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March 2006 It’s been a very busy and productive first half of the semester at the College of Chemical and Life Sciences. The remarkable achievements of the students are an on going source of pride and the exceptional work done by the faculty is making the College a top-rate research institution. Students participating in the HHMI Fellowship program presented their research at the 7th Annual Symposium held on campus. This has been a tremendous program for the College, giving undergraduate students a unique opportunity to delve into the world of research. Dr. Kaci Thompson, Director, Undergraduate Research and Internship Programs, has done a remarkable job working with the students and making the HHMI program a glowing success. Another exciting recent event was the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS). The JSHS Program promotes original research and experimentation in the sciences, engineering, and mathematics at the high school level. By connecting talented students, their teachers and research professionals the program aims to widen the pool of professionals trained to conduct research and development. Outreach programs such as this are important in nurturing interest in the sciences and research in young students. There are numerous events during April that we hope will bring our friends to campus. Dr. Walter Dowdle, ’60 Microbiology, will be the Guest Lecturer on April 7 and will be honored on the 8th as one of the “Distinguished Alumnus of the Year” recipients. On April 19 we will be celebrating the University’s 150th anniversary and the first full year under our new name with a reception at the G. Forrest Woods Atrium in the Chemistry Building. April 29 is Maryland Day and always a fun and educational event for families. Thousands of area alumni and friends have been invited to these events, and I hope to see full faculty and broad student participation. These are important events for the College and we look forward to seeing you there. Norma Allewell Significant celebrations inevitably mean that the “family albums” will be pulled off the shelves. Some photos lead to smiles, some to groans of “can you believe how we looked back then” but all come with a special story. We want to share the College of Chemical & Life Sciences family album with you and hope you’ll share your stories with us. Check out the slide show and the photo gallery. Then send us your stories – we’ll post them on the website with your permission. We hope to see you on April 19 for the anniversary celebration!
TheMaryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), created by the Maryland General Assembly to “foster the commercialization of research and development,” has awarded eight state university researchers $406,087 through its University Technology Development Fund (UTDF). Two of those researchers are from the College of Chemical and Life Sciences:
According to the press release issued by TEDCO, 60 research projects have been funded since the program’s inception in 2001. For more information on TEDCO, please visit their website at http://www.marylandtedco.org/ As potato planting season approaches, growers need to plan for the emergence of the Colorado potato beetle. According to Dr. Galen Dively, Professor, Entomology, while resistance has risen in the region, the use of an imidacloprid pesticide in in-furrow applications during planting has decreased the amount of beetles present. Dr. Michele Dudash, Associate Professor, Biology, is the new Director of the Graduate Program in Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics. The BEES program emphasizes fundamental and applied research in the areas of behavior, ecology, evolution, systematics, and related disciplines. The program, administered from the College of Chemical & Life Sciences, is truly multidisciplinary with over 45 graduate faculty from ten departments in five colleges at the University of Maryland and over 20 adjunct faculty from several nearby research institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National Cancer Institute. The research of Dr. William Jeffery, Professor, Biology, on cavefish continues to gain widespread coverage across the country with two recent pieces featured on an ABC station in Austin, Texas and an NBC station in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Jeffery was also quoted in ScienceNow in response to a paper stating that a genetic analysis of sea squirts indicates that these creatures are the closest relatives to vertebrates.
