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We
have recruited 32 faculty members,
who have brought in a total of
$23M.
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Research
expenditures increased 82%, to
$20M.
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Sponsored
research per faculty member increased
87%, to $183K.
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Private
funding increased fivefold, to
$5M.
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We
established the BEES graduate
program.
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We
established four new Centers:
Biodiversity
Bioinformatics and Computational
Biology (joint with CMPS)
Biomolecular Structure and Organization
Comparative and Evolutionary Biology
of Hearing
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We
received federal funding for four
training programs:
Biology of Small Populations
Human Evolutionary Biology (joint
with Howard and George Washington
Universities)
Neuroethology (joint with BSOS)
Virology (joint with NIH, BARC
and BRI)
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The
cooperative agreement with the
FDA for the Joint Institute for
Food Safety and Nutrition was
renewed ($15M for 5 years).
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The
HHMI grant for our undergraduate
programs in the biological sciences
was renewed ($1.8M for 4 years).
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The
mean high school GPA of our undergrads
increased from 3.72 to 3.94.
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The
mean combined GRE of our Ph.D.
students increased from 1850 to
1956.
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Among
our major accomplishments for
this academic year are the following:
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The
design of the new Bioscience Research
Building is approximately 50%
complete.
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The
Chemistry/Biochemistry Teaching
Wing will be opening in early
summer.
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We
are "in the black" financially,
with resources to maintain our
momentum.
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Freshman
acceptances are up 15% to 20%
relative to the same time last
year.
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Dr.
Mike Doyle has been recruited
as chair of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
We
have much to celebrate, with better
still to come! Thanks to everyone
who has helped make this happen.
I
am pleased to announce that Dr.
June Kwak will be joining the Department
of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics
as an assistant professor. Dr. Kwak
holds a Ph.D. from Pohang University
of Science and Technology (Pohang,
Korea) and is currently doing postdoctoral
work with Dr. Julian Schroeder at
the University of California, San
Diego. His principal research interest
is the signaling pathways that control
the opening and closing of the stomata
of leaves.
As
many of your are aware, Dr. William
Jeffery will be completing his five
(and a half) year term as chair
of the Department of Biology on
June 30, 2004. Dr Charles Mitter
will be chairing the search committee
for the next chair.
I
look forward to seeing many of you
at the College Faculty and Staff
Awards ceremony on May 7 at 2 p.m.
in 1140 Plant Sciences Building.
Congratulations to this year's winners:
Junior
Faculty: Dr. Sarah Tishkoff, Biology
Research: Dr. Lawrence Sita, Chemistry
and Biochemistry
Teaching and Course Development:
Dr. Dale Bottrell, Entomology
Service: Dr. Galen Dively, Entomology
Staff: Ms. Cecilia Jordan, Biology
I
encourage you to participate in
our College graduation on May 23
at 9 a.m. in Ritchie Coliseum. The
speaker will be Dr. Richard Zare,
a distinguished physical and analytical
chemist from Stanford University.
Suggestions
for a keynote speaker and symposia
for Bioscience Research and Technology
Review Day are still encouraged.
Please send suggestions to Gene
Ferrick (gene@umd.edu).
My
best wishes for a successful conclusion
of this academic year.
Norma
Allewell
Dean
ACADEMIC
CALENDAR
May
22: Campus Commencement, Comcast Center,
6:30 p.m. Students must arrive by
5:45 p.m.
May
23: College of Life Sciences Commencement,
Ritchie Coliseum, 9 a.m. Students
must arrive by 8 a.m.; faculty must
arrive by 8:15 a.m.
UPCOMING
EVENTS
May
7: Life Sciences Faculty/Staff
Awards, Room 1140 Plant Sciences
Building, 2 p.m. A reception
will immediately follow the
awards presentation in the first-floor
lobby (at the bottom of the
spiral staircase) in the Plant
Sciences Building.
May
16-18: The American Society
for Microbiology - Education
Section
10th anniversary meeting, co-sponsored
by the College. Campus contacts:
Spencer Benson (sb77@umail.umd.edu)
and Ann Smith (as38@umail.umd.edu)
June
6-8: Mid-Atlantic Immunobiology
Meeting. Graduate students and
post-doctoral fellows are strongly
encouraged to attend this on-campus
meeting and orally present their
work. In addition, the meeting
invites world-class immunologists
to give the keynote symposium.
