Faculty & Staff
ETSU math and science faculty lead the ETSU Governor's School for the Integration of Biological and Statistical Sciences, along with additional collaborators. Students learn foundational biology and statistics content and apply this as they design and carry out their own research projects. The students will also experience an array of off-campus trips ranging from studies at the Gray Fossil Site to the the Carter Family Fold & Museum. A brief bio for each of these individuals is provided below in the Bio section.
Leadership
See the "Contact Us" page for more information about the Leadership Team.
Primary Instructors
Dr. Robert M. Price
Robert Price is a Professor and the Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences at East Tennessee State University (ETSU). He received his BS and MS degrees in Mathematics from Youngstown State University, his MS degree in Statistics from The Ohio State University, and his Ph.D. degree in Statistics from the University of Wyoming. Robert’s undergraduate instructional experience is at a primarily undergraduate institution, and includes 1) Probability and Statistics – Noncalculus, 2) Mathematical Statistics I and II. In addition, he has offered graduate courses in statistics. He has chaired many MS projects. His research interests are in applied statistics and meta-analysis. He has experience in Latex, Minitab, Matlab, R, and SAS.
Dr. Price may be contacted at (423)439-5359 or pricejr@etsu.
Dr. Trevor Chapman
Trevor Chapman is a lecturer in the ETSU Department of Biological Sciences. He typically teaches introductory courses (cell and molecular, organismal), and he also supervises graduate students in introductory laboratories and biochemistry laboratories. Additionally, Dr. Chapman teaches Biometry for graduate students. His research is currently focused on salamander species in southern Appalachia that are restricted to high elevation habitats. Specifically, He is interested in better understanding the behavior, stress physiology, and small-scale habitats, or microhabitats, in which these animals are found up in the mountains. Using a variety of approaches from molecular (stress hormones) to ecological (niche modeling), Dr. Chapman hopes to better understand why these salamanders appear restricted to specialized habitats, and how they might cope with habitat degradation caused by climate change.
Dr. Chapman may be contacted at (423)439-4329 chapmantl@etsu.edu
Amanda Blackburn
Amanda has been an educator at Dobyns-Bennett High school since 2012. She was Kingsport City Schools 2022 teacher of year for grades 6-12. In addition, she has expertise in teaching synthetic biology and its applications.
Amanda may be contacted at ablackburn@k12k.com
Evie LaFollette
Evie is a biology educator at Dobyns-Bennett High school in Kingsport City Schools. She has a BS in Behavioral Neuroscience from ETSU and her doctorate is from Milligan College. She received the 2023 Robert E. Yager Exemplary Teaching Award from the National Science Teaching Association. Evie has thirteen years of teaching experience, and also teaches synthetic biology.
Evie may be contacted at elafollette@k12k.com
Field Trip Hosts
Jennifer Bauer
Bob Culler
Mr. Culler is the Senior Naturalist at Bays Mountain State Park in Kingsport, TN. He was responsible for arranging our tour and scheduling the viewing of t the wolves and raptors habitats, he also arranged for the GS students to attend the Nature Program and viewing the area fauna and flora. He may be contacted at 423-229-9447 or bobculler@kingsporttn.gov
Dr. Mitchell Robinson
Dr. Robinson is the Associate Dean for Graduate School. He is currently Associate Dean for Graduate School and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and at the James H. Quillen College of Medicine.