Degrees and Credentials
Ph.D. Physiological Optics, University of Alabama at Birmingham 1997
B.S. Pre-Medicine, Juniata College, PA 1985
Short Bio
Dr. Merwine came to Pitt-Bradford in 2007 from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California, where he was a research assistant professor. Prior to that, he was a research associate at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco, CA and a post-doctoral fellow at Wake Forest Univ., NC. His leadership roles at UPB include service on Faculty Senate Council, the Educational Policies Committee, and the Tenure and Promotion Committee.
Dr. Merwine has extensive K-12 educational outreach experience and visits GGB Elementary every year to provide STEM programs to 1st graders. He sits on the Bradford Little Theater Board of Directors and appears regularly in local theater productions.
Academic Focus
Dr. Merwine teaches Human Anatomy & Physiology I and II, Animal Physiology, Neurobiology, Animal Behavior, Biomedical Engineering, and several service courses.
Research, Accomplishments, and Publications
Dr. Merwine’s research focuses on visual computation of motion and contrast, retinal neuropharmacology, sensory-dependent neural development, and neuroengineering. He has published his work in a variety of vision- and neuroscience-relate journals as well as the Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks and The Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science.