Email contact: cschneid@trincoll.edu

Education

Gettysburg College 1966-1970, B.A., Biology, 1970.
Duke University 1970-1975, Ph.D., Botany, 1975.

Research Focus

Phylogenetics/systematics of tropical marine algae, primarily Rhodophyta

 

Teaching Philosophy

I retired from formal teaching in 2020. My goal in the classroom and laboratory was to help students understand the natural world by logically dissecting it, then finding out how it all fit back together. If my students could develop ways of thinking that challenged their established assumptions, then I succeeded. I provided my classes the known information on a subject, but did not expect them to memorize these great webs of information. Rather, I wanted the students to interpret the significance of these facts in a greater context. I allowed them to make mistakes in their “logical” thinking, then I could use these mistakes as a platform for a constructive discussion with them. Using these tools, I believe students truly learned the material in a useful manner, one which would carry them forth well after any class they took with me.

Click here for a video on teaching and research.

Honors and Awards

• The Award of Excellence, Phycological Society of America, 2020
• The Trustee Award for Faculty Excellence, Trinity College, 2016
• The Frank Shipley Collins Award, Northeast Algal Society, 2003
• The Distinguished Alumnus Award, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 2000
• Named the Charles A. Dana Professor of Biology, Trinity College, 1998
• The Thomas Church Brownell Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Trinity College, 1996
• The Charles A. Dana Research Prize, Trinity College, 1995
• The Gerald W. Prescott Award, Phycological Society of America, for 1991 book, Seaweeds of the Southeastern United States: Cape Hatteras to Cape Canaveral, Duke University Press, 1993

56th Annual Meeting of the Northeast Algal Society, 21-23 April 2017