FrontiersM A G A Z I N E O F T H E C O L L E G E O F B I O L O G I C A L S C I E N C E S
InsideStudents get out of theclassroom and into thereal (entire) world
Japan programpromotes biotechresearch exchanges
Worldwide biologyFrom African lions to Arctic ecology to Asianexchanges, U biology studies span the globe.
Summer
2000
Dean Robert Elde
John
Nol
tner
Fromthe dean
Robert EldeDean, College of Biological Sciences
WHILE COLLEGE OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES (CBS) FACULTY AND STUDENTS
travel to every corner of the globe (as this issue shows), CBS also
welcomes scholars from all over the world. That means that students can
have international experiences without ever leaving the lab. Genetics
professor Perry Hackett tells a favorite story of how, a few years ago, his lab
became a mini-United Nations.
A very bright undergraduate, Dritan Agalliu,from Tirana, Albania, asked to work in Perry’slab to get research experience. Perry knew thatLjubica (Luba) Caldovic, a fifth-year Ph.D.student in molecular, cellular, developmen-tal biology, and genetics, was looking for un-dergraduate help, so he asked if she wouldbe interested in having Dritan help her out.
Luba, who is from Belgrade, Yugoslavia(Serbia), said, “Perry, don’t you know thatthe Serbs and the Albanians don’t get along?”Perry replied that if two scientists, both in aforeign land, could not come to terms withtheir ethnic differences, then there was littlehope for world peace in the long run.
“I asked her to give it a try,” reports Perry.“Two weeks later Luba came to me and sovery enthusiastically said, ‘If Dritan had beenwith me a couple of years ago, I would havefinished my thesis a year earlier.’” The twoended up publishing a paper together, andDritan and his sister were special guests atLuba’s wedding (to Hiroki Morizono, an-other international graduate student).
In the case of these two students, it was theirresearch that brought them together and theirrespect for each other’s work that led tofriendship. While certainly it is often neces-sary to have an international experience topursue biology (for instance, one can’t verywell study Serengeti lions without going toAfrica), I am happy to say that sometimesit is biology that leads to internationalunderstanding!
Promoting international understanding wasthe goal of a recent visit I made to China aspart of a University delegation. Our visitaimed to strengthen exchange programs witheducational and research institutions inChina, as well as to strengthen ties with the
8,000 Chinese University alumni living there.The University renewed exchange agreementswith Fudan, Peking, and Xi’an-JiaotongUniversities. The exciting part, for biology,is that in each case I signed a new, separatesubagreement on behalf of the University’sBiological Sciences Policy Council that moredirectly focuses on the biological sciences. Ialso signed new agreements with the FourthMilitary Medical University and the Shang-hai Institutes of Biological Sciences (a branchof the Chinese Academy of Sciences).
China has seen a tremendous increase infunding for research, especially in the bio-logical sciences, in the last few years. Theexchange programs we are developing willopen new avenues for sharing researchtechniques and results, as well as ensuringour continued access to the very best Chi-nese students, scholars, and scientists.
Other international ventures also are start-ing up. For instance, CBS associate dean JuddSheridan traveled to Uppsala, Sweden, lastwinter with a Minneapolis delegation toestablish a foundation for institutionalexchanges and to find out more about thebiotechnology research park connectingUppsala University and Swedish AgriculturalUniversity. These new, formal exchangeprograms will complement the host ofinternational experiences our students andfaculty are already taking advantage of inincreasing numbers.
I think it can truly be said that CBS offers aworld of opportunities.
Contents FrontiersSummer 2000Volume 2 Number 3
Dean
Robert EldeEditor
Nancy RoweDesigner
Elizabeth LonghurstAdvisers
Janene Connelly, Director, Developmentand External Relations;Paul Germscheid, Alumni RelationsCoordinator;Kathryn Hanna, Associate Dean;Kathleen Peterson, Director,Office of Student Services
Frontiers is published three times a yearby the University of Minnesota Collegeof Biological Sciences for alumni, faculty,staff, and friends of the college. It is avail-able in alternative formats for personswith disabilities upon request; please call612-624-0774 or fax 612-624-2785.
Address correspondence to:Frontiers EditorCollege of Biological Sciences123 Snyder Hall, 1475 Gortner Ave.St. Paul, MN [email protected]
For information on College of BiologicalSciences programs and services, visit ourWeb site at cbs.umn.edu.
The University of Minnesota is committedto the policy that all persons shall haveequal access to its programs, facilities, andemployment without regard to race, color,creed, religion, national origin, sex, age,marital status, disability, public assistancestatus, veteran status, or sexual orientation.
The University’s mission, carried out onmultiple campuses and throughout thestate, is threefold: research and discovery,teaching and learning, and outreachand public service.
Printed on recycled paper containing20 percent post-consumer waste.
2 From the deanThe internationalization of biology
4 International incidenceParticipation and options are on the rise
5 Scholar profileMurray Rosenberg Scholarship winner Edwin Pereira
6 Real world experiencesThree stories show how far CBS students go in searchof biological knowledge—and life-changing adventure
10 Into AfricaU research in Africa ranges from baboons to biodiversity
13 Japan exchange opens new avenuesBiotech grad students and faculty share research techniques and culture
14 CBS news
16 AlumNews
18 Alumni profilePeace Corps job leads to ornithology career
19 Outstanding alum gives back
20 Reconnect with CBS!
FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000 3
Correction: The spring issue contained an oversimplification of the difference betweengenetics and genomics, stating that genetics has meant the study of single genes. Actually,genetics often involves looking at dozens of genes at a time. Genomics is a new phase ofgenetics where, thanks to new technologies and extremely powerful computers, scientistscan look at the expression of hundreds or thousands of genes at once.
THE WORLD IS GETTING SMALLER AND BIOLOGY IS GETTING
bigger. That makes it ever more necessary—and popular—for
College of Biological Sciences (CBS) students to travel abroad
for study, research, and service.
“The explosion of interest, of students coming and saying ‘I
want to do an international experience,’ is just amazing to me,”
says Amy Winkel, coordinator of CBS’ Professional Learning
Experience Program and CBS contact for international
opportunities. The number of CBS undergraduates enrolled in
Global Campus (University study abroad) programs has more
than doubled in the past two years, from 17 in the 1997-98 school
year to 36 in 1999-2000. And that’s not counting students who
sign up for CBS courses that take them abroad, such as Dolphins
and Coral Reefs (p. 6) and Arctic Field Ecology (p. 8).
Global Campus—a sort of University clearinghouse for study/
travel information, advising, support, and programs—administers
four types of opportunities: language study, cultural study,
coursework toward the major at a foreign university, and special
projects or internships. CBS students enroll in all of them.
The Global Campus list of opportunities in biology and
related fields includes—to name just a few—Natural History of
Costa Rica; Ecology and Development in Thailand (including
intensive Thai language preparation); Northern Botany in
Finland; Latin American Health, Nutrition, and Environmental
Issues in the Dominican Republic; and College Year in Nepal.
Students also can sign up for Denmark International Study (DIS),
a semester- or yearlong program of biology at the University
of Denmark.
“DIS is what I would call an entry-level experience,” says
Winkel. “Students are really well taken care of, they’re put into
good living situations, the courses are in English. So they’re in
another country, but it’s not as threatening, as reality-changing,
as some experiences can be.” The Lancaster Exchange Program
in Lancaster, England, is similar. Kathie Peterson, CBS Student
Services director, says four CBS students are signed up to go
there next year and “they’ll be right on track” with their work
toward their majors when they return.