Campus contact: Wenxia Song
(ws98@umail.umd.edu)
June
22-25: BIO 2003 Annual Convention,
Washington Convention Center.
The world's largest biotechnology
conference, organized by the
Biotechnology Industry Organization,
will bring together 20,000 life-sciences
leaders from around the world.
See www.bio.org/events/2003/
for more information.
July
27-30: International Conference
on Acoustic Communication by
Animals (visit http://asa.aip.org/communication.html).
Campus contacts: Arthur Popper
(ap17@umail.umd.edu),
Robert Dooling (dooling@psyc.umd.edu),
Cynthia Moss (cmoss@psyc.umd.edu)
and David Yager (dy5@umail.umd.edu)
September
6: Academically Talented Open
House
September
26: Visit Maryland Day
October
13 (Columbus Day): Visit Maryland
Day
October
25: Academically Talented Open
House
November
5: Bioscience Research and Technology
Review Day. College contact:
Gene Ferrick (gene@umd.edu)
November
11 (Veterans Day): Visit Maryland
Day
GIFTS TO THE COLLEGE
We wish to thank
Rubye Keeney, widow of the late Mark
Keeney, a longtime member of the Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry, for
the significant gift from her estate.
We would also like to thank the following
for their gifts to the Zoology Fund
in support of Eugenie Clark's research:
Lillian Jo Hoffman, Marie Culler,
Mickey Bower, Mary Jane Stoll, Judith
Rubin, John Pohle and John Bass.
FACULTY
RECOGNITION AND IN THE NEWS
Dr.
Pedro Barbosa, Entomology, has
been selected as one of the country's
most powerful Hispanic executives
in technology and business by Hispanic
Engineer & Information Technology
magazine.
Dr.
Spencer Benson and Dr. Elizabeth
Gantt, CBMG, are two of the eleven
faculty members from USM institutions
that received Regents' Faculty Awards
for Excellence. Dr. Benson received
his award for excellence in teaching;
Dr. Gantt received her award for excellence
in research/scholarship/creative activity.
Dr.
Catherine Fenselau, Chemistry
and Biochemistry, received a 5-month,
$50,000 grant from Systems Engineering
Solutions for "Automated System
for Airborne Bioagent Analysis."
Dr.
Norman Hansen, Chemistry and Biochemistry,
received the award for 2002 Invention
of the Year, Life Science, for "Use
of Lantibiotics in Environmental Decontamination,
as Inhibitors of Food-Borne Pathogens,
and to Fight New Strains of Bacteria."
Dr.
Sam Joseph, CBMG, is quoted in
an article about what it's like to
have a job that could require confronting
terrorism in the region. As part of
her journey to better educate herself,
the reporter (who is based in Washington,
D.C.) attended the "Covering
a Weapons of Mass Destruction Attack--a
Primer for Media" seminar hosted
by the University of Maryland and
the University of Maryland Medical
School in March. She quotes Dr. Joseph:
"We want to inform people and
make them aware of what risks are,
but we don't want to scare them to
death."
Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail,
April 22. Click here
for article.
Dr.
Margaret Palmer, Entomology and
Biology, received a 1.5-year, $47,000
grant from the Ecological Society
of America for "Ecological Research
in the First Decade of the 21st Century."
Dr.
David Poeppel, Biology, was recently
awarded the Berlin Prize by the American
Academy in Berlin, a foundation that
selects 10 to 12 fellows per year
and allows them to work in Berlin.
Dr. Poeppel has also been awarded
a fellowship position by the Wissenschaftskolleg,
the German equivalent of the Institute
for Advanced Studies, also located
in Berlin. The Wissenschaftskolleg
has a mixture of permanent fellows
and annually selected fellows.
Dr.
Raymond St. Leger, Entomology,
received a 3-year, $217,000 grant
from the USDA to perform "Microarray
based analysis of infection processes
of Metarhizium anisopliae."
Dr.
Sarah Tishkoff, Biology, gave
a presentation at the April meeting
of the American Association of Physical
Anthropologists on her DNA research
to find the "African Eve,"
utilizing the "ancestral mitochondrial
DNA genome." (Mitochondrial DNA
is inherited from the mother only,
allowing researchers to trace unadulterated
DNA back hundreds of thousands of
years.) Her findings to zero in on
the African birthplace of man made
an impact: She was interviewed on
NPR's "All Things Considered,"
and her discovery has been featured
on several Web sites.
