Dr. Bridgewater will present a lecture titled "Open Doors, Open Windows." This presentation is part of the "My Journey as a Scholar of Faith" series sponsored by the BYU Faculty Center and Education in Zion Gallery.
The lecture will also be available through Zoom.
Dr. Laura C. Bridgewater became the Associate Academic Vice President for Faculty Development in August of 2018. Prior to that, she served as an Associate Dean in the College of Life Sciences and as Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology. She is a devoted teacher who has taught molecular biology to thousands of students over the years. She has mentored nearly 200 students in her research lab, and in 2008 she received the College of Life Sciences Outstanding Mentor Award for that work. Her research has focused on the regulation of cartilage gene expression and the way it impacts skeletal development and arthritis. She has also conducted research on the effects of stress on the gut microbiota and the way the gut microbiota impacts metabolic health disorders.
Dr. Bridgewater received her bachelor's degree in microbiology from BYU and her Ph.D. in genetics from George Washington University. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center before joining the faculty at BYU in 1999. Laura and her husband Tim have four children and two grandchildren.