Daniel Blackburn is the Thomas S. Johnson Distinguished Professor of Biology and Chair of the Biology Department. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, he earned advanced degrees (M.Sc. and Ph.D.) from Cornell University in zoology, with a concentration in functional and evolutionary morphology. Following graduate school, he took a position as Research Associate with the Dept. of Cell Biology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.  He joined the Trinity faculty in 1988, where he has taught courses in zoology, histology, neurobiology, electron microscopy, and evolutionary biology.  As a faculty member, he obtained funding to construct Trinity's Electron Microscopy Facility, has helped organize national teaching workshops, and collaborated in founding a new organization in science education.  His research focuses primarily on functional morphology and evolution of reproductive specializations in reptiles, and has been published in such journals as Journal of Morphology, Journal of Experimental Zoology, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Evolution, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.