Phone:

317-278-4551

Email:

kmarrs@iupui.edu

Website:

https://science.iupui.edu/people-directory/people/marrs-kathleen.html

Department:

Biology

Campus:

IUPUI

Kathy Marrs is an Associate Professor of Biology in the School of Science at IUPUI. She has served in several administrative roles on campus, including Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Director of UCASE (the Urban Center for the Advancement of STEM Education) and Director of the IUPUI Woodrow Wilson Indiana Teaching Fellowship (nationally re-named in 2020 as The Institute for Citizens & Scholars). She teaches Introductory Biology for ~1000 science majors per year, and also teaches Honors Introductory Biology, developing authentic research projects for students based on research interests of Biology faculty. She team-teaches an interdisciplinary Themed Learning Community (TLC) with a colleague from Chemistry, and collaborates on two additional TLCs in Neuroscience and in Biomedical Engineering. She teaches a project-based Microbiology lab, working with Microbiology and Organic Chemistry colleagues on a Distributed Drug Discovery program (D3) to find drug leads for rare and neglected disease. She is also the faculty advisor for three student organizations: the Biology Club, Undergraduate Women in Science (UWIS) and Women4Change Indiana@IUPUI. She was selected as an IU Mosaic Fellow to implement research-based approaches to active and collaborative learning in technology classrooms and was recently recognized with the 2019 Herron-Bodner-Boschmann Award for Scholarly Work in Science Education, the 2020 School of Science Innovative Educator Award, and the 2021 Sarah Baker High-Impact Practices Teaching Award.

Dr. Marrs serves locally on the Board of Directors for Women4Change Indiana and for Girl Scouts of Central Indiana. She serves nationally as a PULSE Fellow (Partnership for Undergraduate Life Science Education, an initiative launched by National Science Foundation (NSF), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and the National Institute for General Medical Sciences (NIGMS/NIH) focused on Departmental Transformation as necessary for retaining and advancing STEM students, preparing students for STEM professional careers, and for developing a scientifically literate citizenry. Her research has focused on a range of educational initiatives from K-12 outreach, undergraduate education, graduate education, and teacher preparation, funded through a number of National Science Foundation programs (NSF GK-12, NSF Noyce, NSF STEP, NSF CCLI and NSF TUES), and she is currently co-investigator on a multi-institute NSF RCN-UBE (Research Coordinated Networks for Undergraduate Biology Education) with PULSE colleagues across the Midwest Great Plains region.