Background | CV

Hi, I'm Randy Bennett, an Associate Professor of Biology at Juniata College since 2000. I grew up in northeastern Maryland and received an undergraduate degree in Biology at Western Maryland College before attending graduate school at University of Wisconsin for my doctorate.

I have taught at Brigham Young University, where I was Assistant Professor of Zoology, and at Upper Iowa University as an Adjunct Instructor. I have also worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow, conducting research on "Homeotic genes in Tribolium castaneum," and Postdoctoral Researcher, studying "The effects of zero gravity on oogenesis in Tribolium castaneum," both at Kansas State University.

At home, you can find me with my wife, Kristin, two children, Emma (19) and Patrick (16), and, of course, my dog, Petey. In the spare time that I'm not spending with my family, I would love to be traveling, canoeing, and climbing. Unfortunately, neither time nor money grows on trees, so instead I enjoy woodworking, house restoration, backpacking, and running.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (www.mormon.org and www.lds.org) and am also a youth leader in the church's Huntingdon Ward. I also work with Webelos and the Huntingdon Community Center Youth Track and Field Club.

So remember, I'm not a technology advisor for a fertility clinic. Nor am I a general manager of a trucking company. Certainly not a Director of Sponsorship Acquisition. Nope, not a Canadian swimming coach, either. I'm a Biology professor, plain and simple.

Curriculum Vitae

Randy L. Bennett, Associate Professor

Current Address:

Biology Department
Juniata College
1700 Moore St.
Huntingdon, PA 16652
bennett@juniata.edu

Educational History:

Professional Positions:

Professional Organizations and Honor Societies:

Member Society for Developmental Biology since 1991
Kansas Health Foundation Postdoctoral Scholar, 1993-1995
National Institutes of Health Predoctoral trainee, 1985-1990
Phi Beta Kappa, 1985
Beta Beta Beta, Honors Biology Club, secretary, 1984-85

Scholarly Activity:

Publications in peer reviewed journals:

Lewis, D.L., Decamillis, M., Bennett, R.L. (2000) Distinct Roles of the Homeotic Genes Ubx and adb-A in beetle embryonic abdominal appendage development. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., USA 97:4504-4509. (Cover)

Bennett, R.L., Brown, S.J. and Denell, R.E. (1999) Molecular and genetic analysis of the Tribolium Ultrabithorax ortholog, Ultrathorax. Development, Genes, and Evolution 209: 608-619. (Cover)

Sanchez-Salazar, J., Pletcher, M., Bennett, R.L., Brown, S.J., Dandamudi, T., Denell, R.E., and Doctor, J.S. (1996). The Tribolium decapentaplegic gene is similar in sequence, structure, and expression to the Drosophila dpp gene. Development, Genes, and Evolution 206, 237?246.

Bennett, R.L., M.K. Abbott, R.E. Denell. 1994. Insect Gravitational Biology: ground-based and shuttle flight experiments using the beetle Tribolium castaneum. J. Experimental Zoology 269:242-252.

Bennett, R.L. and F.M. Hoffmann. 1992. Increased levels of the Drosophila Abelson tyrosine kinase in nerves and muscles: subcellular localization and mutant phenotypes imply a role in cell-cell interactions. Development 116:953-966.

Gertler, F.B., Bennett, R.L., Clark, M.J., Hoffmann F.M. 1989. Drosophila abl tyrosine kinase in embryonic CNS axons: A role in axonogenesis is revealed through dosage-sensitive interactions with disabled. Cell 58:103-113.

Henkemeyer, M.J., R.L. Bennett, F.B. Gertler, F.M. Hoffmann. 1988. DNA sequence, structure, and tyrosine kinase activity of the Drosophila melanogaster Abelson proto-oncogene homolog. Mol Cell Bio. 8:843-853.

Book Chapters:

Hoffmann, F.M., M.J. Henkemeyer, R.L. Bennett, F.B. Gertler. 1991. The Abelson tyrosine kinase in Drosophila: Application of genetic strategies to understand its normal function. In Chronic myelogenous leukemia: Molecular approaches to research and therapy (A.B. Deisseroth and R.B. Arlinghaus, eds.). Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York. pp. 93-116

Scholarly presentations (last 5 years).

Bennett, R.L. 2001. Developmental Networks and Design: On the Origin of Bicoid, a response to Paul Nelson. Interpreting Evolution: Scientific and Religious Perspectives. Haverford College, Haverford, PA

Martin, T.M., Jeffery, D.E, and Bennett, R.L. (2000) 'Christ Is Scientist of This Earth': President Joseph F. Smith's Attitudes and Policies toward Science. Times of Transition, 1890s to 1920s: The Church Meets the Twentieth Century, A symposium sponsored by The Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History Brigham Young University.

Bennett, R.L. 1999. Use of dsRNA inhibition to examine the roles of Tribolium Hox genes in determining head, thorax and abdominal boundaries. Conference on developmental genetics of Tribolium castaneum, Munich, Germany, Invited speaker.

Bennett, R.L. 1998. Regulation of Distal-less expression in Tribolium by Bithorax-complex orthologs. 57th Annual Meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology. Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

Bennett, R.L., Brown, S.J., Whiting, M.F. and Denell. 1997. Evolution of Ubx regulation in the Insects: Analysis of Ubx ortholog expression in Coleoptera and Strepsiptera. Cold Spring Harbor Symposium. Cold Spring Harbor, NY