Johnson to teach in Texas
Jeff Johnson, research scientist, has accepted a position at the University of North Texas, Department of Biological Sciences and the Institute of Applied Sciences as assistant professor of evolutionary biology. He begins in June and will be teaching upper level undergraduate and graduate students. He will continue his research in systematics, phylogenetics and population genetics, mainly with birds with an emphasis in conservation.

Hunter awarded NSF grant

The National Science Foundation has awarded Professor Mark Hunter a $650,000 grant to study the causes and consequences of variation in plant defense as related to colonization by mycorrhizae, a symbiotic fungi within the roots of plants. The study system includes the common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca, three species of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, and four species of insect herbivore.

The project will support the doctoral program of Rachel Vannette. The project will be linked to the education and research mission of the Frontiers Master’s Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, which hosts groups that are under-represented in the ecological sciences at the U-M Biological Station (UMBS) each summer. The Asclepias project will also contribute to other standing UMBS programs and public outreach initiatives. Understanding the role of mycorrhizal fungi in the expression of plant defense is of value to insect pest managers and those wishing to control invasive plant species. Finally, the proposed work is potentially transformative because it challenges the accepted notion that mycorrhizae play no significant role in the expression of plant defense.

Best wishes to Prof. Mindell
David Mindell, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and curator of birds in the Museum of Zoology, has accepted a newly created post as dean of science at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.  During his 14 years at U-M, Mindell has researched molecular phylogenetics and evolution of birds and other vertebrates using both nuclear and mitochondrial DNAs. He has also studied the evolution and phylogeny of retroviruses and their coevolution with vertebrates.

In his new role, which begins in July, Mindell will lead efforts to expand research in comparative genomics, to develop institutional collaborations with bay area university researchers and to promote greater public understanding of science with a focus on the evolution of life.  

“We are grateful for the time we spent with David. His excellence has impacted many students and colleagues and his contributions to the university will be felt for many years to come. Please join me in wishing him only the best in his future endeavors,” said EEB Chair Deborah Goldberg, Elzada U. Clover collegiate professor.

Olympic volunteer
Huijie Gan, an incoming fall 2008 graduate student, has been volunteering for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She is pictured (right) in National Stadium with fellow volunteers. Gan received her bachelor’s in ecology from Peking University.

Every year one graduate student paper is selected based on approach of study, scope of findings, and insights into questions of broad scientific interest using multiple lines of evidence. The prize is $500.

Connallon awarded Tinkle Scholarship
Tim Connallon has been awarded the Donald W. Tinkle Scholarship from the U-M Museum of Zoology. This $5,000 award is a special recognition of his research excellence. Connallon is researching the genetics of the fruit fly Drosophila. The scholarship was endowed by the family and friends of Donald W. Tinkle, former curator of herpetology and director of the Museum of Zoology.

Grus begins postdoc in Seattle

Best of the best

“It has been a privilege and a joy to work with the graduate students in EEB," said Rathcke. "This award is a true honor because it reflects the university’s investment in our students.”

John Megahan illustrated a new picture book published by Sleeping Bear Press titled “W is for Waves: An Ocean Alphabet.” Megahan is the senior biological illustrator at the U-M Museum of Zoology.

There will be a celebration at the U-M Exhibit Museum on Saturday, April 12 from 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., including a book signing, kids' activities, refreshments and a number of the artist's original paintings. Another book signing takes place at Barnes & Noble at 3235 Washtenaw on April 27 at 2 p.m.

The Michigan Difference: Gifts at work

One organic shade-grown coffee, please – with extra bats

Interactions among species take center stage
The 2008 Early Career Scientists Symposium drew the largest and most diverse crowd to date with 150 registrants (up over 50 percent), 25 percent from other universities and registrants from physics, epidemiology, statistics, life sciences, human genetics, public health and more. The event focused on Networks in Ecology and Evolution on Saturday, March 15 at the University of Michigan. The speakers were from five different countries.

From food webs to molecular networks, interactions among species took center stage at the symposium. As the speakers presented details of their favorite systems, common themes emerged, although the same idea was sometimes given different names. For example, canalization, robustness, stability or buffering all refer to a system running smoothly in the face of change. (ECSS Web site 2008) (see Special Events for more)

NSF grant award
Congratulations to Jess Peirson who was awarded a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG) for his project entitled "Biogeography and evolutionary history of Solidago Subsection Humiles: Assessing patterns of post-glacial plant migration, differentiation and disjunction in North America." The $11,900 grant is for two years.

It’s Cornell for Chappell
M. Jahi Chappell has accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University. Chappell will spend two years in the Department of Science and Technology Studies beginning in December 2008. He will contribute to the scholarship, research, and teaching at S&TS and spend time in EEB, collaborating and possibly teaching there. Congratulations!

Most detailed global study of genetic variation released

Professor Paul Dunlap and colleagues at Southern Illinois University have just published the newly revised 12th edition of the best selling majors microbiology textbook, "Brock Biology of Microorganisms" (Pearson Benjamin Cummings). 

