Rob Nichols: Faculty Advisor

Rob Nichols is a Lecturer in Anatomy & Physiology at the University of Georgia.

Originally from Chattanooga, TN, Rob completed his undergraduate work in biology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. After graduating from UTC, he started what has become a meandering 25-year teaching career. He started that career teaching 7th and 8th grade science in Chattanooga after which he completed 2 years of medical school at UT-Memphis before dropping out to return to a more lucrative career in teaching. From there he moved to Chesapeake, VA then to Atlanta, teaching high school biology and AP Biology. In both Chesapeake and Atlanta, he developed an Anatomy and Physiology course specifically for high school students interested in the healthcare professions.

In Atlanta, while working on a master’s degree at Georgia State University, Rob started working in the nursing department at Georgia Perimeter College, where he was instrumental in establishing a free service for pre-nursing students known as the Nursing Tutorial Lab.

In 2008, after moving to Athens, Georgia, Rob started teaching at Athens Technical College where he taught Anatomy & Physiology to pre-nursing, pre-PT, and pre-PA students. While at Athens Tech he was a 2-time college finalist for the state-wide Rick Perkins award for outstanding technical instruction.

Now, at the University of Georgia he teaches Anatomy & Physiology, Human Anatomy, and Medical Anatomy Lab. He is also working on multiple research projects related to the adaptation of open source curricula and learner-centered teaching techniques.

Rob holds a master’s degree in molecular genetics from Georgia State University in Atlanta, where his research focused on immune challenges to developing an effective HIV vaccine. He is currently working on a Ph.D. at UGA in science education focusing on effective college teaching and learning in the pre-health sciences.

Most importantly, through all of this, he gets to be the husband of an amazing wife, with whom he partners in raising three bright, beautiful and brilliant humans: 8-year-old Emma who draws, paints, writes songs and insists she will be the next Hayley Williams; 4-year-old Everett, daredevil cyclist and climber; and 1-year-old Collier, who at this point seems destined to a career driving anything with big wheels and a diesel engine!