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 From
the Dean
Welcome
aboard for another exciting new
academic year! We extend a warm
welcome to several new faculty members:
Michael Cummings in Biology and
the Center for Bioinformatics and
Computational Biology; Michael Doyle
and Andrei Vedernikov in Chemistry
and Biochemistry;  June
Kwak in Cell Biology and Molecular
Genetics; Hey-Kyoung Lee in Biology;
Maile Neel in Entomology and Natural
Resources and Landscape Architecture;
and Leslie Pick in Entomology. We're
pleased to welcome several new lecturers:
Debra Boehmler and Karin Jackson
in Chemistry and Biochemistry, and
Edgar Moteczuma in Cell Biology
and Molecular Genetics. And we're
glad to welcome Stacy Richardson,
the new assistant director of the
College Park Scholars-Life Sciences
program. Welcome also to all of
our new and returning students and
staff.
Despite
the University's budgetary challenges,
the College finished FY03 in the
black. We are well positioned to
continue our growth and development
in the coming year and to initiate
searches for a Chair of Biology
(Bill Jeffery will complete his
five year (plus a few additional
months!) term on June 30, 2004),
to hire new faculty in Chemistry
and Biochemistry to replace faculty
who have retired and to recruit
new members of the Center for Bioinformatics
and Computational Biology. Thanks
to faculty and staff who have agreed
to serve on these search committees.
 Special congratulations to Sandra
Greer in Chemistry and Biochemistry,
who has just been awarded by the
American Chemical Society the Garvan-Olin
Medal, a very prestigious award,
and to Sarah Tishkoff in Biology,
who was named one of Popular
Science's Brilliant 10.
The
College has two major events coming
up in mid-fall: an All-College meeting
for faculty and staff on October
29 and our annual Bioscience Research
and Technology Review Day on November
5. I encourage everyone with an
interest in the biosciences at Maryland
to attend Bioscience Day, and all
faculty and staff to attend the
All-College meeting.
If
the past is any predictor of the
future, this will be an exciting,
challenging and rewarding year.
My best wishes to all of you.
September
2:
First Day of Classes for Fall
September
15: Last Day of Schedule
Adjustment for Fall
October
7: Faculty/Staff Convocation
November
7: Last Day to Drop with
a W
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 Upcoming
Events
September
6:
Academically Talented Open House
September
26: Visit Maryland
Day
October
13
(Columbus Day): Visit Maryland
Day
October
25: Academically
Talented Open House
October
29:
All-College Meeting, 3 p.m.
to 5 p.m., 0200 Skinner Building
November
5:
Bioscience
Research and Technology Review
Day. College contact: Gene
Ferrick (gene@umd.edu)
November
6-7:
Digital
Biology: The Emerging Paradigm,
a symposium organized by NIH
Biomedical Information Science
and Technology Initiative Consortium
(BISTIC), Natcher Conference
Center, NIH
November
11
(Veterans Day): Visit Maryland
Day
March
5, 2004: Spring Open
House
March
12, 2004:
Spring Open House
April
2, 2004: Spring
Open House
April
16, 2004: Spring
Open House
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Gifts
to the College
Thanks
to:
- The
American Cancer Society, for $631,000
to support the project "Structural
Studies of DNA Repair Nucleases"
(PI: Dr. Jin Hu)
- Oak
Ridge Associated Universities, for $5,000
to support the project "Evolution
of Nematode Sex Determination" (PI:
Dr. Eric Haag)
- Rainbow
Treecare Scientific Advancements, Inc.,
for $3,300 to support Dr. Michael Raupp's
research
- Ray
Nash, for $1,000 to support the Dean's
Fund
- Jeffrey
Clifton Cole and Patricia Shaw, for supporting
Dr. Eugenie Clark's Zoology Research Fund
- Deane
Keith, for a contribution to the Department
of Chemistry-Biochemistry Fund
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Faculty
Recognition and In the News
 Dr.
Earlene Armstrong, Entomology,
is quoted in an August 9 Washington
Times article
about the Summer
Insect Camp, which she founded.
Attendance in the successful program
jumped from 17 last summer to 125
for summer 2003.
Dr.
Francis Cunningham and Dr.
Elisabeth Gantt, CBMG, received
a 1-year, $125,000 grant from the
National Science Foundation for "Carotenoid
Enzyme Complexes in Synechocystis."
Dr.
Robert Denno, Entomology, received
a 3-year, $400,000 grant from the
National Science Foundation for "Spatial
Subsidy of an Intraguild Predator."
Dr.
Michael Doyle, Chemistry and Biochemistry,
received a 1-year, $212,000 grant,
with 3 additional years of funding
expected, from the National Institutes
of Health.
 As
announced in an article
in the September 1 issue of Chemical
& Engineering News, Dr.
