Graduate Program
IG Community |
 Molecular Biology Building A Sampling of Recent Awards, Scientific Achievements and Grants awarded to Genetics Faculty
Thomas Baum, Plant Pathology (former IG Chair and now Chair of Plant Pathology) was honored by the American Phytopathological Society as part of a team that has changed the direction of research into nematodes that attack plants. Baum received the Ruth Allen Award for Innovative Research along with two other researchers from other universities. The three researchers have identified more than 100 secretions that nematodes use to infect plants. The long-term goal of the research is to devise new mechanisms against these pathogens. (ISU Plant Sciences Institute Update October 2006, Volume 7, Number 1)
John Nason, EEOB, was recognized this year (2006-2007) as a Master Teacher. The Master Teacher program recognizes teachers who have a reputation for using unique methods to enhance student learning. Diane Birt, FSHN, was a member of the NIH State-of-the-Science Panel on Multivitamin/Mineral Supplements and Chronic Disease. The Conference was held at NIH, Bethesda MD, May 15-17, 2006. She was awarded the Central States Society of Toxicology John Doull Award on October 6, 2006 in Kansas City, MO. Her talk was entitled "Understanding bioactivity of complex mixtures using Echinacea and Hypericum." Diane was appointed to a three year term, 2006-2010, on the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, National Academies of Science http://www.iastate.edu/~nscentral/news/2006/aug/birt.shtml. 2007-8 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Member of the Expert Panel on Making Food Safety Decisions When the Science is Incomplete. May 2006, Member, NIH State-of-the-Science Panel on Multivitamin/Mineral Supplements and Chronic Disease. Washington, D.C. W. Allen Miller, Plant Pathology, has been named director of ISU’s Center for Plant Responses to Environmental Stresses. Through his research, Miller has made significant discoveries in the study of plant-virus interactions and the mechanisms of plant gene expression. Miller’s research achievements include discovery of new species of the cereal pathogen, barley yellow dwarf virus, and detection of how the virus takes over the host’s protein synthesis machinery. (ISU News Service, Teddi Barron, October 23, 2006) Roger Wise (USDA-ARS) was an invited guest teacher in the week-long Nordic PhD course on Genomics and Plant Breeding. Hosted by colleague Alan Schulman, he presented lectures on microarray analysis, phenotype-based cloning, and use of the PLEXdb plant expression database to 28 graduate students and 6 instructors from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Iceland, France, Ethiopia and Poland. He also took the opportunity to present an overview of the new CSREES-funded Barley Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP) goals, objectives, and outreach. Barley is the #1 cereal crop in Finland (planted on 594,200 hectares in 2005) so the CAP overview fit right in with the theme of the course (other major crops are birch, potato, and salmon). Roger Wise, Julie Dickerson and Jean-Luc Jannink, pictured, make up Iowa State's part of the barley research project that encompasses 19 institutions across the country. Basil Nikolau, Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, received the Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. Nikolau has been one of the leaders in Iowa State’s emergence as a national and international center of excellence in metabolic biology. He brings together teams of talented faculty in different disciplines to address complex issues in plant biology. (Inside Iowa State, September 8, 2006) Gwyn Beattie, Plant Pathology, has been named to an endowed chair, the Robert Earle Buchanan Distinguished Professorship of Bacteriology for Research and Nomenclature, in the College of Agriculture at ISU. Beattie, an associate professor of plant pathology, specializes in genetics, physiology, and the ecology of plant bacteria. Gwyn studies leaf ecology as it relates to bacteria. She’s working on a project evaluating whether leaf-associated bacteria can actively reduce airborne pollutants. She’s also researching how plants can limit the availability of water to invading pathogens. And she is exploring whether the adaptations that plants use to tolerate drought and salinity influence the growth or survival of plant-associated bacteria. (ISU News Service, August 06, Teddi Barron). Jo Anne Powell-Coffman, Genetics Development and Cell Biology and Fred Janzen, Ecology Evolution and Organismal Biology, have been named ADVANCE Professors at ISU for the next 2-4 years. As an ADVANCE Professor, they will be working with a group of people from across the University to lead efforts to identify and sustain needed change in practices, structures, and policies to transform STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields for women and faculty of color. Dr. Janzen, EEOB, began a two-year term as Chair of the Interdepartmental Genetics program August 2006. Phil Becraft, Genetics, Development and Cell Biology, was elected Associate Chair of Interdepartmental Genetics. He will become IG Chair in August 2008. Eve Wurtele, 2006 Research Excellence Award, College of LAS, Iowa State University. Nikolau BJ, Wurtele ES. 2007. Concepts in Plant Metabolomics. Springer Verlag, ISBN: 978-1-4020-5607-9 (due 2/07) Lamont, S.J.: Rossmann Mannatt Faculty Development Award, 2007; Midwest Poultry Consortium, Outstanding Service Award, 2005 Wendel, J.: Master Teacher, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Iowa State University, 2005
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Interdepartmental Genetics Graduate Program, 2102 Molecular Biology,
Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-3260.
Phone 515-294-7697 or 1-800-499-1972 | Fax 515-294-6669 | genetics @iastate.edu
Copyright © 2005, Iowa State University of Science and Technology. All rights reserved.
