Environmental Science Faculty
Environmental Science at Elizabethtown College is taught by faculty from across the campus — biologists, engineers, chemists, philosophers and literary scholars who each bring a different lens to the same set of questions.
Core faculty in the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences anchor the major and mentor students through research, fieldwork and internships. Affiliate faculty from engineering, chemistry, philosophy and English round out the interdisciplinary coursework that defines the program.
Dr. David Bowne
Professor of Biology
Ph.D. in Environmental Science, University of Virginia
bowned@etown.edu | 717-361-1317
Office: Lyet 147 | Lab: Lyet 153
Dr. Bowne joined the faculty of Elizabethtown College in 2008. He teaches General Ecology, Conservation Biology, Geographic Information Systems, and the introductory biology courses Molecules, Cells, and Animal Systems and Principles of Ecology, Evolution, and Diversity of Life.
Dr. Diane Bridge
Co-Chair, Department of Biological & Environmental Sciences
Professor of Biology
Ph.D. in Biology, Yale University
bridged@etown.edu | 717-361-1177
Office: Lyet 247 | Lab: Lyet 253
Dr. Bridge joined the faculty of Elizabethtown College in 2000. She teaches Principles of Ecology, Evolution, and Diversity of Life; Invertebrate Zoology; Developmental Biology and laboratory sections of Molecules, Cells, and Animal Systems.
Dr. Robert Northington
Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science
Ph.D. in Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech
northingtonr@etown.edu | 717-361-1474
Office: Lyet 148
Dr. Northington joined the faculty of Elizabethtown College in 2023. He teaches the Introductory Biology sequence, Aquatic Ecology and other courses in environmental sciences. Dr. Northington is the Tri-Beta Biological Honor Society Advisor.
Dr. Debra L. Wohl
Chair, Health Professions Advisory Committee
Professor of Biology
Ph.D. in Ecology, University of Georgia
wohld@etown.edu | 717-361-1326
Office: Lyet 144 | Lab: Lyet 150
Dr. Wohl joined the faculty of Elizabethtown College in 2004. She teaches honors and introductory biology courses Molecules, Cells, and Animal Systems, general microbiology classes, and a course in pathogenic microbiology.
Affiliated Faculty
Dr. Kristi A. Kneas
Professor of Chemistry
Analytical Chemistry
kneask@etown.edu | 717-361-1129
Office: MU 222
- A.B. in Chemistry, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, magna cum laude, Honors in Chemistry, 1995
- Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry, University of Virginia, 2000
Dr. Brenda L. Read-Daily, PE
Professor of Engineering
Program Director for ABET-Accredited B.S. Engineering
Environmental Engineering, Civil, Water Treatment
Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering, University of Notre Dame
readb@etown.edu | 717-361-1348
Office: Esbenshade 160-D
Dr. Read-Daily received a B.S. in Civil Engineering at Bradley University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. During her graduate studies, she conducted multidisciplinary research combining microbiology with engineering design.
Her research interests include optimizing biological nutrient removal processes in agricultural drainage and wastewater treatment in order to mitigate pollution. She is currently developing undergraduate research opportunities examining nitrogen removal in tile drainage systems, and also has general interests in sustainable water resource management and engineering education.
Dr. Michael David Silberstein
Professor of Philosophy
Professor of Science, Society, and Technology in the School of Engineering and Computer Science
Director of the Cognitive Science Program
Core Faculty Member in the Neuroscience Program
silbermd@etown.edu | 717-361-1253
Office: Nicarry 227
Dr. Silberstein’s primary research interests are the foundations of physics, the foundations of cognitive science, consciousness studies, and how these branches of philosophy and science bear on more general questions of reduction, emergence, and explanation. He has published numerous articles in philosophical and scientific journals and books on all these subjects.
Dr. Lauren E. Toote
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Analytical Chemistry
tootelauren@etown.edu | 717-361-1544
Office: M 224
- B.S. in Chemistry, Music minor, Murray State University, summa cum laude, 2012
- Ph.D. in Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, 2017
Dr. Suzanne E. Webster
Professor of English (Ralph W. Schlosser Endowed Chair)
Director of the English Literature Program
D.Phil. in English, University of Oxford
websterse@etown.edu | 717-361-1235
Dr. Webster holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Sheffield, and an M.Phil. and D.Phil. in English from the University of Oxford. Most of her research focuses upon British Romantic literature (1770–1835), especially the private notebooks of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Her other research interests include poetics and ecocritical theory—the topics of a recently completed collaborative project that applies an original, ecologically informed understanding of “the pastoral” to British Romantic poetry, completed with an Etown alumna who double majored in English and Environmental Science.
In addition to delivering classes in British Romanticism, Dr. Webster offers survey courses on British Literature from 1660 to the present day; a creative writing class, Poetry and Poetics; and an Environmental Humanities course that explores literature and art about nature, the environment, and sustainability.