Time for spring cleaning. Bats send out high frequency pulses that bounce off of nearby objects to help them distinguish between a potential dinner object versus “clutter.” Dr. Cynthia Moss, Affiliate Professor, Biology and Professor, Psychology, and colleagues have gone into the Batlab to record the “echolocating” chirps and flight patterns of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus). Dr. Moss’s work was recently featured in ScienceNOW. For more on the BatLab and the research being conducted there, please visit their website at http://www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc/batlab/ Dr. David Poeppel, Associate Professor, Biology and Linguistics, was quoted in Seed Magazine in response to a recent study suggesting that core elements of grammar are integral parts of human cognition and are present in every language, even those developed in isolation. Dr. Steven Salzberg, Director of the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, was featured on a recent addition of Science & Society during a discussion on potential medical breakthroughs from the Human Genome Project, sequencing human and avian influenza flu viruses, individualized genome sequences, and genome assembly. Dr. Salzberg was also quoted in The Scientist about a new avian flu model that was published at the end of February. Watch out for hitchhikers! Dr. Barbara Thorne, Professor, Entomology, provides sound advice on avoiding termites that colonize in mulch. A particular worry for spring gardeners is the spread of the Formosan subterranean termite moving to other states in mulch prepared from Katrina and Rita debris. http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/scitech/release.cfm?ArticleID=1238 Grants awarded:
Dr. Catherine Car Dr. Barbara Gerratana, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Kinetic Isotope Effects on the NAD Synthetase Catalyzed Reaction, $35,000 from American Chemical Society/Petroleum Research Fund. Dr. Arturas Meskauskas, Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics, Ribosomal Protein L3: Function & Structure, $65,000 from American Heart Association. Dr. Stephen Mount, Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics, Alternative Splicing and Splicing Signals in Arabidopsis, $174,975 from NSF. Dr. Amy Mullin, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Reactions of Highly Excited Molecules: From Supercollisions to Super-reactions, $243,827 from NSF.
Dr. Lawrence Sita, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Mechanistic Investigations of Olefin Polymerizations and Selective Oligomerizations." Three year grant for $453,000 from NSF. Dr. Richard Stewart, Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics, Signal Transduction Mechanisms in Bacterial Chemotaxis, $247,750 from PHS/NIH. Dr. Sergei Sukharev, Biology, Functional Cycle of a Mechanosensitive Channel, $282,150 from PHS/NIH. Dr. Sarah Tishkoff, Biology, Genetic Analysis of Modern Origins in East Africa, $22,000 from Leakey Foundation.
The Hardt Dilemma – it’s not the newest topic covered in biology class. It’s the first novel by junior cell biology and molecular genetics major Jeff Li. His first review, featured in the Diamondback, pegged the book as “A fast-paced post-WWII tale about the world of organized crime in a darkly portrayed New York City. Guns, gangs, murder and intrigue ensue.” The book can be purchased via www.amazon.com. Jessica Miller, graduate student in Molecular and Cell Biology, was awarded a Hockmeyer Fellowship. Jessica has begun her thesis work, focusing on the isolation and characterization of genes that mediate the capacity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to inhibit apoptosis in host cells. Maria Virginia Sanchez Puerta, PhD student in Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics, won the Harold C. Bold Award presented at the Phycological Society Meeting in Durban, South Africa for her paper on Plastid evolution of haptophytes and their relationship to other chlorophyll-c containing algae. The award is given for the outstanding graduate student paper presented at the Annual Meeting. Matthew Servinsky, graduate student in Molecular and Cell Biology, was awarded a Hockmeyer Fellowship. Matt is studying DNA damage and repair in the bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans.
7th Annual HHMI Undergraduate Research Symposium On March 16, 25 undergraduate students in the HHMI Fellowship program presented their research results to the campus community. HHMI Undergraduate Research Fellows receive support for their faculty-mentored research through a grant to the University of Maryland from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Click here to view the list of HHMI Fellows and the posters they presented. For more information on the HHMI Fellowship Program, please visit the website at http://www.chemlife.umd.edu/hhmi/info.html
From CLFS to CSI Doug Shaffer, Chemistry ’72 follows crime stories in the news on the lookout for specific details: was there a ransom note left at the scene? Was a document forged? Did the perpetrator send a letter to the newspaper or TV station with details about the crime that only he or she would know? If any of the above took place, Shaffer may be involved, and it’s all in a day’s work. Doug Shaffer is a forensic chemist who works for the United States Secret Service, in the Questioned Documents Unit. He is a national expert in paper and ink chemistry and has been involved for over a decade on several high profile cases for the state and federal government, some of which have yet to be adjudicated. Shaffer grew up in Hagerstown, Maryland and came to the University of Maryland as a transfer student during the turbulent Vietnam era. He lived in the “trailers” behind Frat Row for three semesters. Student housing was hard to come by before the Leonardtown Residence Halls were completed. He says his days in the “trailers” were some of his best at Maryland; it was a real community, with no strict rules and a peaceful and free-spirited atmosphere. This was a sharp contrast to the Maryland Mall where armed National Guard troops kept rioting students back with tear gas and clubs. Shaffer remembers being “trapped” in the McKeldin Library studying for a huge organic chemistry exam, and having make a wide detour to get back to the “trailers” after curfew to avoid the Guard troops.
