Mike Wilton, Ph.D., received his bachelor's degree in biology from Queen's University and his Ph.D. in cell and systems biology at the University of Toronto. His doctoral thesis focused on characterizing the enzymatic function of bacterial toxins delivered into host cells to suppress immune responses. Following completion of his Ph.D., Wilton was a Cystic Fibrosis Canada postdoctoral fellow at the University of Calgary, where he worked on identifying novel virulence strategies employed by Pseudomonas bacteria to evade or defend against the host immune responses. Wilton is currently an assistant teaching professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental biology, where his research focuses on the long-term impacts that various course structures and instructional approaches have on student affect (perceptions of belonging to the major, capacity to overcome and achieve goals, and values/identity as a scientist) and academic performance.