Dr. Katherine Maloney is an organic chemist who brings her expertise in natural products isolation and structure elucidation to the Chemistry Department. She first fell in love with organic chemistry as an undergraduate at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. She went on to get her Ph.D. in 2006 with Jon Clardy at Cornell University, and came back to the west coast for a post-doc with Bill Fenical at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Maloney began her independent career at Harvey Mudd College in 2009 before moving back to San Diego to join the PLNU faculty in 2012.

Dr. Sara Choung's interest in chemistry was sparked in high school and she went on to study chemical engineering at MIT and UC Berkeley. She discovered her love of teaching and mentoring undergraduate students during graduate school. After doing research at Argonne National Laboratories, she started her teaching career at PLNU in 2004. Choung also enjoys her role as the pre-health advisor, working with students who plan to attend various health professions schools. She grew up in Illinois and misses the Chicago pizza, but not the weather.

Dr. Heidi Woelbern has been at PLNU since 2008. She teaches numerous courses, including Introduction to Biotechnology, Introduction to Cell Biology and Biochemistry, and Microbiology. Her research interests have focused on the role of nuclear receptors, a subclass of transcription factors, in regulating various metabolic diseases (diabetes, heart disease, lipoprotein metabolism) as well as cancer.

Google Scholar Profile

Kerri Sevenbergen has been at PLNU since 2000, when she first joined the biology and chemistry departments as an adjunct professor. In 2003, she was hired as a full-time instructor and lab manager for those departments. In 2014, in response to the growth of both departments, Sevenbergen became a full-time faculty instructor and lab manager solely for the biology department.

Dr. Dawne Page joined the faculty of PLNU in 2002 and became chair of the Department of Biology in 2009. She enjoys teaching undergraduate and graduate students, and she has a long-term interest in teacher professional development. Her research interests are in the field of immunology.

Research Gate

Summer Research

Dr. Mike Mooring has been conducting behavioral ecology research since 1985, mounting field studies of African antelope, North American ungulates, and Neotropical mammals. During this time, he has worked in six countries and five states, navigating the logistical challenges of field research in a variety of contexts. His doctoral research focused on the parasite-defense behavior of impala in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Namibia. Mooring received his Ph.D.

Dr. Michael McConnell taught biology and chemistry at PLNU from 1978 through 2018. The biology summer research program he established in 1979 has operated for over 40 consecutive summers, giving 600+ PLNU undergraduates an opportunity to engage in original research. Although now retired from teaching, McConnell continues to mentor PLNU students in summer research.