November 12, 2025
Paige Haehlke
Where it all began: Brett Palmero ’20 returns to the College as biology professor
Five years after graduating from Lake Forest College, Brett Palmero ’20 returns to the Lillard Science Center to teach in the same classrooms he once occupied as a student.
Having majored in neuroscience and biochemistry and molecular biology (BMB), Palmero completed his PhD in interdisciplinary biological sciences at Northwestern University in June and is now back in the Forest as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology.
Palmero’s PhD research was part of the Center for Synthetic Biology at Northwestern. The lab he worked in consisted of various types of researchers: biologists like Palmero, chemical engineers, material scientists, environmental scientists, and more. Palmero studied the structures within bacteria that engineers could then utilize to solve a particular problem—treating those structures as Legos that could be put together to make bacteria do a specific function.
“My research was taking bacteria and treating their biology as separate parts—rather than living organisms—and engineering them for specific functions like capturing greenhouse gasses,” Palmero explained. “The question I researched was, ‘Can we harness biology's ability to do complex chemical reactions and enhance them for our own goals?’”
While completing his PhD, Palmero worked as a Teaching Assistant and discovered how much he enjoyed engaging with students. After leading two of his own courses through the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching, he knew he wanted to pursue a career in education.
Nearing the end of his PhD, Palmero reached out to the College inquiring about available faculty positions and was invited to interview for one.
“As soon as they gave me the offer, I knew I had to take it,” Palmero said. “I would be teaching somewhere I’m already comfortable with, and being able to teach full-time will be great for my career moving forward.”
Palmero currently leads, “Principles of Synthetic Biology,” the “Molecules, Genes and Cells” lab, and the senior seminar, “The Nobel Prizes.” The smaller class sizes at Lake Forest have prompted him to refine his pedagogy, allowing for greater student independence in mastering course materials.
"There's a lot more motivation, and I think that comes from the small classes,” Palmero explained. “We see each other multiple times a week and I know everyone's names, so there's a bit more of a personal relationship. Being on the other side of the classroom now, I understand why professors were so motivated to teach—the students give you a lot, and it's easy to give back.”
Returning to teach at the same college where he was a student required a mental shift for Palmero. When talking to his former professors, they tell him to call them by their first names, which is “really strange” for him. And as one of the youngest full-time faculty members, he’s closer in age to his students than most of his coworkers.
Palmero’s classroom approach stems from his lifelong love of science and desire to share that passion with others.
“I’ve always loved science, and I love talking about it, and I think my biggest motivator for teaching is helping other people understand why science is so exciting,” Palmero said. “That really comes out when I'm teaching—I’ll come into class and say, ‘Look at this new, neat thing! Let's talk about it.’”
Lake Forest College showed Palmero what an inspiring classroom looks like and how to be a good academic, which is something he hopes to pass along to his students.
“It's frustrating when learning becomes a chore and something you're not good at, but when learning becomes an opportunity that one embraces, I think that's when the spark ignites,” Palmero said. “That’s what I want to give to my students.”