Home › Academics › College of Science and Mathematics › Faculty & Staff › Brian White

Faculty & Staff

Areas of Expertise

Science Education

Degrees

PhD, Biological Sciences, Stanford University, CA (1987- 1991)
BS, Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA (1981-1985)

Professional Publications & Contributions

• White, B; (2012) The Virtual Genetics Lab II: Improvements to a Freely-available Software Simulation of Genetics American Biology Teacher 74(5):336-337
• White, B; Yamamoto, S; (2012) Freshman Undergraduate Biology Students' Difficulties with the Concept of Common Ancestry Evolution Education and Outreach 4:680-687
• White, B; Stains, M; Escriu-Sune, M; Medaglia, E; Rostamnjad, L; Chinn, C; Sevian, H (2011) A Novel Instrument for Assessing Students’ Critical Thinking Abilities Journal of College Science Teaching 40(5):102-107
• White, B; Kahriman, A; Luberice, L; Idleh,F (2010) Evaluation of Software for Introducing Protein Structure: Visualization and Simulation Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education 38(5):284-289
• White, B. (2009) Exploring the Diversity of Life with the Phylogenetic Collection Lab American Biology Teacher 71(3): 157-161
• White, B. (2009) Analysis of Students’ Downloading of On-Line Audio Lecture Recordings in a Large Biology Lecture Course Journal of College Science Teaching 38(3) 23-27
• White, B, Bolker, E. (2008) Interactive Computer Simulations of Genetics, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education 36(1):77–84
• White, B (2006) A Simple and Effective Protein Folding Activity Suitable for Large Lectures Cell Biology Education 5:264-269
• White, B, Perna, I, Carlson, R (2005) Software for Teaching Structure-Hydrophobicity Relationships Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education 33(1) 65-70.
• White, B, Bolker, E., Koolar, N., Ma, W., Maw, N., Yu, C, (2007) The Virtual Genetics Lab: a Freely- available Open-source Genetics Simulation. American Biology Teacher 69(1):694-697
• White, B. (in press) Reasoning Maps: a Generally-applicable Method for Characterizing Hypothesis-Testing Behavior. International Journal of Science Education.
• White, B., Kim, S., Sherman, K, & Weber, N. (2002) Evaluation of Molecular Visualization Software for Teaching Protein Structure: Differing Outcomes from Lecture and Lab Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education 30(2) 130-136.
• White, B., Kim, S., Sherman, K, & Weber, N. (2002) Evaluation of Molecular Visualization Software for Teaching Protein Structure: Differing Outcomes from Lecture and Lab Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education 30(2) 130-136.
• White, B., Ceglie, R., and Puopolo, D. (2001) Correlation Between Quality of Students’ Note Sheets and Performance on Exams. Journal of College Science Teaching 31(3): 188-194.
• White, B., Ceglie, R., and Puopolo, D. (2001) Correlation Between Quality of Students’ Note Sheets and Performance on Exams. Journal of College Science Teaching 31 (3): 188-194.
• White, B. (1999) The Red and White Yeast Lab: an introduction to science as a process. American Biology Teacher 61(8): 600-604.
• White, B. (1999) The Red and White Yeast Lab: an introduction to science as a process. American Biology Teacher 61(8): 600-604.
• White, B. (1998) A Curriculum for Recitation Sections in Introductory Biology. Journal of College Science Teaching 27(6): 407-410.
• White, B and Woodward, D. (1995) A simple method for making disposable race tubes. Fungal Genetics Newsletter 42.
• Madi, L., Ebbole, D., White, B., and Yanofsky, C. (1994) Mutants of Neurospora crassa that alter gene expression and conidia development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 91:6226-6230.
• White, B., and Yanofsky, C. (1993) Structural Characterization and Expression Analysis of the Neurospora crassa Conidiation Gene,con-6”. Developmental Biology 160:254-264.
• Hynes, T. Block, S. White, B., and Spudich, J. (1987) Movement of Myosin Fragments in vitro: Domains involved in Force Production. Cell 48:953-963.

Additional Information

Professional Experience
1997 - present
Assistant Professor, Biology Department, University of Massachusetts Boston
Teaching Bio 111 and 112 as well as graduate course in Teaching and Lecturing techniques for Teaching assistants. Research on student learning and development of educational materials for undergraduate biology.
Developed new lab activities, and course web site including Javascript, digital video, virtual reality, cgi-scripting, molecular visualization, and animations
Created and developed department-wide TA training program
Received 2000 CAS Outstanding Achievement Award for Teaching

Teaching Experience
1992 - 1997
Instructor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Introductory Biology
Course administration
Curriculum development
Supervision of teachingassistants, graders, and tutors
Writing and grading problem sets and exams
Teaching recitation sections.
Developed curriculum for recitation sections and department-wide training program for teaching assistants.

