Welcome to the
Center for BioMolecular Modeling
Tim Herman, Ph.D.
Director, MSOE Center for BioMolecular Modeling
Dr. Herman received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Nebraska in 1972 and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Oregon State University in 1976. He pursued post-doctoral studies in molecular biology at Harvard Medical School from 1977-1980. He joined the biochemistry faculty at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1980, and for the next 18 years, taught graduate and medical students while directing research programs in areas ranging from the synthesis of chemically cleavable biotin-labeled nucleotide analogs to the development of novel approaches to structure-based drug design. In 1997, he began working with the MSOE Rapid Prototyping Center to apply this additive manufacturing technology to the production of physical models of proteins. He officially joined the Milwaukee School of Engineering in 1998, as Director of the newly-created Center for BioMolecular Modeling. Dr. Herman's current research interests are focused in two areas: the application of rapid prototyping technology to the production of physical models of molecular structures, and science education research projects designed to measure the impact of physical and computer-based models of molecular structures on student learning.
Shannon Colton, Ph.D.
Program Director, MSOE Center for BioMolecular Modeling
Shannon Colton joined the Center for BioMolecular Modeling in the Fall of 2003. She received her B.S. in biology at Marquette University in 1997 and her Ph.D. in developmental and molecular biology from Marquette University in 2002. She is an adjunct assistant professor at Marquette University and teaches introductory and advanced courses in biology, biochemistry, and developmental biology. At the CBM, Shannon is director of the SMART Team Program and the Science Olympiad Protein Modeling Challenge, a new event in the Science Olympiad. She established the MSOE Model Lending Library. Shannon is interested in implementing inquiry-based learning methods into science education at the secondary and post-secondary education levels.
Ann Batiza, Ph.D.
Program Director, MSOE Center for BioMolecular Modeling
Ann Batiza’s background reflects her strong interests in biology, education and writing. She received her undergraduate degree as an interdisciplinary major in biology and chemistry (emphasis biology) at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1969; and attended Yale University in the Department of Microbiology. She later earned both an M.A. in education in curriculum and instruction (San Diego State University, 1977) and a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology (University of Wisconsin – Madison 1998). Her thesis mentor was Professor Patrick Masson and in his Arabidopsis (plant) laboratory, she characterized the calcium response of yeast to hypotonic shock. After earning her Ph.D., she did her postdoctoral work and worked as a researcher in the UW-Madison laboratory of Professor Ching Kung. There she used recombinant DNA techniques to probe the structure of the bacterial channel MscL that opens upon bacterial swelling and with Dr. Zhou, another researcher in the lab, serendipitously discovered the mechanosensitivity of a yeast vacuolar channel, Trp1. She has taught at many levels: pre K-science, elementary reading, middle school math and science, high school science (in St. Louis and at Madison Country Day School), biology and biotechnology classes (at Madison Area Technical College), chemistry for non-majors (UW-Madison), Science Methods (at Washington University in St. Louis) and was in charge of developing the educational content of the then new (1984) Discovery Room at the St. Louis Science Center. While in St. Louis, Ann wrote grants for the St. Louis City School desegregation effort and also developed curricular materials for an education publisher. More recently, she wrote a book for young adults called Bioinformatics, Genomics and Proteomics: Getting the Big Picture published by Chelsea House. She is delighted to be developing protein-based educational programs for high school and college students and their teachers at the MSOE Center for BioMolecular Modeling.
Margaret Franzen, Ph.D.
Program Director, MSOE Center for BioMolecular Modeling
Margaret Franzen earned a B.A. with honors in biology from Bryn Mawr College in 1978 and a Ph.D. in biological sciences from Northern Illinois University in 1987, with an emphasis in molecular genetics. She pursued a post-doctoral study of ribozymes in 1987-1988 at the Plant Molecular Biology Center of Northern Illinois University before delving into a teaching career. She served as Assistant Professor of Biology at David Lipscomb University from 1989-1992, then was a guest lecturer at the University of Bucharest and the Romanian American University while serving as a missionary in Romania. She joined the faculty at Pellissippi State Technical Community College in 1997, where she became interested in teaching to multiple learning styles. Her teaching innovations have won both local and national recognition. She participated in the summer professional development program at the CBM in 2003, beginning a long and rewarding relationship with CBM staff in curriculum development and educator training. She joined the CBM staff fulltime in 2006 and currently devotes her efforts to the Proteins in Active Learning Modules (PALM) project, developing materials and assessing their impact in undergraduate classrooms, as well as maintaining and expanding the MSOE Model Lending Library.
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