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| Department of Biology Newsletter - Spring 2000 |
 Mike, Jeff and Pat |
The weather was perfect, sunny with a chill in the air. After a brief lesson on how to ride a horse by our guide Jack Rich, I climbed on my horse Kiowa with some fear and trepidation. As we ascended into the heavens on a narrow mountain trail, I peered down at the steep drop and instantly realized how important Kiowa was to my survival. One misstep by this magnificent steed would send us both hurling into the abyss. Highlights of the trip were fly fishing for cutthroat trout in a mountain lake and a grizzly bear that jumped out on the trail within 30 yards of us.
What really made the day special were my two-legged companions. Pat and Jeff Aresty are a charming couple who on first meeting, felt like old friends. They graduated from UM in the mid 1970s with BS degrees in biology. They met in the spring of 1974 at UM's tropical biology field station, which was sandwiched between the towns of Quevedo and Santo Domingo de los Colorados in Ecuador. After graduation, Pat worked in biochemistry labs at UM while Jeff worked for Everglades National Park on an alligator tagging project. Pat and Jeff graduated with Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the University of Nebraska in Omaha in the early 1980s.
After returning to South Florida and staying for over 12 years, they relocated to Seeley Lake in the summer of 1995. Jeff is a pharmacy manager there while Pat is pleasantly retired.
It was 6:00 p.m. by the time we got the horses into the barn. I thanked our guide Jack, for all his patience with a city slicker from Miami. He truly made the ride a memorable one. We hopped into the Aresty's SUV and headed south to a popular Missoula restaurant. Jeff and Pat reminisced over dinner about their college days at UM. Some of their fondest memories were the weekly ornithology field trips with Bud Owre; hanging out at the bird range; visiting the Dry Tortugas; trips to Ecuador; and Bud Owre eating Vienna sausages. Pat and Jeff told me they are able to use their science education from UM everyday of their lives.
Late that night while laying awake on an uncomfortable bed in a dormitory on the University of Montana campus, I reflected on the days activities and in particular our conversation at dinner. I was touched that UM had such a positive impact on the lives of the Arestys. It made me feel what a privilege it is to be a faculty member in the Department of Biology.
Michael S. Gaines
Dr. Zhongmin (John) Lu |
The Department of Biology welcomes its newest faculty member, Dr. Zhongmin (John) Lu, who joined us in August, 1999. John received a B.S. degree (Summa Cum Laude) in Biology from Capital Normal University, Beijing, the People's Republic of China, and a M.S. degree in Neurophysiology from Yunnan University, Kunming. During his graduate studies in China, John developed his research interests in sensory processing, particularly auditory neurophysiology in aquatic vertebrates.
Influenced by his brother who was then studying at Caltech, CA, in 1989, John decided to pursue a Ph.D. degree in the United States. John was fortunate to work with two major authorities, Drs. Richard R. Fay and Arthur N. Popper, in the field of auditory research in fish. During his graduate studies at the Parmly Hearing Institute of Loyola University of Chicago, John was primarily trained in sensory neurophysiology with Dr. Fay. At the Parmly John's research focus was placed on frequency analysis (tuning and phase-locking) in the midbrain and thalamus of the goldfish brain. Frequency encoding is one of the most important functions of the auditory systems in animals including humans because frequency information tells animals the nature of a sound source (i.e., a predator or prey).
With Dr. Fay, John found that frequency selectivity (tuning) appears to be enhanced at the level of the midbrain and becomes broad in the thalamus, indicating that the auditory midbrain and thalamus may play different roles in frequency analysis. They proposed that the auditory midbrain of fish may contribute to analytic listening, while the thalamus seems to function in synthetic listening. In addition, using the two-tone interaction approach, John and Dr. Fay demonstrated that sharpness of tuning in the midbrain appears to result from lateral inhibition. Moreover, they found that phase-locking tends to decrease along the auditory pathway.
As a postdoctoral research associate at the Popper Lab, the University of Maryland, College Park, Dr. Lu learned anatomical and behavioral techniques for hearing research. Dr. Lu's attention started to focus on directional hearing in fish. It is known that terrestrial vertebrates, including humans, use biaural time and intensity differences to localize a sound source. How fish localize a sound source has been puzzling researchers for more than a half century since von Frisch. Dr. Lu's research project in mechanisms of sound localization by fish was awarded a Small Grant and First Award from the NIH. During his postdoctoral training, Dr. Lu's research interests were also involved in ultrasound detection in fish and aging in the fish auditory system.
At UM, Dr. Lu will continue to work on his NIH-funded project in mechanisms of directional encoding in the fish ear and extend it into central auditory processing of peripherally encoded directional information about a sound source. He is now developing a new technique to map out the auditory pathway from receptor cells all the way to neurons at higher levels in the brain by immunochemically labeling auditory neurons that were acoustically activated. The second direction of Dr. Lu's research, collaborating with Drs. Arthur Myrberg and John Stadler at the Marine Biology and Fisheries at RSMAS, is to study acoustic communication and species recognition in fish. The third line of Dr. Lu's research will center on the study of acoustically evoked neural responses from the brain of freely swimming fish. We wish Dr. Lu continued success in neurobiology.
Provost Glaser |
The Glaser family fled the Holocaust when he was only six and settled in Mexico where he grew up. As an undergraduate, he attended the University of Toronto with the intent of becoming a physician like his father. In his junior year, however, he met a very charismatic professor in the biochemistry department who altered the course of his life. Glaser decided to give up his pursuit of medicine in favor of entering a biochemistry program in graduate school. He received his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.
