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May 2006 I am delighted to announce that the College has recently recruited three outstanding faculty members who will play major roles in our strategic research initiative in comparative and functional genomics and bioinformatics. Professor Tom Kocher, an internationally recognized expert in evolutionary genomics will be joining the Department of Biology as a Professor in the spring semester. Dr. Najib El-Sayed, an expert in bioinformatics and the comparative genomics of trypanosomes, will be joining the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics as an Associate Professor, with a joint appointment in the Center of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. Dr. Karen Carleton, who studies the evolution and biophysics of vision of cichlid fish in the great lakes of Africa, will join the Department of Biology as an Assistant Professor at the beginning of the fall semester. These hires are a major step forward towards our goal of establishing a nationally and internationally recognized program in genomics and bioinformatics, and we look forward to the arrival of these three outstanding faculty members. The College has also taken a major step forward in its efforts to increase the diversity of its faculty and graduate students. The College, in conjunction with NIST and NOBCChE (National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers), has established the Dolphous E. Milligan Graduate Student Fellowship. My thanks to Dr. Willie May, Director, Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory at NIST and Dr. Larry Sita, Associate Dean for Faculty, Research and Diversity, who spearheaded the effort to establish this fellowship. The University recently sponsored a ground-breaking Maryland summit on national challenges in science and technology, to develop a strategy for responding to the NRC report “Rising above the Gathering Storm,” in which Associate Dean Larry Sita, Professor Bryan Eichhorn (Chemistry & Biochemistry), and I participated. Following a keynote address by Norm Augustine, retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, participants broke out to discuss Improving K-12 science and mathematics education; Higher education—recruitment and retention of the best and brightest students, scientists, and engineers; Commitment to long-term basic research; Incentives for innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology transfer; Fostering emerging technologies—energy; and Job creation and workforce development. The University and College have critical roles to play in addressing these issues, and we will be discussing our response further in the coming year. April is always the month of peak activity and celebration on campus. This year, the 150th anniversary of the founding of the University has provided an additional reason for excitement. The College held its own celebration of the University’s 150th anniversary in the G. Forrest Woods Atrium, where more than 200 faculty, staff, students, alums, emeriti faculty and staff, and friends gathered to enjoy slide shows of photographs from the College dating back to the late 19th century, displays, music, and a buffet dinner (photos of the event are posted on the College's 150th webpage. In his remarks, President Mote emphasized the important role of chemistry and biology in the 21st Century, and the critical role of the College in the University. Professor Philip DeShong (Chemistry & Biochemistry) presented an oral history of the College and University, and Henry Wixon, an alum and member of the Board of Visitors, spoke to the important role of the alums in supporting and advocating for the College. Bill Higgins, Associate Professor of Biology and the former Associate Dean of the College, and Eugenie Clark, Professor Emerita, gave testimonials. Bill Corey, the son of Ernest Corey, a long time faculty member of the Department of Entomology, concluded the evening by sharing his memories of the campus as it was in his childhood. The warmth and sense of community that was so evident at this event is something that many of us will remember for a long time. My thanks to everyone who helped to make this event a success, particularly to the College committee that planned the event and its chair, Gene Ferrick, as well as Phil DeShong, Andrea Morris, Bruce Shatswell, and Bobbi Donley. The University’s Celebration of Scholarship Luncheon was another joyous occasion. This annual event brings together scholarship winners and donors, and includes poster displays of student research, a performance by Gymkhana, and a student speaker. Laura Caputo, a junior in the College, chaired the program. Congratulations to Laura as well as to all our scholarship winners, and many thanks to the donors who have provided scholarships. The University’s Alumni Gala is an opportunity to recognize distinguished alumni of the University. This year, the College’s Distinguished Alumnus was Dr. Walter Dowdle, who has made major contributions to public health through his work in combating HIV, herpes, malaria, polio, and other major diseases at both the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. I would also like to thank Dr. Dowdle for the very thought-provoking lecture on “Oral Polio Vaccine Paradox: The Eradication Endgame Strategy,” that he gave prior to the Alumni Gala.
The accomplishments of our undergraduate students were recognized at the Undergraduate Honors Reception in the G. Forrest Woods Atrium. In honor of the 150th anniversary, the 150 students with the top GPAs in the College were awarded certificates recognizing this achievement. Also recognized were all students who received GPAs of 3.8 or better in either of the last two semesters. Faculty invited by the students to acknowledge their role in their success accompanied several students.
The month concluded with Maryland Day, a wonderful celebration of campus programs and its connection to the community. The world’s largest strawberry shortcake was memorable, and, as usual the College did itself proud with the Insect Petting Zoo, Forensic Science Lab, the Bone Collector Room, as well as the Chemistry Magic, and Life is a Carnival displays. My thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of this event, particularly Gene Ferrick, who orchestrated it.