Once students get their feet wet with programs like DIS,
“it’s interesting to see how they go on to do more individualized
programs,” says Winkel. One example is the Minnesota Studies
in International Development program (p. 5), where students
work with native hosts in Ecuador, Senegal, India, or Kenya on
development projects or in agencies. Another is the Student
Project for Amity Among Nations (p. 7), which sponsors summer
independent research projects in various host countries under
the guidance of academic advisers.
If none of these choices suit, students can set up their own
projects. Winkel points to CBS senior Laura Silver, who
independently contacted an organization in Gujarat, India, and
is there now studying biodiversity and natural botanicals that
can be used for medicinal purposes.
The flip side to all this is the number of international
students who come to Minnesota to study. For the spring 2000
semester, CBS registered 25 international undergraduate
students—representing countries including Japan, Canada,
Nigeria, Taiwan, Mexico, Morocco, India, Korea, Austria, the
United Kingdom, and Hong Kong—and 34 international graduate
students. Many are members of CBS’ recently established
International Student Science and Cultural Exchange Club.
“It’s the only student group I’ve ever known that could meet
on Friday afternoons at 5:00 and draw significant numbers of
people,” says Peterson. The group started out sharing delicacies
from members’ countries and grew into offering talks on the
geography, history, and culture of the countries represented. As
part of spring 1999 Biology Week, the club hosted an
international ball, complete with ethnic food, an ethnic costume
style show, an around-the-world slide tour, and a dance with
international music.
For the host students, it was a chance to show a little bit of
home to Minnesota. For American students, perhaps it sparked
interest in the world that awaits.
—Nancy Rowe
For more on Global Campus, go to www.UMabroad.umn.edu.
Students in CBS’ Dolphins and Coral Reefs class encounter a
friendly dolphin off the coast of Honduras.
Fran
k B
arnw
ell
4 FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000
Increasing International Incidence
S C H O L A R P R O F I L E
A premium pre-med experience
John
Nol
tner
Edwin Pereira
A CHANCE STROLL THROUGH A JOB
fair led College of Biological Sciences
(CBS) senior Edwin Pereira to an eye-
opening, life-changing year in Ecuador.
Looking for a chance to work in a
hospital , something many pre-med
students seek out, microbiology major
Pereira attended a University of Minne-
sota-sponsored community service fair.
There he spotted a booth for Minnesota
Studies in International Development
(MSID) and, vaguely interested, grabbed
the organization’s brochure.
He didn’t think about it for a few
months, he remembers, but then read the
brochure and promptly decided the
program looked like “something I had to
do.” Thus in the fall of 1998, Pereira—
whose parents had emigrated from Bolivia
some 25 years earlier—found himself in
Quito, Ecuador, with about a dozen other
University students, taking classes on
development and learning about the
country, its history, politics, and people.
His airfare was paid for by CBS’
Murray Rosenberg Memorial Scholarship,
which was specifically established to
provide travel assistance for under-
graduate biological sciences students
wishing to conduct research or provide
humanitarian service in socioeconom-
ically depressed areas of the world.
Pereira was also awarded a $1,000
scholarship through the University’s
Global Campus office, which helped him
pay for the program itself.
After two months of study in Quito,
the MSID students were sent out on six-
month internships with grassroots
development organizations. Pereira
landed at a medical clinic in the town of
Taeacundo, located in the Andes about an
hour north of Quito. He lived with a large
local family made up of multiple kids and
various adults. “It took me awhile to figure
out who everyone was,” he laughs.
In Taeacundo’s public health clinic he
served as a kind of nursing assistant,
taking patients’ temperatures, blood
pressures, and medical histories before
they were seen by the doctors. He also
observed the Ecuadoran doctors as they
worked with their patients, many of
whom are laborers at nearby flower
plantations. The export of flowers is a big
business in Ecuador, Pereira explains,
with people coming from all over the
country to work at the relatively well-paid
jobs on the plantations.
One of Pereira’s tasks in Taeacundo
was to study the effects of pesticides on
flower planta-
tion workers.
The plantations,
which vary in
both size and
sophistication of
safety precau-
tions, spray the
flowers with lots
of pesticides to
ensure that the
blossoms are
perfect when
exported. Three
of those chemi-
cals are quite
d a n g e r o u s ,
causing a host
of symptoms including rashes and
headaches.
Although Pereira missed his own
family, his nine-month stay in South
America was an experience he wouldn’t
trade, he says. “It was good for me to get
out of science classes for a year and see
what medicine is really like, not just from
a scientific aspect but from a social one.”
The year in Ecuador has also in-
fluenced his future plans as a physician.
He’s applying to Midwestern medical
schools, including the University of
Minnesota’s, and hopes to work abroad
again someday following his training in
family practice. The Doctors Without
Borders program particularly interests
him, he says.
“Going abroad expanded my views on
world issues and showed me how people
view the United States,” he says. “It was
good to not just read about public health,
but to actually see it applied.”
—Lynette Lamb
For more on M SI D, go to www
. u m a b r o a d . u m n . e d u / g c P r o g r a m s
/Sponsored/MSID/msidMain.html.
FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000 5
6 FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000
Worldwideby Geoff Gorvin
biologyThree stories of CBS students leaving the lab and
classroom for real-world biology—and adventure
Taking the plunge
Studying marine biology on the TwinCities campus is a little like experiencing anopera by reading Cliff Notes. The 1,500miles of land separating Minnesota from theocean tends to temper the educational ex-perience a bit.
No one knows this better than ecologyprofessor Frank Barnwell, who has spent histeaching career trying to bridge the gap be-tween the classroom and the real world. So,when he found the ultimate laboratory forhis students four years ago—the Institute ofMarine Sciences on Roatan Island, off thecoast of Honduras—he developed a courseto take advantage of it. That course is theCollege of Biological Sciences’ (CBS) CoralReefs and Dolphins.
On Roatan Island, the classroom is anexotic coral reef, the campus is a marine
sciences lab and one of the Caribbean’s topscuba diving resorts, and the subject matteris a diverse and stunning population of coralmarine life, including dolphins, lobsters,eels, starfish, octopi,and, of course, anoccasional shark.
It’s a weeklongexperience of a life-time, where everyday features perfectweather, some of thebest scuba divinganywhere, an up-closeand personal study ofaquatic life on a coralreef, and a taste oflocal Caribbean culture for punctuation.
“We pack a lot in during that week,”Barnwell says, “but we still get only a taste
of the incredible di-versity of the Carib-bean.” The two-weekclass actually starts aweek earlier in theTwin Cities, wherestudents get a five-day crash course inmarine biology thatincludes studyingpreserved marinespecimens at the Uni-versity’s Bell Museumof Natural History.That’s followed by atrip to the Mall ofAmerica’s Underwa-ter Adventures, whichfeatures a million-gallon, walk-throughaquarium completewith coral reef andlive coral marine life.
The aquarium is an excellent reflectionof life on a coral reef, but there’s no substi-tute for the real thing. “The variety of fishthere is numbing,” Barnwell says of Roatan
Island. “There are over 300 different speciesof fish.”
Natalie Dobbs, a junior studying fish-eries and wildlife, was one of the 13 studentswho made the trip with Barnwell thissummer. “It was a lot more than I expected,”she says.
