NEWS March
2001
"News from the College of Life Sciences at the University
of Maryland, College Park"
NEWS ITEMS
1. The Dean's Message
2. Upcoming Events
3. Faculty
Recognition
4. In
the News
5. Staff
Recognition
6. Student/Alumni News
7. New Media Relations
Specialist for Life Sciences
8. Plant
Sciences Teaching Theater
9. Funding Alerts
10. How to
Post Your News Here
FROM THE DEAN
The final results of Cleanup Week are now in, and
they are impressive. More than 20 tons of trash disappeared, including
22 refrigerated units of one sort or another. The winners of the competition
for most improved lab are the labs of George Bean in CBMB, Doug Gill
in Biology, John Ondov in Chemistry and Paula Shrewsbury in Entomology.
Hats off to them! The staff who provided major support for this project
(Jerry Donovan in Biology, Roy Vickery in CBMG, Linda Zappasodi in
Chemistry and Biochemistry; Gene Ferrick and Vicki Levy in the Dean's
Office; and Larry Brookman, Bob Stumpf and Charles Stubbs from Facilities)
and I enjoyed a celebratory lunch at the Rossborough Inn last week.
The College has made its first hire of the season:
Doug English in Chemistry and Biochemistry. Doug is a physical chemist
who studies molecular structure and processes at interfaces. He received
his Ph.D. from Iowa State (where have we heard that name before??)
and is currently a postdoc with Paul Barbara at UT Austin.
Our first graduate recruiting event last week was
highly successful and we anticipate an equally successful one this
week. A large group of enthusiastic students and prospective mentors
gathered for a College-wide reception in the lobby of the Microbiology
building, and I hear that we recruited a number of students on the
spot. Thanks to the Graduate Council for organizing these events.
The College is also hosting a series of Open Houses
for prospective freshman. About 150 students and parents attended
the first of the series, and again responded very positively to what
we have to offer. My thanks to everyone who helped to make this event
a success, particularly Eden Garosi.
The annual poster session and dinner for HHMI fellows
occurred last week and brought together students with a broad range
of interesting research projects. The speaker was Dr. Michael McCarthy
from MedImmune, who talked about research projects he has worked on
at MedImmune and shared his thoughts about the future of biology.
Thanks to Kaci Thompson for making this a very successful event.
I want to draw your attention to the Arabidopsis minisymposium
sponsored by CBMG on Saturday, March 3. This symposium brings together
scientists from the University of Maryland, College Park, UMBI, University
of Delaware, Roanoke College, James Madison University, AG Genomics
and the Institute for Genomics Research. We need more events of this
sort that foster regional collaborations and highlight our strengths.
Please note the item below on Ellen
Ternes, who will be our representative in Media Relations. Ellen
will be looking for opportunities to showcase the College, and I urge
you to welcome her.
Norma Allewell
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UPCOMING EVENTS
The second OPEN HOUSE for Undergraduate Applicants
- March 9 New student applicants and their parents will be on campus
on March 9. While we have programs prepared for these talented students,
they may stroll into your department. Please be helpful.
SPRING BREAK - March 19-25 (University closed
March 19, 20, & 21)
Mark your calendar now for MARYLAND DAY -
Saturday April 28, 2001. This will be a great day to enjoy many activities
and see the wonderful work being done here at Maryland. Bring your
family! If you would like to know what the College of Life Sciences
is doing, send an email to Gene Ferrick at gferrick@deans.umd.edu.
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FACULTY RECOGNITION
The following faculty members from the College of
Life Sciences received awards for 2001-2002 from the General Research
Board of the Division of Research and Graduate Studies:
GERALD BORGIA, Biology, The Role of Light in Shaping Sexual
Display in Bowerbirds
DAVID INOUYE, Biology & CONS program, Ecological Consequences
of Spring and Fall Frosts for High-Altitude Plants
GEORGE HELZ, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Cooperative Mobilization
of Hazardous Elements in the Environment
Winners in the College of the Summer Awards for General
Research are the following:
MATTHEW HARE, Biology, A Genetic Test for Vulnerability to
Inbreeding Depression in Right Whales and Elephant Seals
ELIZABETH QUINLAN, Biology, Experience-dependent Regulation
of Synaptic Composition in the Developing Visual Cortex
KERRRY SHAW, Biology, The Genetics of Speciation
CHARLES DELWICHE, CBMG, was deeply involved
and one of the named core participants in the Deep Green project that
was recently concluded. The success of Deep Green has seeded new projects
including the Deep Gene project which is funded by NSF's Research
Coordination Grant program. Chuck, again, is involved as a core participant
in this effort.
SERGEI SUKHAREV, MONICA BETANZOS, and CHIEN-SUNG
CHIANG of Biology are co-authors with H. Robert Guy on an article
in the February 8 issue of Nature entitled "The Gating Mechanism
of the Larg Mechanosensitive Channel MscL."
GALEN DIVELY, Entomology, has been awarded
the Eastern Branch Entomological Society of America Recognition Award
in Entomology. His award will be presented at the Eastern Branch meeting
in Harrisburg, PA in March.
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IN the NEWS
BILL WALTERS, Chemistry
& Biochemistry, is a 2001 American Chemical Society Award winner for
Nuclear Chemistry. His work was highlighted in Chemical & Engineering
News, January 29.
