College of Sciences
The Department of Biology Fiscal Year 2025-2026
Message from Leadership
Dear Donor, Thank you once again for a wonderful year of support for the Department of Biology. With your help, we have supported student training, education, and faculty research, to further enrich the reputation of SDSU as an R1 institution and a critical contributor to the local community. I’m sure that many of you, when visiting campus, have been welcomed by the giant construction site within which the new sciences building, Duran Sciences, is taking shape. We are so excited to occupy this new state-of-the-art space in late 2027, which could not have moved forward without the generous support of our donor community. Thank you, and I hope many of you will have an opportunity to visit the building once it opens. With research coffers at the State and Federal levels becoming more tightly constrained, this is a particularly important time for philanthropic support, and we are grateful for everything that you do to support us. I hope we can pay it back through training the next generation of doctors, environmental biologists, and research scientists. With sincere gratitude,
Richard Cripps, D.Phil. Professor and Chair of Biology
Philanthropy
Propelling the SDSU Community Forward Sciences Building Fund The College of Sciences received generous support for a fund dedicated to the development of a new sciences building, Duran Sciences, on San Diego State University’s main campus. This transformational project will create a state-of-the-art facility designed to expand opportunities for STEM instruction, laboratory training, and interdisciplinary research. The building will feature several donor-recognized spaces, including the Virginia Salazar, Terry Cronan, and Larry Fenson Wellness Room, the Peter and Sandra Phillips Lab, the Jeffrey Roberts and Deborah Jaffey Study Room, and Theilacker Terrace. Contributions to the fund help advance SDSU’s vision of preparing the next generation of scientists while strengthening the university’s capacity for research, innovation, and workforce development in the life sciences and other STEM fields.
Duran Sciences, rendering courtesy of Hensel Phelps and SmithGroup
Student Spotlight
Thriving in the Aztec Experience Daniel Gordon, Class of 2026 Class Level: Master's Candidate College: College of Sciences Major: Ecology My time at SDSU has been incredibly memorable, and I’ve grown so much as a researcher throughout my master’s program. Working with my advisors and fellow graduate students has been inspiring and rewarding, and I’ve learned so much from their mentorship, collaboration, and support. Having the opportunity to conduct exciting and complex research has been an amazing experience that has exceeded my expectations for what I hoped to gain from my master’s program. The knowledge, skills, and confidence I’ve developed at SDSU have prepared me for the next step in my academic journey as I begin a Ph.D. this fall.
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The knowledge, skills, and confidence I’ve developed at SDSU have prepared me for the next step in my academic journey as I begin a Ph.D. this fall.
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Student Spotlight
Jack McDermott, Class of 2026 Class Level: Master's Candidate College: College of Sciences Major: Ecology Academic achievement, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community engagement have been central to my master’s research in the College of Sciences at San Diego State University. Extending from a decade-long, NASA-funded, SDSU-led initiative called the Fisheries and Climate Toolkit, my graduate research developed novel analytical tools to strengthen our understanding of marine top predator species, including tunas, sharks, and billfish, in highly dynamic open-ocean systems. Working with a team of field-defining researchers and community stakeholders, co-development was integral to developing actionable research that guides proactive, resilient decision-making for marine resource managers. Outreach events hosted by the College of Sciences, including Marine Science Community Day and the Earth Day Symposium, provided me with a platform to communicate science with future scientists, the San Diego community, and an academic network. The opportunity to learn, grow, and lead at SDSU has undoubtedly equipped me with the resources to be a better scientist and meaningfully contribute to marine resource management and conservation throughout my career.
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The opportunity to learn, grow, and lead at SDSU has undoubtedly equipped me with the resources to be a better scientist and meaningfully contribute to marine resource management and conservation throughout my career.
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Student Spotlight
Ebru Robinson, Class of 2027 Class Level: Ph.D. Candidate College: College of Sciences Major: Cell and Molecular Biology My time in the College of Sciences at SDSU has been a rewarding part of my academic journey. Before joining the Ph.D. program, I completed a double major in molecular biology and physical therapy and rehabilitation, giving me a unique perspective on disease and patient care. As a third-year Ph.D. student in Dr. Cripps’ lab, I study Uchmaz, a novel muscle protein involved in sarcomere organization. Using genetic and molecular approaches in Drosophila, we found that loss of Uchmaz disrupts muscle structure and function. Because its human counterpart has been linked to muscular dystrophy and related myopathies, this work advances our understanding of muscle disease. This year, I presented my research at the Drosophila Research Conference and the ASBMB Annual Meeting, where I received a travel award. I was also honored to receive the Rees-Stealy Research Foundation Fellowship and the University Graduate Fellowship. Beyond the laboratory, I volunteer with the Muscular Dystrophy Association through outreach, fundraising, and Muscle Walk events. I hope to pursue a career in academia, leading translational research that connects basic science discoveries to clinical applications.
