Dr. Hilary Bierman is the founding director of the Undergraduate Neuroscience Program. She has been teaching and advising in the Biology department since 2011. Dr. Bierman has taught Neurobiology and Mammalian Physiology lab courses, and has been an Elevate Teaching Fellow. In 2023 she was awarded the Provost's Excellence Award for Professional Track Faculty in both Teaching and Leadership. Dr. Bierman earned her Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the University of Chicago, studying the evolution of the fish startle response. Upon graduation she did a post-doc at Brandies University to hone her electrophysiology skills and then returned to the University of Maryland (her undergraduate home) to complete a second post-doc, studying the evolution of the auditory system, particularly sound localization in alligators.