NEWS
August 2002
"News
from the College of Life Sciences
at the University of Maryland, College
Park"
ITEMS
- The
Dean's Message
- Upcoming
Events
- College
News
- Faculty and Post-Doc Recognition
- Staff
Recognition and News
- Faculty
In the News
- Alumni
Recognition and News
- Summer
Research Program
- Funding
Alerts
- How
to Post Your News Here
FROM
THE DEAN
It's
now official! The University of
Maryland has received its third
grant from the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute to support and enhance
our undergraduate programs in the
biological sciences. This award
was featured on an "On the
Move" postcard that was sent
to many friends of the University.
Many, many congratulations to Dr.
Kaci Thompson, who worked with the
faculty to develop the successful
grant. Over the next four years,
we will receive $1.8M to sustain
our undergraduate research program,
revamp key components of our curriculum,
involve a cohort of graduate students
and post-doctoral fellows in curriculum
development and develop an outreach
program to middle school students.
Two components of this program are
in full swing at the moment: Jump
Start, a weeklong science immersion
program for high school students;
and the middle school insect camp,
a new program developed by Dr. Earlene
Armstrong that is partially funded
by the College this year but that
will be funded by HHMI in the future.
There is great interest nationally
in making undergraduate education
in biology current with the tremendous
developments in research methodologies
and insights that have accrued over
the past decade. Our work to date
on the curriculum and this award
position us well to become a leader
in these efforts.
Dr.
James Linduska in the Department
of Entomology retired at the end
of the FY02 academic year and has
been appointed Professor Emeritus.
He will be continuing to provide
the benefit of his experience in
extension activities. Our very best
wishes to him.
We
are pleased to welcome Nancy Baugher
as Assistant Dean for Finance. You
can reach Nancy at baugher@deans.umd.edu or extension 52083.
Dr.
Paul Mazzocchi and I are pleased
to announce that Dr. Brett Kent
has been appointed Associate Director
of our Web-based Master of Life
Sciences program. Brett will be
working with Paul to develop new
courses and increase enrollments
in this very successful program.
Congratulations
to Dr. David Poeppel, who brought
in an exceptionally large NIH grant
($2.48M) to study “Cortical Basis
of Speech Perception: MEG studies”
and to Michael Embrey of Entomology,
who received the Staff Award from
the Board of Regents of the System
of Maryland for his unflagging efforts
to sustain apiculture in Maryland.
Congratulations
to Cathy Beard, who has been appointed
Director of Administrative Services
in the Department of Biology. Congratulations
also to Jamie Carrigan, who has
accepted the position of Assistant
Director of Human Resources in the
Department of Mechanical Engineering.
We thank Jamie for all her hard
work in a period of transition for
the College and the University.
She will be missed!
We
have two major searches underway
at the moment: for a Chair of the
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
and for a Director of Facilities
for the College. Albert Ades is
chairing the first, Bill Jeffery
the second.
The
University is in the final stages
of signing a contract with the architectural
firm that will design our new Biosciences
building. Planning will begin in
earnest in September.
The
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
and the Department of Entomology
will be reviewed this fall, and
the external review committees are
in place. These reviews provide
assessments and insights that are
invaluable and come at an opportune
time for both departments.
With
the summer season at its height,
many members of the College are
heading off for well-earned vacations.
I hope that they are all that you
wish them to be and that you return
re-invigorated for a new academic
year.
Norma
Allewell
Dean
UPCOMING
EVENTS
Schedule
of Classes
September
3: First Day of Fall 2002
September 16: Last Day of Schedule
Adjustment for Fall
November 12: Last Day to Drop with
a W
Events
September
2: Campus closed
October
8-9: Board of Visitors Dinner and
Meeting
November
19: Bioscience Research and Technology
Review Day
November
21-23: Diversity Partners Visit
April
12, 2003: Alumni Association Gala
Awards (nominations are due September
27, 2002)
May
2003: The College will be helping
to host the American Society for Microbiology
- Education Section national meeting
in May 2003. This will be the 10th
anniversary meeting, linked to the
ASM National Meeting to be held in
Washington, DC. We anticipate that
several high-profile speakers will
be part of the 10th Anniversary program.
