Michael Owen Started life in England and did an undergraduate degree in Zoology (specializing in invertebrate marine biology) in Swansea and a Diploma from Imperial College (London) in Applied Entomology. Appointed as a Senior Teaching Fellow at Monash University (Melbourne) was and worked on the stings of some Australian wasps in his PhD work. Moved to the USA and a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard for work on the chemistry of wasp and bee stings.
Came to Canada in 1970 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology at University of Western Ontario and taught invertebrate biology and marine biology (including field courses) throughout a long career. A research program on bee venom chemistry evolved to work on insect neurochemistry looking at neurotransmitters. Sabbatical projects included work at African bee venom in Kenya, pharmacological techniques in Cambridge, amine brain rhythms in Australian bush flies in Canberra and neurotransmitter measurements in live brains at the University of Colorado. In semiretirement has worked with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans on Bay of Fundy meiofaunal invertebrates and taken (and analyzed) video transects of benthic fauna in the Bay. He developed and taught a course at the Centre for Enhanced Teaching and Learning at the University of New Brunswick, a distance taught invertebrate course at UWO, and teaches invertebrate biology at Nipissing University.
