Professor Emeritus of Biology

Dr. Timothy (Tim) Forrest joined the Biology Department at UNCA in 1996.  He received BSc degrees in Biology and Mathematics from Florida Southern College, an MSc and a PhD in Entomology from the University of Florida.  Before coming to UNCA, he worked as a Research Scientist at the National Center for Physical Acoustics (University of Mississippi) and was a Post-Doctoral Associate in Neurobiology and Behavior (Cornell University).   Tim received more than $425K in grant funding to work on insect behavioral ecology and bioacoustics and to develop a summer science program, Bug Camp, for middle school students.  Tim’s research focuses on animal behavior and acoustic communication.  He has more than 50 publications that include 19 student coauthors and he collaborated with more than 20 students who received more than $25K in funding for their research projects.

Tim taught non-majors courses Current Topics in Biology (105, 125, 126) and Principles of Evolution (107) as well as introductory courses for Biology majors, Ecology and Evolution (115/135), Experimental Design, Analysis and Presentation (134), and Zoology (210).  He taught upper-level courses in Animal Behavior (360), Invertebrate Zoology (332), Entomology (331), Desert Ecology (356), Marine Biology (320), Senior Seminar (480), and Undergraduate Research in Biology (498).  While at UNCA, Tim received two University Teaching Awards:  Distinguished Teacher Award in the Natural Sciences (2000) and Distinguished Teacher of the Year (2009).  Tim also served as the Department Chair for three years between 2013 and 2016.

Tim retired as Professor Emeritus in 2021.