| Stacey R. Hettes, Ph.D., Assistant Professor |
 Dr. Stacy Hettes received her B.S. degree from Kings College and her Ph.D. from the University of California-Riverside. She came to Wofford in August 2003. She is a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Hettes and Dr. Davis were awarded a $45,000 grant from NASA and the South Carolina Space Grant Consortium to study feeding behavior during the summer of 2005. The grant allowed Hettes and Davis to hire four students for 10 weeks during the summer and included student presentations to NASA scientists at the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. Based on research conducted with students in her research courses, Dr. Hettes has presented at the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behaviors annual meeting and the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting.
Presently, Dr. Hettes is teaching:
Neurobiology (445, 446)
Introduction to Research (250)
Advanced Topics in Research (Bio 450)
Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Biology (214)
Phone: (864) 597-4659
Email: hettessr@wofford.edu
Go to Dr. Hettes' Web Page
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David I. Kusher, Ph.D., Professor
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Dr. David Kusher joined the Wofford Biology Faculty Fall 1996. He received his B.S. degree in Aquatic Biology from the University of California Santa Barbara, his M.S. in Marine Biology at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (through San Francisco State University), and his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Georgia.
Prior to coming to Wofford, Dr. Kusher was a National Institute of Health Immunology Research Fellow at Emory University, with continued immunology research at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and All Children's Hospital (Tampa & St. Petersburg, Florida). Previous field and laboratory research interests include studies in environmental contamination, toxicology (cellular and molecular responses to heavy metals and hydrocarbon exposure), and stress induced immunosuppression in fish and humans as it relates to cancer development. Present research interests include studies in aquatic biology and fish immunology.
During Interim, Dr. Kusher has taught courses in Marine Fisheries Biology with field studies in the beautiful South Carolina estuaries. Coral Reef Biology and SCUBA diving in Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, San Salvador Bahamas, Roatan Honduras, and four times to the Dutch Island of Bonaire (Netherland Antilles, southern Carribean).
Presently, Dr. Kusher teaches:
Introductory Animal Biology (111)
Marine Biology (385)
Freshwater Biology (386)
Exotoxicology (480)
Case Studies in Environmental Issues (497)
Phone: (864) 597-4626
Email: kusherdi@wofford.edu
Go to Dr. Kusher's Web Page
John F. Moeller, Ph.D., Associate Professor
 Dr. Moeller received his B.A. in Animal Physiology from the University of California, San Diego and his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His graduate work focused on the sensory physiology, anatomy, and behavior of deepwater crustaceans of the Pacific Ocean. Dr. Moeller conducted a post-doctoral research project at Florida State University investigating the role chemosensory systems play in reproductive behavior. These studies focused on the neural pathways that mediate chemosensory signals in sharks and stingrays. He has also participated in projects developing aquaculture techniques for Pacific sturgeon and in studies examining retinal development in amphibians.
Dr. Moeller has taught for 6 years at St Andrews Presbyterian College and served as chair of the department for 5 years. While at St. Andrews his research shifted to communication and behavior in various species of insects, especially wasps. His current research focuses on the stridulation of the wingless wasps commonly known as velvet ants. Most of these organisms are solitary parasites on the larvae of ground nesting bees and wasps. Future research will focus on how these velvet ants locate the nests of their hosts.
Presently, Dr. Moeller teaches:
Biology Concepts and Methods (104)
Cell and Development (214)
Human Physiology (342)
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Robert E. Moss, Ph.D., Professor |
 Dr. Moss received his B.S. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, and his Ph.D. degree in Cell and Developmental Biology from Harvard University. His research focused on how genes guide development. After completing his degree, Dr. Moss worked at the National Headquarters of the American Cancer Society for two years; cancer has always been one focus of his studies. Before coming to Wofford in 1992, Dr. Moss taught at Columbia, Fordham, and Yeshiva Universities in New York. Dr. Moss chairs the Health Careers Advisors Committee, and coordinates off-campus internships for students with health-related career interests through Wofford's Interim Program.
Past interims include in depth studies of cancer, clinical internships with hospitals and physicians nation-wide, and Getting into Medical School. He also plans to take travel interims to the Northeast [Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York], as well as to Israel.