Watch for more details about the meeting
in the coming months.
COLLEGE NEWS
For
the third time since 1992, the university
has been awarded a grant from the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The
$1.8 million, four-year award will
be used primarily to support undergraduate
research in the Life Sciences, but
it will also help fund graduate student
research and the training of Maryland
public school teachers. See http://www.hhmi.org/news/070902.html
for more information about the grant
and to view a list of other recipients.
FACULTY AND POST-DOC RECOGNITION
Dr. Galen Dively, Entomology, received two grants to cover work for the next year and a
half: a $32,000 grant from the EPA
to study “Chronic Effects of Bt Corn
Pollen on Monarch Butterfly” and a
$30,000 grant, also from the EPA,
to “Assess Potential Impacts of Bt
Corn Pollen on Honeybees.”
Congratulations
to Dr. Lisa Eby, a post-doc in Biology, who will start as an Assistant Professor
in the Wildlife Biology Program at
the University of Montana on August
29, 2002.
Congratulations
to Dr. Claudio Gratton, a post-doc in Entomology, who will start as an Assistant
Professor of Entomology at the University
of Wisconsin, Madison, on January
1, 2003.
Congratulations
to Drs. Sandra Greer and John Weeks, Chemistry and Biochemistry,
whose chapters appeared in the Annual
Review of Physical Chemistry. Dr.
Greer’s chapter is called “Reversible
Polymerizations and Aggregations”
(Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem. 2002, Vol.
53: 173-200). Dr. Weeks’ chapter is
titled “Connecting Local Structure
to Interface Formation: A Molecular
Scale van der Waals Theory of Nonuniform
Liquids” (Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem. 2002,
Vol. 53: 533-562).
Dr. David Poeppel, Biology and Linguistics, received an NIH grant for five years, total
costs $2.48 million. The title of
the project is "The Cortical
Basis of Speech Perception: MEG Studies."
Drs. Daniel Stein and Wenxia Song, CBMG, were
awarded a one-year grant for $321,000
from NIH. They will study “Function
of Opa and LOS in Gonoccoccal Pathogenesis.”
STAFF
RECOGNITION AND NEWS
Mr. Michael Embrey, an agricultural technician in the Department of Entomology who is based
on the Eastern Shore, is the winner
of the 2002 Board of Regents' University
System of Maryland Staff Award for
Extraordinary Public Service. Following
the departure of the university's
resident apiculturist in 1996, Mike
voluntarily undertook, primarily
on his own time and in addition
to his regular assignment, to develop
an outstanding education program
for beekeepers and the public at
large in Maryland and neighboring
states. In recent years he has traveled
as a USAID volunteer to the Balkans
and Central Asia, using his expertise
in beekeeping and commercial honey
production to help boost the local
beekeeping industries.
The
College of Life Sciences would like
to welcome the following new staff
members to the Department of Chemistry
and Biochemistry:
Ms. Kathleen Crowley - 1st Floor Stockroom
Ms. Vera Harris - Administrative Assistant II (Chair's Office)
Mr. Robert Hopkins - Chemistry Receiving Area
Ms. Patricia Rice - Executive Administrative Assistant to the Chair
FACULTY
IN THE NEWS
Dr. Earlene Armstrong, Entomology, was featured in a July 23rd
Washington Times online article about
the kids’ Insect Summer Camp she directs.
Check out http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20020723-19559894.htm.
Dr. Eugenie Clark, Professor Emerita in Biology, figures prominently in a July 3rd
Citizen-Times.com story about a 5-year-old
girl obsessed by sharks (see http://cgi.citizen-times.com/cgi-bin/story/15788).
