People in the Kier Lab
William M. Kier
I received my Ph.D. in Zoology in 1983 at Duke University, where I was a student of Stephen A. Wainwright. After leaving Duke I was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA. Following my postdoc at WHOI, I was a National Science Foundation-NATO Postdoctoral Scholar and worked at the Marine Biological Association of the UK Laboratories in Plymouth, England and the Stazione Zoologica in Naples, Italy. I joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1985. For additional information, please see my CV.
.Former students and postdocs
Dr. Andrew M. Smith
Professor, Department of Biology, Ithaca College
Title of Ph.D. Dissertation: Adhesion and the Tensile Strength of Water in Nature, 1992
Dr. Sönke Johnsen
Professor, Department of Biology, Duke University
Title of Ph.D. Dissertation: The Optical Design of the Photic System of Ophiuroids, 1996
Dr. Joseph T. Thompson
Professor, Department of Biology, Franklin and Marshall University
Title of Ph.D. Dissertation: The Ontogeny of Mantle Structure and
Function in the Oval Squid Sepioteuthis lessoniana (Cephalopoda,
Loliginidae), 2000
SPIRE Postdoctoral Scholar, UNC Chapel Hill, 2000-2002
Dr. Diara D. Spain
Professor and Chair, Department of Natural Science & Mathematics, Dominican University of California
Title of Ph.D. Dissertation: Peristaltic Locomotion in Holothuroids: Morphology and Movement, 2002
Dr. Rebecca Price
Professor, Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of
Washington, Bothell
Title of Ph.D. Dissertation: The Function, Macroevolution, and
Macroecology of the Internal Ornamentation in Neogastropods, University
of Chicago, 2003.
SPIRE Postdoctoral Scholar, UNC Chapel Hill, 2004-2006
Dr. Jennifer R.A. Taylor
Associate Professor, Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, University of California, San Diego
Title of Ph.D. Dissertation: Hydrostatic Skeletons in the Crustacea:
Support During Molting in an Aquatic and a Terrestrial Crab, 2007
Dr. Theodore A. Uyeno
Professor, Department of Biology, Valdosta State University
Title of Ph.D. Dissertation: The Morphology and Biomechanics of the Muscle
Articulation: A New Class of Soft Tissue Joint, 2007
Dr. Justin F. Shaffer
Teaching Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado
School of Mines
Title of Ph. D. Dissertation: Interactions Between Cardiac Myosin
Binding Protein-C and Actin Contribute to the Regulation of Muscle Contraction,
University of Washington,
2010
SPIRE Postdoctoral Scholar, UNC Chapel Hill, 2010-2013
Dr. Jessica Kurth
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., Philadelphia, PA
Title of Ph.D. Dissertation: The Effects of Body Size on Soft-Bodied
Burrowers, 2015.
Ms. Julia M. Olszewski
East Boston High School, East Boston, MA
Title of M.S. Thesis: Obliquely Striated Muscle is Not Just for
Super-Elongation, 2015