Andrea Holgado, PhD

Andrea Holgado is a professor in and chair of the department of biological sciences at St. Edward’s University. Holgado earned her bachelor’s in biology education, bachelor’s in biology, and PhD in biology from the National University of Cordoba, Argentina. Before becoming faculty at St. Edward’s University, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her postdoctoral research focused on the molecular analysis of synapse formation and maintenance in hippocampal neurons in culture and in the model organism C. elegans. She began her career in teaching in 2005 as a non-tenure track instructor in the biology department at Loyola University in Chicago and in 2008 joined the faculty in the department of biological sciences at Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU), serving as an assistant and associate professor and department chair until 2017. Working at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUI) SWOSU and St. Edward’s University, she has emphasized research in science education using high-impact practices to train future members of the bioscience workforce, including by using course-embedded research in laboratory courses as well as mentoring undergraduates in research as co-curricular capstone experience. Since 2008, she has mentored over 70 undergraduates, published 10 research manuscripts, contributed to over 100 conference presentations, and served as the PI of OCAST, OK-INBRE, OK-EPSCoR, NSF-RUI, NSF Major Research Instrumentation, and NSF HSI grants. These efforts have resulted in her receipt of national and regional awards from the Institutional Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, and the Oklahoma House of Representative Harold Wright.