Ever since the girl, Caroline Burnette,
saw a video of the 1982 National Geographic
special on sharks that features Dr.
Clark, the youngster would rather
dive with sharks than play with Barbie
dolls. Caroline was thrilled when
she was able to meet Dr. Clark in
person, and Dr. Clark was impressed
by Caroline’s vocabulary and touched
by her devotion.
Dr. William Jeffery, Biology, appeared with Nipam Patel of the University of Chicago and Rudy
Raff of Indiana University on "Odyssey,"
a weekly live broadcast from Chicago
Public Radio. The program, which was
a tribute to the late Stephen Jay
Gould, focused on the new synthesis
of evolutionary and developmental
biology.
Dr. Anne Simon, CBMG, was mentioned in the June 24th issue of The Scientist magazine in an article about
Hollywood’s recruitment of scientific
consultants, whose advice and expertise
help make far-out science fiction
scenarios more believable. Dr. Simon
has been science advisor for The
X-Files since the show’s first
season.
Dr. Sarah Tishkoff, Biology, went to Africa to collect genetic data, and her Web site, http://www.inform.umd.edu/CampusInfo/Departments/InstAdv/
newsdesk/dna/project.html, was
created with the help of the Offices
of University Communications and Publications.
For more information, see the July
5th Chronicle of Higher Education
(registration required) at http://chronicle.com/weekly/v48/i43/43a02902.htm.
Dr. Tishkoff is also quoted in “A
Theory Evolves,” the July 29th
U.S. News & World Report cover
story on-line; she offers some thoughts
on altering evolution by accumulating
mutations that stop disease.
See http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/020729/misc/29evo.htm.
ALUMNI
RECOGNITION AND NEWS
Congratulations
to Dr. Gail Patricelli, who completed her
Ph.D. in Biology in the spring, for
winning the prestigious Allee competition
(best student paper) at the July 2002
Animal Behavior Society Meeting.
Congratulations
to Elena S. A. Pisciotta of Gaithersburg
High School, who received the ACS
Regional Award in High School Teaching.
The announcement appears on p. 36
of the July 8, 2002, issue of Chemistry
& Engineering News. Ms. Pisciotta
is an alumna of the Department of
Chemistry and Biochemistry, where
she earned a master's degree with
Marge Gardner. She also is the chair
of the executive committee of REACTS,
a program established at the University
of Maryland to assist in professional
development programs for high-school
chemistry teachers.
Dr. Daphne Soares, who earned her Ph.D. in Biology in June, is in the news again for her
discovery about sensory receptors
on alligators’ faces; see the July
8th Baltimore Sun story
at http://www.sunspot.net/features/bal-to.gator08jul08.story?coll=bal%2Dfeatures%
for the latest coverage.
SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM
The
first session of the Summer Research
Program, a planned three-year program
aimed at diversifying our graduate
student body, has just drawn to
a close. Directed by Assistant
Dean Amel Anderson, the
program builds relationships with
historically black institutions.
As part of the Diversity Partners
program, faculty members from these
institutions visit the University
of Maryland and then nominate students
for the opportunity to pursue research
for a summer with a UM faculty member.
After completing this work, some
students then apply for graduate
school at UM.
Three
students participated in the program
this summer:
B. Minyon Jones, from Jackson State University, studied various biological
processes to clone the WRN gene.
She worked in the lab of Dr. Jin Hu, Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Roderick Lowe, also from Jackson State, is studying the use of HPLC
in the detection & synthesizing
of the compound 3-PAF. He worked
in the lab of Dr.
Neil Blough, Chemistry &
Biochemistry.
Angela White, from North Carolina A & T State University in Greensboro,
North Carolina, compared how two
strains of the infectious Bursal
Disease Virus act in DT40 &
CEF cells in order to determine/identify
receptor(s). She worked in the
lab of Dr.
Vik Vikharia, a member of
the University of Maryland Biotechnology
Institute.