Through most of his career Dr. Glaser was foremost a teacher and a scholar. Over time he gradually assumed more administrative responsibilities. He was chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Director of the Division of Biological Studies at Washington University. He also was director of a large research laboratory with ten scientists and an annual budget over half a million dollars. Six months before coming to the University of Miami he was offered the directorship of a prestigious cancer research institute. The position was very similar to the one he held in St. Louis. Instead, Dr. Glaser opted for the provost position at the University of Miami. He was attracted to a relatively young university with its potential for innovation and growth. "It was an opportunity to do something very interesting and influence the development of a great institution," he said, "and I am glad I took it."
As the provost of a large and complex institution with about 2,000 faculty, 7,500 employees and an annual budget of $2 billion, Dr. Glaser has academic and fiscal responsibilities. He feels his greatest challenge is "helping to decide not between things that are good or bad but many things that are fundamentally right; those that will be best for the institution." Dr. Glaser recognizes that the core of the university is its people, so it is critical to make the right personnel decisions. "To the extent that you influence or have some control over the people that become part of the university family, if you do it right then the university will do well."
As a student who has had the good fortune of taking two courses with Provost Glaser, I can say unequivocally that he is an excellent teacher. He brings the latest information to classes, and more importantly, he is willing to spend time with his students being a teacher, mentor, advisor, and friend both in and out of the classroom. "I really like to teach, so it is an important thing for me to do," Dr. Glaser said. "If you have an administrative responsibility and you can teach you should teach because it is the reality of the university; it keeps you in touch with what it's really all about." It is surely difficult for a person with such a busy agenda to be so accessible to his students, but as he said, "this is something that I think I need to do, so I find the time."
Dr. Glaser also has hobbies that provide a respite from his hectic schedule. He enjoys reading and traveling to new places. He also values time with his "other" family outside the university.
I have heard it said that a great teacher can have a positive impact on their students' lives far into the future. Certainly this was the case for a young Luis Glaser who was influenced by his biochemistry professor to pursue an academic career. Likewise, I will cherish forever the gift of knowledge that Dr. Glaser gave me as a student in his class.
Meirelys Rodriguez, Biology Major
Dr. Theodore Fleming recently co-authored four papers on his research involving the interaction of cactus plants and their pollination. Three of them include: "V.J. Sosa and T.H. Fleming. 1999. Seedling performance in a trioecious cactus, Pachycereus pringlei: effects of maternity and paternity. Plant Systematics and Evolution 218: 145-151;" "J.N. Holland and T.H. Fleming 1999. Mutualistic interactions between Upiga virescens (Pyralidae), a pollinating seed consumer, and Lophocereus schottii (Cactaceae). Ecology 80: 2074-2084;" "J.N. Holland and T.H. Fleming. 1999. Geographic and population variation in pollinating seed-consuming interactions between senita cacti (Lophocereus schottii) and senita moths (Upiga virescens). Oecologia 121: 405-410."
Dr. Michael Gaines was a co-author of a book chapter entitled "Patterns and impacts of movements at different scales in small mammals" in Landscape Ecology. It is a synthesis of some of Gaines' work on the importance of scale in studies of habitat fragmentation.
Gaines received the 1999 Patrick Masala Award from the Multicultural Student Affairs office in recognition of his commitment and dedication to the lives of Black students at the University of Miami at the Senior Mwambo Ceremony.
Dr. Carol Horvitz was promoted to full professor. Congratulations! Carol published "Horvitz, C.C. and L. Sternberg. In press. 14C dating of treefalls on Barro Colorado Island (Panama): a new method to study tropical rain forest gap dynamics. Journal of Tropical Ecology.
Dr. Elli Kohen published two papers entitled "Multiprobe fluorescence imaging and microspectro-fluorimetry of cell transformation and differentiation: Implications in terms of applied biochemistry and biotechnology" and "Fluorescence spectral imaging of intracellular organelle interaction."
Dr. Julian Lee's book entitled "A Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Maya World, the Lowlands of Mexico, Belize, and Northern Guatemala" to be published by Cornell University Press, is scheduled to appear in March, 2000. He was elected President of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. His term of office begins on January 1, 2000. He was also elected to the Board of Governors of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Class of 2004.
Julian continues to serve as a member of the Declining Amphibian Population Task Force for Belize and as a member of the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Dr. Zhongmin (John) Lu submitted a research grant application (Change Grantee Institution) to the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the NIH in October, and he was awarded approximates $400,000 for his research in Sound Localization by Fish. Co-authored with Dr. Arthur N. Popper at the University of Maryland. Dr. Lu has a paper in press in Fisheries Research entitled "Structure-function relationships in fish otolith organs."
Since Dr. Lu joined the department in August, he has made significant progress in building a state-of-the-art neurobiology laboratory, which is equipped with four experimental setups. One is a completed neurophysiological setup including a shaker apparatus and other high-end equipment. This system is used to conduct experiments in sound localization by fish. In addition, an anatomical setup, containing a brand new Leica SM 2000 R sliding microtome with a freezing stage, Leica MZ8 stereomicroscope, and staining sets, will be used to perform brain sections and label auditory neurons in the brain. Furthermore, an imaging system, consisting of a Nikon E600 fluorescence compound microscope, cooled color CCD camera, scanner, color printer, and PC workstation, is assembled to visualize morphology of neurophysiologically characterized auditory neurons and identify loci of these neurons in the brain. Finally, Dr. Lu is building a behavioral setup to study acoustic communication in fish. Start-up funds were generously provided by the department, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Office of the Provost.
