Biography
Regina Lamendella joined the Juniata faculty in 2012 as assistant professor of biology. She comes to Juniata from a postdoctoral fellowship at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.
She earned a bachelor's degree in biology in 2004 from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. She went on to earn two master's degrees from the University of Cincinnati: one in 2006 in environmental science, and one in 2011 in molecular genetics, biochemistry and microbiology. She earned a doctoral degree in environmental science from the University of Cincinnati in 2009.
Her research focuses on methods to design and implement novel molecular-based detection methods to track sources of fecal contamination in the environment. She also has researched molecular microbial ecology approaches to better understand the role of microbes in human health and the environment.
Lamendella served as the Lawrence Postdoctoral Fellow from 2009 to 2012. Her previous research experience is extensive, including a job as a private contractor for the Environmental Protection Agency in 2009. She also served as an EPA Graduate Student Trainee from 2004 to 2008. As an undergraduate, she was an EXCEL Research Scholar from 2003 to 2004 and a Robert Hunt Research Fellow from 2002 to 2003.
She has overseen graduate research and taught a wide variety of biology and ecology courses. She was a National Science Foundation GK-12 Teaching Fellow for the Science and Technology Enhancement Program for the 2008-2009 academic year and was a Preparing Future Faculty Fellow at the University of Cincinnati from 2006 to 2009.
Lamendella received the 2011 Science and Technology Achievement Award from the Environmental Protection Agency and the SPOT Recognition Award for Exceptional Research Contributions from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
She is a member of the American Society of Microbiology, International Society for Microbial Ecology, Graduate Women in Science and the Water Management Association of Ohio.
Her research interests have been published in such scholarly journals as BMC Microbiology, Water Research, ISME Journal, Applied and Environmental Microbiology and Journal of Environmental Quality. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Lawrence Berkeley lab and Nabisco.