Kathy French
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My principal research interest concerns the mechanisms by which neurons establish during embryonic development the synaptic connections that permit the nervous system to produce appropriate and effective behavior. I currently study these questions in an animal with fairly complex behavior, but a relatively simple nervous system--the medicinal leech. We also study the development of behavior in embryonic leeches, using behavior as an assay for developmental progress within the nervous system, and we are now studying the effects of a hormone that is an analog of vasopressin. When it is injected into the body wall of an adult leech, this hormone elicits a constellation of reproductive behaviors, and we wish to understand how this 9-amino acid peptide can activate a number of different motor programs.
Teaching:
In addition, based on my graduate education as a physiologist, I teach a variety of upper-division physiology courses at UCSD. These courses allow me to think more broadly about animals and how they work, which is a pleasure. In addition, I believe that a major goal of science education at the University level should be teaching our students how to think about science and how to evaluate statements that are--or claim to be--scientific. I try in all my courses to stimulate students to think critically and to regard all of their life experiences as the laboratory part of the course.
Other campus activities:
Finally, I am the President of the UCSD Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, an undergraduate scholarly honor society that was founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary and that now has 270 chapters on campuses across the United States. I am pleased to be a part of the group--made up of faculty, administrators, and staff members--that keeps Phi Beta Kappa alive at UCSD.
Education:
B. S. with Honors in Psychology, University of Washington
M.S. in Zoology, Washington State University
Ph.D. in Marine Biology, Boston University Marine Program at the Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Post-doctoral fellow, Department of Physiology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Post-doctoral fellow, Carnegie Institution of Washington at Johns Hopkins University