As an undergraduate student, Dunlap used the first edition of this text in his first microbiology course, and he uses the current edition of the book, traditionally viewed as the most scholarly of available texts in microbiology, as the required text in his microbiology courses here at U-M. Translated into several foreign languages and considered the authority in microbiology, the book serves the large undergraduate and graduate microbiology audience at universities and colleges across the U.S. and abroad.

From Pole to Pole: U-M Research at the Ends of the Earth

The Exhibit Museum of Natural History celebrates International Polar Year with the exhibit From Pole to Pole: U-M Research at the Ends of the Earth. The research of Professors Knute Nadelhoffer, George Kling, Dan Fisher and Joel Blum is featured in the rotunda exhibit.

Complete zoological record accessible from Science Library
A single search covers nearly 150 years of research, up to the present, thanks in part to a generous donation from a U-M faculty member. Do a "Find Databases" search for "Zoological Record" from any library homepage that features the general search tool. (search)

Global warming explained
Professor Knute Nadelhoffer is featured in a new video on the Global Warming Solutions Web site. (watch)

Conservation book published
Authors include EEB professors, students

The book “Evaluation and conservation of biodiversity in fragmented landscapes of Central America” has been published including a chapter titled “Refocusing conservation in the Landscape: The matrix matters” by Professors John Vandermeer and Ivette Perfecto, graduate student Jahi Chappell and former graduate student Stacy Philpott. The book is in Spanish, and targeted at Latin American university students.

The book is edited by Celia Harvey of Conservation International and Joel Saenz of Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, and co-published by Ecoagriculture Partners, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Conservation International. It explores the role of fragmented and agricultural landscapes in conserving biodiversity in Mesoamerica and provides a state-of-the-art overview of what is known about plant and animal diversity within the human-modified landscapes that increasingly dominate the region. It also highlights innovative ways in which agricultural landscapes can be designed and managed for conservation outcomes and provides clear policy recommendations for decision-makers.

The book is intended to serve as a key resource for professionals interested in achieving biodiversity conservation within human-modified landscapes of Latin America at a subsidized cost of $15 (plus shipping). To order copies, please contact c.harvey@conservation.org.

Wittkopp awarded prestigious Sloan Fellowship

Professor Patricia Wittkopp has been awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship for 2008. Alfred P. Sloan Fellowships are intended to enhance the careers of the very best young faculty members in their field of science. Wittkopp researches evolutionary genetics and genomics, and the evolution of development. She receives a $50,000 grant for a two-year period. Since the award’s inception in 1955, 35 Sloan Research Fellows have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in their fields. Brava!

Rackham Predoctoral Fellowships awarded
Congratulations to Tim Connallon and Jess Peirson on their Rackham Predoctoral Fellowships. The outstanding students will each receive $26,400 for three terms, candidacy tuition and registration fees for fall and winter and an opportunity for health and dental insurance coverage for 2008. Connallon studies evolutionary genetics. Peirson researches plant systematics, evolution, biogeography and floristics.

Rathcke’s mentoring honored

Professor Beverly Rathcke will receive a 2008 Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award. Awards will be announced at a public ceremony at 4 p.m., April 10 in the Rackham Amphitheatre, with a reception to follow in the Assembly Hall. Rackham states that “the successful mentor serves as advisor, teacher, advocate, sponsor and role model.” Congratulations!

Don't blame the trees

A new analysis by Luis Fernando Chaves, EEB Ph.D. student, Professor Mercedes Pascual and Professor Mark Wilson, suggests that socioeconomic factors, rather than landscape, best explain patterns of at least one disease, American cutaneous Leishmaniasis (ACL). Deforestation may make socially marginalized human populations more, not less, vulnerable to infection. Their results were published in Feb. 6 in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Read the U-M press release.

Birds and dinosaurs cavorted
A new analysis by first author Joseph Brown, graduate student, Professor David Mindell and others, offers the strongest molecular evidence yet for a Cretaceous origin of modern birds, suggesting that they arose more than 100 million years ago, not 60 million years ago, as fossils suggest. The research was published online Jan. 28 in the journal BMC Biology. The story has been widely covered; Google it.

Rackham research grant awarded
Rachel Vannette was awarded a Rackham Graduate Student Research grant for her study of how plant defense in milkweed is affected by the genetic makeup of plants, atmospheric CO2 concentration, and mycorrhizal fungi (symbiotic fungi within the roots of plants). She will look at the variation in defensive compounds found in the roots of Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed). Her Biosphere-Atmosphere Research and Training (BART) fellowship was also renewed for next year.


Gruber gets NIH grant
Jonathan Gruber, postdoctoral fellow, was awarded a three-year $141,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health for his study “Investigating compensatory mechanisms for gene expression in the yeast genome.”

The study will measure yeast’s ability to preserve proper concentration of gene product -- an essential aspect of gene function -- in the face of mutations that partially disrupt gene expression. The mechanisms for generating gene products in yeast are similar to those of multicellular organisms, so these findings will be relevant to the broad cross-section of biological research focused on the relationship between genetic information and organismal traits. Gruber works in the lab of Professor Patricia Wittkopp.

