Dr. Boyd connects scienceto real life

ANNE MARIEWHITE ASSISTA.'ff MANAGING EDITOR

Assistant biology professor, Dr. Kimberly Boyd, lectures about the physical body but is also involved with the student body. Boyd is involved with many projects that have serviced the students she teaches and hundreds more that she might come in contact with. She is best known as a biology professor who can help students make a connection between science and real life. She runs around campus making things run smoothly, which makes one wonder how she gets time for herself.

She believes that her scholarly training helps her keep everything balanced "with the 50,000 things that you have to do," Boyd said.

Some first-year students may recognize her as their first-year adviser. She has gathered future science majors in her classes in order to guide them towards their goals.

She has even participated in a learning community where she interacts with professors from other departments. She and Dr. Seth Frechie of the English department have joined to finetune a joint course on the theory of evolution. Students would have Boyd in the morning and learn about the scientific facts of evolution and have Freebie later on in the day and discuss the literary issues of evolution and be prepared with scientific facts to prove their arguments. In addition to the first-year advisee committee, she advises Beta Beta Beta, the National Biology Honor Society.

Boyd was one of the primary authors for a federal grant called the Fund for Improvement for Education that Cabrini received. With that grant she was able to help design a biology course for education majors where they can get the most of what they need to know to teach their future students. Boyd's initial motivation was to make their education at

Cabrini more valuable. "I like educational aspects of science. It helps to serve our population better," Boyd said. She is currently crafting a neurophysiology course that would be available next semester.

She said that the students are the thing that keeps her here at Cabrini. "From the very day I was being interviewed for the teaching position, I noticed that everyone was so nice. Everyone was smiling and going out of their way to make me feel at home, which holds true today. Maybe there's a frown after a test," Boyd said.

"My colleagues are the best and there are intellectually stimulating and diverse students," Boyd said. "My work is hard but it's fun and academically engaging."

Monday,Feb. 17 7 p.m.

Boyd grew up three miles away from Cabrini. She received her undergraduate degree from the College of New Jersey where she worked as a research scholar. She attained her graduate degree from the University ofVirginia and doctorate in physiology at the University of Berkeley in 1992.

"Now that I have a piece of paper that says that I can teach at the college level, I am a master of one tiny little topic in physiology. I miss learning about broader things. I want to keep learning, so that's why I sit in on other professor's classes. I think the best teachers are the ones who keep learning," Boyd said.