Biography

Lizzy Wilbanks received her B.A. in Chemistry and Biology from Swarthmore College, where she conducted undergraduate research in synthetic organic chemistry (and discovered that microbes are marvelous chemists!). She completed her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of California, Davis. Following postdoctoral fellowship at Caltech, Wilbanks served as a visiting professor at Swarthmore College in the Biology Department. She joined EEMB at UCSB as an Assistant Professor in 2016. Her research investigates how ecological interactions shape microbial physiology and biogeochemistry in marine aggregates and biofilms.

Lizzy teaches in the introductory biology series at UCSB and working on collaborative initiatives to reform introductory STEM education for equity and inclusion, such as the Sloan Equity and Inclusion in STEM Introductory Courses (SEISMIC) collaboration She serves as a mentor with the ONDAS first gen student and transfer student centers, and is a member of UCSB's ONDAS center FLC on inclusive pedagogies. Her interests include student learning communities, active learning and evidence-based teaching methodologies, and catalysis of institutional reform. She is also an organizer & co-host of @MicroSeminar, a social media-based webinar series featuring early career researchers in microbiology.