People

Greg completed his Ph.D. at Stanford University in the lab of Bruce Baker. His thesis research investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of X chromosome dosage compensation in Drosophila. He found that the master splicing regulator Sex-lethal inhibits the formation of the dosage compensation complex in female flies through translational repression of the Male-specific lethal 2 gene (Msl-2). From Stanford, Greg moved across the bay for a postdoctoral fellowship in developmental neurobiology in the lab of Corey Goodman at UC Berkeley. In the Goodman lab, Greg began his studies of the molecular mechanisms that control axon guidance in the embryonic Drosophila CNS. His work in the Goodman lab focused on the signaling mechanisms downstream of the conserved axon guidance receptors Frazzled and Robo. He showed that differential attractive and repulsive responses are encoded in receptor cytoplasmic domains and identified several signaling components that act downstream of the Robo receptor to regulate axon repulsion. Greg started his lab at the University of Pennsylvania in 2001 where he is currently a Professor of Neuroscience.

Jamie Shuda, Ed.D., is Director of Outreach and Education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Shuda works directly with IRM affiliated faculty, students and staff to develop impactful and sustainable partnerships with the community. Jamie received a MS.Ed in Elementary Education and an Ed.D. in Education Leadership and Policy Studies from Temple University. To see all of Dr. Shuda’s programs please visit https://irm.med.upenn.edu/science-impacting-the-clinic/education-outreach/.

I am a high school biology teacher within the School District of Philadelphia. Because of it's financial limitations, the district often cannot afford adequate supplies for scientific investigations. As such, we teachers do our best to seek out outside organizations who have the resources to pick up the slack. After witnessing first hand the benefits of educational outreach programs like BioEyes on my students, I wanted to do my part to bring more science personnel into our public schools. Whether, growing plants for entry into the Philadelphia Flower Show, or experimenting with live model organisms, such as in the DrosoPhila curriculum, I have found that students can draw more personal meaning from the content when it is concrete, tangible, and presented as it might be in the real world.

Galeet Cohen has taught Biology, Environmental Science, and Research at Central High School for 11 years. She has a B.A. from the University of Chicago (2001) in Biology with a focus on Ecology and Evolution, and a M.S.Ed in Secondary Science Education from the University of Pennsylvania (2006). She is primarily interested in engaging students in authentic scientific inquiry and connecting schools with local research and applied-science communities.  She is pretty bad at dissecting fruit fly brains, but pretty good at climbing rock walls and getting youth to love science.

Bob received a BS degree in forestry from Penn State and an MS in Environmental Science from Shippensburg University. Prior to his teaching career, Bob spent over ten years working in the environmental consulting industry. For the past 15 years, Bob has been teaching high school biology in the Philadelphia public school district. He currently teaches at Central High.

Joshua Kouassi was born and raised in West Philadelphia and is a product of the Philadelphia School District. He recieved his Bachelor of arts in Political Science with a focus in Environmental Advocacy from Penn State University. His personal experiences in k-12 informed his understanding of the lack of adequate research and science resources across the district, and following graduation Joshua retunred to Philadelphia as an Outreach Educator for DrosoPHILA, and its sister program BioEYES. He strives to give students both an academic, cultural, and environmental connection to science. Joshua extends his passion for community and science by volunteering in his church's youth ministry, as well as in urban gardens and education centers around the city. Find out more about his latest escapades on Tiktok @thephillyflyguy!

DrosoPhila is supported by a five year grant from the National Science Foundation to Greg J. Bashaw (Grant # IOS1355181)