2003 Archived News

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• 10-23-03 -The Department of Biological Sciences' Stream Team Investigates Nitrogen in Streams!
  
• 10-14-03 - Department of Biological Sciences Position Opening:
  
• 10-1-03 - Department of Biological Sciences Position Openings:
  
• 9-9-03 - Edward Wojcik recently discovered that he is in the enviable position of having to choose between an awarded 4-year NSF grant or a 5-year NIH grant. Funding begins in December for either one.
  
• 9-9-03 - Mark your calendars alumni! We are planning a special event just for you in conjunction with the BC vs. VT game on Saturday, November 22nd. Details to come soon!
  
• 8-28-03 - Announcing the First Annual Department of Biological Sciences Research Extravaganza - September 19, 2003
  
• The purposes of the research day are to:
  • Provide the opportunity for graduate students to present their research to their colleagues
  • Inform incoming graduate and undergraduate students of the diversity of research interests in the department
  • Create an atmosphere where students, faculty, and staff from the 4 major department subdivisions can interact
    
  • Posters Wanted

  • Graduate students in Biological Sciencies are invited to participate by presenting a poster, either new or from within the last several months
  • Posters should be no larger than 3 feet tall by 4 feet wide

  • Abstracts:
    • Submit an abstract by September 15. The submission should include: poster title, author(s), 250 word abstract. Please send abstracts to Tracey (tslotta@vt.edu) as an attached Microsoft Word document.
      
  • Proposed Schedule
    • Noon to 2 PM Student hang their posters in the Pamplin Atrium
    • 2 PM to 3 PM Selected Poster Q&A (even numbered posters)
    • 3 PM to 4 PM Selected Poster Q&A (odd numbered posters)
    • 4 PM to 5:15 PM Research Day Remarks in Pamplin Hall, Room 30
    • Introduction: Dr. Bob Jones
    • Evolution and Systematics Division: Tracey Slotta
    • Ecology and Environmental Biology Division: Dr. Maury Valett
    • Microbiology and Immunology Division: Dr. Ann Stevens
    • Cellular and Molecular/Computational Biology Division: Chris Dana
      
  • The Department of Biological Sciences Picnic will follow at 5:30 PM at the Turf Grass Center
  • We encourage Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Students to announce the symposium to their classes and encourage their students to attend the poster session.
    
• 8-27-03 - Joe Falkinham was awarded the Gardner Middlebrook Award for "Significant Contributions to Mycobacteriology" at the American society for Microbiology meeting in May 2003. The Award is sponsored by Becton Dickinson Diagnostic Systems.
  
• 8-27-03 - Melanie Huffman is proud to announce that her son, Brandon Williams, received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering here at Virginia Tech in May 2003. Her daughter, Lindsey Williams, graduated from Giles High School in June, 2003, and is entering Virginia Tech this fall.
• 8-26-03 - From Mike Rosenzweig Through the support of the Research Division and Outreach Division Chiefs, our vibrant Natural History Museum’s public outreach education program will be saved and hopefully better noticed and taken advantage of by research faculty. The new program is called the VT Science Outreach Coop and Museum (SOCM).We are a University-wide program, but our home-base will be in Biology. We look forward to working as a team with Biology faculty towards increasing our grant funding and public outreach. SOCM will be moved in Derring Hall by mid-November.
• During FY 2003, SOCM directly served 15,000 K-12 teachers and students in rural southwestern Virginia.
  
• 8-22-03 - Muriel Lederman has an wonderful year thus far! Muriel won the Advancing Women Award for 2003 from the Women's Center at Virginia Tech and an award from NSF "Teaching Science with the Social Studies of Science for Gender Equity" with co-PI's Rebecca Scheckler and Jill Sible. In addition, Muriel contributed papers to the meeting of the International Society for the History Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology in Vienna in July, the National Women's Studies Association in New Orleans in June, and the southeastern Women's Studies Association meeting in March in Blacksburg. Her younger daughter Hannah, who did research with Brenda Winkel and Karen Brewer when she was still in college, was married in June. Rich Walker managed to snap a picture of an important memento of the ceremony.
  
• 8-22-03 - Robin Andrews received a three year renewal of her Morris Animal Foundation Grant for studies on the effects of incubation temperature on embryonic development and phenotypic characteristics of post-hatching individuals. In addition, she saw publication of the 3rd edition of the co-authored textbook, 'Herpetology' and was invited to write a review chapter on embryonic development for a book titled 'Reptilian Incubation: Environment and Behavior'. The book is scheduled for publication in early 2004. Robin was also elected President of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles to serve 2005-2006.
  
• 8-22-03 - Charles Rutherford Natasha Wiles, and Brad Joyce attended the 2003 International Dictyostelium conference in July in Lorne Australia. Natasha Wiles was awarded the best student paper in Biology at the meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science, held in Charlottesville.
  
• 8-20-03 - Brent Opell has been invited to participate in a DuPont Chesapeake Conference on "Bio-inspired micro-attachment devices" that will be held September 9-12 in Chesapeake Farms, Maryland. He will give a presentation entitled "The evolution of adhesive mechanisms in spider prey capture threads." DuPont has initiated a series of these small conferences, modeled loosely after the Gordon conferences, to focus on emerging science areas that may be new to DuPont, to establish/bolster links with the academic community in these areas, and to provide an interesting forum for invitees to exchange ideas. This conference includes presentations by nine researchers from universities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe and by nine researchers from DuPont.