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NEWS May
2002
"News from
the College of Life Sciences at the University of Maryland,
College Park"
NEWS
ITEMS
- The
Dean's Message
- Upcoming
Events
- Faculty
Recognition
- Outstanding
Faculty and Advisor Awards
- In
the News
- Alumni
& Student News
- Howard
Hughes Spring 2002 Awards
- University
of Maryland Technology Mixer
- Success
at JSHS and Thank You
- Arabidopsis
thaliana Research Initiative
at University of Maryland (ATRIUM)
- Chemistry
Atrium Construction Bids
- Funding
Alerts
- How
to Post Your News Here
FROM
THE DEAN
The last month of the academic year
is a time of celebration and we have many accomplishments
to celebrate this year. First and foremost, we have
received planning funds for our new Bioscience building
and planning will actively begin this summer. Facilities
Management, Vicki Levy and I will be working closely
with Bill Jeffery and Albert Ades, who will in turn
consult widely with their departments. As the project
develops, we will hold open faculty meetings to enable
everyone to participate in the process. I find working
with professional architects and builders fascinating
and I think many of you will too. Our other big building
project, the new $30M wing in Chemistry and Biochemistry
is almost complete and will create many new opportunities
for the department.
I am very pleased to announce that Charles Mitter
has been appointed Chair of Entomology, with a five
year term beginning July 1. Because Entomology is
jointly funded by Agriculture and Natural Resources
and Life Sciences, negotiating a package for Charlie
and the department was complex. However, we have a
good plan in place and I look forward to seeing the
department move ahead.
I'm also very pleased to announce that Dr. Hey-Kyoung
Lee will be joining the Department of Biology as an
assistant professor in the summer of 2003. Dr. Lee
is a cellular neuroscientist who studies the cellular
and molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, particularly,
the role of glutamate receptor regulation. Dr. Lee
holds a Ph.D. from Brown University and is currently
doing postdoctoral work with Dr. Richard Huganir at
the Johns Hopkins University.
A number of our undergraduate students have received
major scholarships within the past month. Most notably,
Anoma Nellore has been awarded the 2002 University
Medal, recognizing her as the most outstanding graduate
of the year. Anoma
and Fasika and Tinsay Woreta also won Jack Kent Cooke
scholarships which provide full support for graduate
or professional studies. All three were Biochemistry
majors and will be attending medical school. Our freshmen
recruits this year were outstanding, with 38 Banneker
Key winners, up from 30 last year, and so we can expect
to garner many more undergraduate awards in the future.
Our Board of Visitors came to campus again in mid-April.
On this visit they focussed on the Departments of
Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics and Chemistry
and Biochemistry and heard presentations from Jocelyne
DiRuggiero, Jonathon Dinman, David Mosser, Victor
Munoz and Larry Sita, as well Jack Gansler, Lipitz
Professor of Science and Public Policy and myself.
They also attended the Celebration of Scholarship
lunch and had an opportunity to meet and enjoy performances
by some of our outstanding students. The Board complimented
our faculty and students on their accomplishments,
but also urged us to focus sharply new initiatives
in the College, so that we achieve real excellence
in some areas, rather than being mediocre in many.
We celebrated the academic accomplishments of our
outstanding undergraduates at a reception and ceremony
in the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts.
Approximately 370 of our students achieved grade point
averages of 3.7 or better in one or both of the past
two semesters and about 100 of these students, as
well as several faculty members invited by the students,
attended the reception. Thanks to Lisa Bradley who
proposed and planned this event.
At the College Faculty and Staff Awards Ceremony,
Todd Cooke received the Faculty Service Award, Bill
Katsereles received the Staff Excellence Award, Rob
Walker received the Junior Faculty Award, Anne Smith
received the Teaching and Course Development Award,
and Ray St. Leger received the Faculty Research Award.
Thanks to Gene Ferrick who acted as Master of Ceremonies
and the faculty who introduced the awardees and presented
the awards. Rob Walker also received the Outstanding
Faculty Member award from the Parents' Association,
and Andrew Morehead received the Outstanding Advisor
Award. Congratulations to all!
