Lue’s extensive work on using technology to enhance learning took a new direction when he became faculty director of university-wide online education initiative HarvardX. Dr. Lue earned his PhD from Harvard University.

Brian D. Farrell is the Monique and Philip Lehner Professor for the Study of Latin America, a faculty member in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Curator in Entomology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. He is an authority on coevolution between insects and plants and a specialist on the biology of beetles. He teaches the large introductory course in organismic biology and a Freshmen Seminar in acoustic biology, and is interested in the impact of biophilia on human health. In 2011–2012, he was a Fulbright Scholar to the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Dr. Farrell received a BA in Zoology and Botany from the University of Vermont and MS and PhD from the University of Maryland.

N. Michele Holbrook is Charles Bullard Professor of Forestry in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, Head Tutor in Harvard’s undergraduate program in Environmental Policy and Public Policy, and Director of the Harvard Forest. She teaches introductory and advanced courses on plant biology and plant physiology, as well as courses on trees, forests, and climate change. Her research focuses on the physics and physiology of vascular transport in plants. Dr. Holbrook received her PhD from Stanford University.