Education

B.A. - Western Oregon State College (now  Western Oregon University)
M.S. - The Ohio State University
Ph.D. - The Ohio State University

Teaching

Dr. Walker teaches cell biology and plant biology courses. The Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology (Bio 240) course introduces students to basic cell structure and function. She also teaches Topics in Cellular and Molecular Biology (Bio 330) course which explores a select set of cellular processes, which may include cell-signaling, regulation of the cell cycle, and cell motility. Dr. Walker also teaches Plant Anatomy and Physiology (Bio 315) and participates in the General Biology course (Bio 101).

Research

Dr. Walker is a Plant Biologist with a research interest in understanding growth and developmental processes in plants. Previously, she utilized a variety of physiological, molecular, genetic, and cellular techniques in her approach to understanding the molecular mechanisms of auxin action in Arabidopsis thaliana. Some of these techniques included mutagenesis, mutant isolation, mutant analysis, and molecular cloning techniques. During graduate school, and since arriving at IWU, Dr. Walker's primary research interest has been to understand how environmental factors such as light and gravity influence growth and development in the moss Ceratodon purpureus. Dr. Walker has supervised IWU students in studying the effects of light, gravity, and plant growth regulators on growth and development of protonemata in C. purpureus.