During his research, Shaffer learned about the “crime of the century”… the Lindbergh baby kidnapping case from the 1930s. The ransom notes left behind were of special interest. If only they could be traced back to the perpetrator(s). Shaffer continued his research of this case, even interviewing Anna Hauptmann, the widow of the man who was executed for the crime. He wrote a series of articles in 1992 that were published in New Jersey newspapers, the site of the crime 60 years earlier. It was clear to Shaffer that some questions about the case were still to be answered. As forensic evidence continued to gain national attention with the O.J. Simpson trial, as well as the Unabomber and Jon Benet Ramsey cases, Shaffer’s dedication to forensic science also increased. After working for the Maryland State Police and Anne Arundel County crime labs, Shaffer joined the Forensic Services Division of the Secret Service under the Treasury Department, later part of Homeland Security. As an expert in paper and ink chemistry, his day-to-day work often involves the examination of threatening letters, counterfeit currency, forged checks, contested wills and other questioned documents. For example, a signed will dated 1974 with an ink that was not commercially available until 1997 indicates that the document is fraudulent. Shaffer enjoys seeing these cases come together with such irrefutable evidence. Chemical evidence, he says, can be just as critical as fingerprint or biological DNA evidence in criminal cases. Shaffer often testifies as an expert witness in court cases around the country. He is a member of American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the Mid-Atlantic Association of Forensic Scientists and the Foundation for Advances in Medicine and Science. He presents papers at national conferences on forensic topics and is now returning to campus to share his knowledge with current Maryland chemistry students. Dr. Frederick Khachik invited Doug Shaffer back to campus on March 7th to his Chemistry 395 Class – Professional Issues in Chemistry and Biochemistry to speak to students about forensic chemistry. Shaffer shared that a basic degree in chemistry is very useful in the criminal justice field. If someone understands the basic science, the forensic components can be learned easily, even on the job. He strongly encourages all students with an interest in law enforcement to consider a degree in chemistry. The range of work in forensic chemistry includes explosives, arson, poisons, firearms, drugs, DNA, trace evidence and, as in Shaffer’s career, paper and ink analysis. Though the “trailers” and the turmoil on campus are long gone, Doug Shaffer remains loyal to his alma mater. Shaffer can be seen at many a Terps basketball game as a season ticket holder and supporter of Maryland athletics. Shaffer is also working with the College’s Dr. Kaci Thompson to establish new internships for students at his office, to give Maryland graduates an entry into the cutting edge field of forensic chemistry. Visit our website at http://www.chemlife.umd.edu/alumni-friends/ for more Alumni Notes! A special thank you to all who supported the College of Chemical and Life Sciences. Through your generosity we can help open doors for students for generations to come! Please visit the College Honor Roll to view the list of donors. Outstanding Student Reception Sustainable Energy Forum 2006 Organized by CONS, Sustainable Development & Conservation Biology program, the Sustainable Energy Forum 2006 will bring together scientists, policymakers and advocates from government, environmental NGO's and civil society groups to identify the challenges and opportunities for a sustainable energy future. Speakers include:
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From the Dean
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Dr. John Ondov
After graduating, Shaffer worked as a chemist at a time when forensic chemistry was a new discipline. He was fascinated how chemical evidence could bring criminals to justice and began to investigate this new field. Shaffer continued his education with a master’s in chemistry from American University.
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College of Chemical & Life Sciences * University of Maryland * College Park, MD 20742