I look forward to seeing many of you at the Colleges’ Faculty and Staff Awards Ceremony May 4, 2:00 – 4:00 pm at the Nyumburu Cultural Center and at graduation on May 22 at 2:00 pm at Cole Field House. Our speaker will be BOV member Henry Wixon. Norma Allewell Get the popcorn ready and settle in front of your computer screen for a must-see show! The “ospreycam” and “scubacam” streaming video feeds are up and running and promise an extremely interesting opportunity to view nature at its best. Dr. Ken Paynter, Associate Professor, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Director, Marine, Estuarine, Environmental Sciences Program (MEES), explains: “The ospreycam shows the nest of a pair of ospreys who have just returned and should have eggs in the nest very soon. Scubacam is a live video feed from underneath the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory research pier showing underwater life on a small oyster bar.” To view, go to http://www.oyster.umd.edu, click on the "video gallery' link at the top, then click on the "streaming webcams" link. Click on either image to start the video stream. Note that links will not work with Real Player or Windows media player. You will need the latest version of QuickTime to view the streams. If you have QuickTime, you can view the feeds directly by choosing "open URL" and inputting one of the links below: These feeds have been established by a collaboration of the Alliance for Coastal Technologies, the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, the Paynter Lab, and the Office of Information Technology at the University of Maryland. Evolutionary biologist Gerald Borgia is quoted on Sciencenow.com on the discovery of University of Michigan zoologists that a wormlike amphibian called Boulengerula taitanus (native to southeastern Kenya) provide for their offspring with their own skin. According to Borgia, “Discovering a whole new way of parents taking care of their babies is a pretty significant event in evolutionary biology.” Eugenie Clark, Professor Emerita, Biology, was profiled in the St. Petersburg Times recently. Dubbed the “Shark Lady,” Clark, at 83, is still planning dives and research projects in Papua New Guinea.
The work of Robert Dooling, Affiliate Professor, Biology and Professor, Psychology, was recently picked up in Nature. In the latest investigation, Dooling and his team taught budgies to distinguish between two similar calls and then used a large dose of antibiotics to kill off the hair cells in the inner ear of the birds. A month or so later, when the hair cells grew back, the birds more or less recovered their hearing but had lost some of the ability to distinguish these same sounds. It took them a few days to re-learn the skill. The “micro” work of John Fourkas, Chemistry, was highlighted on the UM Newsdesk. In a study published in Developmental Cell, Eric Haag, Biology, shows that, while the female sex of two very closely related nematodes both evolved from female ancestors to become hermaphrodites – both female and male in one - they did it in different ways. 'Both species we studied have the same trick of hermaphroditism,' says Haag, 'but the way they pull it off is different.' The finding is evidence, Haag says, that similar evolutionary innovations can be achieved in different ways. 'It shows there is more than one way to skin a cat.' " If you don’t like the climate where you live, be patient – it’s changing. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, spring comes as much as 13 days earlier in many parts of North America and 15 days earlier in Europe than 30 years ago. The article quotes David Inouye, Biology: “The effects of climate change are becoming pretty unmistakable. I suspect these changes have been going on for a while, but it has taken a long time to detect them.” The good and the bad of low rainfall was the topic of a recent article in the Capital News Service (Annapolis Capital). "High salinity enhances oyster growth and reproduction, but it also strengthens oyster diseases such as dermo and MSX,” said Ken Paynter, Marine, Estuarine, Environmental Sciences Program (MEES). Steven Salzburg, Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, was quoted on the need to end the bird flu data secrecy in the Toronto Globe & Mail. Salzburg recommends that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control as well as researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health place their virus sequence data in open-access databanks on an as-processed basis. He hopes such a move would entice scientists elsewhere, as well as governments in H5N1-afflicted countries, to end a pattern of virus hoarding many New Research Funding Jeffrey J. DeStefano, Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics, received a $253,768 addition to a grant from HHS – PHS/NIH for his research on Mechanism of recombination by HIV reverse transcriptase. Daniel Falvey, Chemistry & Biochemistry, received a grant for $139,800 from NSF for his work "Electronic and Chemical Properties of Nitrenium Ions and Related Diradical Ions.” Dr. Falvey is using computational and spectroscopic methods to learn about the behavior of a family of very unstable molecules that are theoretically predicted to have interesting magnetic properties. The long term goal is to synthetically design members of this family that are stable enough to be useful in materials applications. Another aim of the project is to study another branch of this family that we have shown to be useful in the synthesis of conducting polymers. He also received a $2,400 grant from the ACS Petroleum Research Fund in support of the 31st Reaction Mechanisms Conference. Victor Muñoz, Chemistry & Biochemistry, received an additional grant for $129,402 from NSF for his work on “Experimental Investigations of Protein Reconfiguration.” Wenxia Song, Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics, received a $259,875 grant from HHS-PHS/NIH for her work “The actin cytoskeleton in Beta cell activation.” The department of Chemistry and Biochemistry were awarded a $380,016 grant by the Department of Education to establish a GAANN Chemistry Scholar-Educators Fellowship Program. The three-year grant will support four post-candidacy Chemistry PhD students as Fellows with annual stipends up to $30,000. Fellows will combine cutting edge research in chemistry with training in chemical education pedagogy. Fellowships will be awarded to students with career interests in the chemistry professoriate. Selection of the first Chemistry Scholar-Educators will take place in June so that Fellowships can begin in August. Chemistry professor Janice Reutt-Robey will direct the program.