1995 - 1997
Co-Director, MIT/Wellesley Teacher Education Program
Co-teaching Introduction to Teaching and Learning
Administration of program to train MIT undergraduates to become grade 9 - 12 Math and Science teachers
Supervision of student teaching
Collaboration with area schools and universities in improving teacher training through TEAMS-BC collaborative.

Other Courses Taught
Spring 2008 - Present
Biol 650: Scientific Communication

Fall 1999
Biol 653G: How to give a Talk - Seminar on Presentation Skills

Books
White, B. and Mischke, M (2006) A Problems Approach to Introductory Biology 276 pages with CD-ROM. American Society for Microbiology Press.
Nelson & Cox (2007) Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry. Wrote one extended problem based on published experimental results for each of 28 chapters.

Conference Presentations
White, B. (2009) Simplicity and Complexity: Teaching Protein Structure: 3-d Visualization vs. 2-d Simulation Invited presentation at 2009 Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science and Education, Oxford, UK.

White, B. (2007) The Molecular Genetics Explorer BioQUEST Summer Workshop, Beloit WI

White, B. (2004) Reasoning Maps: a Generally-applicable Method for Characterizing Hypothesis-Testing
Behavior American Educational Research Association, San Diego

White, B. and Rowinsky, P. (2002) Reasoning in an Authentic Inquiry Context. Poster; National Association for Research in Science Teaching New Orleans.

White, B., Lee, S., Sherman, K., Reginald, S., Weber, N. (2001) Evaluation of molecular
visualization software for teaching protein structure Poster; Gordon Conference on Molecular Visualization August 2001.

White, B. (2000) Connecting Teaching Lab development with Education Research: An
introduction Workshop; Association for Biology Lab Education Annual Meeting.

White, B., Lee, S., Sherman, K., Reginald, S., Weber, N. (2000) Evaluation of molecular
visualization software for teaching protein structure Poster; Association for Biochemistry
and Molecular Biology.

White, B. (1998, 1999, 2000) The Red and White Yeast lab: An introduction to Science as a process Workshop; ResearchLink 2000 (NSF-Funded dissemination of exemplary lab materials).

White, B., Lee, S., Sherman, K., Reginald, S., Weber, N. (2000) Evaluation of molecular
visualization software for teaching protein structure Poster; UMass Instructional Technology Conference.

White, B. (1999) An Interactive Simulation of Epidemiology Invited workshop: American
Society for Microbiology Regional Meeting.

White, B. (1999) The Red and White Yeast lab: An introduction to Science as a process
Workshop; Association for Biology Lab Education Annual Meeting.

White, B. (1999) Molecular Visualization in General Biology: Successes, Pitfalls, and
Conclusions Invited Seminar (STEMTECH project) UMass Amherst.

White, B., Brault, S. (1999) Web-based Biology Education Poster; UMass Instructional Technology Conference.

White, B. (1998) Using a Computer Simulation to Teach Genetics Poster; UMass Instructional Technology Conference.

White, B. (1998) BioQUEST: An Adjunct to Lecture and Laboratory for Teaching Biology
Invited workshop; Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.

Grant Support
1998 UMass Boston Faculty Development Grant: Exploring “cheat sheets”: Using student’s
notes to follow the learning process. $2,000

2000 NSF CAREER award: Exploring Authentic Inquiry: Factors that Influence Students’
Learning of the Process of Science. $500,000

UMass ITC Grant with Steve Brewer (UMA): Visualizing Biological Processes that have
Instructionally ‘Inconvenient’ Time Scales $4,000

UMass Healey Public Service Endowment Grant with Steven Ackerman and Betsey Davis:
Development of Animations/Videos for Middle School, High School, and College Biology
Courses. $3,500

Collaborations outside UMass Boston
1992 - present With BioQUEST (Beloit College, Beloit WI) development, evaluation
dissemination, and support of software for biology education.

1997- present With Dr. Greg Early at the New England Aquarium to develop the Virtual Dolphin.

1998 - present With Sensimetrics Inc. (Cambridge, MA) development of animations for teaching middle-school cell biology.

2000 - present With LEGO-dacta Corp. to develop LEGO-based biology labs.

2000 - present With Dr. Steve Brewer (UMA) to develop animations and multimedia for teaching biology.