Peggy and Tom Peeler have served as biology faculty at Susquehanna for over 15 years. The husband and wife pair share their thoughts about teaching methodologies, emerging research opportunities, the rewards of teaching at Susquehanna, and the intersection of personal and professional life.

Q: How have biology teaching methods changed since you started at Susquehanna in 1989?

Peggy Peeler: Lecturing used to be the primary way of delivering content, and then labs were places to learn techniques and experimental design and analysis. Now there is much more integration of the two, with the same block of time being used to discuss a topic and then do a lab activity on that topic. We are also much more interested in being sure that students learn as much about the process of science and scientific approaches to answering questions as they learn specific content. The new science building project will be really crucial to creating the sorts of spaces and facilities that will help us deliver this new approach to science education.

Q: What's on the horizon for biology; what is an area that offers great opportunities for research advancements?

Tom Peeler: The Human Genome Project is radically impacting the area of cell and molecular biology. The goal of the project was to sequence the entire set of human DNA, and to identify all of the genes involved in human growth and development. Researchers are now using the same technologies to map the DNA of a variety of other species. The huge amounts of data that have been generated by the sequencing projects are just beginning to be analyzed, and will be a valuable source of information for years to come.

Q: How do your individual research interests and areas of expertise intersect?

Peelers: We are both trained as cell and molecular biologists, but our specific areas of research are a bit different. Peggy works on the genetic regulation of animal embryonic development, and Tom is interested in how the ways in which cells interact with their external environment affect their growth and development. The underlying mechanisms and the techniques we use are quite similar, though.

Q: What's been most rewarding about serving on Susquehanna's faculty?

Peelers: Many things have been rewarding, but the students are what really make this job so much fun. They are bright and engaged, and come to Susquehanna expecting to be able to have lots of access to faculty, so they are eager to interact with us, in class and outside of class. We have always had great biology majors, and have been able to stay in touch with many of them.

Q: What do married scientists discuss at the dinner table?

Peelers: The same things that most married people with kids do, most of the time -- scheduling dentist appointments, report cards, who's driving which kid where, etc. But working together does give us the opportunity to have lunch together a couple of days a week, even if it's quick. That's when we can talk more about work-related issues -- things happening in our classes, or interesting journal articles that we may have seen, or research problems or successes. It's nice to have a spouse that really understands the work you do.

This story originally appeared in the fall 2006 issue of Susquehanna Today.