Prospective graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who are interested in auditory neurobiology may contact Dr. Lu at (305) 284-6813, or zlu@fig.cox.miami.edu.
Dr. Marion Preestresigned August 1999. She accepted a tenure track position at The Claremont Colleges in Southern California.
Dr. Stewart Schultzreceived an NSF grant for $164,000 to study inbreeding depression and the evolution of dioecy in higher plants, and published the following four papers: "Schultz, S.T. 1999. Can females benefit from selfing avoidance? Genetic associations and the evolution of plant gender. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 266: 1967-1974;" "Schultz, S.T., M. Lynch, and J. Willis. 1999. Spontaneous deleterious mutation in Arabidopsis thaliana. P.N.A.S. 96: 11393-11398;" "Lynch, M., J. Blanchard, D. Houle, T. Kibota, S.T. Schultz, L. Vassileiva, and J. Willis. 1999.
Perspective: Spontaneous deleterious mutation. Evolution 53: 645-663;" "Meyer, C., T. Gallo, and S.T. Schultz. 1999. Female dominance in captive red ruffed lemurs, Varecia variegata rubra (Primates, Lemuridae). Folia Primatologica 70: 358-361."
Stewart and Claudia are now the proud parents of a 9 lb. Baby girl, Annegret Claire. Congratulations!
Dr. John Stadler will join our department as a research fellow. John's research focus is on communication and species recognition in fish. He will be doing research on sound localization in fish at the auditory neurobiology lab.
Dr. Kathleen Sullivan Sealey was an invited speaker at Conference at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. in December 1999 to launch her book co-authored by Dr. Georgina Bustamante on "Setting Marine Conservation Priorities in Latin America and the Caribbean." This book was the product of a four-year project funded by the Biodiversity Support Program to develop a coastal classification scheme and tools for the evaluation of biological value and conservation's status of large coastal systems. The book was published by American Verde Press.
Dr. Sullivan Sealey completed a three-year project with the Nature Conservancy on water quality and condition of coral reefs in the Bahamas. This information was used by local governments and the Ministry of Tourism in the Bahamas to begin the process of integrated coastal zone management planning for popular out-island regions of the Bahamas.
Dr. Keith Waddington, along with undergraduate students Stephanie Lamenta and Melissa Jordon, probed the relationship between the bumble bee's perception of nectar concentration and response to variability in nectar rewards. He has continued his funded work on the distribution and abundance of pollinators in Everglades National Park. Waddington and co-workers are also determining the subspecies identification of honey-bees, including identification of africanized bees, in the Park and in other parts of southern Florida. Once africanized bees arrive in the Everglades, they hope to quantify their effects on the populations of native pollinators.
Dr. David Wilson's book, Introduction to Biology, has been published by Blackwell Science. It is a study-guide to first-year biology courses. He also authored a paper entitled "Mind-brain interaction and violation of physical laws" published in the Journal of Consciousness Studies in 1999. David's "Reflections on E.O. Wilson's views of free will" appeared in Explorations. As of August, Dr. Wilson serves as the University's Associate Provost for Instructional Advancement.
Dr. Theodore Fleming attended a September national conference on censusing bat populations held in Estes Park, Colorado, where he presented a paper entitled "Population trends in southwestern nectar-feeding bats." In October Ted attended the 29th annual Symposium on Bat Research in Madison, Wisconsin, where he presented a paper entitled "Why flower early? Unusual response by organ pipe cacti to a generalized bat pollinator."
At the October bat symposium Dr. Fleming was presented the Gerritt S. Miller Award for distinguished contributions to bat research. In 2000 he is serving as the President-elect of the Association for Tropical Biology. In spring 2000, his research on the pollination biology of Sonoran Desert cacti will be featured in Smithsonian magazine, in National Geographic, and on a TV special on endangered pollinators on the Turner Broadcasting System.
During the 1999-2000 academic year Ted is on sabbatical in Tucson, Arizona, where he is a Research Associate in Science and Conservation at the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum. Ted is working on a project funded by the Ted Turner Endangered Species Fund on the ecology and conservation of migratory pollinators.
Dr. Michael Gaines presented his work on microsatellite variation in marsh rice rats and silver rice rats inhabiting South Florida at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammologists in Seattle in June 1999. Daniel Wang and Colin Hughes were co-authors.
Gaines also was invited to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Program Directors Meeting in October 1999 to give a presentation about UM's outreach programs with Miami-Dade Community College and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. HHMI considers these to be model programs for other research universities across the nation.
Dr.Carol Horvitz was the Jean Andrews Visiting Professor of Botany, Department of Integrative Biology, Austin, Texas in March of last year. She gave three lectures on different aspects of her research: exotic vines in Florida, matrix models of spatiotemporal variation in demography, and specialization on ants and birds plant-seed-disperser interactions. In August 1999, Dr. Horvitz presented an invited paper in the Symposium on "Plant-Animal Interactions: Multidisciplinary Approaches" at the International Botanical Congress in St. Louis. This is a very large international meeting of botanists and is only held every six years. The paper, "Plant-animal interactions: variation, constraints and opportunities," was about how to deal with the effects of spatiotemporal variation in analyzing the effects of animals on plant fitness.