The State
of the College report that I presented at an All
College meeting is posted on the College web site.
It summarizes some important statistics about the
College, the discussion at a Chairs retreat last January
and my goals and objectives for the College in FY03.
My very best wishes for a happy and productive summer.
We hope to see many of you at the College and University
graduations, on the evening of May 22 and the morning
of May 23, respectively.
Norma Allewell
Dean
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UPCOMING
EVENTS
Schedule of Classes
May 14: Last day of classes
May 15: Study Day
May 16-22: Final Exams
May 22: Commencement for College of Life Sciences,
6:00 p.m., Ritchie Coliseum
May 23: University-wide Convocation
June 3: First Day — Summer Session I
Events
May 20: University of Maryland Technology
Mixer (see information below)
May 2003: The College will be helping
to host the American Society for Microbiology - Education
Section national meeting in May 2003. This will be
the 10th anniversary meeting, linked to the ASM National
Meeting to be held in Washington, DC. We anticipate
that several high profile speakers will be part of
the 10th Anniversary program. Kudos to Spencer Benson
and Ann Smith who put together the successful proposal.
Watch for more details about the meeting in the coming
months.
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FACULTY
RECOGNITION
New Grants -
Dr. Pedro Barbosa, Entomology, and his collaborators
Drs. John Guthrie
and Allan Wigfield, College of Education, received
a 0.9M supplement to their Interagency Education Research
Initiative grant, bringing the total to 4.3M. This
study investigates the effectiveness of reading instruction
which combines the teaching of reading strategies
and scientific instruction. Dr. Barbosa is responsible
for design and implementation of science exercises
and experiments. Entomology graduate student Laurie
Alexander also works on the study. A total of 3600
students from 144 classrooms in 16 schools, in grades
3-5, will participate during a 5-year period.
Dr. Anne Simon, CBMG, is the PI on a new NIH training
grant that will be funded at close to $800K for 5
years. This is our first NIH training grant to include
NIH researchers and, perhaps, the first Virology training
grant awarded to a non-medical school. The grant will
support 3 graduate students, 2 postdoctoral researchers,
a part-time administrative assistant, and travel money
for meetings. The title of the grant is "Mechanisms
of virus replication and gene expression." The
faculty on the training grant include 4 from NIH (Bernard
Moss, Kim Green, John Patton, Reed Wickner), 3 from
CBMG (Jon Dinman, Anne Simon, Jeff DeStefano), 3 from
UMBI (CAB) Don Nuss, Vik Vakharia, Jim Culver, 1 from
USDA Beltsville (Robert Owens) and one from Vet Medicine
(Siba Samal). Information about the new Virology speciallization
program can be found at http://www.life.umd.edu/CBMG/research/virology/
Dr. Arthur Popper, Biology, and Dr. Robert Dooling,
Psychology, are co-PIs on a two-year NIH grant for
$74K titled "Behavioral Assay of Hearing In Zebrafish."
Dr. William Jeffery, Biology, received a three year
grant from NSF for
$420K to study the origins of neural crest and muscle
cells in the
urochordates, a group of basal chordates with a simple
body plan from
which the more complex vertebrate body plan may have
evolved.
Dr. Cheng S. Lee, Chemistry & Biochemistry, was
awarded a two-year NSF
grant for $323K to study "Plastic Microfluidics-Based
2-D PAGE."
Dr. David Fushman, Chemistry & Biochemistry, has
been awarded $295K by
NSF to study for four years the "Virtual NMR
Spectrometer, a Computer
Tool for Efficient Simulation of Modern NMR Experiments
and for
Learning NMR."
Drs. Heven Sze, Steve Mount and Caren Change, CBMG,
received an NSF grant of $138K to set up a Plant Growth
Facility over the next two years.
Dr. Matt Hare, Biology, and Dr. Ken Paynter, MEES,
will study "A genetic analysis of Oyster Recruitment
Patterns" through an $85K one-year grant from
the UM Maryland Sea Grant College. Their goal is to
provide a preliminary view of demographic processes
that determine the likelihood of success in oyster
restoration and the likely rate of restoration enhancement.
