Dr. Elizabeth Manrique Skendzic

Dr. Elizabeth M. Skendzic is a professor in the Biology Department. She joined the Biology Department in 2013 and presently teaches the lecture and laboratory of the introductory Biology I and II courses offered primarily for biology majors. Her previous teaching experience includes instruction of botany, ethnobotany, plant anatomy, human biology, microscopy, and interdisciplinary courses. Dr. Skendzic has mentored freshman student research projects in plant pigments and photosynthesis. Her students have presented their research at DelVal Undergraduate Research Symposium, at the Pennsylvania Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting and at the Northeastern Plant, Pest and Soils Conference meetings. 

Her research has focused on the taxonomy and evolutionary biology of grasses (Poaceae), especially the Andropogoneae, a subfamily of some 1,200 warm-season, mostly subtropical and tropical species with a world-wide distribution.  Some of her relevant work experience include the curation of an herbarium with over 48,000 plant species at the Ministry of Agriculture in Mexico City. During this time, she published three volumes on Mexican Grasses. 

Elizabeth grew up in Mexico and maintains collaborations with plant scientists at several institutions. She has been invited to teach summer workshops in Irapuato, Mexico, at the laboratory of Reproductive Development and Apomixis of LANGEBIO (National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity), at the National Autonomous University of Querétaro and at the national Autonomous University of Morelos. The topics have included grass identification, plant pigments, and vascular plant anatomy, respectively.