Dr. Horvitz was the 10th PRIA Invited Professor Chair from September 1999 - February 2000, during her sabbatical year. The Pole de Recherches et Innovations of Angers, France supported her travel and her stay in Angers to initiate a long-term collaborative research program on invasive exotic plant species of the Loire River Valley region at the Institut National d' Horticulture (INH). There she worked with former UM student Josiane Le Corff (Ph.D. 1992, Biology) to develop a database of all the exotic plant species of the region. She also presented a public lecture, "Impact de les plantes exotiques envhaissantes en La Floride."
Also in the fall, Dr. Horvitz was supported by her host institution in France to travel to a meeting in Italy to present a paper, co-authored by UM grad student Tony Koop, at the 5th International Conference of Invasive Alien Plants in Sardinia Italy, "Inhibition of forest succession by non-indigenous vines following a natural disturbance: a post-hurricane restoration experiment in Florida's subtropical forests."
While in Europe, Dr. Horvitz was invited to teach an intensive 1-week short course on matrix modeling of plant populations for graduate students at the Department of Plant Ecology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden in November. In addition to delivering six lectures, of which three were research seminars, she presented the students with a set of computer exercises each day and ran a workshop on the previous day's assignments.
Finally, in December, Dr. Horvitz was invited to speak at Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionelle et Evolutive, CNRS, Montpellier, France. There she spoke on demographic analysis of plant-animal interactions in variable environments (as at the IBC meeting) and served on the dissertation jury of Stephanie Carriere. Highlights of this visit included exchange of ideas with Doyle McKey, who is working on ant plants in Cameroon, and Martine Hossaert, who is working on scents in fig tree wasp specialization in Brunei, center of diversity of figs (former UM faculty colleagues).
Dr. Elli Kohen attended the conference entitled "Functional Imaging and Optical Manipulation of Living Cells and Tissues," part of SPIE's BiOS 2000 The International Symposium on Biomedical Optics, January 22-28, 2000, San Jose, CA.
Elli was recognized as the Outstanding Biology Educator for 1999 at the recognition ceremony.
In February Dr. Julian Lee gave an invited presentation to the Jacksonville Herpetological Society entitled "Evolution of a Neotropical herpetofauna: patterns and predictions in Yucatan."
In October he gave an invited presentation to the West Palm Beach Herpetological Society entitled "Reflections of a Herpetologist in tropical America."
In June, at the joint annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR), the Herpetologists' League (HL), and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) held at Penn State University, he gave an invited symposium presentation entitled "Evolution of a secondary sexual dimorphism in the toad, Bufo marinus."
Dr. Zhongmin (John) Lu attended the 1999 Annual Neuroscience Meeting in Miami Beach in October and presented his work on cytoarchitecture of the torus semicircularis of the sleeper goby. This work provided anatomical data for future studies in encoding of acoustic directional information by auditory neurons in the fish midbrain.
Dr. Lu was a co-author of a talk entitled "Some fish can detect ultrasound - but how? ", which was presented in Israel in 1999.
Dr. Lu was awarded a Knight Junior Faculty Fellowship from the Office of the Provost and the College of Arts and Sciences to help him set up an Auditory Neurobiology Laboratory.
Dr. Jeffrey Prince was awarded the University Teaching Award for 1999.
Dr. Kathleen (Sullivan) Sealey, with Dr. Emily Schmitt and Mr. Mark Chiappone, participated in the first conference hosted by the National Coral Reef Institute at Nova Southeastern University. Staff and students of the Marine Conservation Science Center contributed one invited talk, three oral presentations and 11 posters at the meeting on the "Scientific Aspects of Monitoring, Management and Restoration of Coral Reefs" held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Drs. William Searcy and Leonel Sternberg gave presentations on their research as part of Science Expo 2000. Expo was attended by secondary school teachers and students from across the State of Florida.
Dr. Richard Tokarz was an invited participant in a symposium on Comparative Vertebrate Reproduction at the 1999 meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (Denver, Colorado) and in a symposium on Anolis behavior at the 1999 joint meeting of ASIH, HL, and SSAR at Penn State University.
Dr. Keith Waddington was invited to speak at the XVI International Botanical Congress in St. Louis on subjective evaluation and choice behavior by nectar and pollen collecting bees. The talk is being published as a chapter in "Pollination Behaviour and its Implications for Plant Evolution" (Cambridge University Press).
Dr. David Wilson organized and led a symposium on public policies concerning herbal remedies and nutritional supplements at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America in San Francisco.
The Twelfth Annual Gifford Arboretum Lecture, the Gifford Arboretum Millennium Lecture, will be presented by Dr. Peter Ashton from Harvard University on April 13 at 7:30 p.m. in the Cox Lecture Hall, Room 126. Dr. Ashton's expertise ranges from the neotropics to the Asian tropics and from pure research to applied forest management. He will discuss issues that are crucial to the future of tropical forests in his presentation, "Researchers and Policy Makers Unite to Sustain Tropical Forests." The evening's festivities will begin with a tour of the Gifford Arboretum, at 6 p.m., and conclude with a reception after the lecture. The presentation will be co-hosted by the Friends of the Gifford Arboretum of the University of Miami Department of Biology, Montgomery Botanical Center, the Kampong, and the Fairchild Tropical Garden.