Dobbs was certified as a scuba diver lastyear when she took a trip to the CaymanIslands, widely regarded as one of the topscuba diving destinations in the world. Butit paled in comparison to Roatan Island,she says.
The class centers around daily scubadives, when students examine life on the reefand how the different fish relate to eachother. One of the diving studies is called a24-hour dive, which involves one dive everysix hours for 24 hours. “This gives (students)a chance to see how fish display dramati-cally different behaviors at different timesof the day,” Barnwell says.
It also means night diving, which is al-ways a highlight of the trip. “It’s a spiritualexperience,” Dobbs says. “It really putseverything into perspective. You get to see
Fran
k B
arnw
ell
The classroom is an exotic coral reef, the
campus is a marine sciences lab and one
of the Caribbean’s top scuba diving resorts,
and the subject matter is a diverse and
stunning population of coral marine life,
including dolphins, lobsters, eels, starfish,
octopi, and, of course, an occasional shark.
Student Amy Boucher encounters a sea turtle.
FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000 7
so many more species.” One of those spe-cies is a type of small shrimp whose eyes glowin the dark, making them resemble firefliesas they scurry about.
Another highlight for students is thechance to swim with dolphins. The institutehas about a dozen dolphins in captivity thatare trained for shows and educational pro-grams. The students snorkel with the dol-phins in their pen and then dive with themon the reef.
“Just over the reef there’s a place wherethe water is 50 feet deep and has a sandybottom,” Barnwell says. “The dolphins arereleased from the pen and swim to the sandplain where the students can observe theirfree-ranging behavior.”
The dolphin pen is just one of manyincredible features of the institute andRoatan Island, which is 30 miles long andthree miles wide. Half of the island’s perim-eter is a marine wildlife reserve.
The institute was founded in 1990 byJulio Galindo, owner of the Island’s mainresort, Anthony’s Key Resort. Galindo has
been a senator in the Honduras Congress,representing the island region. He makeshimself available to talk to the students aboutisland politics, conservation, and business.
But the greatest impact comes from theexperience students have in the water. “I like[diving] in groups because everybody con-tributes different observations,” Barnwellsays of his students. “They see all sorts ofthings. It’s exploration—so much is visibledown there. And it’s discovery. Every diveseems to bring something new.”
Dobbs may have made a career choiceafter her experience on Roatan. She discoveredher dream job: education coordinator ata facility like the Institute of Marine Sci-ences. Dobbs’ class had a coordinator whohelped Barnwell lead the daily educationalactivities, explain each dive before and after,and point out interesting aspects of the reefduring the dives. Dobbs hopes to return to theisland next summer as a teaching assistant.
Whether or not she returns to Roatan,the class, she says, “was an experience I’llnever forget.”
SPANning the globe
Up until two summers ago, biologymajor J.C. Elbert knew nothing about thebrown teal. She was fascinated with birds ofany shape, color, and flight pattern butwouldn’t recognize a brown teal if it landedin her soup.
How quickly that changed.
John
Nol
tner
J.C. Elbert
John
Nol
tner
Frank Barnwell, professor of ecology, evolution, and behavior, with his Intersession 2000 Coral Reefs and Dolphins class
8 FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000
Thanks to her participation in the Stu-dent Project for Amity Among Nations(SPAN), which promotes independent, in-ternational student research, Elbert is nowone of the world’s foremost experts on thenatural behavior of brown teal. Not bad foran undergraduate who was only a sophomorewhen she was introduced to the subject.
For Elbert, the prestige of being a rec-ognized authority on brown teal is surpassedonly by her once-in-a-lifetime experience ofstudying them. That’s because she traveledto the only place where brown teal can befound to study: New Zealand.
“It was an unbelievable experience,” saysElbert, who graduated from CBS in May andis now enrolled in veterinary school at IowaState University. After stumbling acrossSPAN in her freshman year and finding outit was headed to New Zealand in summer1998, she spent the 1997–98 academic yearpreparing for her trip, setting up her researchproject, and learning research techniques.
“I’m a big bird person and was volun-teering at the Raptor Center when someonereferred me to Professor [Frank] McKinney,”she says. “He’d studied duck behavior in NewZealand and told me he wasmissing a piece of the puzzle.”
That piece was the brownteal, an endangered bird withnocturnal habits that spendsmost of its time on land.McKinney used his connec-tions to help Elbert find hous-ing and ducks to study.
Elbert ended up at theOtorohanga Kiwi House, a zoofor birds that are native to NewZealand. She lived alone in theonly apartment at the KiwiHouse, staying busy by analyz-ing the ducks’ behavior.
That was a process that started at about6 a.m. every day. She’d get out of bed, eat abowl of corn flakes, and then head for Pen12, which was home to a male and femalebrown teal.
“I tried to get there before sunrise be-cause they’re most active at sunrise,” Elbertsays, adding that she’d “videotape the pairfor about two hours and then analyze thetapes at home.”
Elbert also spent a week studying thebrown teal in the wild with a conservationofficer. They attached radio collars to afew and tracked their movements. She
also visually studied themwhile she sat hidden in a con-cealed enclosure.
Elbert recorded fourcopulations, which were note-worthy because of the behav-ior of the males before andafter: head-pumping, bridling,and whistling. “Everything Iwas doing was so needed be-cause there’s so little data onthe brown teal,” she says.
Elbert’s research has been in hot de-mand. She wrote a paper about the brownteal for a general audience and is writing anacademic version for publication. Some ofher data were cited by McKinney in a paperthat he and his research team just publishedin the journal Animal Behaviour, and shejoined undergraduates from throughout thecountry in presenting their research findingsat a national conference last April.
“The most important thing,” she says, “isthat I’m contributing to what’s already knownand reinforcing what has already been found.”
Elbert radio-tracking brown teal in New Zealand
Journeying to the top
of the world
A suggestion to those taking Bill Gould’sArctic Field Ecology class: Strap on yourboots, dress warmly, and say goodbye tomodern conveniences like hot-water showers.
This class is not for everyone. It’s anextraordinary educational experience, but it’salso a month of wilderness camping—several hundred miles from civilization—in some of the most barren, unforgivingtundra in North America. It’s commonplaceto see caribou, bear, musk ox, and wolves.
But ask Gould and he’ll describe thearea quite differently. He’ll call it theultimate research laboratory, where Westernscience meets traditional ecological knowl-edge, resulting in a thorough understand-ing of a world that’s familiar to very few.
To get to this research lab from theTwin Cities, drive 2,300 miles northwestto Yellow Knife, Northwest Territories.Continue another 300 miles north—200miles past the tree line—to Bathurst Inlet.Congratulations: You’re now above theArctic Circle.
Dotted with thousands of lakes andlarge expanses of exposed bedrock, this areais similar to Minnesota’s Boundary WatersCanoe Area, minus the trees, Gould says. It’shere that Gould leads small classes (10 stu-dents or so) on a monthlong, 100-mile fieldexperience each summer, down one of thearea’s many rivers by inflatable kayak.
“We see a wide range of landscape downthe river,” says Gould, a CBS alumnus (B.S.’88, M.S. ’92) and National Science Founda-tion Postdoctoral Fellow who offers the classthrough CBS’ Lake Itasca Forestry and Bio-logical Station. “The southern Arctic has ahigh diversity of plants. And we get up thereduring the brief spring flowering season.”