Making A Difference In A Local High School
It started with the redistricting of high schools and the highly publicized objections by the community,” says Anne Simon, Professor of Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics and resident of Bowie in Prince George's County, Maryland. Though Simon doesn’t have kids who would be affected by the redistricting, she felt strongly enough about the outcry from her neighbors about the quality of the education, that she took action. In August 2005, Simon started a pilot program at DuVal High School in Prince George’s County. She worked with 10th grade biology students, 12th grade AP biology students and four of the five biology teachers once a week over a span of five months. What she found was a clear discrepancy between what the State curriculum requires and what the teachers were qualified to teach. “Students are required by the State to have a basic knowledge in biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, evolution, environmental science, and ecology,” explains Simon. “We ask our high school teachers to have the training in such diverse areas that very few college professors even have. It wasn't surprising that teachers lacked a complete understanding of the fundamental concepts and also how to convey these concepts in an easily understandable format.” Before Simon’s pilot program, only 19 percent of the students passed the midyear assessment biology test. “We don’t have official results yet, but the initial reports ‘post-pilot’ indicate that those numbers are much better,” explains Simon. In addition, several of the students who had shown little interest in higher education, will now enrolled at the University of Maryland. Inspired by the success of this program, Simon submitted and received a grant from the National Science Foundation to create an intensive two-week workshop over the summer for 30 Prince George's County high school teachers. The five-hour a day workshop will cover 75 percent of the high school biology curriculum (biochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, genetics) that is viewed as the most problematic by teachers. Three hours will be devoted to mastering the material at the AP-biology/Introductory college level with two hours dedicated to strategies for teaching the material at the 10th grade level and AP levels. Joelle Presson, Associate Director, Undergraduate Academic Programs, at the College of Chemical and Life Sciences will be working with the teachers and administrators of the high school in developing the curriculum. A recipient of the highest university teaching award when at the University of Massachusetts, Simon keeps a busy teaching and research schedule in the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, in addition to serving as editor of the journal Virology and head of the University of Maryland Virology Program. Adding this extension program to her already hectic workload, however, was a no brainer. “There has to be a role for outreach,” she explains. “Working with the local schools is so important. It’s as important as anything else we do.” It may not be as glamorous as when she was a science consultant for the popular sci-fi series the X-files during its run (and author of "The Real Science Behind the X-files", Simon and Schuster), but the “knowledge rejuvenation” as Simon puts it of our high school biology teachers is incredibly important. “You cannot help but help,” she concludes. “Now to get more people involved!”
The Secret Passions of Scientists.
Tapping his Mexican heritage, Moctezuma decided on the Aztec calendar as the primary focus for the design. The ridges in the shell of the Terp turned out to be a bit of a challenge. “Because the Aztec calendar design is so intricate, I had to fill in the ridges,” says Moctezuma. “Finding something that would work was a problem. I ended up at an auto body repair shop.” Experimentation in the lab and in the artist’s studio (or in this case the basement) – it is what sparks Moctezuma’s interest. Click here for more information on the Fear the Turtle Sculptures.
A geneticist with swing: Science notes that "Scientists have a reputation, undeserved of course, for being humorless, overly analytic, controlling, antisocial, competitive, arrogant, elitist, obsessive workaholics." The magazine then offers examples of eclectic lifestyles. For example, Ken Frauwirth, Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, whose work focuses on genetics and the immune system has a penchant for swing. When he was recruited to the College seven years ago, Frauwirth joined a local swing-dancing after work, and found there an 'instant social group'. Frauwirth also doodles. His cartoons, displayed on his personal Web site, are inspired by seminars, conferences, and course lectures. Goldwater Scholarship Awards: Two College of Chemical & Life Science undergraduate students were awarded highly competitive Goldwater Scholarships in a national competition. The Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,081 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide.