Horticulture has been booming (blooming?) at The John C. Gifford Arboretum this year, due to the generous support of a graduate assistant in horticulture by the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust Fund and to the expertise and enthusiasm of Christine Dupuy, the new UNICCO representative on the Arboretum Committee. Three biology graduate students, each of whom had already logged several years as a volunteer Curator for the Arboretum, have had the chance to serve as the Horticultural Assistant, each at different times of the year, and the Arboretum has had the chance to benefit from the energy and uniqueness of each student. There is now a regular program of "Saturday Mornings in the John C. Gifford Arboretum," volunteer workdays. Each student has been involved in the organization of several Work Days, several Workshops, harvesting and planting of seeds of Arboretum plants. Tara Greaver worked in the summer to organize and set up the program of "Workshops in Horticulture" which began with a workshop on "Managing Invasive Exotics" (led by Carol Horvitz and Linda McDonald). In addition, Tara was a key person in the re-development of the Taylor Alexander Microbiome Pond and the development and planting of the Muhlenbergia grass prairie around the pond. Tara obtained a $750 grant from the Florida Nurseryman's and Growers Association for aquatic plants. In the fall, Jennifer Koslow had the post and oversaw the next two workshops, "Planting Trees" (led by Larry Schokman) and "Pruning Trees" (led by Douglas Parks). Jenn also organized the plants/booth for the Ramble sale at FTG and organized the Arboretum's Annual Fall Picnic event, as well. Michelle Schroeder is the assistant for the spring semester, overseeing the last three workshops, "Pruning Small Trees" (led by Jon Bennett), "Pruning Heliconia's" (led by David Bar-Zvi) and "Ecological Landscaping" (led by Jack Parker). In addition, Michelle will be leading the tour on the night of the Annual Lecture. Each "Workshop in Horticulture" included hands-on instruction and was a tremendous learning opportunity for all participants. All the workshops were free and open to the public.
The Gifford Arboretum began this year with a strategic planning meeting in June 1999. Participants included professors, graduate students, and community members from and around the University of Miami. The day long meeting began with a tour of the Arboretum by Dr. Carol Horvtiz and then there was discussion on the direction for Gifford Arboretum in the coming years.
The Annual Picnic and Plant Sale in December featured a formal dedication of the Taylor Alexander Microbiome. The Microbiome pond had been planted with a diversity of native aquatics with the help from graduate students and undergraduates in the Department of Biology.
Stay tuned for more electrifying accounts of horticultural happenings and green activities in the John C. Gifford Arboretum.
Michelle S. Schroeder, Spring Horticultural Assistant and Curator of the Gifford Arboretum
Pat Walsh |
Dr. Walsh is the Interim Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center, as well as the Scientific Director of both the Center for Sustainable Fisheries and the National Resource for Aplysia. He is currently the Review Editor for Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, and a member of several scientific societies, including the Society for Integrative Biology, the Canadian Society of Zoologists, the Society for Experimental Biology, and the Society for the Protection Of Old Fishes. He has served on the Integrative Animal Biology Panel of the Division of Integrative Biology and Neuroscience of the National Science Foundation. In 1995 he was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Walsh has presented over a dozen invitational lectures at international meetings. In addition to his lectures, Pat has published over 125 papers and book chapters. He received research grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, NSF, NIH, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Geographic Society, and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Pat's current research interests are in the evolution of nitrogen metabolism and excretion in fishes and invertebrates, the population genetics and condition of pelagic marine organisms, and the responses of marine organisms to pollutants. His outside interests include playing rock music loudly (guitar and drums) and golf poorly.
Dr. Jay M. Savage, who joined the faculty in 1982, retired at the end of 1999. He was born in Southern California but lived at various times in Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin and South Africa. He developed a deep interest in biology that was reinforced by his high school involvement in the Museum Juniors Program at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum.
He attended Stanford University, and was "adopted" by the graduate students at the Stanford Natural History Museum. His doctoral research focused on the evolution and biology of night lizards, a small family of lizards found in the western United States, Mexico and Central America, with a unique pair of species in Cuba.
In 1956 Jay joined the faculty at the University of Southern California, where he was a professor for 27 years before coming to Miami. In 1963 he was instrumental in founding the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) of which the University of Miami was one of seven founding members. Today OTS is a consortium of 55 U.S. and Latin American institutions devoted to education, research and conservation in the tropics, with central offices and field stations in Costa Rica, including the world famous La Selva Biological Station. He served as the president of OTS (1974-1980).
Things have been as busy as usual for our undergraduates, as well as for the faculty who are constantly updating the biology curriculum. In light of major revisions pending in the College of Arts and Sciences curriculum, the Biology Curriculum Committee has been busy reviewing our own department's offerings. We have spent the past year analyzing and evaluating lists of biology topics provided to us by instructors of the second tier core courses (Genetics, Ecology, Physiology and Cell & Molecular Biology). The lists were the starting points we requested in our efforts to re-vamp our first year courses. Our goal is prepare our first-year students for the rigorous subjects taught in upper level courses while not sacrificing hands-on, interactive learning in our first-year laboratories.
At the recommendation of the Biology Curriculum Committee, the instructors of the first year courses have met and begun designing an all-new approach to our students' first year of biology. More laboratories will be changed to stress critical thinking and problem solving, and will focus on major concepts rather than minutia and facts that students can learn on their own. Workshops coupled to each lecture will be conducted by experienced undergraduate facilitators who will lead small groups of first year students through problem solving exercises and review of lecture and laboratory topics. We're looking forward to implementing the new courses, and feel the new students will be as enthusiastic about them as we are. The best way to learn science is by doing it! The Department of Biology Honored.
