Preston Garcia joined the Natural Sciences faculty in August 2010.
He has been studying microbiology and conducting research since his time as an undergraduate student in the lab of Bruce A. Wiggins, Ph.D. at James Madison University in Virginia.
Before attending graduate school, Dr. Garcia spent two years working as a departmental technician in the Biology department at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. There, he spent time helping faculty with research in Microbiology, Immunology, and Cell and Developmental Biology.
Dr. Garcia attended graduate school at the University of Connecticut where he earned his Master’s of Science and Ph.D. under the direction of Daniel J. Gage, Ph.D. His research focused on the mechanisms of Succinate-Mediated Catabolite Repression in the nitrogen-fixing bacterial symbiont, Sinorhizobium meliloti.
After receiving his doctorate, he was an NIH Postdoctoral fellow in Infectious Disease at the University of Virginia working on vaccine development for the pathogen, Burkholderia mallei in the lab of Joanna B. Goldberg, Ph.D.
Dr. Garcia currently serves as the Natural Sciences Department Chair and the Biology Program coordinator and has continued his research from his graduate studies here at Castleton. He has received external grant support which has provided funding for undergraduate student independent research projects, summer stipends and travel to national meetings.
