Inaugural College
of Biological Sciences Forum
The first CBS Forum – “A Transition from Academic to Applied
Science: The Importance of a Minnesota Education,” with Professor
Gary Nelsestuen, Samuel Kirkwood Chair in Biochemistry – is at
3 p.m. on Friday, November, 22 in 3-120 MCB. The purpose of the forum
is to broaden understanding of advances in all areas of biology because
of growing connections among those areas. The series features leading
researchers from the college’s four departments. The idea for
a CBS forum grew out of a lecture and reception hosted by the college
last February to honor David Tilman when he was named McKnight Presidential
Professor of Ecology. For more information, contact Ann Johnson, 626-2127.
New faculty boost
research enterprise
Hiring new faculty with the combined resources of the MCB Initiative
and reallocation has had a transforming impact on the research enterprise,
as evidenced by a dramatic surge in new grants awarded to faculty in
the core departments. In the Department of Plant Biology, 10 new faculty
hired in the past two years have obtained 12 grants (from NSF, USDA,
DOE, NIH, Packard Foundation). In the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular
Biology, and Biophysics (BMBB), eight faculty hired in the past three
years have been awarded 11 multi-year national grants (AHA, NIH, NSF).
And in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development nine
new faculty have brought in 11 grants from national and local sources.
Regents approve U’s
Legislative Request
Regents have approved the $96 million legislative request proposed by
President Robert Bruininks for the 2003-04 biennium, which is the smallest
in a decade. The University will fund half of its needs, through a 4.5
percent annual tuition increase and a budget cut and reallocations totaling
2.5 percent of the university's $1.8 billion budget. The request will
support four priorities: academic investments; competitive faculty and
staff compensation (a 2.5 percent increase plus a $15 million competitive
market and merit pool); improvements in the student experience; and
maintenance of the academic infrastructure (which includes libraries,
technology, research equipment, and facilities). Bruininks expressed
optimism about working with the newly elected governor and legislators.
"Governor-elect Pawlenty is a University graduate and has a deep
understanding of the University's mission and value to the state of
Minnesota. I look forward to working with him," he said.
Cedar Creek featured
on Science Coalition
 Cedar
Creek is an “ecologist's dream mix of ecosystems,”
according to sciencecoalition.org. The Web site highlighted
research at the University of Minnesota, leading with a piece
called 60 Years at Cedar Creek. The article also highlights
research done by David Tilman and Sarah Hobbie.
|
Mentor program off
to great start
More than 90 alumni and students attended the Mentor Program Kick-off
event on November 7 at the St. Paul Student Center. This was the first
time that many of the mentors had the chance to meet their mentees.
The pairs got acquainted with each other and learned about the Mentor
Connection program from Judy Anderson, UMAA. Dean Elde thanked the alumni
for sharing their time and experiences, and, he acknowledged the students
for seizing an opportunity to learn outside the classroom.
Office for Post Doctoral
Affairs
Due to the growing number of post-docs at the University, CBS and other
colleges have assisted the Graduate School in establishing the Office
of Post Doctoral Affairs. The purpose of the office will be to ensure
fair employment conditions, enhance the quality of training post-docs,
provide guidance to new post-docs, support the vitality of the Postdoc
Association, and serve as a central point for information. Esam El-Fakahany,
associate dean of the Graduate School, will serve as director. To become
involved in the Postdoc Association, contact El-Fakahany, elfak0001@umn.edu.
Know any outstanding
undergrads?
USA Today is looking for nominations for its All-USA College
Academic Team. They are seeking outstanding undergraduates at the nation's
four-year colleges. Each year 20 students are named to the USA Today
First Team. Students selected will be profiled in USA Today in February.
For more information on nomination visit: http://www.usatoday.com/html/life/academic/2002-09-06-collintro.htm.
Henrietta
Miller,
retired staff member of BMBB, poses next to her newly installed
plaque in the Henrietta  Miller
Garden, located in front of Gortner Laboratories. The garden was
dedicated to Henrietta on her retirement in 1983 after more than
40 years of dedicated service to the department. Henrietta and
her husband, Phil, have remained very involved with the CBS community |
Cynthia Weinig,
new member of the Department of Plant Biology faculty, has received
a Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation’s
Plant Genomics Research Project (PGRP). Weinig uses Arabidopsis
to study evolution of plant fitness to the environment. She and her
collaborator, Julin Maloof at UC Davis, are interested in understanding
how selection acts on crowding responses in agricultural settings. More
specifically, plants can modify their phenotype (for instance, shape
or form) in response to crowding and the onset of competition for sunlight.
