Professor Marjorie Kelly Cowan started teaching microbiology at the Miami University in 1993. Her specialty is teaching microbiology for allied health/pre-nursing students at the university’s Middletown campus. After working as a dental hygienist, Dr. Cowan got her Ph.D. at the University of Louisville and later worked at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands and at University of Maryland’s Center of Marine Biotechnology.

Marjorie has published (with her students) more than 24 research articles stemming from her work on bacterial adhesion mechanisms and plant-derived antimicrobial compounds. But her first love is teaching ― both doing it and studying how to do it better. Kelly is past chair of the Undergraduate Education Committee of the American Society for Microbiology. Her current research focuses on the student achievement gap associated with economic disparities, as well as literacy in the science classrooms. In her spare time, she reads, hikes, and still tries to (s)mother her 3 grown up kids.