Several of our workshop leaders have said that they would never have considered a career in teaching before, but have found their Biology Workshop experience so rewarding that they have added "teaching" to their list of potential career choices. There's no better way to learn than by doing, and our workshop leaders are learning both biology and teaching skills that will stand them in good stead no matter what careers they may choose in the future.
The first year students in the workshops have found the small groups of ten or fewer students to be very conducive to better learning of the new biological concepts they encounter, and if our exam scores are any indication, it seems that our students are learning better than before. We hope that the students who are now enjoying participating in workshops might become inspired enough to apply for the program as a facilitator and experience it from the other side!
The University of Miami participated in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Holiday Lectures on December 6 and 7, 1999. Donald E. Ganom, HHMI Investigator at the University of California, focused on viruses and B. Brett Finlay, HHMI International Research Scholar at the University of British Columbia in Canada, discussed bacteria in the two lecture series.
Two hundred first year biology majors boarded buses on the Coral Gables campus to travel six miles to the Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) campus on Virginia Key for the two-way video connections with the Holiday Lectures homebase at HHMI headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland. They were joined at RSMAS by seniors from two biomedical magnet high schools and Miami-Dade Community College students. Several questions by Miami students were beamed worldwide.
Four students graduated with Honors in Biology in mid-year, with research projects on diverse topics. Corey Chopra worked under the direction of Dr. Michael Gaines to develop DNA markers to evaluate the species status of silver rice rat populations in Everglades National Park and the Florida Keys, in order to help determine whether it should be listed as an endangered species. Corey graduated from UM with suma cum lauda. Victoria Meyer worked under the direction of Dr. Marion Preest to investigate tail thrashing and anaerobic metabolism in a local gecko (lizard) as a predator deterrence mechanism. Dionne Skervin worked under the direction of Dr. Carol Horvitz. Dionne Skervin, 1999 Senior Honors Thesis in Biology, University of Miami. The Role of Psychotria nervosa in the Succession of the Subtropical Hardwood Hammocks of South Florida After a Disturbance. Holly Cukier worked under the direction of Dr. Lisa Baumbach in the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical School of the University of Miami carrying out molecular-genetics studies of families with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease).
Victoria Meyer was given the "Best Senior Thesis" Award at the Biology Department's graduation ceremonies in December. Corey Chopra's senior thesis coupled with his 3.92 GPA earned him Summa Cum Laude.
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Undergraduate Brook Wolf, spent finals week for the fall 1999 semester in the Bahamas. Ms. Wolf rescheduled her finals to work in the field on the grouper conservation project headed by Dr. Sullivan Sealey. She worked with Department of Fisheries Officers in the Bahamas to interview fishermen and collect tissue samples from groupers caught the winter spawning aggregations. The full moon, and timing of the grouper spawning happened to coincide with final examination week, but Brook was able to work especially hard to complete her classes and get this field experience. Jorge Galvez will be working on the restoration of the queen conch in Dominican Republic national parks for his honors research topic. Mr. Galvez has researched the growth rates and distribution of conch in the Caribbean and will be going to the field in Parque Nacional del Este to assist graduate student Ruben Torres and Dr. Sullivan Sealey with queen conch surveys over spring break and during the summer. |
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Jenna McKnight Forstner attended a 10-day field course sponsored by a crocodile specialist group in Cancun and then spent an additional 10 days in Mexico catching crocs for her research. She also attended and gave two presentations at the Texas Herpetological Society Meeting in October at Texas A&M University.
Dhananjaya (DJ) Katju just returned from five weeks of summer research in Papua, New Guinea. The "Wara Sera Field Station" is situated in the "Crater Mountain Wildlife Management Area", Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. His aimwas to collect baseline information to set up a long-term study on the Pesquet's Parrot (Psittrichas fulgidus), an endemic of the island of New Guinea. This parrot is believed to be a specialist frugivore with a restricted diet composed mainly of a few species of fig fruit.
Terry Krueger left for Costa Rica in February for three months to study the Cherrie's tanager (Ramphocelus costaricensis). He will be looking at the effects of blood parasites on their song, plumage color, and reproductive success.
Ronald Lange will be joining Dr. Carol Horvitz in April to help on her research project examining the restoration of natural vegetation on a former chocolate plantation in Costa Rica. He co-authored "Lange, R.L., S.A. Scobell and P.E. Scott. 2000. Hummingbird-syndrome traits, breeding system, and pollinator effectiveness in two syntopic Penstemon species. The International Journal of Plant Sciences (in press).
Vishnu Manteufell returned to UM from southeast Arizona to write his thesis on density-dependent regulation of Scleroporus populations.
Jafet Nassar successfully defended his doctoral dissertation in the fall semester. The title of his dissertation was "Comparative population genetic structure of Venezuelan cacti and estimates of their mating systems". He graduated on December 12 and moved to Venezuela.
Dr. Paul Neal recently completed his post-doctoral work here with Dr. Waddington on pollinator diversity in Everglades National Park.
Michelle Schroeder received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant given by the University of Miami Department of Biology in May 1999. Michelle also received the Curtis Plant Scholarship this fall to begin experiments towards her PhD dissertation topic: "Tropical Intercrop Yield Responses to Phosphorous, Density, and Arbuscular Mycorrhizas". She will begin her field project after spring semester this year in Costa Rica. Michelle participated in the Organization for Tropical Studies course Agroeología. The Agroecología course included participants from eight different countries taught in Spanish. Students traveled throughout Costa Rica learning about the interface with natural systems and the various forms of agricultural within the country. Together with Tara Greaver and Jennifer Koslow, Michelle is serving as the curator for the Gifford Arboretum. The Gifford Arboretum received $19,940 from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust Fund to support a graduate student curator for 12 months.
