Benjamin Pierce, Professor of Biology and holder of the Lillian Nelson Pratt Chair teaches and conducts research in the areas of genetics, evolution, and the biology of amphibians.
He received a B.S. in Biology from Southern Methodist University and a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. He has taught at Connecticut College (1980-1984), Baylor University (1984-2005), and Southwestern University (2005-present).  
Ben conducts genetic, ecological, and evolutionary research on amphibians. He has authored 44 articles in research journals and four books, including Genetics: A Conceptual Approach, a general genetics textbook that is now in its 7th edition. His genetics textbooks have been adopted at over 300 colleges and universities and have been translated into 5 foreign languages.
Serving as President of the Texas Academy of Science from 2010-2011, Ben is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, and is a Fellow of the Texas Academy of Science. He serves on the editorial board of BioScience. He has received $900,000 in research and teaching grants from the National Science Foundation, the 3M Foundation, the W. M. Keck Foundation National Geographic Society, the US National Park Service, and the Williamson County Conservation Foundation.
Ben was Associate Dean for Sciences at Baylor from 1996-2002, during which he coordinated planning and programming for Baylor University’s new $105 million multidisciplinary sciences building. At Southwestern University, Ben coordinated academic planning for a new addition and renovation to the Fondren Jones Science Building. He conducts research with his undergraduate students on development of better sampling techniques for amphibians, the ecology and evolution of the endemic Georgetown salamander (Eurycea naufragia), and the ecology of Texas chirping frogs. He teaches courses in genetics, evolution, methods in ecology and evolution, and biology capstone.