As I wrote for the last newsletter, my laboratory is busy studying the hormonal regulation of nervous system development in insects. As before, we continue to rear tobacco hornworms (not only for our own research, but also for the greater good of children all over Champaign County), and continue to collaborate with Gene Robinson on studies of honey bee brains and behavior. This work is exciting, and I am happy to report that Gene Robinson and I have just received funding for a third time from the National Science Foundation for our collaborative efforts.

Life outside the lab became more interesting with the arrival of my second son, Nate, on New Year’s Eve 1996. Nate and I left the rest of the family at home and enjoyed a sabbatical visit to the University of Massachusetts fall semester 1997, during which time I took care to teach Nate the word "hill" and also to learn some cell culture techniques in the laboratory of Larry Schwartz in the Department of Biological Sciences. Upon my return I immediately plunged into teaching Insect Physiology, and in less than a semester was able to erase completely any sense of being thoughtful, scholarly, and up-to-date with the literature.

I take pride in having made Insect Physiology a writing-centered course, and I’ve also managed to develop a website that students in Introductory Animal Biology find useful. Two current challenges are designing (with Evan DeLucia in Plant Biology) a new 100-level Integrative Biology course and serving as Director of the UIUC Howard Hughes Program for Undergraduate Education in the Life Sciences. Current lab members are a postdoctoral research associate, Elizabeth Capaldi, and graduate students Sarah Farris, Kym Rosiak, Joe Sullivan, and Chiou-Miin Wang.