Mel
issa
Kae
rche
r
Thanks to her participation in the Stu-
dent Project for Amity Among Nations,
which promotes independent, interna-
tional student research, Elbert is now
one of the world’s foremost experts on
the natural behavior of brown teal.
Phot
o co
urte
sy o
f J.C
. Elb
ert
FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000 9
About 75 percent of the students’ stud-ies involve vegetation. They use traditionalresearch methods to examine vegetation pat-terns, documenting and noting variations asthey travel down the river.
“The land is very open and barren butit’s lush with plants, including all kinds ofankle-high trees,” says Melissa Kaercher, abiology major who took the course two yearsago on the Hood River.
The class takes the botany portion ofthe program one step further, examining theinteractions among the vegetation, climate,
topography, and ecological processes andlooking at how they all tie together in shap-ing the landscape.
In addition to teaching about the area’snatural history, Gould gives the course acouple of added twists. He mixes in somearchaeology and traditional ecologicalknowledge, which involves a view of the areathrough the eyes of local Inuit residents.
“Traditional ecological knowledge is aburgeoning field these days,” Gould says.“Students used to go out with an instructorand study natural history from the perspec-tive of Western science, using experimenta-tion, hypothesis, writing papers, etc. Now,we bring in Inuit instructors, and we look atthe landscape from a different perspective.”
The last week of the class is spent withresidents of a nearby Inuit village. Using aninterpreter, the Inuit share stories and anoral history of the area to explain things likethe dynamics of the landscape, changes innatural resources (including wildlife), andthe effects of climate on the vegetation.
Much of the discussion revolves aroundcaribou, the main Inuit food source. The areasupports about 350,000 caribou, which maycalve in different areas. Gould and the Inuitteach a combination of Western researchmethods (such as satellite tracking methods,weather patterns, and vegetation mapping)and traditional ecological knowledge fromthe Inuit to try to forecast caribou migra-tion patterns and where they will calve inthe future. It also helps determine whereroads and mines will be built, to leave thecaribou calving areas unaffected.
“We use theperspective of whatwe’ve learned fromthe first threeweeks and trans-late that with theInuit history,”Gould says. “It’sreally exciting forthe students.”
It’s also a tre-mendous way tocap off the class,which was nothingshort of incrediblefor Kaercher.
“The high-light for me was
the field work,” she says. “You learn so muchmore than in the classroom. And you facea myriad of challenges, which really makesyou feel like you accomplished some-thing. Now I look at things in a different
way: things like cars, carpet—hot water isthe greatest invention in the world, nextto pizza.”
Some of her most valuable discover-ies involved several archaeological sitesalong the river. Once used by the Inuit,the sites feature burial mounds, huntingblinds, and rocks laid in rings that measure
about six feet in diameter. These rocks helddown the edges of tents.
Kaercher, who graduated from CBS inspring 1999, is now finishing a degree infine arts and plans to pursue a master’s de-gree, using her knowledge of the HoodRiver to map the sites and focus on thehistory of the area.
Kaercher is a prime example of howthe course can affect a student’s future andcareer choices, Gould says. “These studentshave experiences that have a profoundeffect on their lives. And there are alwaysstudents who surprise me with their enthu-siasm toward the place and the research, andwho end up doing research in the Arctic.”
For more on SPAN, go to www.umabroad. u m n . e d u / g c P r o g r a m s / S PA N / s p a n_GENERAL.html. For more on Elbert’sexper ience and re s earch, go to www.tc.umn.edu/~elbe0007/paper.html. Formore on the Arctic Field Ecology course,go to muskox.com/program/program.html.
“You learn so much more than in the classroom. And you
face a myriad of challenges, which really makes you feel
like you accomplished something. Now I look at things in
a different way, things like cars, carpet—hot water is the
greatest invention in the world, next to pizza.” Melissa Kaercher
Mel
issa
Kae
rche
r
Melissa Kaercher
John
Nol
tner
10 FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000
I dreamed
of Africaby Deane Morrison
I
African research ranging from
big cats to baboons to bio-
diversi ty has made Craig
Packer the U’s mane man.
Craig Packer, professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
N HIS MORE THAN 20 YEARS OFstudying baboons and lions, CraigPacker has seen a lot of changes. Some,like the growing human population and
political strife in Africa, where he has donemuch of his work, present major challenges.But other changes, such as revelations aboutthe social behavior of lions, owe much to thediligence of Packer and other behaviorists.
His work on baboons also broke newground. In his doctoral dissertation, Packerdocumented the movements of young malebaboons from their home troops to neigh-boring troops full of potential mates and jeal-ous resident males.
Now a Distinguished McKnightUniversity Professor in the Department ofEcology, Evolution, and Behavior, Packerhas recently been branching out both geo-graphically and scientifically, tackling someof the toughest questions about the work-ings of evolution.
A few years ago, Packer took on the sub-ject of menopause with a paper in Nature.Drawing on data from lions and baboons,he observed that females tend to lose theirreproductive potential before they reach theend of their life spans. Females typically stopreproducing at an age when they are still strongenough to raise their final offspring past thepoint of maternal dependency. He arguedthat menopause is a simple consequence ofaging and not, as other researchers have pro-posed, a means of freeing postmenopausalfemales—including women—to lend crucialhelp in raising children of their daughtersor other younger females.
John
Nol
tner
FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000 11
“Young baboons andlions fared no better if grand-mothers were around,” saysPacker. Although his ideasraised plenty of controversy,his paper “remains the best teston the evolution of meno-pause until someone can fig-ure out the life history ofprehistoric women,” he says.
Graduate student AnnieBosacker is continuing thework on menopause with ba-boons at Gombe and also in a “geriatriccolony” kept in San Antonio.
“We want to see how various environ-mental stresses, such as conflicts with eachother, hasten menopause,” says Packer.Ultimately, he says, menopause may stemfrom aging of the brain, particularly thehypothalamus, which controls repro-ductive cycles.
Two other graduate students, KarylWhitman and Peyton West, have becomeveteran lion researchers. Whitman studiesthe impact of trophy hunting, which targetsmales almost exclusively.
“But male lions are ‘family men,’” saysPacker. If the resident males of a pride arekilled, it leaves no one to defend cubs fromnew males that invade the pride, and repeatedcycles could mean no cubs being reared formany years. But the effects of shooting pre-or postreproductive males may be different.
“In some areas, hunting seems todisrupt the social life of prides, but inothers it doesn’t seem to have much impact,”says Packer.
West is studying the impact of color andlength of male lions’ manes. The hypoth-esis, she says, is that males are more afraid oflions with longer or darker manes, butfemales tend to prefer them. She challengesresident males of a pride to defend them-selves against invaders that consist ofrecorded male lion roars and dummy maleswith varying mane colors and lengths. Shealso looks at the reactions of females to malesoutfitted with different degrees of hairiness.The data are still coming in.
While these studies continue, however,Packer is busy shifting gears. Political andsocial upheaval in East Africa has caused himto fear for the safety of American students
In what may be his largest and boldestmove, Packer has begun work at 15 smallreserves in South Africa where he and RobSlotow, a colleague from the University ofNatal in Durban, South Africa, and othersare setting up a large study of biodiversity.
