Regular Faculty

Professor Garyt Schindelman

Gary Schindelman, Chair

Resident Full Professor, Biochemistry
B.S., State University of New York at Binghamton; Ph.D., New York University
In addition to teaching at Occidental, Gary Schindelman is a biological curator for WormBase at Caltech.

Non-Tenure Track Faculty

Professor Garyt Schindelman

Gary Schindelman, Chair

Resident Full Professor, Biochemistry
B.S., State University of New York at Binghamton; Ph.D., New York University
In addition to teaching at Occidental, Gary Schindelman is a biological curator for WormBase at Caltech.

Advisory Committee

Renee Baran

Professor, Biology
B.A., Macalester College; Ph.D., UC Berkeley
Renee Baran teaches genetic analysis, developmental biology, and introduction to cell and molecular biochemistry.

Jeffrey Cannon

Associate Professor, Chemistry
B.A. Occidental College; Ph.D. University of California, Irvine
Jeff Cannon teaches Organic Chemistry and does research in organic synthesis and catalysis.

Chris Craney

Professor, Chemistry
B.S., University of Puget Sound; M.S., D.A., Washington State University
Chris Craney teaches physical chemistry I (kinetics) and biochemistry.

Shana Goffredi

Professor, Biology
B.A., University of San Diego; Ph.D., UC Santa Barbara
Shana Goffredi’s research interests concern beneficial symbiotic partnerships between bacteria and invertebrates.

John McCormack

Director and Curator of the Moore Laboratory of Zoology; Associate Professor, Biology
B.S., University of Arizona; Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. McCormack uses museum specimens and genomes to study the evolutionary history of birds, focusing especially on how both ancient landscape changes and more recent human-caused environmental changes affect birds’ distributions, appearance, and DNA. As Director of the Moore Laboratory of Zoology and Curator of its bird and mammal collection, he is a champion of museum collections and their potential for understanding and reversing the biodiversity crisis.

Karen Molinder

Resident Assistant Professor, Biology
B.A. Occidental, Ph.D U.C.L.A.
Dr. Molinder teaches biochemistry and molecular biology.

Raul Navarro

Assistant Professor, Chemistry
B.S., Yale University; Ph.D., California Institute of Technology
Raul Navarro’s research focus lies in developing new chemical reactions and applying them in the synthesis of biologically active natural products.

Gretchen North

John W. McMenamin Endowed Chair in Biology
B.A., Stanford University; M.A., University of Connecticut; M.A., College of William and Mary; Ph.D., UCLA
Gretchen North investigates how plants cope with physically challenging conditions.

Cheryl Okumura

Associate Professor, Biology
B.A. Pomona College; Ph.D. UCLA
Cheryl Okumura teaches Public Health Biology, Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology and Microbial Pathogenesis.

Roberta Pollock

Professor, Biology
B.S., Emory University; Ph.D., Harvard University
Dr. Pollock teaches immunology, molecular biology, introductory biology, and Gender and Science.

Gary Schindelman

Resident Full Professor, Biochemistry
B.S., State University of New York at Binghamton; Ph.D., New York University
In addition to teaching at Occidental, Gary Schindelman is a biological curator for WormBase at Caltech.

Joseph Schulz

Professor, Biology
B.S., Indiana University; Ph.D., UC San Diego
Joseph Schulz teaches zoology, biochemistry, and vertebrate physiology. His research focuses on the activity and evolution of venom peptides in fish-hunting cone snails.

Kerry Thompson

Professor, Biology
B.A., M.A., Ph.D., UCLA
Kerry Thompson teaches introduction to cell and molecular biochemistry, stem cell biology, and neurobiology.

Andrew K. Udit

Professor, Chemistry
H.B.Sc., University of Toronto; Ph.D., Caltech
Andrew Udit’s research in Chemical Biology focuses on perturbing coagulation with virus nanoparticles, and catalysis using enzymes.
Contact Biochemistry
Norris Hall of Chemistry 300A / Bioscience 207