Student Conference on Conservation: Thirteen CONS students participated in the student conference on Conservation Science at Duke University. Of the 30 presentations given over the three days of the conference, five were given by CLFS students. Special congratulations go to Julia Michalak who earned an Honorable Mention for her succinct and stunning rendition of last semester’s Problem Solving project, “Green Infrastructure Planning Worchester County: The Science of Sustainable Development.” The University of Maryland is playing a major role in the Sustainable Energy Forum 2006, thanks in large part to CONS graduate student Max Christian. The forum will include discussions on the mounting challenges to America’s goal of energy independence in light of impending constraints imposed by ‘peak oil’. Max has spent the better part of the last year coming up with the idea and organizing the forum. Read the full article at http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/sociss/release.cfm?ArticleID=1261. Talia Levy, biology major and College Park Scholars/American Cultures Citation Recipient, received the Chapter 22, Walter Hohenstein Graduate Fellowship for $5,000.00. Talia is graduating in May and will be attending Ben Gurion Medical School in the fall. Junior Biochemistry student Kevan Salimian has been awarded a 2006 Pfizer Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Synthetic Organic Chemistry. This fellowship award will permit Kevan, who carries out research with Professor Jeffery Davis, to devote 10 weeks of full-time research this coming summer to his project “Synthetic Compounds for the Transmembrane Transport of Chloride Ions” for ten weeks this summer. Kevan will then travel with his mentor to give a poster presentation on his research at the Pfizer headquarters on October 19. Kevan is among just 15 undergraduates in chemistry across the United States to be awarded a 2006 Pfizer Fellowship. BEES graduate student, Colin Studds, was recently awarded a Smithsonian pre-doctoral fellowship for the 2006-07 academic year. Colin works with Pete Mara and David Inouye.
Graduate Student Fellowship Established The National Institute for Science and Technology and the University of Maryland have come together to form the Dolphous E. Milligan Graduate Student Fellowship Award. Sponsored by NOBCChE, the fellowship will be awarded each year through a national competition. The award consists of a two-year $30,000/year graduate fellowship that includes a 10-week internship at the Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory of NIST in the summer preceding the start of graduate study. All candidates who apply must first be accepted into the graduate program of either the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry or the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. The award honors Dr. Dolphous E. (Dick) Milligan, a trailblazer who personifies the achievements of black scientists and typifies the excellence that the NIST-UMD Graduate Student Fellowship Award Symbolizes. After completing his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, Milligan joined NIST (then known as NBS). He was widely acknowledged as one of the top scientists in his field and was the recipient of many awards and recognitions, including the Department of Commerce Gold Medal, the Washington Academy of Sciences Achievement Award in Physical Sciences, and the Arturo Miolati Award presented to him by the Italian Ambassador to the U.S. Milligan was also instrumental in the founding of NOBCChE.
The University of Maryland, College Park sponsors the Maryland Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS). Thanks to Assistant Dean Amel Anderson who organizes this event, with the assistance of Maggie Jenkins, Chirice Cade, and other members of the Dean’s office staff. The 2006 symposium was held at the 4H Council in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Of the 28 Maryland high schools attending, 15 students presented papers using power point, 20 students presented their work on posters. Top three winners from the paper presenters:
Top three winners of the poster presentations:
Clockwise from back left : Mr. Tom Lawler, Maryland teacher Stacy Woycheck, Director of New Student Programs in the Dean’s office, wrote a review of the book Workshops That Really Work: The ABC's of Designing and Delivering Sensational Presentations. The review is being published in the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) Journal. You can find the review on the Journal’s Web site at http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Journal/bkrev_851.htm.
Sustainable Energy Forum 2006
First Annual Organismal Biology Day
NanoDay
For more details on the event, please go to http://www.nanocenter.umd.edu/nanoday/2006/
Two recent CLFS graduates were awarded 2006-07 NSF graduate fellowships. Elinor Lichtenberg will be supported in her Ph.D. studies on the evolution of animal communication systems at the University of California, San Diego in the lab of Dr. James Nieh. She is a summa cum laude graduate (2003) with a degree in Biological Sciences – Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, and completed an honors thesis mentored by Dr. Jerry Wilkinson; Yun Choi graduated in May, 2005 with degrees in Biological Sciences – Cell, Molecular Biology and Genetics (with honors) and French Literature. His honors research was mentored by Dr. Stephen Mount. Yun is pursuing a Ph.D. in the Biomedical Studies Graduate Program at the University of California, San Francisco. More Alumni notes are posted on our website at:
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!
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College of Chemical & Life Sciences * University of Maryland * College Park, MD 20742