“We’re looking at the impact of lionsand elephants in promoting and maintain-ing biodiversity,” says Packer. Lions, he says,may be a “keystone” species—one that indi-rectly helps maintain diversity. “If lions eatungulates (hoofed mammals) that mightexclude other ungulates, that may promotebiodiversity,” he explains. “And elephantsmight also be keystone modifiers of theirenvironment. By knocking over trees, theycan convert woodlands to grasslands andprovide homes for species like centipedesand millipedes.”
Because some of the reserve areas lackeither elephants or lions or both, the studyof these species’ effects has built-in controls.Packer hopes to get the study in full swingby the end of the year so he can startanswering questions about how lions fitinto ecosystems.
“The Serengeti is huge, but the 15reserves are small enough to get a grip andlook at what happened before, during, andafter lions or elephants were introduced[by people] into these areas,” he says. “Ifthis pans out and yields lots of data, I couldsee working on this system for the rest ofmy career.”
like Whitman, West, and Bosacker. He plansto send no more Americans to East Africawhen they finish their degrees.
Accordingly, Packer, now in mid-career,is diversifying his interests to include otherareas of the world and other species, suchas wolves, which graduate student DanMcNulty is studying at Yellowstone. He isalso reaching out to Tanzanian students tocarry on the East African work.
“I have a Tanzanian student, BernardKissui, who’s looking at what’s going on withthe lions at the Ngorongoro Crater,” saysPacker. “He’s a master’s student at the Uni-versity of Dar es Salaam, and the first Tan-zanian student I’ve had in about 15 years.”The crater, about 75 kilometers southeast ofPacker’s study site in the Serengeti, is hometo about 29 lions. That number has droppedfrom 124 lions in 1983, but whether it’s dueto inbreeding, an influx of people, or higherpopulations of huge,aggressive cape buffaloisn’t clear.
“I’d like to makethe work at Serengetiand Ngorongoro atruly internation-al operation,” saysPacker. “There’s amuch higher caliberof student now than15 years ago. I’d like totrain Tanzanian scien-tists who are interestedin testing hypothesesand applying knowl-edge to practical prob-lems like the impacts ofpeople on wildlife andvice versa.”
“I’d like to make the work at Serengeti
and Ngorongoro a truly internation-
al operation. … I’d like to train Tanza-
nian scientists who are interested in
testing hypotheses and applying
knowledge to practical problems like
the impacts of people on wildlife and
vice versa.” Craig Packer
Jona
than
Pac
ker
12 FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000
A lifeline for Serengeti lions
DURING THE MID-1990s, THE SCENE REPEATED ITSELF WITH
sickening frequency throughout the Serengeti: a lion stumbling
and falling, flailing its legs, and struggling to its feet, only to fall
again and again until finally succumbing to the inevitable.
Such are the symptoms of distemper, a disease that brings
on encephalitis and pneumonia. Today, however, thanks to the
efforts of Craig Packer and his colleagues in the international
Project Life Lion, the domestic dogs that brought distemper to
the great plain are being vaccinated and the epidemic has
subsided. Even so, the episode offers a sobering reminder of
how fragile even relatively intact ecosystems can be and the
price of protecting them.
The Serengeti is a vast wildlife park, but people have been
moving to its outskirts for decades. Now, says Packer, several
million live within 50 miles of the park, and a 12-mile band
around the park is home to about 100,000 people and 30,000
dogs. Although dogs and lions don’t mix, dogs and hyenas do
gather at the same garbage dumps, and that may spell trouble
for lions when the canine distemper virus hits.
“No one really knows how it spreads to lions,” says Packer.
“It is transmitted by sneezing—maybe the hyenas catch it
from dogs at village garbage dumps, then the hyenas sneeze
on the lions.” However it spreads, it cut the lion
population from 3,000 to about 2,000 over the entire
Serengeti ecosystem.
The epidemic not only killed individual lions, but
also altered the equilibrium among neighboring
prides. “Some large prides got hammered, while their
smaller neighbors were left intact,” says Packer.
“Thus, some of the little guys suddenly found
themselves on top.” He documented a couple of large
prides that seemed to escape the scourge and sent
out large numbers of subadult males, which promptly
overtook nearby areas that had been depopulated by
the disease. So, while not every pride was devastated
by the virus, its repercussions reached far and wide
across the great Serengeti plain.
The malady was diagnosed in 1994, and in 1995
the first domestic dogs were vaccinated. Organized
by a veterinarian at the University of Edinburgh,
Scotland, Project Life Lion has provided a triple vaccine—against
distemper, rabies, and parvovirus—and a team of Tanzanian vets
who administer the shots on a continuing basis.
The task is magnified not only by people bringing dogs as
they move near the Serengeti Park, but also from an ongoing
puppy boom. Some areas must be vaccinated every several
months to keep up.
So far, the effort has paid off. After only three years of
vaccinations, the Serengeti lions had rebounded to nearly pre-
epidemic numbers. Still, not all areas that border the park can
be covered, and the virus could slip in anew.
“Now the main work is to look at how effective the anti-
distemper efforts are,” says Packer. “We want to see if
inoculating just one species—dogs—can protect all species, and
especially protect humans from rabies. We’ve assumed dogs are
the main reservoir for the disease. If we surround the Serengeti
with vaccinated dogs, will it disappear from wildlife? At what
level do we have to vaccinate to protect even adjacent popu-
lations of domestic dogs and people?”
With donations coming in from around the world, Project
Life Lion holds out hope that the wild animals of the Serengeti,
as well as the people who call the area home, can be protected
for many years to come.
–Deane Morrison
For more on lions and the lion research of Packer and
his graduate students, go to www.lionresearch.org. For more on
Project Life Lion, go to lionresearch.org/current/life.html.
12 FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000
Cra
ig P
acke
r
FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000 13
Ross Carlson
FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000 13
By Angelo Gentile
(Scientific)culture clubExchange program provides close-up view of
Japanese research methods and culture.
HEN ROSS CARLSONsigned up for the University ofMinnesota’s Ph.D. programin chemical engineering and
materials science (CEMS), he never guessedhis studies would take him to Japan.
That’s where Carlson ended up last yearas part of an exchange program between theCollege of Biological Sciences’ BiologicalProcess Technology Institute (BPTI) andNara Institute of Science and Technology(NAIST) in Nara, Japan. The program pro-vides graduate students and faculty mem-bers from both countries a close-up view ofone another’s research technologies and tech-niques as well as one another’s cultures.
“It fosters research collaboration,” saysCarlson. “Their research has a differentfocus and their expertise is in different fields,so we can trade information and techniques.”The science subjects that program partici-pants explore vary because of the unusual,interdisciplinary nature of both institutes.
The program was hatched four years agoafter Friedrich Srienc, BPTI faculty mem-ber and CEMS professor, returned from a
sabbatical at NAIST and suggested that Narawould be a great prospect for an exchangeprogram partnership.
Accordingly, BPTI director KenValentas and CEMS professor Wei-Shou Huvisited Nara, met with the institute’s vicepresident, professor Yoshiki Tani, andworked out the details, which would includean emphasis on involving Ph.D.-level stu-dents from each school.
In fall 1997, the first BPTI studentsstudied at NAIST. Each year since, three stu-dents and one faculty member from BPTIhave spent three weeks in Nara. In 1998
W three Japanese studentsand two NAIST facultymembers came to BPTI.Three more facultymembers and three Narastudents are scheduled tovisit here this August,while BPTI and NAISTare planning a joint sci-entific symposium inNara for November.
