Dr. Anne Goodwin

As a professor at a liberal arts college, I fully embrace the exploration of different fields of interest! I did my graduate work in human physiology and pathophysiology, with focus on how blood vessels form normally to provide oxygen and nutrients to tissues, and how abnormal vessel formation contributes to disease states. As I started teaching in liberal arts college settings, I expanded my teaching to include human nutrition and animal biology. I love living in northern Berkshire County, and appreciate the diverse academic interests of my colleagues and students at MCLA!

My current research projects focus on community nutrition and biology of marine organisms. I supervise a variety of research projects and internships for students interested in gaining a skill set in nutrition. Students under my supervision have explored sport nutrition for our student athletes, immigrant food needs in Berkshire County, farm to school programming, and data trends for food access sites in the county. I am a member of the Northern Berkshire Food Access Collaborative, participate in regional food access groups across the county, and prepared the 2025 Berkshire County Community Food Assessment.

In my research lab I focus on the biology of cnidarians, particularly on exploring the identity and functions of microorganisms that live in and on sea anemones and upside-down jellyfish. Students under my supervision have identified bacteria, archaea and dinoflagellates in samples from Exaiptasia pallida sea anemones, Diadumene lineata sea anemones, and Casseioopeia jellyfish. Students have also explored other interests with marine organisms, including microplastic accumulation, nematocysts in sea anemones, and bioluminescence in sea pansies.

Bullard SG, MR Carman, RM Rocha, JA Dijkstra and AM Goodwin. 2011. Abundance and diversity of ascidians in the southern Gulf of Chiriquí, Pacific Panama. Aquatic Invasions 6: 381–390

Goodwin AM. 2007. Use of Renilla bioluminescence to illustrate nervous function. in Tested Studies for Laboratory Teaching, vol. 28 (MA O'Donnell, ed.) Proceedings of the 28th Conference of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education (ABLE), p. 183-192.

George C. Hamaoui; Andrea Fachini; Ann C. Billetz; Anne M. Goodwin. Bacterial symbionts in the sea anemones Diadumene lineata and Exaiptasia pallida. Benthic Ecology Meeting, Corpus Christi, TX, March 2018.

Goodwin A, Wiles G, Sumy D, Billetz A. Bacterial populations in the sea anemone Aiptasia pallida, Benthic Ecology Meeting, Quebec, QC, Canada, March 2015.

Goodwin A, Piatczyk, N, Banta L. Friends, foes or bystanders? Bacterial populations in the sea anemone Aiptasia pallida. Benthic Ecology Meeting. Wilmington, NC, 2010.