Sandra Greer, Chemistry and Biochemistry,
will receive the 2004 Francis P. Garvan
- John M. Olin Medal. She joins a
distinguished list of awardees that
go back to the first award in 1937.
The Garvan/Olin Medal is the third
oldest award of the American Chemical
Society; only the Priestly Medal and
the Pure Chemistry Award have a longer
lifetime. The purpose of the award
is to recognize distinguished service
to chemistry by women chemists who
are citizens of the United States.
Dr. Catherine Fenselau, Chemistry
and Biochemistry, was the recipient
of the Garvan Medal in 1985. No other
institution has the distinction of
having two Garvan/Olin Awardees.
Dr.
Matthew Hare, Biology, received
first-year funds of $184,000 for his
2-year grant from the National Sea
Grant Oyster Disease Research Program,
NOAA, for "Genetic Rehabilitation
and Conservation of Chesapeake Oysters
Using Disease-Tolerant Oyster Strains:
A Study of Their Recruitment Potential.
Dr.
Jin-Shan Hu, Chemistry and Biochemistry,
received a 4-year, $631,000 grant
from the American Cancer Society for
"Structural Studies of DNA Repair
Nucleases: RecB and WRN" and
a 4-year, $260,000 grant from the
American Heart Association for "Structural
Studies of the Werner Syndrome Protein
and Its Interaction with DNA."
Dr.
William Jeffery, Biology, received
a new 5-year grant from the National
Eye Institute of the NIH to study
"Regulation of Eye Growth and
Development by the Lens." The
first year's allotment is $291,000,
with four allotments of $293,000 to
follow.
Dr.
Sam Joseph, CBMG, and colleagues
at The Institute for Genomic Research
and the University of Maryland School
of Medicine at Baltimore received
a 2-year, $500,000 grant from the
National Science Foundation to sequence
the genome of Aeromonas hydrophila.
 Dr.
Victor Muñoz, Chemistry
and Biochemistry, received a 2-year,
$255,000 grant, with 2 additional
years of funding, from the National
Science Foundation for "Experimental
Investigations of Protein Reconfiguration."
Dr.
James Reveal, a taxonomist and
Professor Emeritus, CBMG, is quoted
in an article
in the August 16 Sun Newspaper
of Bremerton, Washington (reprinted
from the Los Angeles Times). The article
details the history of the gardenia,
including how it was named.
Dr.
Ann Smith, CBMG, was appointed
to the National Steering Committee
of Project
Kaleidoscope. Project Kaleidoscope
is an informal national alliance focused
on strengthening undergraduate programs
in various fields of science.
Dr.
Raymond St. Leger, Entomology,
received two grants from the USDA:
a 3-year, $216,000 grant for "Microarray
Based Analysis of Infection Processes
of Metarhizium anisopliae"
and a 3-year, $210,000 grant for "Rhizosphere
Competence in the Fungal Entomopathogen
Metarhizium anisopliae."
Dr.
Sarah Tishkoff, Biology, was named
one of Popular Science's Brilliant
10 in an article
in the September 2003 issue. The article
describes each of the researchers
they chose as: "Someone who is
well into an exciting career but still
picking up speed. Someone in the grip
of an obsessive inquiry into the nature
of the world … and not afraid
to talk about it." Tishkoff's
accomplishment was also mentioned
in an August 21 blurb
in the Washington Post (last item
in the "School Notes" section).
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Student
and Alumni Recognition and In the
News
Freshman
Eugenia Leone, Biological Sciences
(BEES), had an off-beat summer internship
that was featured in a July 29 Washington
Post story:
She cleaned up after five African
cheetahs at the National Zoo.
Dr.
Vladimir Sidorov, a post-doctoral
associate with Dr. Jeffery Davis,
Chemistry and Biochemistry, is starting
as an Assistant Professor in the Department
of Chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth
University in Richmond, VA. Vladimir
is the second Maryland alumni in the
past year to start his academic career
at VCU. Dr. Qibing Zhou, Chemistry
and Biochemistry, a post-doctoral
associate with Dr. Steve Rokita,
started as an Assistant Professor
in Chemistry at VCU last September.
Both Vladimir and Qibing are starting
their research programs in bioorganic
chemistry.
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LFSC
Projects and Activities in the News
Bioscience
Research Building
A
July 16 article
in the Daily Record specifies
plans for the proposed $68.6 million,
138,000 square-foot Bioscience Research
Building to be constructed off Field
House Drive. Carlo Colella, director
of the department of architecture,
engineering and construction, explains
the deep need for research space and
a possible timetable for construction.
Gemstone
 A July 31 article
in the Daily Record and an
August 31 article
in the Washington Post highlight
the Gemstone
program's GenEducation
team, which helped develop the
curriculum for the summer 2003 Jump
Start program as part of its goal
to design a lab kit that will enable
high school biology students to genetically
modify Arabidopsis thaliana
plants. After the kit undergoes testing,
the team plans to be able to sell
it to schools by the end of this academic
year, although no prices or marketing
plans have been formulated yet. One
or both of the articles quote Dr.
