Franklin & Marshall College

Weis College House

Dr Kathleen Triman
Professor of Biology and House Don
kathleen.triman@fandm.edu
(717) 291 3948

The focus of my research is the maintenance of a unique online resource, The Ribosomal Mutation Database, which has served the RNA community since 1994.  I presented work with members of the RNA Ontology Consortium at the Triennial Ribosome conference in Orvieto, Italy in April 2010.  My Summer Visiting Investigator appointment at the Jackson Lab in Maine provides me with time to work on the database and my genetics courses. Two of my genetics courses fulfill general education requirements for first and second-year students and are certified to cover the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) of genetic testing.  These courses were developed with support from the National Institutes of Health at the Dartmouth Ethics Institute, where I participated in extensive faculty training workshops. My appointment as faculty don, a position I held on an interim basis in 2007-2008 and currently hold for a three-year term from 2009-2012, has been extremely rewarding.  I have had the opportunity to focus on teaching general education courses and to participate fully in the implementation of the College House system. The first class of Schnader College House students with whom I worked graduated on May 14, 2011, the day after we dedicated Weis College House.  It has been a joy to work with Associate Dean Kate Snider '99 for the past 5 years.  We welcomed the Weis College House of 2015 and their families at Beginnings in the new Weis College House Commons in late May, and look forward to our first Orientation Program there in the Fall.  As I reflect on 20 years at F&M, I am grateful for the opportunity to develop a bioinformatics approach to my research, design new courses, and, ultimately, work with students from a wide range of interests and majors in a College House.