TASHI WANGCHUK, a Ph.D. student in CONS, appears
in an article about "Embracing technology and spirituality at the
top of the World," in the January 5 issue of the Chronicle of Higher
Education.
The latest issue of Plant Species Biology 15(3):281-88
has four color pictures on the cover to accompany an article by
JOAN MALOOF, a MEES Ph.D. recipient last year, "The reproductive
biology of a North American subalpine plant: Corydalis caseana A.
Gray subsp. brandegei." The article is from her dissertation research.
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STAFF RECOGNITION
LORRAINE CHARITY, who handles business services
in CBMG, completed a walk for cancer in January. In honor of her father's
memory she walked 26.2 miles in the Walt Disney World Marathon in
Orlando, Florida to benefit the Leukemia Society. Lorraine is planning
to do another marathon next year.
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STUDENTS/ALUMNI
ESTHER W. CHEGE, a Chemistry/Biochemistry
graduate student has just been awarded a Young Scholars [Research]
Award from the Cosmos Club Foundation. This is a very competitive
award in that only 15% of the applicants are funded. Esther is the
first CHEM/BCHM graduate student to receive this award!
Biology graduate student EDUARDO EIZIRIK is co-author of a
new phylogenetic hypothesis for placental mammals in the February
1 issue of Nature. "Molecular phylogenetics and the origins of
placental mammals" was authored by W.J. Murphy, E. Eizirik, W.E.
Johnson, Y.P. Zhang, O.A. Ryder & S. J. O'Brien.
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NEW MEDIA RELATIONS SPECIALIST FOR
LIFE SCEINCES
Ellen Ternes has recently joined
the staff of the University Communications Office to cover the College
of Life Sciences. As Senior Media Relations Specialist, Ellen will
prepare press releases and announcements about newsworthy research,
events and human interest stories about faculty and students in
the College. A '68 Maryland graduate, Ellen has been Director of
Feature Services for the Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Naval
Academy and editor of the newsletter of the former U.S. Naval Oceanographic
Office. She has more than 30 years experience writing for print
and broadcast. If you have story ideas, please call Ellen at x54627
or e-mail her at eternes@accmail.umd.edu. She will also be taking
the initiative and scheduling interviews with individual faculty
members.
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PLANT SCIENCES TEACHING THEATER
Would you like to hold a special class session in
a networked tele-classroom? The Plant Sciences Teaching Theater complex
accepts proposals in advance of future semesters for use of a video
conferencing room or the tele-classroom with 36 desktop computers.
The Office of Distance and Continued Learning will provide management,
training and on-site support.
Priority is given to academic courses and the Colleges of AGNR and
are guaranteed 3-4 courses in the teaching theatre. Additionally,
AGNR and have exclusive access on Tuesdays and Thursdays from
1:00 - 5:00 p.m. For information and proposal forms go to http://www.agnr.umd.edu/distance/theater.htm
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FUNDING ALERTS
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced
a special competition to award approximately $55 million in grants
under the Biocomplexity in the Environment (BE) initiative launched
by NSF Director Rita Colwell. During FY 2000, NSF awarded $52.5 million
in grants to study biocomplexity, including 16 research projects and
57 incubator grants. Please see http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/be/biocomp-init/bcawd00.htm
for a list of awards. Unlike FY 2000, when there was a simple program
announcement, the FY 2001 competition will consider work in four areas.
Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH), "emphasizing
quantitative understanding of the short- and long-term dynamics of
natural capital and how humans value and influence ecosystem services
and natural resources, including consideration of landscapes and land
use and the influences of uncertainty, resilience and vulnerability
in complex environmental systems on societal institutions."
Coupled Biogeochemical Cycles (CBC), "focusing
on the interrelation of biological, geochemical, geological, and physical
processes at all temporal and spatial scales, with particular emphasis
on understanding linkages between cycles and the influence of human
and other biotic factors on those cycles."
Genome-Enabled Environmental Science and Engineering
(GEN-EN), "encouraging the use of genetic information to understand
ecosystem functioning and the adaptation of organisms to ecological
roles."
Instrumentation Development for Environmental Activities
(IDEA), "supporting the development of instrumentation and software
that takes advantage of microelectronics, photonics, telemetry, robotics,
sensing systems, modeling, data mining, and analysis techniques to
bring recent laboratory instrumentation advances to bear on the full
spectrum of environmental biocomplexity questions."
There is no deadline for letters of intent or pre-proposals.
The deadline for CNH and IDEA proposals is March 16, 2001. The deadline
for CBC and GEN-EN proposals is March 29, 2001.
For more information, please see the full text of
the announcement at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2001/nsf0134/nsf0134.htm
The National Council for Science and the Environment
is pleased to try to help researchers to connect with potential collaborators.
We would also like to track the success of biocomplexity proposals.
If you are applying, please send a copy of your proposal title and
abstract to David Blockstein david@cnie.org or 202-530-5810 x 205.
List of funding alerts
Click above to see a list of funding alerts that may be relevant
to the Life Sciences.
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How to Post your NEWS!
If you would like to share your accomplishments or
other news, please send a note to Gene Ferrick at gferrick@deans.umd.edu.
Future issues will initially be at the beginning of each month.
Maintained by Gene Ferrick -
gferrick@deans.umd.edu.
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