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NEWS October 2, 2000"News from the College of Life Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park"
FROM THE DEAN I would like to extend a warm welcome to everyone in the College, both returning faculty, students and staff and newcomers, as we begin a new academic year. I am a relative newcomer myself, and I have appreciated the warm welcome I received this summer from the University community and members of the College. The College has accomplished a great deal in its first decade. Our undergraduate academic programs are strong, and the College has attracted large numbers of accomplished, ambitious and enthusiastic students, with 1947 undergraduates. The prestigious Howard Hughes Undergraduate Program in Biology, funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is a measure of the quality of the Collegeís undergraduate programs. Freshman admitted for the Fall 2000 class have an average SAT of 1260 and a 3.91 GPA. College Park has a particularly fine record of recruiting, retaining and educating minority students and of preparing students for medical school. Both the quality and external funding for our research programs have increased sharply during the past few years and the discoveries made in the College are receiving increasing attention, both nationally and internationally. External funding for FY2000 exceeds $21M. Major programs currently in place include training grants for graduate education in integrative human biology, the biology of small populations, comparative and evolutionary biology of hearing, groundwater chemistry and hydrology, a program project grant in developmental consequences of oxytocin and participation in the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the Center for Biomolecular Structure and Organization and the Center for Neuroscience. New intramural funding will stimulate further development of bioengineering, developmental biology, nanomachines, neurobiology and virology. An exciting new graduate program in Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics (BEES) will integrate and strengthen this research area across the College Park campus and is widely expected to become one of College Parkís strongest programs. We were successful in recruiting several outstanding faculty members last year, including the following: Margaret deCuevas (CBMG) Animal
cell and developmental biology
All except Dr. DiRuggiero, who will join CBMG in December, have labs that are now up and running and are eagerly recruiting students. This is a time of great opportunity for the College. As you know, the Human Genome Project was completed this summer, and the next decade is expected universally to be the decade of biology. With the DNA of several model organisms already sequenced or underway, we are truly in a position to understand how DNA sequences determine both form and function. Comparing DNA sequences with individual propensities towards disease and reactions to medication will create tremendous changes in the prevention and treatment of disease. The tools for biotechnology that are already available have created a new industry which is beginning to rival information technology. Although controversial, genetically modified foods have already had a major impact on agriculture, and, as we learn how to anticipate and deal with potential problems, are likely to lead to better lives for many, particularly in third world countries. We are particularly well positioned to participate in these developments, because of the proximity of several national laboratories and the high tech industry in the region. As the flagship campus of the University of Maryland and a major land grant university, College Park has a special responsibility to reach out to the community and to act as an economic engine for the mid-Atlantic region. The College offers a number of programs for secondary school students and teachers, including the Summer Biology Institutes and the Maryland Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. We also participate in a Clinical Laboratory Science/Biomedical Research Science Technical Program with the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Medicine and will soon be participating in a Pharmacy joint degree program with the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Pharmacy. With the rapid growth of information technology and biotechnology industries in this area, it will become increasingly important to build partnerships with industry and with the federal agencies, particularly the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration. We are fortunate that the resources are available to enable us to meet the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. The renovations currently underway and the new wing for Chemistry and Biochemistry scheduled for completion in the fall of 2003 will enable this strong department to become even stronger. The new BSCI teaching labs in H. J. Patterson will provide our undergraduates with first class laboratory experiences. The Center for Biomolecular Structure has excellent space in the Surge Building, including a new addition to house an 800 MHz NMR instrument and the renovated Electron Microscopy facility houses state of the art instrumentation for ultrastructural analysis. Entomology has outstanding space in the new Plant Sciences building. With the new Biosciences Building on the horizon, we can look forward to substantial growth in both our physical and human resources in the next few years. As we begin a new academic year, I urge all of you to think about the future of the College and new initiatives that would strengthen it. I look forward to talking with all of you. Norma Allewell
FALL RECEPTION TO WELCOME NEW FACULTY Life Sciences' Faculty and Staff are invited to join Dean Allewell at
a Fall reception to welcome our new faculty. Please join us Thursday,
October 12, in the Rossborough Inn Garden from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
OPEN HOUSE - ACADEMICALLY TALENTED PROGRAM To attract prospective students, the University is pleased to invite the top high school seniors to the Academically Talented Program Open House. During the Open House our College showcases our academic majors through presentations, discussions, mini-lectures and labs. The Open Houses will be held on two Saturdays, October 14 and November 11. Dean Allewell encourages faculty to attend both Open Houses. Your expertise and interest is sure to spark interest in these talented students who are deciding where to enroll. The Open House will run from 10:00 a.m. through lunch. If you can be available to discuss your area of expertise and university experiences with prospective students and their parents, please sign up with Gene Ferrick at gferrick@deans.umd.edu.