There is now strong evidence that flexible developmental responses to
crowding, such as stem elongation, confer a fitness advantage to individual
plants in natural settings.
Sarah Hobbie
and Kendra Mclauchlan, EEB, received $70,00 from the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to study the importance of soil texture
and vegetation type in influencing the dynamics of primary production,
soil organic matter, and soil fertility on former agricultural lands.
The Lake Itasca Biological
Station received $50,000 from the estate of Thomas Morley,
plant biology. Morley, who came to the University in 1949, was an expert
on Minnesota’s native flora. He is remembered for his daily walks
to work across the expanse of experimental fields, even in the coldest
winters, and climbing the eight flights of stairs to his office, which
he did until the day before his death last February. For more information
on planned giving, contact Janene Connelly, connelly@cbs.umn.edu.
Wallace Dayton,
a longtime supporter of the Bell Museum, passed away on October 27,
at the age of 85. Dayton gave up a career in the department store business
in 1967 to devote his time and money to conservation. On a national
level, he served at the highest levels of organizations such as the
National Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy, the Wilderness Society,
the World Wildlife Fund, and the Sierra Club. On a local level, he established
a number of fellowships for field biology at the University and was
very involved with the Bell Museum
Calendar
November 14
"Mn2+Homeostasis, Central Carbon Metabolism and Salmonella
Pathogenesis."
Mike McGuire, Case Western Reserve University.
12 noon 2-101 BSBE
Contact: Rob Brooker, 624-3053
November 14
"Molecular Systematics Reveal the Geographic Origin of
Songbirds."
F. Keith Barker, the Bell Museum of Natural History.
12 noon 150 Ecology
Contact: Scott Lanyon, 624-7217
November 21
"Lipomics and Genomics in Zebrafish: Visualizing Lipid
Metabolism in Vivo Lipids." Steven A. Farber, Thomas Jefferson
University.
12 noon 2-101 BSBE
Contact: Steve Ekker, 626-4509
November 22
Inaugural CBS Forum. “A Transition From Academic to Applied
Science: The Importance of a Minnesota Education.”
Gary Nelsestuen, BMBB, Samuel Kirkwood Chair in Biochemistry.
3 p.m. 3-120 MCB
Contact: Ann Johnson, 626-2127
November 22
"MixAlco Process: Biomass to Feuls and Chemicals"
Mark Holtzapple, Texas A&M University
12 noon 239 Gortner
Contact: Larry Wackett, 625-3785
February 12
NSF Workshop
7:30 a.m. rooms 135 B and D Earle Brown Center
March 6
Presentation of Outstanding Achievement Award to Douglas DeMaster,
Ph.D. '78 EEB, Director of Alaska Fisheries Science Center.
Lecture, "Impossible Problems, Improbable Solutions:The Life of a
Wildlife Biologist in a Federal Regulatory Agency," to follow.
4 p.m., Earle Brown Center
Contact: Lija Greenseid, lgreense@cbs.umn.edu.
University's
$510,000 share of the grant. “In assembling the family tree
of fungi, our team will look at multiple genes and structural
characteristics across a broad spectrum of fungi and put them
in a database,” McLaughlin says. "Here at the University
of Minnesota, we're studying subcellular characters. Many
ultrastructural characters, such as those associated with nuclear
division, have proven to be useful phylogenetic indicators. Our
role will be to compile the existing data into a web accessible
database as well as to gather new information, especially where
there are major gaps in the data, he added." The study
could point researchers to species of fungi that, by virtue of
their relatedness to medically or commercially important species,
may produce new drugs or other useful products.McLaughlin says
the evolutionary line leading to fungi split from lines leading
to plants and animals more than 1.5 billion years ago. In 1995,
researchers determined that fungi are more closely related to
animals than to plants, McLaughlin says. Only 5-10 percent of
an estimated 1.5 million fungi species are known.
