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John McPherson CheesemanProfessor, Department of Plant BiologyDirector, IB Honors Biology University of Illinois Urbana, IL 61801 283 Morrill Hall Phone: 217-333-2385 |
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| Teaching: My major teaching interest is in the development of biologists from students who think they are interested in biology. My commitment to this group has been recognized through the LAS council award for outstanding undergraduate advisor in 1996, and by citation at the university level as an "outstanding teacher" more than 10 times.
Over the last 30 years, I have taught introductory biology and plant biology both to biology students and to students meeting general education requirements. At the upper levels, I have taught environmental physiology, plant nutrition, form and function, and organismal biology of plants. For the last three years, I have directed the Honors Biology program within the School of Integrative Biology, taught both lecture and lab components of the organismal biology course, and mentored approximately 40 students per year in the program. Annually, with Prof. Carol Augspurger, I teach Field Ecology, a course which involves a 10 day field trip to a different ecosystem each year. (The example page is for our 2006 trip to Michigan). I have also organized and/or participated in approximately 10 workshops for high school teachers on various aspects of photosynthesis (molecules to global systems), and specialized workshops in mangrove biology of the Indian Ocean region (Zanzibar, 1997), and forestry of the Caribbean region (Martinique, 2005). All of my courses devote at least 10-15% of the time to the causes and consequences, both biological and societal, of global climate change. |
Research: My research is concentrated in the environmental physiology and organismal biology of plants. Recent projects have emphasized (1) mechanism by which tropical intertidal trees (mangroves) function in the face of multiple and extreme environmental stresses: this research spans levels from field measurements of photosynthesis and other physiological processes, to laboratory biochemical and enzymatic assays, to molecular level characterizations of genes involved in the metabolism of stress tolerance and the control of photosynthesis. (2) molecular characterization of mangrove "lifestyle ": in this project, we have sequenced and annotated the transcriptomes of two unrelated and functionally diverse mangroves and created a web-based, searchable database incorporating all reported sequences from mangroves. (3) phenological patterns of leaf H2O2 levels in 18 temperate zone plants: characterization of seasonal, developmental and stress related oxidant loads and their underlying causes.
Undergraduate and graduate students with interests in holistic approaches to physiology, ecology and climate change research in in environmentally-sensitive natural systems are welcome to contact me for research opportunities. |
Last updated: 6/30/09