Our initial request for recent faculty awards resulted in a wonderfully
lengthy list. We know that many of you have not been included.
So, please, share your awards by sending an email to gferrick@deans.umd.edu.
We want to include everyone.
VICTOR MUNOZ (Chemistry and Biochemistry) has been awarded a prestigious
Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award. The award is one of only 15
from a pool of 77 nominees.
SERGEI SUKHAREV (Biology) received the College of Life Sciences Junior Faculty Award at a ceremony in April. BILL WALTERS (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received the American Chemical Society Award for Nuclear Chemistry. JOHN WEEKS (Chemistry and Biochemistry) was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. RONALD WEINER (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) received the American Society for Microbiology Service Award for 2000 to recognize his service as the American Academy of Microbiology Colloquium Chair. CATHERINE FENSELAU (Chemistry and Biochemistry) has been elected Chair Elect of the Analytical Division of the American Chemical Society. She has also agreed to serve as a foreign member of the search committee for the Professor of Proteomics at the University of Lund, Sweden. Dr. Fenselau was also invited to join the Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology, a group established by the National Academy of Sciences to provide ideas and overviews on the health of chemical sciences and technology. ELISABETH GANTT (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) was elected Chair of the Section of Plant Biology of the National Academy of Sciences for a three-year term and was appointed a member of the Consulting Board for "Advances In Photosynthesis And Respiration" monograph series published by Kluwer Scientific Publisher. WILLIAM JEFFERY (Biology) has been appointed Associate Editor of the journal "Molecular Biology And Evolution." HEVEN SZE (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) is the Monitoring Editor
of the journal "Plant Physiology," a premier journal of plant biology.
CAREN CHANG (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) was an invited speaker
at two
TODD COOKE (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) presented "Evolutionary Trends in Auxin Regulation And Their Significance For Plant Embryogenesis" and "Studies On The Regulatory Biochemistry Of Auxins" (with J. D. Cohen) in Auxin 2000, European Molecular Biology Organization Workshop, in Corsica, France in May. CHUCK DELWICHE (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) was an invited speaker at the 38th Goddard Memorial Symposium, Greenbelt, Maryland during May. This Fall he has been invited to speak at the CIAR (Canadian Institute for Advanced Research) meeting in Nova Scotia as well as to participate in an NSF-sponsored "Phyloinformatics Workshop" at Davis. ELISABETH GANTT (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) was a plenary
speaker at a
STEVE MOUNT (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) was invited to speak at the 4th Annual Conference on Computational Genomics. ARTHUR N. POPPER (Biology) was honored as one of the University of Maryland's Distinguished Scholar Teachers for 1999-2000. As a part of the honor he presented on campus an overview of his research in a lecture entitled, "Blind Cave Fish To Herring: Speculations On The Evolution Of Hearing." DANIEL STEIN (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) gave a seminar at Johns Hopkins University on "Genetic Basis Of Lipooligosaccharide Biosynthesis And Variation In Neisseria Gonorrhoeae." He also presented "Biological Properties Of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae Lipooligosaccharide," at Catholic University, Washington, DC, and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. HEVEN SZE (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) was an invited speaker at the Gordon Research Conference on "Salt And Water Stress In Plants" in August. Dr. Sze was also an invited speaker at a Plant Nutrition Meeting at the Justus von Liebig University in Giessen, Germany in September where she talked about the "Diversity, Regulation And Physiological Roles Of Calcium Pumps In Plants." RONALD WEINER (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) was the Hawaii Science
Education Invited Keynote Speaker in Honolulu.
