UT Tyler Professor Receives Prestigious Grant

TYLER – A University of Texas at Tyler biology professor has been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation grant. Dr. Jon Seal has received a prestigious Faculty Development Early Career Award An assistant professor of biology, Seal studies fungus-growing Leaf-Cutter ants. He joined The University of Texas at Tyler about four years ago. CAREER grants support early-career faculty who have shown potential to serve as academic role models in research and education. The five year award comes to just over $643,000.

With the award, Dr. Seal will integrate his research on ant-fungal interactions on campus with the development of biology major and non-major coursework in ecology, animal behavior and symbiotic interactions at the university. In addition, he will train up to eight undergraduate and four graduate biology students in ecological biology and laboratory research methods.