Dr. Jacob Krans has been involved in promoting life science education since the late 1990's. He is a founding member of the Neuroscience BS Program at Western New England University. After receiving his Ph.D from the University of Connecticut, he became a post-doctoral associate at Cornell University, and has held faculty positions at Mount Holyoke College and Central Connecticut State University. Throughout his career, Dr. Krans has mentored over 100 students at undergraduate and graduate levels. He is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, Sigma Xi, and Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN), and has chaired the steering committee of the annual East Coast Nerve Net Conference. Among his major commitments to the promotion of science education are his services as an ad hoc grant reviewer for the National Science Foundation, and his coordination of a major STEM grant from United Technologies at Western New England University.
In tandem with his educational efforts, Dr. Krans' research aims to better understand mechanisms of plasticity in neuromuscular control. His methods and approaches are cross-disciplinary, combining engineering, genetics, molecular biology, neuroscience, and evolutionary frameworks. He holds a patent for a novel sensing apparatus aimed to improve tactile feedback in prosthetic devices.
