Our discoveries about DNA, for example, are rapidly tying together genetics, biochemistry, and molecular biology. We know what our inheritance is and how it works, but that's not enough. We have barely begun to deal with the power of that information, or to convert it into understanding of either the higher levels of human biology or how human thinking and interaction work. His greatest satisfaction of teaching at Davidson has been leading students to realize the importance of looking at our lives both through a microscope and from global orbit. Surprising things happen when you begin to put things back together.
Students better understand the relevance of science to their own lives.
Kimmel, the son of an anatomy professor, graduated from Temple University School of Medicine, but came to realize that his heart was closer to the classroom than practicing medicine. He earned a master's in physiological chemistry from Temple, then earned a Ph.D. in developmental genetics at The Johns Hopkins University in 1964. He taught medical science at Brown for six years, then came to Davidson in 1971. He has taught it all here-from basic biology, to genetics, to cell and molecular biology, histology, and embryology. He developed a personal research interest in orb weaving spiders early in his career and has directed student projects in studying the geometry of their webs, brain size, and dependence on gravity.