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Margarethe A Cooper

  • Assistant Professor of Practice
  • Endowed Chair, Victor P Smith - Food Safety Education
Contact
  • (520) 621-3290
  • Shantz, Rm. 233
  • Tucson, AZ 85721
  • cooperma@email.arizona.edu
  • Bio
  • Interests
  • Courses
  • Scholarly Contributions

Biography

The major focus of my Assistant Professor of Practice position is developing face-to-face, online and distance coursework and certifications for the Food Safety program with my colleagues. I work to recruit and retain students in the Food Safety program through my appointment as the Victor P. Smith Endowed Chair in Food Safety Education.  As part of the Endowment, I run a Food Safety summer program for high school students called SaferFoodCats. The Food Safety Education Endowment supports Food Safety Education endeavors for our stakeholders across the state of Arizona, with collaborations within our school, college, university and with industry partners.

In Fall semester my primary teaching duties encompass required courses in the Food Safety degree, Food Safety and Microbiology Lecture and Laboratory and Food Toxicology Lecture. Both lecture versions of the course include a fully online version to increase access to classes for students who may not be able to attend face-to-face classes due to work or ther obligations.

In the Spring semester, my teaching focus includes teaching Biology of Animal Parasites (an upper-division disease class), the non-majors General Microbiology online class, and a freshman colloquium called This Wormy World.   

Prior to working as an Assistant Professor of Practice here at the University of Arizona, I was an Assistant Professor teaching non-majors Microbiology at Los Angeles Pierce College in Woodland Hills, CA.  

My most recent research experience was as a Research Affiliate at the United States Department of Agriculture, in Albany, CA.  I was on a project in the Food Safety and Microbiology Unit analyzing the molecular interaction of Escherichia coli O157:H7 on lettuce using next generation sequencing. 

My first postdoctoral fellowship was in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at the University of Arizona on a project analyzing how the malaria parasite (Plasmidium falciparum) feeds on hemoglobin in human red blood cells.  My second postdoctoral fellowship, also at the University of Arizona, was on a project in the former Department of Veterinary and Microbiology assessing Campylobacter jejuni in the food chain.  

 My doctoral research project was on the molecular epidemiology of Giardia lamblia in humans and dogs in Dr. Chuck Sterling’s laboratory.

Degrees

  • Ph.D. Pathobiology
    • University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States
    • Molecular typing of Giardia lamblia in humans and dogs and evidence for sexual recombination.
  • B.S. Microbiology
    • University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States

Work Experience

  • Los Angeles Pierce College (2013 - 2017)
  • Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture (2011 - 2013)
  • University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona (2010 - 2011)
  • Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona (2007 - 2008)
  • University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona (2006 - 2010)

Related Links

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Interests

Teaching

Food Safety, Food Microbiology, Microbiology, Parasitology

Courses

2020-21 Courses

  • Food Toxicology
    ACBS 377 (Spring 2021)
  • General Microbiology
    MIC 205A (Spring 2021)
  • Food Safety and Micro Lab
    ACBS 380L (Fall 2020)
  • Food Safety and Microbiology
    ACBS 380R (Fall 2020)

2019-20 Courses

  • Biology Animal Parasites
    ACBS 403R (Spring 2020)
  • Biology Animal Parasites
    ACBS 503R (Spring 2020)
  • Biology Animal Parasites
    ECOL 403R (Spring 2020)
  • Biology Animal Parasites
    ENTO 403R (Spring 2020)
  • Biology Animal Parasites
    MIC 403R (Spring 2020)
  • General Microbiology
    MIC 205A (Spring 2020)
  • This Wormy World
    ACBS 195D (Spring 2020)
  • This Wormy World
    MIC 195D (Spring 2020)
  • Food Safety and Micro Lab
    ACBS 380L (Fall 2019)
  • Food Safety and Microbiology
    ACBS 380R (Fall 2019)
  • Food Toxicology
    ACBS 377 (Fall 2019)

2018-19 Courses

  • Biology Animal Parasites
    ACBS 403R (Spring 2019)
  • Biology Animal Parasites
    ACBS 503R (Spring 2019)
  • Biology Animal Parasites
    ECOL 403R (Spring 2019)
  • Biology Animal Parasites
    ECOL 503R (Spring 2019)
  • Biology Animal Parasites
    MIC 403R (Spring 2019)
  • General Microbiology
    MIC 205A (Spring 2019)
  • Independent Study
    ACBS 499 (Spring 2019)
  • This Wormy World
    ACBS 195D (Spring 2019)
  • This Wormy World
    MIC 195D (Spring 2019)
  • Food Safety and Microbiology
    ACBS 380R (Fall 2018)
  • Food Toxicology
    ACBS 377 (Fall 2018)
  • Independent Study
    MIC 499 (Fall 2018)

2017-18 Courses

  • ACBS Preceptorship
    ACBS 491 (Spring 2018)
  • Bio Microorganisms Lab
    MIC 205L (Spring 2018)
  • General Microbiology
    MIC 205A (Spring 2018)
  • This Wormy World
    MIC 195D (Spring 2018)
  • Food Safety and Microbiology
    ACBS 380 (Fall 2017)

Related Links

UA Course Catalog

Scholarly Contributions

Poster Presentations

  • Cooper, K. K., Pinzon, J., Cooper, M. A., Skots, M., Flores, G. E., Mackelprang, R., & Suslow, T. V. (2019, July). Characterization of tree fruit bacterial communities during harvest. International Food Protection Association Annual Meeting,. Louisville, KY: International Food Protection Association.
  • Lopez, G. U., Christman, K. A., Cooper, M. A., Carstens, R., Thoutt, E., Gonzalez, M., Vasovski, S., Cabrera, D. D., Lonchar, T., Geel, E., Torres, M. A., Lopez, J., Perez, S., & Villa Barbosa, G. (2019, Summer). The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension 4-H Program Collaborating Statewide in Preparing the Next Generation of STEM Innovators. Arizona Cooperative Extension Conference "Pillar of the Community". Tucson, AZ: UA Cooperative Extension.
  • Cooper, K. K., Pinzon, J., Cooper, M. A., Skots, M., Flores, G. E., Mackelprang, R., & Suslow, T. V. (2018, September). Characterization of Tree Fruit Bacterial Communities during Harvest. Lake Arrowhead Microbial Genomics Conference. Lake Arrowhead, CA.
  • Cooper, K. K., Pinzon, J., Cooper, M. A., Skots, M., Suslow, T. V., Flores, G. E., & Mackelprang, R. (2018, July). Characterization of Tree Fruit Bacterial Communities during Harvest. USDA NIFA "Improving Food Safety" Meeting. Salt Lake City, UT: United State Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Profiles With Related Publications

  • Kerry K Cooper
  • Gerardo U Lopez
  • Renee Carstens

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