Nathan Schroeder is an associate professor in the Department of Crop Sciences and a faculty member in the Neuroscience Program. Originally from New York, he completed his PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and postdoctoral training at Rutgers University. In addition to his own research, Nate is a strong advocate of undergraduate research. Since 2017 he has been the PI of an NSF-funded REU focused on providing research experiences to community college students. He also teaches a course for new freshman about research and encourages them to seek out opportunities early in their academic careers.

Education

• B.A., Earlham College, 1998

• Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2008

2014-2021, 2023: List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent

2017: Neuroscience Program Student Recognition Award

2013: Faculty of 1000 publication Award

Research areas:

• Evolutionary neuroscience and comparative connectomics

• Developmental plasticity

• Nematode biology

Research interests:

• Heterodera glycines

• Nematoda

• Caenorhabditis elegans

Nate’s research uses nematodes (unsegmented roundworms) to understand how cell shape is controlled at both molecular and evolutionary levels. He is a frequent user of the Beckman Institute Microscopy Suite’s electron microscopy instrumentation to discern the structure and connectivity of individual neurons and other cell types. As relatively simple animals, it is possible to map every individual cell in a nematode’s body. As part of these efforts, Nate is the co-director of the NIH-funded WormAtlas that provides anatomical resources to the research community. In addition to these fundamental studies, Nate also collaborates with members of the agricultural research community to address parasitic nematode problems in important crops.