Aileen Green, aPh.D. student in mo-lecular, cellular, develop-mental biology andgenetics, participated inthat first exchange pro-gram in 1997. “It wasa great scientific ex-change,” she says, addingthat she has fond memo-ries and active pen palsfrom her time in Japan.
During the first week, Green, whose re-search focuses on the structural analysis oflactose permease, worked with her Japanese
counterparts inNAIST labs.During the sec-ond week, bothAmerican andJapanese students
gave presentations on their current research;these presentations received local press cov-erage. In addition, Green recalls, she wasstruck by the close attention the Japanesescientists gave to her talk, which was all inEnglish. “I speak no Japanese,” she says, “butthey all understood—because I had 10 min-utes of questions afterward.”
The final week included a biochemis-try symposium and trips to Kyoto Univer-sity, historic buildings, a saki factory, andother cities, and even a visit to the home ofa NAIST faculty member. (Such visits arereportedly a rare thing in Japanese culture.)
Carlson, whose research interest issingle-cell fungi, went to Nara last year. LikeGreen, he was involved with lab groups andseminar presentations, and also tourednearby scientific centers and universities.
Carlson and Green were both struck bythe well-equipped labs at NAIST. “Each labhad the latest equipment with state-of-the-art technology,” says Carlson.
In addition to the scientific side,Carlson also enjoyed museums, an aquar-ium, and baseball games.
“It was an exceptional opportunity tomeet people, have them show us around.They knew what was worthwhile to see,” hesays. “It was a wonderful experience bothprofessionally and personally.”
The NAIST ex change ha s b e en s osuccessful that BPTI is in the process ofsetting up another program, this one withUnive r s i t y Co l l e g e , London , one o fEurope’s most significant biochemicalengineering centers.
John
Nol
tner
“Their research has a different focus and their
expertise is in different fields, so we can trade
information and techniques.” Ross Carlson
14 FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000
CBS News
Kudos
Ellen Dahl, administrative director of genet-ics, cell biology, and development (GCD),GCD professor David Hamilton, and CBSinstructional lab coordinator Jane Phillipsreceived the 2000 President’s Award forOutstanding Service. The award recognizes10 faculty and staff throughout the Uni-versity each year whose service goes wellbeyond their regular duties and who dem-onstrate unusual commitment to the Uni-versity community.
Associate Dean Kathryn Hanna received the2000 Distinguished Service Award from theregional chapter of Sigma Delta Epsilon/Graduate Women in Science, a national or-ganization that advances the participationand recognition of women in science andfosters research.
Professor Emeritus Harrison “Bud” Tordoffof ecology, evolution, and behavior (EEB)was one of six honorees to receive theUniversity of Minnesota Outstanding Com-munity Service Award this year. The awardrecognizes Tordoff ’s community service con-tributions in promoting species preservationand conservation, most notably throughhis leadership of the effort to reestablisha viable population of peregrine falcons inthe Midwest.
Transitions
John Beatty ofEEB, Judy Ber-man of GCD,and Ruth Shawof EEB earnedpromotions tofull professor inspring 2000.
Margaret Davis,Regents Professorof Ecology, re-tired in May.
Kathryn Hanna,formerly CBSassistant dean,is now associate
dean for faculty and academic affairs.Judd Sheridan, formerly assistant to thedean, is now associate dean for research andinternational programs.
Julio Herrera joined the Molecular BiologyDivision of biochemistry, molecular biology,and biophysics (BMBB) July 1 as an assis-tant professor.
David Kirkpatrick and Jeff Miller havejoined GCD as assistant professors.
Charles Louis will step down as head ofBMBB October 1, when he moves to his newposition as vice president for research atGeorgia State University in Atlanta.
Professor Robert Sterner, who has been in-terim head of EEB since fall 1998, has beennamed head of the department.
Elmer Birney, EEB professor, director ofgraduate studies for the EEB program, andcurator of mammals at the Bell Museum ofNatural History, died June 11 at his homefrom a heart attack. He was 60. Birney re-ceived his B.S. in biology from Fort HaysState University in 1963 and earned his M.S.in 1965. From 1959 to 1965 he was a mem-ber of the U.S. Naval Reserves. He earnedhis Ph.D. in zoology from the University ofKansas in 1970, and joined the Universityof Minnesota as a faculty member that year.He conducted research in the AmericanMidwest, Mexico, Antarctica, Australia, and
Patagonia, and published about 80 paperson the ecology and evolution of many mam-mals including voles, mink, and bats. Un-der Birney’s guidance, the Bell Museum’sresearch collection of mammals has becomethe best in the Upper Midwest and has beenused in countless scientific studies. Birney,who was president of the American Societyof Mammalogists from 1988 to 1990, re-ceived the Hartley H.T. Jackson Award foroutstanding service to the society in 1999.He is survived by his wife and two grownchildren. Memorials to the Elmer C. BirneyEEB Graduate Fellowship Endowment canbe made to University of Minnesota Foun-dation, c/o Janene Connelly, College of Bio-logical Sciences, 123 Snyder Hall, 1475Gortner Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108.
Elmer Birney
Biochemistry professor Alan Hooper and senior Ted Sands
show off Sand’s work at the annual Life Sciences Under-
graduate Research Symposium April 19.
Kat
hryn
Han
na
News
In June the University announced the sec-ond renewal of a National Institutes ofHealth training grant in biotechnology. Therenewal, worth $2.5 million over five years,is expected to help the University become anational leader in microbial and plantgenomics. The grant provides stipends, tu-ition, and professional development supportfor 16 doctoral students in CBS’ BiologicalProcess Technology Institute each year.
FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000 15
Genetics and cell biology major
Elizabeth Tuohy was presented the
Dean E.M. Freeman Certificate for
Outstanding Contributions to
Student Life at commencement.
Genetics and cell biology majors
(l to r) Sarah Savage, Kerri Sawyer,
and Ramona Schmidt
Biochemistry majors (l to r) John
Cahoy (summa cum laude), Andrew
Bostrom, and Sonia Bobra (summa
cum laude)
CBS Commencement was held Saturday,May 13, in Northrop Auditorium. It fea-tured a commencement address by BMBBprofessor Dave Bernlohr; student speakersAmanda Kostyk and Brittany Ullevig; thepresentation of the Stanley Dagley–SamuelKirkwood Undergraduate Education Awardto microbiology professor Richard Hanson;and 200 students processing across the stageto enthusiastic applause.
The 2000 session of the Minnesota Legisla-ture had a positive outcome for biology atthe University of Minnesota. The bondingbill includes full funding for the completionof the Molecular and Cellular Biology Build-ing in Minneapolis and full funding to
women’s washrooms and design of a new stu-dent center at the Lake Itasca Forestry andBiological Station were not funded.
The Ninth Annual University of MinnesotaSymposium in Developmental Biology,“From Egg to Organ: Evolution of Devel-opmental Mechanisms,” will be held Sep-tember 25–26 in the Earle Brown Centeron the St. Paul campus. It will focus on theinterface between evolution and develop-ment and will cover a broadrange of systems. In addition toplatform sessions, the sympo-sium will include a postersession where all attendees areencouraged to present their ownwork on any aspect of biology.For details, go to www.med.umn.edu/dbc/symp/2000.
Outreach
CBS outreach efforts this sum-mer include:
• The annual Life SciencesSummer Undergraduate Re-
search Programs, pairing students fromaround the country with faculty mentors.
• An Investigative Plant Biology Workshopfor Elementary Teachers funded by the Eisen-hower Professional Development Program.
