Meet Greg Podgorski, author on Biological Science
What course(s) do/did you teach?
Greg: General Biology – Majors; General Biology – Nonmajors; Genetics; Developmental Biology; Microbiology
What is a challenge that you’re currently facing in the classroom? How did/do you try to overcome this challenge?
Greg: Helping students who struggle to understand biology. Additionally, increasing course structure.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned in the past few years regarding teaching biology?
Greg: The importance of focusing on clearly articulated learning objectives.
What is one best practice that you use that you think works well and you would want to share with others, whether it's in a classroom setting, working in groups, or working one-on-one with a new teaching technology?
Greg: Creating a course structure that encourages understanding biology for most students.
What are you most proud of in your career?
Greg: Hearing from students who have gone on to careers in biology, medicine, and related fields who have told me of the importance of courses I’ve taught.
In your opinion, what is higher education going to look like in the next two to three years?
Greg: Generative AI is likely to be transformative in positive and negative ways that are difficult to predict precisely.
The 8th Edition of Biological Science is being released this year. What excites you the most about this revision?
Greg: The suite of new features, particularly “Biology in Numbers,” coupled with the solid core of a text that illustrates what we know about biology and how that knowledge was gained.
About the author
Greg Podgorski, Utah State University
Greg Podgorski received his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Penn State University and has been a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Plank Institute for Biochemistry and Columbia University. His research interests are in biology education, developmental genetics, and computational biology. Greg’s most recent work has been in mathematical modeling of how patterns of different cell types emerge during development and how tumors recruit new blood vessels in cancer. Greg is an Emeritus Professor but had taught at Utah State University for more than 35 years in courses that include introductory biology for majors and for nonmajors, genetics, cell biology, developmental biology, and microbiology, and he has offered courses in nonmajors biology in Beijing and Hong Kong. He has won teaching awards at Utah State University and has been recognized by the National Academies as a Teaching Fellow and a Teaching Mentor. He’s also served as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs in the College of Science at Utah State University.
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