Ruben Torres was awarded a Center for Field Research grant with Dr. Sullivan Sealey to work on queen conch populations in the Dominican Republic. Ruben will be leading Earthwatch volunteers over the next three years in an important project to excavate the conch shell middens in Parque Nacional del Este, Dominican Republic. Ruben will be conducting this work as part of this dissertation research and working collaboratively in the excavations with Dr. Bill Keegan of the University of Florida, an expert on Tiano Indian cultures in the area.
Jaime Warren will be doing research for her Masters Thesis on the population dynamics and genetic structure of marsh rabbit populations in fragmented habitats in South Florida.
Dr. Jay M. Savage, former Chair of the Department of Biology, long-time Director of Graduate Studies in Biology, and tireless advocate for graduate education in tropical biology, has made a generous gift to the Department of Biology to support research by graduate students. The gift, to be made annually in the amount of $1,000 will be used to support field studies in ecology, behavior, and biosystematics.
Dr. James A. Kushlanand Ms. Paula Frohring Kushlan have generously gifted $5,000 to support research by graduate students in the Department of Biology. Dr. Kushlan, who received his PhD from the Department of Biology in 1974, has had a long-standing interest in the ecology of southern Florida. The gift will be awarded to senior graduate students in support of their dissertation field work, data acquisition, and data analysis.
The Department of Biology deeply appreciates the generosity of our friends, former colleagues and students in support of graduate education.
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Undergraduate Degrees BIOLOGY MAJORS
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DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
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In other news, Linux, the free operating system that is taking the world by storm now has a foothold in the department. The department is embracing the free software movement, using Linux and it associated programs developed by the GNU project for print servers, file servers, e-mail and web pages. Linux, who's mascot is a little penguin, works well with both Windows and Macintosh computers, and starting soon will be available on desktop computers in the undergraduate computer labs.
While the department's primary commitment is to ensure an efficient and diverse environment that facilitates learning and research, we have an excellent opportunity in this university environment to encourage and assist the free software movement. So watch our web site and watch for little penguins showing up on computers.
G. Rob Burgess
 Standing in rear are: Bereatha Howard, Frances Smith, Kim Jenkins, Carlos Vidales, and Raul Hernandez; In front are: Rene Santamaria, Jennifer Fabre, Dorothy Brown, and Cindy Iglesia |
Kim Jenkins returned from maternity leave bringing back her ubiquitous smile and effervescent personality to the reception area. Rene Santamaria, a new accounting student, has joined the staff as a part-time clerk to assist in the day-to-day financial operations. His great attitude and hunger for knowledge has made him a great asset. Jennifer Fabrewas hired in late December as Secretary to the Chair. She is a former teacher and reservation specialist. Jennifer takes on the many requests by the faculty and students with concern and a sincere desire to serve their needs. Rob Burgess, a current graduate student, has been hired on as our Network Specialist. His vast experience and knowledge will bring us up to speed in the new millennium. Frances Smith has recently been promoted from Financial Coordinator to Department Manager. She has taken on this challenging position with the anticipation of creating a truly knowledgeable and customer oriented staff to support the needs of our clients. Our newest member, Cindy Iglesia, is dedicated to the mission of higher education and will serve as the Academic Coordinator assisting Dr. Gaines with our grant outreach programs. She is a recent transplant from Arkansas with family in the Coral Gables area.
While changes have occurred, we are fortunate to have retained Bereatha Howard and Raul Hernandez. Bereatha continues to dedicate her word processing expertise to the faculty and staff. Raul handles our shipping and receiving section with confidence, knowledge and a high regard for the importance of his role within the department.
We would like to thank others that have devoted their time and effort. We feel that without Carlos Vidalis, Maria Bonilla, our workstudy students and temporary personnel, we would not have been able to maintain the high level of customer service that we strive to achieve.
Craig Gathman [MS-Zoology, 1950] is emeritus for 20 years from Palm Beach Community College in the Zoology Department. He is also active in MARS (Military Auxiliary Radio System). Craig has three children, all of whom are college professors. One is a botanist at Southeast Missouri University; another is an English professor at University of Southern California; and the third is a specialist for language problem students, also at Southeast Missouri University.
Michael B. Greenbaum [BS-Zoology, 1967] received his EdM and EdD from Columbia University, M.H.L. Rabbinic Ordination, Jewish Theological Seminary. He was elected to the Commission on Higher Education for the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. He received an honoary Doctor of Hebrew Letters degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1998 in recognition of 25 years of service. He resides in Teaneck, New Jersey.
Roy Olof Nelson [BS-Botany, 1954] manages his tropical fruit groves: avocado, Lychee, longan, and mangos. He owns and manages Nelson's Silver Palm Nursery Export Foliage "Sansevieria" varieties to Europe, Canada and to USA florists. Roy is an international volunteer to third world countries, assisting them with tropical plant development, mainly mangos. He spent a month in both Egypt and Ecuador, participating in these U.S. Government sponsor projects. They include many volunteers from scientific to business advisors Roy just passed his 81st birthday in April. He also plays the violin in the Alhambra Chamber Miami Community Orchestra.
