Joyce J. Fernandes, PhD

Joyce J. Fernandes is a professor of biology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she has taught since completing her postdoctoral training at Yale University. Her research examines neural plasticity during the reorganization of motor systems in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, and she teaches courses in cell biology, developmental biology, and neurobiology. She is involved with efforts to improve success in Introductory Biology courses and since 2012 has been involved with graduate-student-led instruction to teach metacognitive approaches for student success, work that was recently published in a leading education research journal, CBE-Life Science Education (2017). She also serves as director of Undergraduate Research, overseeing an institutional First Year Research Experience program, which has incorporated a course-based research model in the last three years. This program has been instrumental for recruitment and serves an important role in retention of underrepresented student groups. She is currently involved in engaging partners across the institution to raise the profile of undergraduate research at and beyond Miami University. She serves on the education committee of the American Society for Cell Biology, serves as a Councilor in the Biology Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research, and currently chairs the Advocacy Advisory committee of the organization. Email: joyce.fernandes@miamioh.edu