Cindy Bennington
Associate Professor of Biology
B.S., Wildlife Management, West Virginia University
M.S., Biology, West Virginia University
Ph.D., Biology, West Virginia University
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Princeton University
Growing up, Dr. Cindy Bennington didn't envision pursuing a career in science. There were few telling early signs: unlike at least some of her colleagues, she wasn't drawn to memorizing field guides or taxonomies, and as an undergraduate she didn't major in a natural science. Instead, she chose wildlife management, thinking that she would enjoy managing a wildlife refuge, given how much she enjoyed being out-of-doors. But it only took a short stint in graduate school for her to realize that this work can involve more management of people than wildlife. That wasn't at all what she had envisioned: "I didn't like it, and I wasn't good at it."
She had her first taste of science in an undergraduate population biology course—a class devoted to understanding micro-evolutionary processes and change. Her aptitude for it must have been evident to her professor (Dr. Jim McGraw), for following the first exam he invited her to join his lab. Still, despite his encouragement to seek a graduate degree and pursue more advanced research, Cindy couldn't quite envision herself as a scientist. So she worked for a few years in a fruit fly lab at Johns Hopkins. Those additional years in the lab began to make a career in science seem possible. The decision to pursue graduate work in Biology remains one of the biggest leaps she's made, an experience that stretched her beyond what she had imagined her life would be.
At VWU, Cindy had the opportunity to work again with McGraw as one of his first PhD students. Their collaboration is ongoing and has given her multiple opportunities to work with him in Alaska. In 2009, as part of a 3-year NSF grant, he invited her and another former student—both of whom he had mentored as young scientists—to join him and other scientists who had mentored him on a research team in Alaska studying genetic differences among plant populations in response to climate differences. Cindy brought Caity Peterson in 2010 and Rachel Burnett in 2011, both Biology majors at Stetson, so the project has drawn together four generations of scientists who have mentored—or been mentored by—one another.
As a plant ecologist, Cindy's research focuses on the ability of plant populations to respond to environmental stress with appropriate changes in morphological and physiological traits. Here in Florida, she has studied the adaptations in passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) that allow plants to survive and/or prevent insect attack: her research has found that the removal of leaf area on individual plants results in both an increase in the volume of nectar secreted by glands on the leaves that attract ants (predators of typical herbivores) and in the thickness of the plant's leaves. This work continues, as she is currently interested in the impact on the plant's chemical defenses, as well as in any genetic differences correlated with these mechanical and chemical protections. She is also investigating the ecology of an endangered milkweed (Asclepias curtissii). Undergraduate biology students at Stetson collaborate with her on these projects.
Cindy has chaired the Department of Biology at Stetson since 2006. When hired in 1996, she was one of just a few women faculty in the natural science division. Though she has never felt out of place for being female— she acknowledges that choosing to have a family and to pursue an academic career still poses unique challenges and balancing acts for women—she does think it can be hard for women with children to advance as quickly as other colleagues. However, for Cindy, it was coming from a working-class family (not gender) that has, on occasion, made her feel like an outsider in academia. It was class, as well, that made pursuing a career in science initially feel so far out of reach.
Engaging undergraduate students in research outside the classroom is one of the most satisfying aspects of her work at Stetson. Cindy describes student learning in labs as vivid and powerful: "it's when students get really excited . . . the new experiences they have in labs are what they remember." She also enjoys working with students (both majors and non-majors) out-of-doors, and sharing her own long-standing appreciation of the environment: "I've always loved being outside; I love teaching outside. So many students really haven't spent much time outside, but it opens up such important ways of experiencing and understanding the world." She finds that students come—on their own—to a deeper appreciation of environmental issues simply by spending more time outside: "You don't have to beat them over the head with environmental problems; just being outside leads to an appreciation."
One of Cindy's current projects is the development of the Volusia Sandhill Teaching Landscape, together with Dr. Karen Cole, Director of the Gillespie Museum, and in collaboration with other colleagues and students. Located outside the Gillespie Museum—and envisioned as an outside extension of the Museum, the Sandhill Teaching Landscape will recreate a slice of the original landscape of DeLand prior to European settlement. Already, they have planted 100 trees; they plan to add shrubs this semester.
Finally, Cindy also has an artistic side--a wonderful sense of color and form: those who have been to her office may have seen the bright fabric panel hanging on her wall. Others may have noticed that she carries a fabric bag, beautifully designed and executed. But they may not know (until now anyway!) that Cindy made both pieces. With characteristic modesty, she denies any special talent—but those who know her work would certainly disagree.
Karen Kaivola, February 2012