IUP Biology Department

05/11/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Mike Tyree on receiving the college Academic Advising award! We are proud of his tireless work for students!

Dr. Michael Tyree was the recipient of the KNSM Outstanding Academic Advisor Award! Your students love you, Mike! :)

05/11/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Holly Travis on her retirement! Her contributions to the Biology Department and future science teachers are innumerable! We will miss her and wish her the best!

Best Wishes for a wonderful retirement! Dr. Holly Travis aka "Bug Lady" (standing with Asst. Chairperson Joe Duchamp) from the Biology Department

04/22/2026

Dr. Travis and her class of future elementary educators took advantage of the nice weather this morning to check out the trees in the Oak Grove. They also checked out the variety of plants in the Heritage Garden by Northern Suites last week. If you haven’t been through there, it’s definitely worth a look!

04/13/2026

IUP Biology faculty Dr. Sarah Emel shared findings from a collaboration between IUP students, faculty, and the PA Game Commission at the Ecological Society of America Great Lakes meeting last weekend in Cleveland, OH

04/09/2026

Congratulations to all of the Biology undergraduate and graduate students who shared their research in yesterday’s IUP Scholar’s Forum! 🧬 🌿🧫🐟🔬🪱

04/07/2026

Congratulations to IUP Biology Pre-medical and English major Cynthia Roldan on receiving the first annual Theresa McDevitt Women in STEAM award from the Women in STEAM student organization. This award recognizes an outstanding woman whose research demonstrates excellence, innovation, and impact across the STEAM fields. Cynthia has performed research on opioid addiction with Biology faculty member Dr. Christina Ruby.

02/24/2026

Future STEM teachers deserve support 💛
Spring 2026 applications are OPEN—up to $30,000 to teach where you’re needed most.

Tag someone who should see this 👇

02/23/2026

Are you looking for summer coursework or interested in gaining new experience and skill in a field-related biological science? With summer registration just around the corner, we encourage you to consider the IUP Summer Field Biology Courses at the Pymatuning Lab of Ecology (PLE)!

Courses offered in summer 2026 by IUP are in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh's Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology (https://www.ple.pitt.edu/). This unique opportunity will provide you with invaluable field experience and new skills at a world-class biology station less than 2.5 hours from Indiana. These courses are extremely popular with students, and they provide an immersive outdoor setting focused on engagement with nature.

Watch this video for info about PLE: https://www.facebook.com/pittpymatuning/videos/445210779405365/

This summer PLE will offer seven different courses: Ecology, Wildlife Ecology and Management, Conservation Biology, Field Botany, Field Entomology, Ecology of Fish, and Field Techniques in Ecology and Conservation (taught by IUP’s Dr. Janetski). All courses count individually as controlled electives in Biology.

Courses are taught during three different 3-week sessions over the course of the summer, and are taught by experienced faculty from IUP, Pitt, Clarion, Slippery Rock, Chatham, Ohio State, and the National Aviary. For a full list of classes and instructors, please visit: https://www.ple.pitt.edu/courses/course-offerings

Students pay normal IUP tuition for the course, for which you will earn 4 credits in only 3 weeks! (Note that if you take six or more credits during the summer you can qualify for financial aid.) The PLE courses run from Monday morning through Friday afternoon each week, and students are encouraged to take in the full "field station experience" by staying at the station during the week. You can receive full lodging and food for an additional cost, a relative bargain considering the quality of the facility on-site, not to mention the added opportunities for recreation and socializing available to those staying at PLE.

For more information, please contact Dr. David Janetski ([email protected]; KOP 367).

02/23/2026

It may be snowy today, but just last Friday Dr. Emel’s BIOL 201 Principles of Ecology and Evolution lab section enjoyed some spring weather while observing by black-capped chickadee feeding behavior and mapping the study area by GPS. Later this semester, the students will get hands on experience analyzing the data they collected and presenting their findings

01/26/2026

10/17/2025

Another beautiful fall week at IUP! Dr. Travis took advantage of the weather to get her GNSC 104 labs outside collecting data on tree characteristics in Fern Hollow and the Oak Grove. 🍁🍂😁