Margo Schneebalg Stahl [BS-Biology, 1969; MS-Marine Biology, 1973] has been the endangered species coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Hawaii for the past six years. Prior to that, she worked for six years as an Ecologist with the Army Corps of Engineers and with the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources for eight years. Most recently she became the Assistant Refuge Manager for the Oahu refuges. She enjoys working with the public and volunteers in promoting conservation and restoration of wetlands and endangered waterbirds. Margo hopes to return to her place of birth, South Florida, to help with the restoration of the Everglades and to apply the many years of experience in Hawaii with similar issues, to the recovery of her most favorite wetland, the Everglades.
Michael Adelman [BS-Biology, 1972] received his Doctor of Podiatric Medicine in 1977 from Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine and his D.O. from the College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery. He was appointed associate dean of academic affairs at Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Adelman is chair of the government relations committee for the Ohio Osteopathic Association and the Association of Hospital Medical Educators Council on Medical Education Consortiums. He resides in Athens, OH.
Janet (Bond) Brill [BS-Biology, 1979; MS-Exercise Physiology, 1986; MS-Nutrition, 1993] left Pan Am World Airways after seven years as a flight attendant and returned to graduate school. She is currently a doctoral candidate in exercise physiology at UM and expects to graduate next year with an academic award of merit.
Robin V. Aguilar [BS-Biology; 1989; MD, 1993] completed her internal medicine residency at Barnes Hospital/Washington University School of Medicine and is a pulmonary and critical care fellow at Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine.
Betty Bellman [BA-Biology, 1985; MD, 1991] has recently opened a private practice in dermatology at Mt. Sinai Medical Centre in April of 1999.
Gerardo J. Diaz [BS-Biology Pre-Med, 1985; DVM, 1990] is medical director at Briarwood Animal Hospital in Miami and vice president of the South Florida Veterinary Medical Association. He also serves on the board of directors of the Dade County Veterinary Foundation. He also serves on the board of directors of the Dade County Veterinary Foundation and is past chairman of the ethics committee.
Donnelly, Maureen [PhD-Biology, 1987] was awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor at Florida International University in May 1999.
Firpo Garcia [BS-Biology, 1987] received a DDS from the University of Southern California, and has a dental practice in Hialeah, Florida.
Kevin T. O'Mara [MS-Biology, 1982; MD, 1999] is completing a residency program in emergency medicine, while continuing research begun four years ago at the NASA/Ames Research Center on the effects of microgravity on the autonomic nervous system.
Lawrence G. Sahler [BS-Biology, 1977; MD, 1988] is clinical assistant professor of radiology at the University of Rochester and chief of vascular interventional radiology at Rochester General Hospital in Rochester, NY.
Mohamed I. Bakarr [MS-Biology, 1992; PhD, 1998] is science and technology manager for Conservation International's Africa Program, where he helps guide field programs in West Africa, Botswana, and Madagascar. Dr. Bakarr resides near Washington, D.C.
Jason A. Campagna [AB-Biology, 1991; PhD, 1997; MD, 1998] is a resident in anesthesiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Oliver K. Coulter [BS-Biology, 1994] is in the MBA program at the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.
Mary Ellen Koma (Quiceno) [BS-Psychobiology, 1994; MD, 1999] just graduated from the Medical School at UM and will begin her residency in neurology at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, Parkland Memorial hospital in July. She recently married a third year internal medicine resident at Jackson Memorial Hospital, who will be completing a rheumatology fellowship at the same institution in Dallas.
J. Jasper Lament [PhD-Biology, 1999] is a regional biologist with Ducks Unlimited, Inc. in California. He is delivering wetland habitat conservation projects in San Francisco Bay and San Diego Bay. Focusing on restoring former wetlands in San Pablo Bay in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Game, and other local partners. This partnership was recently awarded a $1,000,000 North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant.
John B. Pascarella [PhD-Biology, 1996] is assistant professor of biology at Valdosta State University. He resides in Valdosta, Georgia.
Nancy Sapanara [BS-Biology, 1991] has recently left the practice of medicine to return to school. She is a first year law student at University of Penn, where she wishes to study bioethnics and health law.
Eduardo A. Wolffe [BS-Biology, 1996] is a third year medical student in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was accepted into the Mayo Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota for general surgery clerkship. Eduardo has received a partial scholarship from the Rotary Club, the criteria of which are academic excellence and need.
Joan visited our department for two weeks in January/February and gave a series of five lectures and a departmental seminar. The topics covered in her lectures were: managing ecosystems, guide to diplomatic relations with economists, evolutionary ecology and historical biogeography of Anolis lizards, learning how to forage optimally in Anolis lizards, and future trends in ecology.
For the latest updates and web pages of the speakers, click here.
Graduate Student Awards
Outstanding Department Teaching Assistant: Tony Koop and Michelle Schroeder
Outstanding College of Arts & Science Teaching Assistant:
Sharon Ewe and Kirsten Nicholson
Outstanding Graduate Student Paper: Sharon Ewe
Undergraduate Student Awards
Aldridge Scholarship in Tropical Biology: Lisa Davis and D'Angelo Washington
Departmental Honors in Biology: Wittaya Kaonongbua
Outstanding Biology Senior: James Gartland
Senior Thesis Award: Victoria Meyer
For further information, contact:
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Linda Scott Director of External Affairs at (305) 284-2398 | or |
Dr.Michael S. Gaines Chair at (305) 284-3973 |
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| Bereatha Howard, Editor | Dr.Dana Krempels, Assistant Editor |
