Caralisa Breidenbaugh was recently hired as Kent State University at Salem’s newest Biological Sciences faculty. Breidenbaugh earned her Master’s of Science in Biology from Youngstown State University and her Bachelor of Science with a major in botany and minor in horticulture from California State Polytechnic University. Her master’s thesis was titled “Application of Proteomics in the Investigation of Morphogenesis in Wangiella dermatitidis."

This fall she will teach Human Biology and be responsible for biology and chemistry labs.  

Breidenbaugh has given professional presentations related to her thesis at both the American Society for Microbiology’s annual meeting at Ball State University and at Youngstown State University’s Quest, which is an annual forum for student scholarship. As part of her schooling at California Polytechnic University, she participated in numerous projects including describing the anatomy of the giant reed, Arundo donax; developing germination protocols for rare Encelia spp.; collecting, processing and identifying plant material as part of the Chino Hills Plant Survey Project; and evaluating a foliar fertilizer on horticultural and crop plants in both greenhouse and field settings.

Prior to this appointment, Breidenbaugh was an adjunct faculty at Youngstown State University lecturing on Anatomy and Physiology and also an adjunct faculty member with Cuyahoga Community College where she taught Biology, Introduction to Biological Chemistry along with Anatomy and Physiology.  From 2000 to 2009 she was a science teacher at Warren City Schools.

Before Breidenbaugh began teaching, she was a research associate at the University of California, Riverside.  At UCR Breidenbaugh worked in the Biological Control lab of Tom Bellows, in the Department of Entomology, where she participated in the evaluation and introduction of natural enemies to control insect pests of agriculture.