• Five laboratory rooms full of 4th- to 6th-grade students learning animal and humanbiology as part of “Bioneers,” a joint pro-gram between the University of Minnesotaand the Science Museum of Minnesotafunded by the Howard Hughes Medi-cal Institute.
• “Little Things that Run the World,” a“Kid’s University,” class for kids ages 9through 11.
• “Monarchs in the Classroom for K–8Teachers,” funded by the Eisenhower Pro-fessional Development Program.
• The Monarch Monitoring/Field ResearchProgram, funded by the National ScienceFoundation.
• “Evolution, Controversy, and Standards,”a 10-day workshop for middle and highschool teachers funded by the EisenhowerProfessional Development Program.
• “Inquiring Minds: Urban Forests for Ur-ban Educators,” a professional developmentworkshop for 3rd- to 6th-grade teachersfunded by the Eisenhower Professional De-velopment Program.
match Cargill’s gift for a Microbial and PlantGenomics Building in St. Paul. For the St.Paul greenhouses, funding is allocated for abiocontainment facility, while the remain-der of the project is expected to be part ofthe University’s next capital request. Unfor-tunately, replacement of the men’s and
Nan
cy R
owe
Nan
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Nan
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Nic
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guye
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Associate dean Kathryn Hanna and senior biology
major Brian Kaneshiro compete in the “Fastest
Pipette in the West” contest with sno-cones as
part of Biology Week, April 13–19.
F
AlumNewsFrom the president
Lisa Weik
Nan
cy R
owe
C A L E N D A R O F E V E N T S
2000
Tuesday, September 12 BSAS board meeting, 406A Biological Sciences Center, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 9 U of M Alumni Day at the Dome—Gophers take on Ohio U, 1:30 p.m. (Reduced-price tickets are available for
UMAA members. Call 1-800-UM-ALUMS for more information.)
September 25–26 Ninth Annual University of Minnesota Symposium in Developmental Biology: “From Egg to Organ: Evolution
of Developmental Mechanisms,” Earle Brown Center. (For details, go to www.med.umn.edu/dbc/symp/2000.)
September 29–October 1 Itasca Weekend, Lake Itasca Forestry and Biological Station
October 27–28 Homecoming Weekend
Wednesday, November 1 CBS Recognition and Awards Dinner, by invitation
Tuesday, November 7 BSAS board meeting, 406A Biological Sciences Center, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Thursday, November 9 BSAS Mentor Program Kickoff, time and location TBA
2001
Saturday, March 3 BSAS Family Day, for CBS alumni and friends, Science Museum of Minnesota
For the complete college calendar, go to cbs.umn.edu/cgi-bin/calendar/calendar.pl. For the U of M events calendar, go to events.tc.umn.edu.For a list of biological seminars at the U of M, go to cbs.umn.edu/college_info/seminar.html.
OR BOYS LEARNING THEsport of baseball, defining mo-ments occur when they suddenlyunderstand a concept or idea that
has been presented to them before but neverpreviously absorbed or fully understood.That was the message at a recent Saturdaybaseball clinic that I attended as a coach formy son’s Little League team. When you thinkabout it, we all hope to experience definingmoments in all of our endeavors—it’s whatmakes them worthwhile.
The past year has been a rich period ofdefining moments for me—those instances
where I could see clearly that my volunteerhours have all been worthwhile. Notableexamples include:
• Meeting undergraduate merit award win-ners at a fall banquet. I had exchanged e-mailswith several students beforehand and foundtheir comments and insights into their fu-ture careers and studies warm and humor-ous. Chris Jokinen was especially inspiringwith his dedication to children and pediat-ric medicine. Meeting them in person wasan honor and provided a defining moment:a reminder of why I like to be involved withthe college. The students of today will bethe alumni of tomorrow, and they are animpressive group.
• Attending the grand opening of theMcNamara Alumni Center. This spectacu-lar event was on a scale with the splendor ofthe building itself. While touring the facil-ity and watching a construction video, Irealized how much the University has neededthis “home base” for alumni and visitors. Mydefining moment occurred while viewing thewall of books, a quiet and dignified testi-monial to the significance of academics inour lives, which made me realize how im-portant lifelong learning is to all of us.
• Participating in the CBS commencementceremony, where I had the pleasure of award-ing a favorite professor and dear friend theCBS Stanley Dagley–Samuel KirkwoodUndergraduate Education Award. RichardHanson, this year’s recipient, accepted withthe comment that working with undergradu-ate students such as myself has provided himmany defining moments as an instructor.
Whether volunteering at the Universityor coaching Little League baseball teams, thehours of commitment are invaluable formeeting fun and interesting people, addingnew facets to yourself, and gaining the manydefining moments that would otherwise bemissed. I hope you’ll consider a volunteercareer for yourself through the BiologicalSciences Alumni Society and add some de-fining moments to your collection of memo-ries. (And, as Professor David Bernlohrstated during his recent CBS commence-ment address, “never give up on baseball!”)
Lisa A. WeikPresident, Biological SciencesAlumni Society
Dra
gonf
ly a
rtw
ork
by D
on L
uce
16 FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000
Class notesComing soon to your mailbox
In an effort to better serve our graduates,CBS will mail a survey to all alumni thisfall. We want to improve our alumni pro-gramming and communications, and wewant to become better acquainted with ouralumni. We are interested in learning aboutyour career, your personal and professionalaccomplishments, awards and recognitionyou’ve received, and your ideas for how CBSmight better serve its students and alumni.Please take the time to fill out and returnthe survey. If you have any questions aboutthe survey or don’t receive a copy, please con-tact Paul Germscheid, 612-624-3752 [email protected].
Remembering Elmer Birney
Memorials to the Elmer C. Birney EEBGraduate Fellowship Endowment can bemade to: University of Minnesota Founda-tion, c/o Janene Connelly, College of Bio-logical Sciences, 123 Snyder Hall, 1475Gortner Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108.
Itasca Weekend 2000
The annual reunion weekend at CBS’ LakeItasca Forestry and Biological Station willbe held September 29 to October 1 and willinclude fun programs for the whole family,led by speakers from CBS, the Raptor Cen-ter, the Wolf Center in Ely, and the BellMuseum of Natural History. For details, goto cbs.umn.edu/biolink/itasca.
BSAS Board of Directors–
Officers (as of September 2000)
President: Jerald BarnardPresident-elect: Dick OsgoodPast President: Lisa WeikNational Board Representative:Carol PletcherChair, Alumni Relations and EventsCommittee: Dick OsgoodChair, Student Services Committee:Deanna Croes
Be sure to visit the CBS Alumni & FriendsWeb page s a t cb s .umn.edu /7a lumni/7alumni.html.
Ray Anderson (Ph.D. ’43) earned his M.D. in1945 and was on the faculty of the University ofMinnesota Medical School from 1949 to 1980. Healso worked in Hiroshima, Japan, studying theeffects of the atomic bomb. He now lives in SunCity, Ariz.
Gerald Dahling (M.S. ’70) was featured on thecover of the fall 1999 William Mitchell Law Schoolalumni magazine. After earning his M.S. in botanyand genetics at the University, he went on to earnhis Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University. Hewas an assistant professor of biology at MacalesterCollege in St. Paul for five years before moving intothe field of patent law. He is now general patentcounsel for Aventis Pharma, the world’s largestdrug company.