Presently, Dr. Moss teaches:
Current Topics in Biology (480+)
Introduction to Genetics and Development (212)
Human Genetics (421)
Immunology (423)
Advanced Topics in Molecular Biology (436)
Current Topics in Biology (481)
Seminar on Human Disease (482)
Phone: (864) 597-4623
Email: mossre@wofford.edu
Go to Dr. Moss' Web Page
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Douglas A. Rayner, Ph.D., Professor
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 Dr. Rayner received his B.S. degree from the University of New Hampshire and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Biology (Botany and Ecology emphasis) from the University of South Carolina. Presently, Dr. Rayner is Professor of Biology at Wofford and an Adjunct Professor of Biology at Clemson University. Previously, he was employed as botanist and inventory coordinator with the Non-game and Heritage Trust Program of the South Carolina Wildlife Department, where his responsibilities included conducting statewide inventories for plants and unique natural areas. His present research interests include the population biology of rare and endangered plants, the identification of unique natural areas, and the effect of deer browse on plant diversity. Dr. Rayner is also a private biological consultant on endangered plants, animals and wetlands; a member of the Board of Directors of the Spartanburg Science Center; a scientific advisor to the S.C. Nature Conservancy and SPACE (the local land conservation trust); and he is active in committee work for the Association of Southeastern Biologists and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society. Dr. Rayner came to Wofford in 1989.
One of Dr. Rayner's recent interims introduced students to Economic Botany, With an emphasis on plants affecting human health. His 1997 interim (with Dr. Gerald Thurmond) was entitled Belize, which involved 2 weeks in-country investigating ecotourism. Presently, Dr. Rayner teaches:
Introduction to Plants and the Ecosystem (113)
Ecology (382)
Field Biology (370)
The Plant Kingdom (360)
Field Botany (372)
Evolution (399)
Phone: (864) 597-4624
Email: raynerda@wofford.edu
Go to Dr. Rayner's Web Page
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| Chuck Smith, Ph.D., Assistant Professor |
 Dr. Chuck Smith received his Ph.D. from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at The University of Connecticut, Storrs, and his B.S. in Biology from The University of South Carolina, Columbia magna cum laude.
Prior to joining the Wofford College faculty in 2009, Dr. Smith held an appointment as a National Science Foundation Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow and concurrently taught in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at The University of Connecticut, Storrs, where he combined his work on snake mating system evolution with teaching upper-level and introductory courses such as Vertebrate Biology and Biological Principles.
Dr. Smith’s research interests center on the evolution of mating systems, especially in the links between spatial ecology, behavior, morphology and physiology, and the fitness benefits and costs arising from each of these attributes at the population level. His research combines field (e.g., radio-tracking, GIS analysis) and laboratory (e.g., endocrinological, histological, molecular) approaches to address hypotheses about the spatial ecology and reproductive physiology of crotaline snakes. He is using these data, along with phylogenetic information, to develop an integrated framework to study the ecology and evolution of mating systems and sexual selection in these and other snakes. As part of his research program, Dr. Smith has been collaborating for the past five years with Dr. Gordon W. Schuett (Georgia State University) and Drs. Michael and Marlis Douglas (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) in applying molecular genetics techniques to directly measure male fitness in free-ranging crotalines.
Along with teaching and conducting research, Dr. Smith serves as Director for the Connecticut Meshomasic Rattlesnake Conservation Project (a long-term intensive field study that provides base-line natural history data on the State-Endangered Timber Rattlesnake that will allow land managers to set priorities for land protection and to develop better public outreach to area residents), holds an appointment as a Research Scientist with Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at The University of Connecticut and serves as a peer-reviewer for scientific journals such as Copeia, Journal of Experimental Zoology, and Animal Behaviour.
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| Natalie Spivey, Ph.D., Assistant Professor |
 Dr. Spivey grew up in Orlando, Florida. She spent her first two years of college at Oxford College of Emory University. Her final two years of college were spent on Emory’s main campus where she received a B.S. in Biology. Following graduation, she entered the Cell and Molecular Biology graduate program at Duke University. Her dissertation research focused on the interaction between plants and pathogens. Using microarray technology, she investigated the changes in gene expression that occur when Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant model organism, is infected with the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. This led to the discovery of novel transcriptional regulators that control the plant’s immune response. Dr. Spivey joined the Biology faculty at Wofford College in 2009. |
 Lisa P. Thomas, Departmental Assistant
Phone: (864) 597-4620
Fax: (864) 597-4629
thomaslp@wofford.edu
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