Isaiah G. Schauer, PhD
Instructor of Life Sciences

I was born and raised in Oregon, in the beautiful Willamette Valley region of the Pacific Northwest. After high school, I attended Clackamas Community College on a full-ride scholarship for Music. I struggled academically during my first year as a pre-Music major, eventually deciding to take a break from formal schooling. One year later, finding a strong determination to pursue science, I attended Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon. Initially I intended on taking courses that would transfer into a Geology or Volcanology major. However, a major turning point occurred at this point in my academic career: Organic Chemistry with Dr. Wendell E. Pepperdine. Dr. Pepperdine was truly an inspiring individual. His passion for science, commitment to research, and accomplished teaching career both at Lane and at a major University of California sparked my interest in science and in teaching. Dr. Pepperdine gave up hours of his time to sit in his office with me, discussing things like biomedical research opportunities, the structure of academia and graduate-level degree programs, and what to expect in pursuing a research-track Ph.D. career in-depth.

Because of the inspiration and encouragement of Dr. Pepperdine, I not only received an A.A. from Lane, but I attended Oregon State University and received a B.S. in the dual-major Biochemistry and Biophysics program. There I met another influential and motivating mentor, Dr. Christopher Mathews, who strongly encouraged me to apply for doctoral research programs at schools all over the US. By far the most impressive interviews were at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

I got to Texas as quick as I could to attend BCM. Throughout this intense training, both my graduate thesis and research mentor Dr. David R. Rowley and my amazing wife worked dilligently to convince me that my true talent and gifting was in teaching. However, graduate programs at BCM do not require working as a teaching assistant. This is unlike most life science PhD programs at state Universities where, in addition to your research work, it is absolutely required that you function as a TA in both undergraduate or graduate courses throughout your degree program. Thus, I pursued anything and everything feasible that afforded teaching experience: mentoring and training younger graduate students in passing their doctoral candidacy exams, training lots of rotating summer research undergraduate students, judging middle school science fair competitions, and mentoring local high school students in academic course-charting. After a little over 6 years, I received a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences, completing my thesis research investigating the chemokine signaling mechanisms underlying the reactive nature of the stromal microenvironment during development of the prostate growth disease benign prostatic hyperplasia. 

Then, I was hired as an adjunct faculty member at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. This opportunity to pursue and develop my passion for teaching arose primarily because the Chair of Biology at UST decided to take a chance on this 'green,' but very enthusiastic, new research doctor. I thoroughly enjoyed the small classroom environment there, which allowed for extensive student-interaction and more opportunities to foster student creativity. I taught full-time at UST for a year, and also mentored several students on independent research projects investigating stem cell differentiation. I truly enjoyed every moment. However, in 2009 the Great Recession fully impacted the UST operating budget and I had to find work elsewhere.

I decided to 'dive' back into the intense, fast-paced environment of biomedical research, this time as a Postdoctoral research Fellow at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. My research revolved around elucidating the intricacies of reciprocal interaction between relatively normal ovarian fibroblasts and adjacent ovarian tumor cells in the development of ovarian cancer. 

After 2 years of extensive work in cancer research, my aspiration and hope turned again to teaching. I became a part of the Life Sciences faculty at Brazosport College. I am very excited for this opportunity to inspire all of you students to pursue your academic dreams, and look forward to developing engaging, collaborative, and collegial relationships with my fellow faculty members.

Ph.D. Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine
B.S. Biochemistry & Biophysics, Oregon State University
A.A. Oregon Transfer General Studies, Lane Community College

Use the Pubmed link (above-right) to search for these, if you're curious:

Baylor College of Medicine

• National Institutes of Health Training Grant Award; 2003-2008
• Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology Graduate Student Symposium 3rd Place Research Poster Award; 2005
• Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Graduate Student Symposium 3rd Place Poster Award; 2006
• Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology Graduate Student Symposium 3rd Place Platform Speaker Award; 2007

Oregon State University

• Donald McDonald Academic Scholarship; 2000-2001
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship; 2000-2001

Lane Community College

• Induction into Phi Theta Kappa, International Scholastic Order of the Two-Year College; 1998

Office:  HS-225C
Phone:  (979) 230-3123
Isaiah.Schauer@brazosport.edu