Ben Gahagen
Ben Gahagen
Assistant Professor of Biology
School of Arts and Sciences
Dr. Gahagen began his academic career at James Madison University in 2006 where he earned a BS in Biology. While there were no concentrations or tracks at the time, he developed a passion for plant related subjects and took as many botany courses as possible. This included: Field Botany, Human Uses of Plants, Morphology of Non-Vascular Plants, Plant Biology, and Systematics of Vascular Plants. He also participated in various floristic and taxonomic undergraduate research projects. These professors, courses, and research opportunities fueled Dr. Gahagen's desire to continue with botany related subjects and he enrolled in the Environmental and Plant Biology PhD program at Ohio University.
In 2015, Dr. Gahagen graduated from the Environmental and Plant Biology PhD program with a specialization in plant systematics, which is the investigation of evolutionary relationships and taxonomy of plants. He taught botany and biology related courses at Marietta College and Ohio University before coming to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in 2017.
In 2015, Dr. Gahagen graduated from the Environmental and Plant Biology PhD program with a specialization in plant systematics, which is the investigation of evolutionary relationships and taxonomy of plants. He taught botany and biology related courses at Marietta College and Ohio University before coming to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in 2017.
Dr. Gahagen teaches the following courses:
BIOL 1107 Principles of Biology I
BIOL 1107L Principles of Biology I Lab
BIOL 2070K Botany
BIOL 3180K Field Botany
BIOL 3800K Plant Anatomy
BIOL 4891 Ethnobotany: Plants and People (Special Topics in Biology)
BIOL 1107 Principles of Biology I
BIOL 1107L Principles of Biology I Lab
BIOL 2070K Botany
BIOL 3180K Field Botany
BIOL 3800K Plant Anatomy
BIOL 4891 Ethnobotany: Plants and People (Special Topics in Biology)
Dr. Gahagen has mentored undergraduate students in systematics and phenological projects. For the systematics projects, skills include: DNA extraction, gene region amplification via PCR, sequence alignment, and phylogenetic analyses with Mesquite, MrBayes, and RAxML. For the phenological projects, skills include: herbarium specimen observations with flowers and fruits and statistical analyses with R.
Recently, Dr. Gahagen has taken an interest in parasitic plants (plants that parasitize other plants), particularly hemiparasitic plants in the genus, Seymeria (Orobanchaceae).
While taxonomy and systematics are the main research topics that Dr. Gahagen mentors students in, he also helps with literature reviews and locating plants suitable for ethnobotanical research (pharmacognosy). This includes plants that may have antibiotic and/or anticancer properties.
Recently, Dr. Gahagen has taken an interest in parasitic plants (plants that parasitize other plants), particularly hemiparasitic plants in the genus, Seymeria (Orobanchaceae).
While taxonomy and systematics are the main research topics that Dr. Gahagen mentors students in, he also helps with literature reviews and locating plants suitable for ethnobotanical research (pharmacognosy). This includes plants that may have antibiotic and/or anticancer properties.
In addition to undergraduate research, Dr. Gahagen is the current faculty advisor to the Tau Delta Kappa Chapter of TriBeta, a national biological honor society that focuses on research and the dissemination of that new-found knowledge.