Kaci Thompson, Director of the
Jump Start program; the team's mentor,
Dr. Anne Simon, CBMG; and team
members Seth Zonies, a senior
biochemistry major, and Danielle
Russell, a senior molecular biology
and genetics major. Other undergraduates
involved in this interdisciplinary
project (LFSC majors are in bold)
are Charles Brooks, Ann Catherwood,
Stephen Kiel, Jennifer Ann
Krueger, Maria Christina Lakas,
Michael Niaki, Emily Tai, Karen Tiefenworth
and Christopher Wohn.
International
Conference on Animal Acoustic Communication
An
August 3 Toronto Star article
and an August 4 National Public Radio
piece
both featured information and interviews
about the first International Conference
on Animal Acoustic Communication.
In the Toronto Star article,
Dr. Arthur Popper, Biology,
describes the impact of sound on fish,
and Dr. Robert Dooling, Psychology
and affiliate in Biology, discusses
research into bird sounds that are
undetectable by humans. In the NPR
piece, Dr. Cynthia Moss, Psychology
and affiliate in Biology, talks about
bat echolocation.
Welcome
to New Faculty and Staff
Dr. Michael Montague-Smith
will become the Director of Undergraduate
Studies for the Department of Chemistry
and Biochemistry in January. He is currently
Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies
at Duke University and a dynamo of energy
and enthusiasm for undergraduate students.
Many thanks to the members of the search
committee for their efforts in identifying
him and attracting him to the university.
We're also pleased to welcome several
new lecturers: Debra Boehmler and
Karin Jackson in Chemistry and
Biochemistry, and Edgar Moteczuma
in Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics.
The College would also like to welcome
Christine McCary, a new advisor
in the Student Affairs Office, who graduated
from UM in the spring with a B.S. in Cell
and Molecular Biology and Genetics.
Master
of Life Sciences Program Awards First Degrees
The
University of Maryland's online Master of
Life Sciences Program graduated its first
degrees in May to students from as far away
as Alaska and Mississippi. Only one student
ever set foot on campus. Not only is this
the university's first online graduate-level
program, but these are the first graduates
from an online program at Maryland.
.jpg) The
online program, designed for middle and
high school science teachers, was the first
of its kind. "The Master of Life Sciences
was a perfect niche program. It met the
needs of the many practicing secondary school
science teachers who needed an up-to-date,
content-based science curriculum that could
fit into their busy schedules," says
Dr. Paul Mazzocchi, director of MLFSC.
"We
wanted to offer a number of high quality
online graduate programs that would address
the needs of professional audiences,"
says Broida. "In that way, the university
would not only increase its visibility,
but also its reputation around the world."
Broida says the College of Life Sciences,
Office of Information Technology and her
Office of Continuing and Extended Education
work closely together to maintain the quality
of the program and make sure the online
students get the same level of service as
campus-based students. That includes Web
chat rooms, threaded discussions and full
technical support.
Ten
students enrolled in 2000, the year the
Master of Life Sciences program was introduced.
Since then, the program has grown to 179
students, representing 41 states and seven
foreign countries. Coursework can be completed
in as little as two and a half years-all
from the convenience of a home or office
computer.
Right
now, the 30-credit interdisciplinary program
offers a major in biology, and a chemistry
option will be introduced this fall. Biology
courses cover such diverse topics as molecular
genetics, food safety and genetically modified
foods, evolutionary biology and behavior,
and chemical ecology.
To
learn more about the Master of Life Sciences
program, log on to www.elearning.umd.edu/mlfsc
or e-mail e-learning@umail.umd.edu
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NIH
Digital Biology Symposium
 A
symposium titled "Digital
Biology: The Emerging Paradigm"
will be held at the Natcher Conference Center
on the NIH main campus in Bethesda November
6 and 7. The NIH Biomedical Information
Science and Technology Initiative Consortium
(BISTIC) organized this event, which will
investigate how biologists and computer
scientists are forming the basis for scientific
discoveries that relate to all parts of
the NIH mission. The sessions of the symposium
will address issues such as scientific data
integration, networked science and quantitative
biology.
Dr. Sydney Brenner, a recipient of the
2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine,
and Distinguished Professor at the Salk
Institute, will present the Biology keynote
address. Dr. Nathan Myhrvold, a co-founder
and managing director of the private entrepreneurial
firm Intellectual Ventures and formerly
Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft Corporation,
will present the Technology keynote address.
More information about speakers and the
agenda
can be found on the event's Web
site.
How
to Post Your News
If
you would like to share your accomplishments
or other news, please send a note (and
any accompanying photos)
to Meredith Brittain at
brittain@umd.edu. Issues are usually sent at the beginning
of each month.
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