Contact the Department

Blythe Boquist

Program Coordinator
Assistant to the Chair
bbooher@duke.edu

142 Biological Sciences

Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Hybrid schedule
 

• Chair’s calendar and administrative business
• Faculty appointments and meetings
• Committee and room scheduling
• Departmental listservs
• Weekly newsletter
• Seminar publicity and guest travel

Duke University Phytotron

phytostaff@duke.edu

138 Science Dr.

Open 24/7 by authorized card access only.

• A Biology Department plant growth facility supporting faculty, staff, and student research projects with controlled environment chambers and greenhouses.

Greg Piotrowski

Phytotron Manager

Phytotron Building, room 101A

Monday-Friday

• Coordinates all research projects
• Schedules chamber and greenhouse usage

Todd Smith

Lab Research Analyst 2

Phytotron Building, room 109A

Monday-Friday

• Oversees all chamber/greenhouse maintenance and repairs
• Designs and builds custom equipment for research projects

Max Betts

Lab Research Analyst 1

Phytotron Building, room 109A

Monday-Friday

• Provides technical assistance with chamber/greenhouse maintenance
• Programs and monitors chamber and greenhouse functions

Amy Eddings

Horticulturist

Phytotron Building, room 110A

Monday-Friday

• Oversees all plant care, including pest control
• Supervises horticulture staff and assists Phytotron manager

Donavan Battle

Assistant Horticulturist

Phytotron Building, room 109A

• Plant care technician
• Oversees necessary daily operations

Donnyell Batts

Director of Graduate Studies Assistant (DGSA)
donnyell.batts@duke.edu

Biological Sciences, room 139B,

8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday/Wednesday: on campus.  Tuesday/Friday: remote. Thursday: on-campus 8 a.m.-noon, remote 1 p.m.-4 p.m.

• Provides support to the graduate students including but not limited to payroll, program requirements, and admissions
• Assists the Biology Director of Graduate Studies in the daily operations of the Ph.D. program

Jill Foster

Undergraduate Program Administrator (DUSA)

Biological Sciences, room 135

9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays: on campus

• Course scheduling and new course request process
• Biology advisor assignments
• Questions about major/minor requirements
• Transfer credit and independent study logistics
• Registration questions/issues
• Degree progress updates
• Graduation ceremony
• Graduation with distinction applications
• Info/meetings for prospective/high school students

Mai Nguyen

Administrative Director
mai.p.nguyen@duke.edu

Biological Sciences, room 139A
 

• Manage all administrative, operations and financial support for the department
• Serve as point of contact on building operations and space/facility management
• Act as a liaison between faculty, staff and upper management when it comes to financial, facility and administrative issues

Katherine Trinajstich

HR Specialist
katherine.trinajstich@duke.edu

Biological Sciences, room 139D
 

• Provides office operations for the Department of Biology including Human Resources needs, payroll services and visa services

Dorian McMillan

Senior Laboratory Administrator
dorian.mcmillan@duke.edu

Biological Sciences, room 0048

• Point of contact for undergraduate teaching lab operations. Manages allocation of teaching lab spaces, budgets. Liaison with university units on issues of lab maintenance and safety. 

Kathleen Miglia

Lab Manager
kathleen.miglia@duke.edu

Biological Sciencesroom 0046

• Cocoordinates lab setup logistics for Gateway courses 201L, 202L, 203L

• Coordinates lab setup for BIO212L
• Cares for teaching living collections

Gabriella Talucci

Lab Preparator

• Preparator for BIO201L and BIO202L

Gabriela Miklos

Lab Preparator

• Preparator for BIO201L and BIO202L

Kathy Ghattas

Lab Preparator

• Preparator for BIO422L and BIO203L
• General oversight of N. Sherwood and Spana labs

Stacey Smalls-Everett

Lab Technician

• Provides glassware services to research labs in FFSC
• Point of contact autoclaves and dishwashers in FFSC 3214, 4230, 4302; liquid nitrogen BioSci 233

Duke Bioscience Greenhouse

greenhousestaff-request@duke.edu

Building # 7772

Open 24/7
Authorized card access only

• This climate Control Growth Facility is divided into two areas: The Teaching Collection, dedicated to the growth of worldwide plants for educational purposes, and the Research Area, where Duke researchers, faculty, students and private companies develop their experiments on control environmental conditions