Co-Pis Drs. Ronald Weiner and Steve Hutcheson, CBMG,
received a one-year $62K UM Maryland Sea Grant College
award to study "Chitinosomes in Microbulbiger
Degradens."
Publications and Honors -
Dr. Millard Alexander, Chemistry & Biochemistry,
and colleagues published a paper in Science (Apr 26
2002: 715-718) entitled "Theoretical Study of
the Validity of the Born-Oppenheimer Approximation
in the Cl + H2 HCl + H Reaction" (Millard H.
Alexander, Gabriella Capecchi, and Hans-Joachim
Werner). A perspective on the article by David Manolopoulos
can be found on page 664.
The research of Drs. Galen Dively and Pedro Barbosa,
Entomology, was featured in the new "Researching
Maryland" series on University of Maryland television.
Dr. Catherine Fenselau, Chemistry & Biochemistry,
participated in the symposium on National Security
and Homeland Defense organized by the American Chemical
Society's Committee on Science. This event demonstrated
that the chemical sciences can be of enormous assistance
in this time of national need.
Dr. William Lamp, Entomology, is one of just two faculty
on campus to win a 2002 "Faculty Mentor of the
Year" Award from the Office of Undergraduate
Studies.
Mike Raupp was recently elected President of the Entomological
Society of America, Eastern Branch.
Congratulations to Dr. Steve Rokita, Chemistry &
Biochemistry, and his collaborators whose invention
entitled "Novel Copper Complexes as Anti-Cancer
Agents" won Life Sciences Invention of the Year.
Steve's co-inventors are: Ken Karlin (Johns Hopkins),
Kristi Humphreys, Lei Li, and Narasimha Murthy. Congratulations
to the other finalists for the award: Dr. Jeff Davis,
Chemistry & Biochemistry, whose invention is entitled
"Self-Assembling Ion Channel and Its Potential
as an Antibiotic" (with co-inventors Vladimir
Sidorov, and Krank Kotch); and the invention "Peptide
Vaccine for Staphylococcal Enterotoxins" by Dr.
Carol Pontzer of CBMG, Jeffrey Shupp, and Marti Jett.
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Outstanding
Faculty and Advisor Awards
On May 6, the
University of Maryland Parent’s Association
and the Provost honored the nominees for the Outstanding
Faculty and Advisors for 2002. Of the nominees
in the faculty category, the University was pleased
to honor Drs. Jeff Davis and Rob Walker, Chemistry
& Biochemistry, and Dr. Paul Jivoff, Biology.
A long list of outstanding advisor nominees from
our college included Dr. Matthew Hare, Biology;
Drs. Jeff DeStefano, Angela Caines, and Richard
Stewart, CBMG; Dr. Andrew Morehead, Chemistry
& Biochemistry; and Ms. Eden Garosi and Dr.
Kaci Thompson, College of Life Sciences. Special
congratulations go to Rob Walker and Andy Morehead
for being selected as Faculty Member and Advisor
of the Year, respectively. Our warmest congratulations
go to all the nominees who exemplify the high
quality of our faculty and staff.
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IN
THE NEWS
In the US News and World Report issue
devoted to the Best Graduate
Schools (2003 Edition),
Matt Cimino, a CBMG graduate student working in
Dr.
Chuck Delwiche's lab, is featured with picture in
an article entitled "Picking a Dream Job"
on p. 81. On p. 82 the University is ranked in a tie
as the 45th best Biological Sciences Ph.D program
and the 43rd best Chemistry Ph. D. program among all
universities, medical schools, and research institutes.
The advanced analytical study of proteins is the
next major development
stage in understanding the
mechanisms of life, according to some scientists.