"All
Things Considered," April 24
(transcript). Click here.
(Audio) (Please scroll down to "DNA
and Human Origins.") Click here.
Discovery Channel, April 24 (News
story). Click here.
Tishkoff's Research Site at the university's
Web site, Newsdesk. Click here.
BBC News, April 2. Click here.
STUDENT
RECOGNITION
Brad
Buran has been awarded a Jack
Kent Cooke Undergraduate Fellowship,
which provides up to $50,000 per year
for up to six years. Brad will graduate
in May with a bachelor's degree in
Biological Sciences with high honors
in Biology after having completed
a research project under the supervision
of Dr. Arthur Popper. Brad
will be enrolled in a doctoral program
jointly run between Harvard University
and MIT to pursue a Ph.D. in Neuroscience.
Keri
Parker is the 2003 Master's Graduate
awardee selected by the College Park
Branch of the American Association
of University Women. Keri follows
in the footsteps of some other CONS
alumni who have won this award.
The
following three doctoral students
in C-CEBH (Center for Comparative
and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing)
labs were winners in the Graduate
Research Interaction Day (GRID) competition
this year:
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Maria
Chait (lab of Dr. Poeppel) for
her talk, "Binding Mechanisms
in Speech Processing"
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Allison
Coffin (lab of Dr. Popper),
for her talk, "The Model Fish:
Myosins in Fish Ears"
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John
Ramcharitar (lab of Dr. Popper)
for his talk, "Lessons from
the Ears of Vocal Fishes"
All
three get a monetary award and
have had the opportunity to
present their research.
DISTINGUISHED
TEACHING ASSISTANTS
The
Center for Teaching Excellence will
honor the following departmental TAs
as Distinguished Teaching Assistants
at a reception this month:
Biology:
Nelson Bennett
Seth Coleman
Libby Jewett
Holly Menninger
Ramy Serour
CBMG:
Sam Bish
Brian Gangle
Johnathan Russ
Jason Shockey
Michael Tims
Entomology:
Andre Mignault
Graduate
Program in Sustainable Development
and Conservation Biology:
Nathaniel Anderson
Gary Dodge
Michael Leigh
Thanks
to all for their positive contributions
to undergraduate education!
STAFF
NEWS
The
Dean's Office would like to welcome Stephanie
Noel, the new Executive Assistant
to Dean Allewell. Stephanie comes to us
from University of Maryland University
College and began her new position in
mid-April. We would also like to welcome
Sean Fisher, who started as an
Accounting Associate, Payroll, at the
end of April.
UNIVERSITY
SENATORS ELECTED
The
following faculty members from the College
of Life Sciences have been elected to the
University Senate; their terms expire in
2006.
Dr.
Amy Brown, Entomology
Dr. Janice Reutt-Robey, Chemistry
and Biochemistry
Dr. John Tossell, Chemistry and Biochemistry
They
join the following faculty members who are
already serving in the University Senate;
the terms of the following senators expire
in 2005.
Dr.
Neil Blough, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dr. Arthur Popper, Biology
Dr. Anne Simon, CBMG
Dr. Heven Sze, CBMG
STUDENT
FOUNDERS TO CONTINUE HUMAN BIODIVERSITY
JOURNAL
Two
College seniors plan to continue producing
the journal they began last year after they
graduate in May. Brad Buran (Physiology
and Neurobiology) and Soroush Rais-Bahrami
(Cell and Molecular Biology and Genetics),
who are both seeking degrees in Biological
Anthropology in addition to degrees in their
Life Sciences specialization areas, will
continue to serve on the editorial board
of Maryland Essays in Human Biodiversity
(MEHB) as they attend graduate school.
Brad will be enrolled in a doctoral program
jointly run between Harvard University and
MIT; Soroush will attend Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine. They founded the journal
last spring with fellow student Mojdeh
Saba (Physiology and Neurobiology) under
the guidance of Dr. Fatimah Jackson
(Anthropology, affiliate professor of Biology).
The journal comes out twice a year; for
more information or to submit articles,
go to www.bsos.umd.edu/anth/mehb/.
HOW
TO POST YOUR NEWS!
If
you would like to share your accomplishments
or other news, please send a note to Meredith
Brittain at mb446@umail.umd.edu. Issues are usually
sent at the beginning of each month.
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