AVIS COHEN (Biology) recently received an NIH grant in excess of $450,000 for four years to study "Regulation of Functional Regeneration After Spinal Injury." CHUCK DELWICHE (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) received an NSF $200,000, two-year grant (with co-PIs Beth Gantt and Eliot Herman) entitled "Plastid-Associated Genes In Dinoflagellates Identified By cDNA Screening And Expression Analysis." DAVID FUSHMAN (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received a Special Grant in the Chemical Sciences from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation of $60,000 for two years. The grant is for the development and implementation of a computer program package, "The Virtual NMR Spectrometer," which will serve as a computer tool for learning basic principles of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. ZHONGCHI LIU (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) was awarded a three-year $294,000 grant by DOE-Division of Energy Biosciences for "Investigating The Molecular Mechanism Of TSO1 Function In Arabidopsis Cell Division And Meristem Development." DAVID POEPPEL (Biology) was awarded an NIH (NIDCD) three-year grant of $222,000. The title of the project is, "A Timing Basis For Auditory Processing Asymmetry." DANIEL STEIN (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) received a $175,000
NIH grant for "Genetics Of Lipooligosaccharide Biosynthesis In Neisseria
Gonorrhoeae." This is year 11
RONALD WEINER (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) was awarded $85,436 for the first year of a renewable two-year grant from the Maryland Industrial Partnerships to research "Degradosome Cellular Machinery Of A Marine Bacterium." JERRY WILKINSON (Biology) received a three-year award of $324,000 from
NSF to fund his study entitled "Meiotic Drive And Sexual Selection
in Stalk-Eyed Flies".
CHUCK DELWICHE (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) organized "Deep Green - College Park; The Computational Challenges Of Green Plant Phylogeny," a national workshop held in College Park during June. RONALD WEINER (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) was an organizer and session chair for the "Pacific Congress In Marine Science And Technology - 2000" at the Marine Biotechnology Session in Honolulu, Hawaii. ROBERT YUAN (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) was an organizer of
the first "International Conference On The Globalization Of Traditional
Chinese Medicines" held at College Park from August 30 to September 2.
The conference was sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology,
Peoples Republic of China, and the Center for Alternative Medicine, NIH.
Dr. Yuan presented "A Model For A Modern TCM Company." He was also
the organizer of the ASM Regional Conference on Microbiology Education
held at Goucher College, September 8-9, which was funded by NSF.
At this conference Dr. Yuan gave a presentation on "Cultural Diversity
In Biology Education."
MARGARET DECUEVAS (Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics) gave birth
to Alida whom she says is her major accomplishment for the year.
KAREN BALES, who earned her doctoral degree in May 2000, has been awarded an NIH postdoctoral fellowship. She will be working with Dr. Carter in Biology on the developmental effects of oxytocin in male prairie voles. JAMIE DAWSON, a Ph. D. student in Dr. Marco Colombini's lab in Biology, received a five-year NIH pre-doctoral fellowship. GARY DODGE, a Master's student in the Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology program, was co-winner of the 1999-2000 Jane Prichard Award for Excellence in Teaching. ALAN GRIFFITH, a Ph. D. candidate with Dr. Forseth in Biology, was co-winner of the 1999-2000 Jane Prichard Award for Excellence in Teaching. PAUL MANTICA (Ph.D. Chemistry, 1990), an Assistant Professor of chemistry at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University, was a recent recipient of a National Science Foundation Career Award. His research proposal, "Ground State Magnetic Moments of Short-Lived Nuclei Using Beta-NMR Spectroscopy," focuses on the use of accelerated radioisotopes and magnetic resonance techniques to explore the limit at which protons and neutrons can be treated as identical particles in the bound nucleus. Dr. Mantica's project was also recognized by the Department of Energy, as he has also received one of six Outstanding Junior Investigator Awards for research in Nuclear Physics. TOBIN MARKS of Northwestern University and an alum of Chemistry and Biochemistry will receive the ACS award in Materials Chemistry. He previously received the ACS awards in Inorganic Chemistry and Organometallic Chemistry. Dr. Tobin performed research in the laboratory of Dr. Sam Grim during his undergraduate career at Maryland. ANDREW MCELRONE, a Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Forseth's lab in Biology, was recipient of the Spring 2000 Outstanding TA Award. He also won the Best Poster Award from the Physiological Ecology Section of the Ecological Society of America at the August national meetings in Snowbird, UT. Andrew's poster was entitled, "Interactive Effects Of Drought Stress And Infection By Xylella Fastidiosa On The Ecophysiology Of A Common Liana." KIMRAN MILLER, a Ph. D. candidate in Dr. Dietz' lab in Biology, was awarded first place in the student paper presentation competition at the American Society of Primatologists conference in Boulder, Colorado, in June. The title of her paper was "Factors Affecting Variation in Daily Food Intake by Wild Golden Lion Tamarins." AL UY, a Ph. D. candidate in Dr. Borgia's lab in Biology, was co-winner of the 1999-2000 Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award. HEATHER WILKINS, a Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Popper's lab in Biology, was co-winner of the 1999-2000 Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award.
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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