Dr. Catherine Fenselau, Chemistry & Biochemistry,
predicts proteomics will have enormous implications
for science and will create a range of new business
opportunities. Chemical Engineering News, April 8.
http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/80/i14/html/8014sci3.html
Nuclear
physicists want two new major facilities in a time
of tight money: The Rare Isotope Accelerator and the
National Underground Science Laboratory. Dr. Alice
Mignerey, Chemistry & Biochemistry, reports that
locating the latter in South Dakota, home of Senate
Majority Leader Tom Daschle, was driven by science,
not politics. Nature, April 4
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v416/n6880/full/416466b_fs.html
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ALUMNI
& STUDENT NEWS
Admissions has now finished the merit
scholarship award process. This year, 36 Life Sciences
students have been awarded the Banneker/Key full 4-year
scholarship. In addition to this, 23 semifinalists
were awarded the $500 Life Sciences Dean's Scholarship
as well as the $4500 President's Scholarship, for
a total of $5000 a year for four years. In comparison,
last year we had 30 Banneker/Key and 17 semifinalists.
Tracy
Appelbaum (B.S. May 2001) will be entering veterinary
school at Iowa State University this fall.
Chris
Desjardins, graduate student in Entomology, received
an NSF Dissertation Improvement grant to fund his
work on systematics of parasitic wasps.
Beth Erlichman
(B.S. May 2001) is completing an IRTA fellowship at
NIH and has received a fellowship to pursue a Ph.D.
in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of
Texas, Austin.
Cephalon, Inc., (CEPH) announced
the recent appointment of John M. Farah, PhD to vice
president, Worldwide Business Development. He received
his doctorate in physiology in 1985 from the Uniformed
Services University in Bethesda, Maryland, and his
bachelor of science degree in zoology from the University
of Maryland
Elizabeth Flynn (B.S. May, 2002) has
received a fellowship to pursue her Ph.D. in the Boston
University Marine Program/Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution.
Megan McCarthy (B.S. May 2001), now
pursuing a Ph.D in Evolutionary Biology at the University
of Arizona, was awarded a National Science Foundation
pre-Doctoral Fellowship. Other recent University of
Maryland alums and current graduate students received
honorable mentions in this competition: Nassim Ebrahimi,
Erin Gillam, Brian Higgins, Jeffery Molk, Carolyn
Searce.
Bruce F. Molino, Ph.D. was promoted to
the position of senior director, medicinal chemistry
at Albany Molecular Research, Inc. He obtained his
Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of
Maryland.
Anoma Nellore, who is graduating this
semester in Biochemistry, received a Jack Kent Cooke
Scholarship and the 2002 University Medal. Anoma and
Fasika and Tinsay Woreta, allBiochemistry seniors,
also won the Jack Kent Cooke scholarships, which provide
full support for medical or professional schools.
Emily
Payne, Chemistry & Biochemistry, received a National
Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship.
Granted by the American Association for Engineering
Education and the Department of Defense, this award
covers tuition and fees and provides a living stipend
for three years of her graduate work at Wisconsin.
Jennifer
Sandor (B.S. May 2001) will pursue a Masters of Public
Health in Epidemiology at the University of Michigan
in Fall 2002.
Jeff Shupp (B.S. May 2001) has been
admitted to medical school at the Medical College
of Virginia.
Jason South, a doctoral student in
the BEES program working with Jerry
Wilkinson and
Devra Kleiman, received a $3000 grant from the Cleveland
Zoological Society for his thesis research entitled
"Mating System, Social Organization, and Dispersal
of Bornean Treeshrews."
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HHMI
Spring 2002 Awards
The Howard Hughes Medical
Institute Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Program
is pleased to announce the recipients of spring
2002 awards. The fellowships provide a stipend of
up to $5000/year, research supply funds and support
for travel to professional meetings to present research
results. 22 applications were received and 18 new
fellowships were awarded. The new HHMI fellows are:
Michael
Sheer
Sarah Nourse
Ebrahim Paryavi
David Greenwald
Avni Shah
Vance Barse
Hawaa Almansouri
Maura
Iezzi
Michael TerAvest
Hojun Li
Amirparviz
Davoody
Katie Bittner
Dan Gozhansky
Madhumitha
Nandakumar
Christopher Wohn
Joseph Hickey
Matthew
Elrick
Faten Deeb
Eleven current HHMI fellows
received renewals of their fellowships.