Berry is interim director of Gardens

Go Zach, go!

Zach Miller, Ph.D. student, captured first place in the 54-mile Mountain Masochist Trail Race in Virginia. He is on the cover of UltraRunning magazine this month. Miller placed second in the JFK 50 Mile in Maryland. Both races were in November.

Miller was browsing through magazines at Running Fit recently when he was surprised to see himself on the cover of the magazine. He ran the Mountain Masochist in just over seven hours. Other events he takes part in other than “parenting, childcare and housework,” include triathalons but he mainly competes in trail ultramarathons. His running career got its start when he was living in Utah and he used his training to explore the mountains. “My optimism got me lost or just a long way from my car many times. Soon my runs were four to six hours.” At the time, he didn’t know anyone else did this but some friends told him about races. “I entered a local race and won it and have been competing ever since.” Go Zach, go! (Read a story about Zach in his hometown newspaper.)

Vandermeer honored by Academic Women’s Caucus

Congratulations to Professor John H. Vandermeer who won the Sarah Goddard Power Award. The distinguished service award is presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated scholarship, leadership and support of women within the University of Michigan. This year’s winners will be recognized at a ceremony beginning just after 4 p.m. February 13, 2008 at the Michigan League, Hussey Room (second floor).

Lehman improves area lakes
Professor John Lehman has been appointed to the Blue Ribbon Commission on Lake St. Clair. The goals are to develop recommendations and policy to improve water quality. Lehman’s research to improve the quality of the water in Ford Lake is featured in a U-M News Service video.

Faculty searches in fungal evolution and in functional organismal biology are ongoing (more)

Congratulations to Chang
Dan Chang has been awarded a Rackham International Student Fellowship. The awards are given to outstanding international students who demonstrate professional promise. The $7,500 award can be used as stipend or tuition.  

Nadelhoffer highlights global warming solutions
Professor Knute Nadelhoffer spoke at the Step It Up rally on November 3 underneath the Burton Memorial Tower on central campus. He provided solutions for the growing problems associated with global warming.

Nadelhoffer outlined how greenhouse gasses will continue to increase and the climate will continue to heat up, with potentially serious implications for ecosystem integrity for crops, forests, oceans and grasslands -- everywhere from the poles to tropics. Globally, the rainfall and moisture balances are changing with major implications for food production, economies, social justice and political stability.

The questions are: How can we adjust? How can we minimize future GHG emissions? How can we learn to live in a “carbon constrained world" and move to an economic system powered by more sustainable energy? Nadelhoffer outlined the following solutions: (1) Lower our emissions, retool our economy, rethink our design structure (communities, homes and buildings) (2) A national cap and trade system that makes real reductions within a decade (3) State and national renewable energy standard of at least 20 percent renewables by 2020 and (4) Tax on carbon emissions. 

He is the director of the U-M Biological Station in Pellston, Mich.

Chatfield named Honors Fellow
Matt Chatfield, EEB Ph.D. student, has been named an Honors Fellow by the LSA Honors Program. He will host a seminar on amphibian declines for undergraduate honors students in January featuring Dr. Elizabeth Jokusch of the University of Connecticut. He also plans an informal discussion about selected readings on the topic and a field trip to a local amphibian breeding site.

“What I hope most to accomplish is to instill an understanding of the problem and the magnitude of the amphibian extinction crisis,” said Chatfield.

Botanist recognized for lifetime achievement
Professor Emeritus William R. Anderson received the Robert Allerton Award for Excellence in Tropical Botany or Horticulture for 2007 from the National Tropical Botanical Garden, one of its highest honors. The award was presented in Kalaheo, Kauai, Hawaii during the institution’s semi-annual Board of Trustees meeting to the U-M Herbarium’s curator emeritus of vascular plants.
 
“Bill Anderson has been a major influence in the world of tropical botany, from his decades of research to his devotion in teaching generations of future botanists,” stated Chipper Wichman, NTBG CEO and director. Colleagues credit Anderson with anticipating by 25 years the links between plant systematics and ecology that are now widely in evidence. Read NTBG press release.

Cover story in Proceedings of the Royal Society B
A research team headed by Professor Diarmaid Ó Foighil published “Prehistoric inter-archipelago trading of Polynesian tree snails leaves a conservation legacy” in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
 
The team included Taehwan Lee, assistant research scientist, and Professor Emeritus John B. Burch, among others. Their findings, which were published online Sept. 12 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, show how the aesthetic preferences of prehistoric Polynesians, enacted through inter-archipelago trading routes, have present day conservation implications for endemic tree snails.

Read the U-M News Service press release.



Faculty book feature:
"The Evolving World" released in paperback
Professor David P. Mindell’s book “The Evolving World, Evolution in Everyday Life” will be released in paperback in October 2007.

Mindell’s book won the 2007 Independent Publisher Book Awards, Science Category.

Read a recent review in BioScience.

News archive