AWARDS AND HONORS

A. UNIVERSITY

No

Date

Honor

11

2009

DNA Panel Discussion Member, "Genetic Portraits”, April 22^nd, Frost Art Museum, Florida International University.

Discussion on DNA & art that featured artists Nela Ochoa & Xavier Cortada along with Prof. Rene J. Herrera and me.

10

03/2008

Invited Lecture: 9^th Comparative Immunology Symposium. Immunodiversity: Cellular and molecular interactions. Miami, FL. Mar 6^th – 7^th. Dynamics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa genome evolution.

9

2007

Delivered the Faculty Invocation at the 2007 Faculty Convocation at the Florida International University, October 5^th, 2007, Miami, FL.

8

03/2007

Invited Lecture: 8^th Biomedical and Comparative Immunology Symposium. Immunodiversity: Cellular and molecular interactions. The ability of the South Florida medicinal plants to inhibit bacterial virulence through interruption of cell-cell communication.

7

2006

Day 25^th of  “The FIU Would-Class Campaign” that showcased the quality and excellence in FIU in the Miami Herald in a 30-day series of full-page advertisements.

6

07/2005

Second Annual McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program 2005 Summer Research Institute Closing Ceremony, FIU. How does one measure the success of the McNair Program?

5

03/2005

Invited Lecture: 7^th Comparative Immunology Symposium. Immunodiversity: Cellular and molecular interactions. Pseudomonas aeruginosa AmpR is a global transcriptional factor that regulates expression of AmpC and PoxB b-lactamases, proteases, quorum sensing and other virulence factors.

4

02/2005

Annual FIU College of Science’s External Advisory Board Meeting, Colonnade Hotel, Coral Gables, Miami Florida. Biomedical and forensic research training: The role of students.

3

2004

Featured in “Faculty Profiles”, Fall 2004 FIU Magazine.

2

2004

Miami Herald article about my lab and research was featured in FIU home page as a banner article.

1

2004

FIU – Excellence in Research Award (Carries a monetary value of $3,000).

B. LOCAL

No

Date

Honor

4

06/2009

Invited Lecture: Grand Rounds at Mount Sinai Hospital, Miami Beach, Florida. June 19^th. Pseudomonas aeruginosa: How do we combat chronic infections in cystic fibrosis?

3

03/2009

Invited Lecture: Grand Rounds, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Miami, FL. March 4^th. Molecular genetic studies of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pathogenicity.

2

2008

Beauty and the Best Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Community and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, South Florida Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

1

2004

Article featured my lab and the research on Sunday Nov 14th issue of Miami Herald

C. NATIONAL

No

Date

Honor

10

2009

Associate Editor, BMC Microbiology.

9

2008

American Society for Microbiology Travel Award to India (deferred till 2010).

8

11/2008

Invited Lecture: Vaccination. St. Lucie – Okeechobee County Medical Society Annual Education Conference. St. Lucie, FL

7

10/2008

Invited Lecture: Pseudomonas aeruginosa and cystic fibrosis. Wright Symposium. Jackson Laboratories, Oct 1^st – 5^th. Bangor, Maine.

6

02/2007

Invited Lecture: Pseudomonas aeruginosa amp genes and ß-lactam resistance.  Lory Lab Meeting, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

5

09/2006

Invited Lecture: Pseudomonas aeruginosa algO encodes a putative periplasmic protease that is a positive regulator of alginate production, Lory Lab Meeting, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

4

09/2006

Invited Lecture: Pseudomonas aeruginosa algO encodes a putative periplasmic protease that is a positive regulator of alginate production. MGH Monthly Pathogenesis Club, Department of Molecular Biology. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

3

2003

Appointed as a member of American Society for Microbiology Committee on Personnel Planning for the period of 7/03 to 6/06.

2

2003

ZIA Symposium Scholarship to participate at their 2003 Zia Symposium on Research Careers in Bioinformatics: An Emerging Challenge for Undergraduate Education. New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico. March 14th – 15th, 2003

1

2002

I was invited to attend an exclusive meeting on “Phage therapy – Potential and Challenges” held at The Banbury Center, Cold Spring harbor Laboratory, 13-15 November 2002.

D. INTERNATIONAL

No

Date

Honor

10

2009

Associate Editor, Journal of Medical Microbiology (a SGM Journal based in United Kingdom) on 05/200

9

01/2008

Session Chair, 10^th Asian-Pacific Conference on Transcription (ACT-X), Jan 13^th – 16^th, Bangalore, India.

8

01/2008

Invited Lecture: Regions of genome plasticity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa revealed by comparative genomics. 10^th Asian-Pacific Conference on Transcription (ACT-X), Jan 13^th – 16^th, Bangalore, India.

7

12/2007

Invited Lecture: Potential application of microbial metagenome profiling using amplicon length heterogeneity-polymerase chain reaction (ALH-PCR) for polymicrobial diseases. Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.

6

11/2006

Invited Lecture: Potential application of microbial metagenome profiling using amplicon length heterogeneity-polymerase chain reaction (ALH-PCR) for crime scene investigations. 1^st First International Conference on Forensic Science, Costa Rica.

5

12/2005

Session Chair, 9^th Asian-Pacific Conference on Transcription (ACT-IX), Dec 12^th – 15^th, Taipei, Taiwan.

4

12/2005

Invited Lecture: Prc(tsp), a novel protease involved in the regulation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa extracytoplasmic function sigma factor AlgT/U. 9^th Asian Conference on Transcription (ACT-IX), Taipei, Taiwan.

3

2003

Session Chair, 8th Asian Conference on Transcription (ACT-VIII), Bangkok, Thailand. Nov. 16th – 19th.

2

2002

Chair, Scientific Organizing Committee, 7th Asian Conference on Transcription. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. July 23rd – 27th, 2002 www.fiu.edu/~act_vii. (Check the website for comments from attendees)

1

2000

Ranjit Bhagwan Singh Fellowship. Invited by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia to conduct a one-week workshop on “Bacteria Cell-to-Cell Communication” under the program of The Dr. Ranjit Bhagwan Singh Medical Research Fund on 17-20th October 2000, at University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.