Tania Beliz, Ph. D., Professor of Biology
Telephone: (650) 574-6248
Office: 36-205A
Email: beliz@smccd.edu
Office Hours
Website

Tania Beliz holds a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. Her training as a biologist/naturalist started at an early age growing up at her grandparents' farm. Gardening, photography, nature walks, cooking, and reading murder mysteries are some of her hobbies.

Kathy Diamond, Ph.D., Professor of Biology 
Telephone: (650) 574-6602
Office: 36-205F
Email: diamondk@smccd.edu

Kathy Diamond was born in San Francisco. Starting college as an undeclared major torn between philosophy and French literature, she became overwhelmed by curiosity and completed a B.A. in Biology at U.C. Santa Cruz, an M.A. in Zoology at UCLA and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at UCSF. She did research and lectured at UCLA until discovering the superior lower-division science education offered by community colleges. Kathy loves teaching CSM students, hiking, walking, gardening, movies, novels, family and friends. And chocolate.

Paul Hankamp, M.S., Associate Professor of Biology
Telephone: (650) 574-6626
Office: 36-205B
Email: hankampp@smccd.edu

Paul Hankamp has a Master's degree in Biology with concentration in Ecology and Systematics from San Francisco State University. He specializes in botany and has spent recent years teaching students in the field, classroom and laboratory. At CSM, Paul teaches Biology, Botany, and Environmental Science, both online and on campus. He has passion for bringing active learning strategies into the classroom and motivation to share his enthusiasm with students.

Theresa Martin, M.S., Professor of Biology
Telephone: (650) 574-6252
Office: 36 - 205B
Email: martin@smccd.edu
Office Hours
Website

Theresa Martin teaches Human Anatomy and Physiology. Her fascination with the human body began as a competitive runner and coach. She received Master's degrees in Exercise Science and Endocrinology from UC Davis and UC Berkeley, respectively. She enjoys working with students to prepare them for careers in allied health. In her free time she raises two young children and enjoys the outdoors.

Lakshmikanta Sengupta, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology
Office: 36-205C
Email: senguptal@smccd.edu

He wants his students to leave his classes more "awake" than when they came in. He engages students using diverse active learning strategies [role playing, concept mapping, think-pair-share, case studies, storyboarding, poster sessions and presentations]. His main goal is to encourage independent and group thinking and analytical reasoning to augment their problem solving skills, thus encouraging them to not just memorize. The key is to relate to the audience by starting from what they know and building upon it. His favorite approach is: "If you don't have any questions, I have some for you". Sengupta's teaching areas include genetics, biotechnology, general biology, human biology and human anatomy and physiology. He has 32 publications in peer reviewed journals. He is currently active with CCB FEST [Community College Biology Faculty Enhancement through Scientific Teaching] - a NSF sponsored program for enhancing pedagogical expertise among community college biology instructors (CCBI) through scientific teaching. In addition to mentoring students, he likes nature, photography, walking, and gardening.

Christopher Smith, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology
Telephone: 378-7301 ext. 19146
Office: 36-205E
Email: smithchris@smccd.edu

Christopher Smith's professional interests include microbiology, immunology and pharmacology.  He was raised in Massachusetts, where he attended Suffolk University in Boston and the University of Massachusetts earning first a B.S. and then an M.S. in Biology.  After earning a Ph.D. from the Biochemistry Department of the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, he worked for several years as a research scientist in the pharmaceutical industry.  His approach to scientific education is that Science is just as much critical

Huy Tran, M.S., Associate Professor of Biology
Telephone: (650) 574-6241
Office: 36-205C
Email: tranh@smccd.edu
Office Hours

Huy Tran was born in Vietnam and came to the United States in 1975. He grew up in southern California and spent much of his childhood in his backyard catching creep-crawly critters with his brothers. He received his Bachelor's of Science in Biology from the University of California, San Diego and his Master's of Science in Biology from California State University, Hayward (East Bay). When he's not making life difficult for his students in class you can usually find him hiking on one of the many trails in the greater Bay Area. Besides his love for anything science-related, Huy's other interests include photography, art, camping and distance running.

Wendy Whyte, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology
Telephone: (650) 378-7301 ext. 19425
Office: 36-205E
Email: whytew@smccd.edu

A former CSM student, "Dr. Wendy" is living proof there is life after Community College. Dr. Wendy went to College of San Mateo (Chemistry major) and transferred to UC Berkeley (Go Bears!).She has an A.B. in Biochemistry. Her M.S., Ph.D. is in Molecular Genetics from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx NY. Research experience includes metabolism of anticancer drugs and mechanisms of gamete formation. When she isn't teaching or prepping for classes, she volunteers for Foster City's Education Advisory Committee, hangs out with her family, and communes with the great outdoors by day hiking or skiing.

Shaye Zahedi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology
Telephone: (650) 574-6240
Office: 36-205F
Email: zahedi@smccd.edu

Shaye Zahedi is an instructor of Biology at CSM. She teaches introductory biology and health science.