Education
- Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh
Courses
- General Biology 1401 with Lab
- General Biology 1402 with Lab
Biography
Michael Vallor obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine developing a transgenic mouse model for gene therapy of Gaucher Disease. He also met his wife, a transfer student from San Antonio. He decided to do his Postdoctoral Fellowship in San Antonio and found a position at the UT Health Sciences Center in San Antonio studying DNA repair in conditions of oxidative stress and aging, a study that was funded by the Veteran’s Administration. He next went into K-12 science education, looking to gain some teaching experience and ended up spending 19 years teaching biology, chemistry, earth science, and math at both the middle and high school levels, including 12 years of AP Biology and AP Chemistry courses.
Along the way, Vallor became very involved in many STEM-related extracurricular activities, such as competitive science fairs and FIRST robotics. These opportunities for direct student interaction and guidance inspired in him a strong desire to help beginning science students develop their interests as well as their scientific skills and lay the foundations for their future life journeys. His dream is to develop an avian bioreactor to produce protein-based pharmaceutical agents.
Professional Memberships and Certifications
- Member: National Association of Biology Teachers
- Member: American Chemical Society
- Certification: Life Science 8-12, Texas Education Agency