These
are:
Carl R. Eby III
Elizabeth Flynn
James
Charity
Elinor Lichtenberg
Esteban Carrizosa
Yana Tsygansky
Natalie Dye
Daniel Paluchowski
Christian Reusche
Jessica Nelson
Naser Jaleel
For
more information about the HHMI Undergraduate Research
Fellowship
Program, visit our web site <www.life.umd.edu/hhmi>
or contact Dr. Kaci
Thompson (email: hhmi@umail.umd.edu,
phone: 301-405-3353).
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University
of Maryland Technology Mixer
May 20th
5-7pm at the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing
Arts
The Second Annual University of Maryland Business
and Technology Mixer
promises to be one of the year's best technology-based
social events. Network with colleagues from across
Maryland and the Greater Washington, D.C. Metropolitan
Area! Meet top-notch researchers from the state's
flagship University and other leading research institutions!
A special feature of this year's mixer will be a focus
on Maryland federal laboratories. Representatives
from local labs will on-hand that day.
Don't miss one of the year's hottest events!
Complimentary drinks and hors d’oeuvres will
be served!
For more information, and to register, visit the Technology
Council of
Maryland's web page <http://www.mdhitech.org/Calendar/html/162.html>
!
Directions <http://www.claricesmithcenter.umd.edu/cs/about_vis.html>
to
the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
For more information about the Technology Mixer, contact
the Office of
Special Events, at 301-405-4638, or at events@accmail.umd.edu.
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Success
at JSHS and Thank You!
The Maryland Regional 2002 JSHS Finalist
selected by our judges was selected as a 2002 JSHS
National Finalist at the recent National JSHS Symposium
held in San Diego. Her name is Qilei Hang and she
is from Allegany High School in Cumberland, Maryland.
Her topic was the "Optimization of the Location
of the Two Drawpoint Holes in Conical Stockpiles".
Ms. Hang will receive $16,000 as a National Finalist
in addition to the $4,000 she received as a Regional
Finalist. Additionally, she receives an expense paid
trip to the London International Youth Forum, an exchange
program bringing together over 400 participants from
60 nations. She is one of eight National Finalists
selected from the 49 Regional Finalists competing
at the National Symposium. Our thanks go to the judges,
Drs. Reid Compton, Sam Joseph, Andrew Morehead, Gary
Pertmer, and Sudarshan Chawathe for their hard work
and to Dr. Amel Anderson and Ms. Bobbi Donley for
coordinating the symposium.
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Arabidopsis
thaliana Research Initiative
at
University of Maryland (ATRIUM)
ATRIUM, a new initiative
within the College, brings together a highly interactive
group to further enhance the College’s notable
strength in plant biology. The 41 members, all of
whom are located on the campus, include PIs, postdocs,
graduate students and undergraduates in CBMG (29 members),
Biology (3 members), CAB (8 members) and NRSL (1 member).
This energetic group has met and begun to set their
sights on the submission of a training grant proposal.
Dr. Caren Chang, CBMG, directs the group and has established
a listserv and a web page. http://www.life.umd.edu/labs/atrium/
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Chemistry
Atrium Construction Bids
Dr. Phil DeShong, Chemistry & Biochemistry,
is pleased to announce that
the first round of bids
on the Atrium construction has been finalized.
The
bids came in under estimate and construction will
begin as soon as
the semester ends. Hurray!
Many
thanks to all who have worked so hard to get to this
stage,
particularly Bill Olen, Steve Rokita, Linda
Zappasodi, and Vicki Levy.
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FUNDING
ALERTS
List of
Funding Alerts - The list of funding alerts is lengthy.
Community of Science Database of Funding
-
If you want information about the Community of Science
database of funding sources go to the Office of Research
Administration and Advancement at http://www.umresearch.umd.edu/ORAA/.
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How
to Post your NEWS!
If
you would like to share your accomplishments or other
news, please send a note to Gene Ferrick at gferrick@deans.umd.edu.
Issues are usually sent at the beginning of each month.
Maintained by
Gene Ferrick - gferrick@deans.umd.edu.
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