As a neurobiologist and scholar, Gwendolyn “Wendy” Lewis is interested in the design of high-impact educational experiences for undergraduates in neuroscience. Specifically, she is interested in how laboratory courses can be used to develop undergraduate research skills. Her work in course and curriculum development has been presented at the Society for Neuroscience and the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience annual meetings and published in the Journal for Undergraduate Neuroscience Education.

Lewis earned her Ph.D. in biology from the University of Virginia, where she studied nerve regeneration and received the James Dent Dissertation Award. She was an associate professor and the undergraduate coordinator for the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience at George Mason University. She received a Curriculum Impact Grant from GMU for the development of a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) in neural development, which improved the accessibility of undergraduate research at the university. She has developed courses in neural injury and disease, science writing and introductory neuroscience for non-scientists, among others, and in 2023, she received the Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence in Teaching from Mason. 

At UVA, Lewis will continue her efforts to develop high-impact experiences for undergraduates, beginning with the development of new laboratory and elective courses for the Program in Fundamental Neuroscience.