G. Douglas Crandall
Professor of Biology
B.A., Middlebury College; M.S., University of Vermont; Ph.D., Indiana University
Office hours: MWF 12:30-1:45 pm
Other times by appointment
Office: Marian Hall, Room 215
Phone: 617-735-9959
E-mail: crandall@emmanuel.edu
As a teacher of biology I am primarily interested in "inquiry-based learning" and getting students involved in the process of science. All of my courses require a laboratory experience in which students collaborate to design and execute original experiments. Small groups work together to do science as it is done in the real world, through hypothesis building, observation and experimental design. This non-traditional lab approach along with the lectures and discussions in the classroom provides a complete immersion in the discipline of biology.
In collaboration with the Chemistry Department and several undergraduate students in biology and chemistry, we have begun a study of the water hyacinth as an agent of bioremediation. This floating plant is native to rivers and ponds in the southern United States. In the laboratory we investigated the uptake by water hyacinth of several heavy metals found polluting fresh water samples. In the course of one to two weeks the plants have been shown to absorb considerable amounts of cadmium and/or lead from contaminated water samples. The possibility of using these plants to cleanse contaminated water supplies is being explored.
Courses
BIOL1101 - Life on Earth
BIOL1106 - Introduction to Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
BIOL2105 - Plant Biology
BIOL2107 - Ecology
BIOL2131 - Biochemistry I
BIOL3103 - Cell Biology
BIOL3125 - Molecular Biology
BIOL4160 - Seminar
BIOL4194-95 - Research Internships in the Life Sciences I-II
Recent Publications & Professional Activity
Ainsworth, G., A. Fields, S. Patris, D. Crandall and F. Ryvkin, Bioremediation of Cadmium by Water Hyacinth. Poster presented at Environmental Research Symposium, Bridgewater State College, November 12, 2005.
Patris, S., D. Crandall and F. Ryvkin, Bioremediation of Cadmium by Water Hyacinth. Talk presented at Eastern New England Biology Conference at Simmons College, April 23, 2006.
Crandall, G. D. 1995. "A Low Tech Visual Presentation Technique." Journal of College Science Teaching. 25: 56-57.
Crandall, G. D. 1997. "Old Wine Into New Bottles: How Traditional Lab Exercises Can Be Converted Into Investigative Ones." Journal of College Science Teaching. 26(6): 413-418.
"Old Wine Into New Bottles: How Traditional Lab Exercises Can Be Converted Into Investigative Ones." 2001. In: Practicing Science: the Investigative Approach in College Science Teaching, NSTA Press, Arlington, VA.