RALPH SEELKE, Ph.D.

RALPH SEELKE, Ph.D.

Ralph Seelke received his undergraduate education at Clemson University. He then spent two years in the Army on active duty as a tank platoon leader, and retired from the ArmyReserve in 2000. In 1977 he married a Minnesotan, and went to graduate school at the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, finishing his work for a Ph.D. in microbiology in 1981. He stayed at Mayo doing postgraduate work until 1983, and has been a professor at various places since then and at the University of Wisconsin in Superior since 1989. He has an ongoing interest in Christian apologetics, which sometimes overlaps his professional career. He is convinced that Christianity is not only true, but that it is perhaps the only way of viewing the world that allows both meaning and rationality in life.

Prof. Seelke and his wife Julie have been married 27 years, and have three grown children. His family is his hobby. He enjoys cross-country skiing with his daughter and with his wife, occasionally runs with his daughter, and may usually be found in family activities when not at work.
Education
1983. Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. Postdoctoral Studies.

1982. University of Minnesota and the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. Ph.D. in Microbiology

1973. Clemson University. B.S. in Microbiology, with Highest Honors
Experimental Evolution
Since 2000, Dr. Seelke’s research interest has been in experimental evolution. His work in that area has been supported by the Merck Foundation/AAAS Undergraduate Science Research Program, which has supported the undergraduate research of over 10 students at UW-Superior. In 2004, he was a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Stanford University Medical School (laboratory of Dr. A. C. Matin), conducting research to further our understanding of evolution. His work has resulted in seven presentations at regional or national scientific meetings since 2001 on the capabilities and limitations of evolution in producing new functions in bacteria. He is a co-author on eight publications in such journals as Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Journal of Bacteriology, and Molecular and General Genetics and has also contributed to four book chapters. Since 1983, he has been the recipient of over $540,000 in grant support for his efforts in teaching and research.