Professor David Pfeiffer appointed Honors College director of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship
by Michelle Saport |
David Pfeiffer, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences at UAA, has been joint-appointed
with the Honors College as professor and director of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship.
He will also retain his current position as a full professor within the Department
of Biological Sciences. In this new expanded role he will oversee the activities of
the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship and chair the task force on Undergraduate
Research and Scholarship. He will report directly to the dean of the Honors College.
Pfeiffer received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in anatomy and cell biology from Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. Following his graduate work, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biology at the University of Utah. He joined UAA in 2000 and has since maintained an active, externally funded research program. He has published numerous peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, presented his research at national and international conferences and served on several research review panels at the national level. His current specialties include the cell biology of intercellular adhesion mechanisms and stress physiology of marine mammals.
He has long championed undergraduate research and scholarship and has mentored numerous undergraduates in his own research lab; and a number of his publications have included undergraduates as co-authors. He is the principal investigator in developing and directing UAA's REU Program, a summer research program for undergraduates funded by the National Science Foundation. He was UAA's 2003 recipient of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching.
"We are delighted to have David join our team," said Ronald Spatz, dean of UAA's Honors College. "His joint-appointment with the Honors College is a significant step forward in the development of undergraduate research and experimental learning at UAA."
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