Faculty Spotlight: Ivan Moberly
Ivan Moberly, MS formally joined the Department of Biology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as an Instructor in August 2023. However, he has been serving as a full time instructor since Spring 2001. He has extensive teaching experience in introductory through graduate levels, where he thoroughly enjoys the continuing changes and journeys in teaching. Moberly received the 2021 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award at UL at Lafayette in recognition of his teaching. His first experience in teaching introductory courses in biology was as a graduate student. He has engaged students in hands-on learning in introductory through graduate-level labs, many of which focused on anatomy and physiology. Since becoming a full-time instructor at UL at Layette in Spring 2001, he has enjoyed teaching introductory courses for majors and non-majors biology, cell and molecular biology, and human anatomy and physiology. He combines components of all past teaching experiences and research in guiding students through the realm of human anatomy and physiology at UL at Lafayette.
Ivan Moberly's research interests are in vertebrate comparative physiology, biomechanics, and functional morphology. His master’s thesis studied the behavioral ecology of predator-prey interactions in a Plethodontid salamander; dropping (automizing) a tail in a last-ditch effort to escape predation may leave behind chemical cues important for predator avoidance by other salamanders. He then went on to pursue a PhD at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he combine biomechanics and physiology to understand how a chameleon can navigate and overcome the complexities of their arboreal habitat, tiny hatchlings through adults. Specifically, he uses kinematic, kinetics, and scaling patterns to answer questions of how different components of their body work together enabling them to carry out these spectacular acts of locomotion without falling.
Contact Mr. Moberly or learn more through these links:
The Biology Department faculty page
ivan.moberly1@louisiana.edu