Academic Standards Committee

Hi everyone. My name is Kamal Gandhi (most students go with Dr. G, which works great), and I am the microbiology professor here at Oregon Tech. I am an experienced and excellent teacher of the biological sciences across all collegiate levels. I grew up in southern California, with my family moving a few times around Los Angeles and Orange County. I then received a B.S. degree in Bioengineering from UC San Diego and a Ph.D in Microbiology from UC Berkeley. My dissertation research was conducted on Baculoviruses, a virus that infects caterpillars and causes them to liquefy. My research involved the process of incorporating actin into the nucleus of cells during infection. I then did post-doctoral research on bacteriophage of anaerobic bacteria in soil environments; followed by a stint as a research scientist for the USDA, where I performed food safety research.

My interest in the biological sciences has always been in microbial pathogenesis, in that it has always fascinated me how something so small, like a bacteria or virus, can take over the body and cause disease. My experiences, both in graduate school and beyond, have required achieving a level of understanding of various biological science disciplines. This includes an understanding of bacteriology and virology on the microbial side, as well as an understanding of cell biology, immunology, and systems biology (anatomy and physiology) on the host (human) side.

I also have significant teaching experience over the last 25+ years, from my years as a tutor in high school and college, to my years as a teaching assistant in college and graduate school, to my years giving lectures as a graduate student and postdoc, and finally to teaching at the collegiate level since 2010. I have garnered a reputation as an outstanding instructor, with teaching experiences at large and small universities, teaching traditional and non-traditional students. My experiences interacting with adult and non-traditional students from many socioeconomic backgrounds in particular has taught me to adapt my teaching style to serve a student population that not only has to balance school, work, and family life but actively engage in a classroom with generational, gender and learning style differences. I believe in a system of lecturing and discussion, with repetition of content, as the best ways to learn the complex scientific concepts that I teach.

Finally, outside of my work life as a professor, I enjoy traveling, photography, good food, and time spent with friends and family. If you come by the office, you should definitely ask about any of the pictures that you see, as I am always happy to reminisce about the places I have been lucky enough to explore.