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My time in the College of Sciences at SDSU has been a rewarding part of my academic journey.
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Points of Pride
Celebrating Shared Success Current Rankings SDSU was ranked No. 104 among Best Colleges for Biology in America and No. 16 in California. Statistics of Interest The Department of Biology engages students in research across a wide range of biological disciplines and regularly showcases undergraduate and graduate research through public events and presentations. Student research is a central component of the department’s educational mission, providing hands-on experience and professional development opportunities. Recent Highlights In 2026, the Department of Biology consolidated its public lecture series into two signature events celebrating Darwin Day in February and Earth Day in April. Both events featured student research presentations alongside distinguished guest speakers, highlighting the department’s commitment to research, scientific outreach, and student success. This year, the department welcomed UC Berkeley professor and SDSU alumnus Dr. Jim McGuire for Darwin Day and renowned marine biologist and former NOAA administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco for Earth Day. The department plans to continue these annual events as a celebration of biology, research, and community engagement.
Biology Rankings
SDSU ranked No. 104 among Best Colleges for Biology in America and No. 16 in California.
Science Outreach
Darwin Day and Earth Day lecture events featured student research and distinguished guest speakers.
Faculty and Staff Achievements
Kinsey Brock, Ph.D. Title: Assistant Professor and Curator of Reptiles & Amphibians, Biology Department College: College of Sciences Achievement: Secured more than $60,000 to enhance the Reptiles and Amphibians Collection at the SDSU Biodiversity Museum. The funding supports infrastructure improvements, student training, and stipends. Small grants can have an outsized impact when they support resources that serve generations of scientists. Over the past year, Dr. Kinsey Brock secured several grants dedicated to expanding and preserving biological collections, helping ensure that specimens collected today will continue to inform research for decades to come. Dr. Brock studies how reptiles and amphibians respond to urbanization, one of the most widespread forms of environmental change. With support from these grants, Dr. Brock and her students have added more than 300 specimens to natural history collections from urban environments in Southern California, Italy, and Greece. These specimens represent populations from both recently developed urban landscapes and some of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, creating a valuable record of biodiversity across a broad gradient of urbanization. Biological collections preserve information about an organism’s morphology, genetics, diet, health, and environment at a specific point in time. As scientific techniques advance, archived specimens can be revisited to answer new questions about evolutionary change, environmental conditions, and ecological adaptation. The specimens collected through Dr. Brock’s research will support future studies examining how urban environments influence body size, physiology, genetics, morphology, and behavior in reptiles and amphibians. Because the collection spans cities with dramatically different histories, researchers will be able to explore how the duration and intensity of urbanization shapes biological responses.
Faculty and Staff Achievements
Luke Miller, Ph.D. Title: Associate Professor College: College of Sciences Achievement: Luke Miller, Ph.D. was one of an ever-shrinking number of researchers in the natural sciences to receive a three-year federal grant from the National Science Foundation’s Biological Oceanography Program. This award will support research examining the impacts of heat waves on coastal foundation species such as mussels and algae. Dr. Miller is an associate professor of biology at San Diego State University whose research focuses on marine ecophysiology and biomechanics. His lab investigates how marine organisms, particularly intertidal invertebrates such as mussels, limpets, and snails, respond to environmental stressors, including temperature extremes, wave action, water flow, and climate change. By combining field experiments, ecological monitoring, and physiological measurements, his work seeks to understand how coastal ecosystems function and how they may be affected by a changing climate. A distinctive aspect of Dr. Miller’s research is the development of innovative sensors, data loggers, and other open-source technologies that enable scientists to measure animal behavior and environmental conditions in both laboratory and natural settings. His interdisciplinary approach bridges ecology, physiology, engineering, and environmental science to better predict how marine species and ecosystems will respond to future environmental change.
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Dr. Miller was one of an ever-shrinking number of researchers in the natural sciences to receive a three-year federal grant from the National Science Foundation’s Biological Oceanography Program.
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Thank you for your generous support.
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