Welcome to J-D Swanson's Webpage

 

 

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology of The University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR .  I teach Intro to Bio I and II, Genetics, Developmental Biology, Molecular Biology and Plant Biology, as well as a study abroad course to New Zealand.  I have a great research lab that works primarily on cell-cell communication using Raspberry and Blackberry prickles as a model.


I graduated from Penn State with a Ph.D. in Integrative Biosciences (Ecological and Molecular Plant Physiology Option).  My thesis described an extrapolation of Arabidopsis flower biology to that of Theobroma cacao, (the chocolate tree) using morphological comparisons and molecular techniques.  My advisors were Dr. John Carlson and Dr. Mark Guiltinan.  My Masters thesis was completed at the University of Waikato, New Zealand while I was working for Fletcher Challenge Forests under the direction of Dr. Marie Connett.  It compared and contrasted seven different types of molecular markers and assessed them for different uses in the New Zealand forestry industry.