Discover Biology

About the Author

After earning a degree in English literature at UC Berkeley, Gary Shin turned his academic sites toward biology, first working as a field biologist and then moving into the lab to study population genetics. He earned his PhD at UCLA, studying the evolutionary genetics of viruses. Dr. Shin has worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and now teaches general biology at California State University, Long Beach, sharing his passion for biology with nonmajors.

Anu Singh-Cundy received her PhD from Cornell University and did post-doctoral research in cell and molecular biology at Penn State. She is an associate professor at Western Washington University, where she teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses, including organismal biology, cell biology, plant developmental biology, and plant biochemistry. She has taught introductory biology to non-majors for over 15 years and is recognized for pedagogical innovations that communicate biological principles in a manner that engages the non-science student and emphasizes the relevance of biology in everyday life. Her research focuses on cell-cell communication in plants, especially self-incompatibility and other pollen-pistil interactions. She has published over a dozen research articles and has received several awards and grants, including a grant from the National Science Foundation.