August 2007

NEW STUDENTS

The new students joining the department are: Beyte Barrios (Major Advisor: Suzanne Koptur), Angelle Bullard-Roberts (Major Advisor: Brad Bennett), Kathryn Cameron (Major Advisor: Mike Heithaus), Vanessa Haley (Major Advisor: Craig Layman), Robert Hegna (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly), Ivan Jozic (Major Advisor: Alejandro Barbieri), Elizabeth Lacey (Major Advisor: Jim Fourqurean), Justin Nowakowski (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly), Paulo Olivas (Major Advisor: Steve Oberbauer), Adam Rosenblatt (Major Advisor: Mike Heithaus), Tong Sun (Major Advisor: Leung Kim), and Lauren Yeager (Major Advisor: Craig Layman). Welcome to all new and returning students!

DEPARTMENTAL SEMINARS

Nikunj Patel (Major Advisor: Ophelia Weeks) will present his doctoral dissertation proposal seminar entitled “Contribution of the Vasculature to the Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) Process” on 28 August 2007 at 11:30 am in GC 314.

Claude Volmar (Major Advisor: Ophelia Weeks) will present his dissertation proposal seminar entitled “Relevance of CD40/CD40L Downstream Pathways to Alzheimer’s Disease” on 28 August 2007 at 2:30 pm in GC 314.

GRANTS & AWARDS

Theresa Meis Chomanski (Major Advisor: Jennifer Richards) received a grant from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission ($3,350) to support her research project entitled: “Morphological and Anotomical Analysis of Three Common Everglades Bladderwort Species: Utricularia gibba, Utricularia subulata, and Utricularia cornuta”. Congratulations Theresa!

Lauren Yeager (Major Advisor: Craig Layman) came to FIU with a three-year Graduate Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Congratulations Lauren!

PUBLICATIONS

Laura May-Collado (Major Advisor: Doug Wartzok) recently learned that one of the papers from her dissertation has been accepted for publication in the online journal Evolutionary Biology: May-Collado, L.J., I. Agnarsson, and W. Wartzok. Phylogenetic review of tonal sound production in whales in relation to sociality. Congratulations Laura!

Derek Burkholder (Major Advisor: Mike Heithaus) recently published a co-authored paper: Heithaus, M.R., A. Frid, A.J. Wirsing, L.M. Dill, J.W. Fourqurean, D. Burkholder, J. Thomson, and L. Bejder. 2007. State-dependent risk-taking by green sea turtles mediates top-down effects of tiger shark intimidation in a marine ecosystem. Journal of Animal Ecology 76: 837-844. Congratulations Derek!

Jamie Myers (Major Advisor: Laurie Richardson) recently published a co-authored paper: Myers, J.L., R. Sekar and L.L. Richardson. 2007. Molecular detection and ecological significance of the cyanobacterial genera Geitlerinema and Leptolyngbya in black band disease of corals. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 73:5173-5182. Congratulations Jamie!

CLUB ACTIVITIES

The MCB club held its first meeting of the semester on 29 August 2007.

FORMER STUDENTS

Roman Garcia (Major Advisor: Lidia Kos) has accepted a one-year position as a Visiting Lecturer in Biological Sciences at FIU. Roman will teach General Biology I, Cell Biology and other elective courses. Congratulations Roman!

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