Jorge Fidhel Gonzalez

Greenhouse Supervisor

Duke Bioscience Greenhouse

Monday-Friday

• Coordinates all Research and Teaching Collection Projects
• Manages the Field Station (Building # 7822) and Botany Plot (Building #7794).
• Supervises and Coordinates all the repairs, maintenance, and renovation of the Greenhouse building and its equipment, as well as makes some repairs

Kristin Dimac-Stohl

Assistant Horticulturist

Duke Bioscience Greenhouse

Monday-Friday

• Provides daily plant care in the Teaching Collection Area
• Provides long-term and short-term care of the specimens in the Teaching Collection
• Coordinates with the Biology professors and prepares the plants for educational purposes

Izumi Osawa

Assistant Horticulturist

Duke Bioscience Greenhouse

• Oversees and participates in daily plant care in the Research Area
• Keeps records of fertilization, pest control and environmental conditions for each plant
• Applies pest control in the Research Area

Jesse Evans

Horticulturist

Duke Bioscience Greenhouse

Monday-Friday

• Oversees all plant care
• Supports horticulture staff and assists the greenhouse manager

Renee Puryear

Manager, Research Administration, CRA
puryear@duke.edu
919-452-6913

Remote

Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

• Manages all sponsored research administration services for pre- and post-award activities, proposal development, faculty summer effort, faculty distributions for audit compliance, ECRT, internal/external audits, corporate card management and award closeouts

Amy Mofield

Grants & Contracts Administrator, Advanced
amy.mofield@duke.edu
336-263-1678

Remote 

Monday-Thursday, 6:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

Amy’s portfolio:

• Susan Alberts
• Doug Boyer
• Amy Goldberg
• Elaine Guevara
• Charlie Nunn

Carla Neville

Grants & Contracts Administrator, Senior
carla.neville@duke.edu
919-698-2650

Remote

Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Carla’s portfolio:

• Ke Dong
• Xinnian Dong
• Steve Haase
• Dan Kiehart
• Paul Magwene
• David McClay
• Mark Rausher
• David Sherwood
• John Willis
• Greg Wray

Chris Farrell

Grants & Contracts Administrator, Advanced
chris.farrell@duke.edu
919-452-9343

Remote

Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

Chris’ portfolio:

• Ryan Baugh
• Arnaldo Carreira-Rosario
• Sonke Johnsen
• Paul Manos
• Daniel McShea
• Fred Nijhout
• Masayuki Onishi
• Justin Wright

Jill Danforth

Grants & Contracts Administrator, Senior
jill.danforth@duke.edu
919-308-4969

Remote Monday and Friday

7:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Jill’s portfolio:

• Emily Bernhardt
• (JP) Jean-Philippe Gibert
• Charlotte Lee
• Francois Lutzoni
• Anyi Mazo-Vargas
• Mohamed Noor
• Sheila Patek
• Jonathan Shaw
• Lucia Strader
• Rytas Vilgalys
• Anne Yoder

Lori Houjak

Grants & Contracts Administrator, Senior
lori.houjak@duke.edu
919-607-7949

Remote

Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
 

Lori’s portfolio:

• Kathleen Donohue
• Sheng-Yang He
• Sara Lipshutz
• (Bill) William Morris
• Steve Nowicki
• Kathleen Pryer
• Amy Schmid
• Gustavo Monteiro Silva
• Tai-Ping Sun
• Pelin Volkan

James Tunney

Financial Management Analyst II
jtunney@duke.edu
919-319-1353
919-660-7375

Biological Sciences, room 141

Remote most days

• Manage departmental finances, faculty startup/discretionary codes and shared resource centers
• Pre- and post- award management for graduate students
• Overseeing office services, including FedEx, mailroom and office supplies

Margaret Wilbur

Research Administration Specialist
margaret.wilbur@duke.edu
919-886-0266

Biological Sciences, room 143

In the office: Monday, Thursday, Friday

Remote Tuesday 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Wednesday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Sponsored research support
• Process Concur reports
• Submit B@D shopping carts and confirming orders
• Submit AP check requests
• Supports the trainer role for B@D users  
• Complete monthly budget reconciliations