J.P. Houchins (B.S. ’75) earned his Ph.D. inbiochemistry from the University of Wisconsin,Madison, in 1980. He was a postdoc at BrookhavenNational Laboratory from 1980 to 1983, then cameback to the University as a postdoc in botanyworking on the maize mitochondrial genome. Hebegan working in immunology as a postdoc in theDepartment of Laboratory Medicine and Pathologyin 1985 and was a faculty member in thatdepartment from 1986 to 1996, when he moved toR&D Systems in Minneapolis. There, he managesthe Monoclonal Antibodies Department and anexploratory research department that is makingrecombinant antibodies using phage displaytechnology.
Kathleen Ann Ferkul (B.S. ’78) received hermaster’s degree in counseling psychology from St.Mary’s University in January 2000. She is nowemployed at Quality Career Services in St. Paul,where she counsels displaced workers.
Jane Porterfield (B.S. ’80) is a 10th-gradescience teacher at Apple Valley East Ville HighSchool in Apple Valley, Minn. She was quoted in aJuly 12 Minnesota Daily article about the use oflake monitoring as part of an environmentaleducation curriculum.
Sally Hed (B.S. ’91), vice president of marketingfor Immunochemistry Technologies in Minneapolis,was the presenter of “How Do I Get a Job inBiotechnology?” This special talk was hosted bythe CBS Career Center in May.
Miriam Taylor (B.S. ’95) is a health sciencespecialist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Centerin Minneapolis, where she conducts lab researchrelated to diabetes on liver glycogen phosphorylase.
Paul Wymar (B.S. ’95) recently returned from thePeace Corps in Paraguay and is now finishing hismaster’s degree in forestry.
Melissa Bettendorf (B.S. ’96) is supervisor ofregulatory affairs and quality assurance/qualitycontrol for ProtaTek International, Inc., in St. Paul.ProtaTek develops and manufactures biologicalmaterials such as vaccines and diagnostic aids foruse in the animal health industry.
Tania Vincent (Ph.D. ’96) and David Scheel(Ph.D. ’92) received a grant in 1998 from WestCoast NURP to use a submersible Delta to studydeepwater habitats of Enteroctopus dofleini, a giant
Pacific octopus. Tania is an adjunct professor andDavid is an assistant professor at Alaska PacificUniversity.
Jennifer Larson (B.S. ’97) earned her M.S. inresource ecology and management from theUniversity of Michigan in April 2000. She is anecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey,assessing nonchemical control of leafy spurgeand Canada thistle in the northern Great Plainsregion.
Lisa Michelle (Herold) McKenzie (B.S. ’97)is in the physician assistant program at AugsburgCollege and will graduate in August 2001.
Joy Salverda (B.S. ’97) is a microbiologist atEcolab in St. Paul.
Chandra Guy (B.S. ’98) is in the physicianassistant program at Augsburg College.
Omodele Masha (B.S. ’98), a third-year medicalstudent at the University of Minnesota MedicalSchool, is president of the Twin Cities chapter ofthe Student National Medical Association.
Kelly Peterburs (B.S. ’98) will begin veterinaryschool at the University of Minnesota in fall 2000.As an undergraduate, she interned in the ExamDepartment of the Animal Humane Society inMinneapolis through CBS’ Professional LearningExperience Program; she now works there full-time and will continue part-time while in vetschool.
Kent Willette (Itasca Summer Session ’98)graduated from St. John’s University inCollegeville, Minn., in 1998 and is employed byTexas Parks and Wildlife as a park ranger inLockhart State Park, Lockhart, Texas.
Rebecca A. Kiefer (B.S. ’99) has been admittedto Marquette University Law School for fall 2000.
Terry Kummer (B.S. ’99) is in a Ph.D./M.D.program at Washington University in St. Louis.
Andrea Mudrey (B.S. ’99) is the sales/marketing/human resources assistant for RevestMidwest, a remanufacturer of office furniture inSt. Paul.
DEATHS
George Christianson (Ph.D. ’53), of Plymouth,Minn., died March 22 at age 82. He served fouryears in the U.S. Air Corps in World War II andworked for 22 years in research at General Mills.He is survived by his wife, Ann, a son, a daughter,and six grandchildren.
Robert WonSavage (B.S. ’68) died April 12 ofheart and lung complications at North MemorialMedical Center in Robbinsdale, Minn. He was 54.He practiced medicine in the Twin Cities for 32years, first in family practice and later in geriatrics.He is survived by his wife, Judy, two sons, and adaughter.
ALUMS ONLINE
Read additional class notes and enter yourown information online at cbs.umn.edu/cgi-bin/class_notes/class_notes.pl.
FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000 17
by Mary ShaferBird man
of Africa
“I had never worked on a
project like the ones I
worked on there. Seeing a
couple of thousand white-
faced whistling ducks all at
once, for instance.” Chris Jameson
IA biology degree leads to a Peace Corps
stint—and a career—as a birdwatcher.
HAD REALLY WANTED TO GOto Africa my whole life, since I wasabout eight years old,” says ChrisJameson, a 1993 graduate of the Col-
lege of Biological Sciences.Jameson’s wish came true soon after he
finished his biology degree, when he headedoff to a three-and-a-half-year Peace Corpsassignment in Niger. There he worked as awildlife biologist in a community locatednear a major national park called the WNational Park (so named because it is formedin the shape of the letter W between thecountries of Niger, Burkina Faso, andBenin), monitoring bird species in two ofthe three rivers that form the park’s bound-aries. On a monthly basis he monitoredwhich species of birds and in what numberswere in the park, trying to establish a baselineto determine how further development ofthe river might affect bird populations.
Unlike so much of Africa, now sadlydevoid of the wildlife it once teemed with,
which he describesas “just amazingin both diversityand numbers.”
“I had neverworked on a projectlike the ones Iworked on there,”he marvels. “See-ing a couple ofthousand white-faced whistlingducks all at once,for instance.”
Bird watching,in essence, was Jameson’s job, as he catalogedand updated the park’s list. “It was really nice.I don’t know if I’ll ever get another job quitelike it,” he says. “Every day was incredible,and there were huge differences between therainy and dry seasons, and the hot and coolseasons. Then, in certain years, we’d seequite unexpectedly huge numbers of birds,depending on the conditions of surround-ing countries.”
Being an environmentalist in the PeaceCorps wasn’t always idyllic, however. Afterone coup, a former general installed asNiger’s president decided that giraffes, ofwhich there were only about 70 left in hiscountry, would make nice gifts for the lead-ers of surrounding countries. But becausegiraffes are difficult animals to dart, a dozenwere killed during the capture process. Andbecause the Peace Corps is an apoliticalgroup, explains Jameson, he and his Ameri-can colleagues were not supposed to objectto this ecological disaster.
Their misguided president notwith-standing, Jameson grew to love the peopleof Niger, many of whom are members ofthe Hausa people, a language he learnedto speak. “Culturally, West Africa is still
much more intact than many other re-gions of the continent,” he says. “Nigerreally took hold of me. It has a dry, starkbeauty, and the people are wonderful. I feltso comfortable there.”
Despite his love of Niger, after nearlyfour years Jameson decided it was time toleave. Now he has a newly minted master’sdegree in ornithology from the Universityof Michigan and is starting work on hisPh.D. Interested in the social behavior ofbirds, the 29-year-old Jameson hopes tostudy the subdesert mesite, a small thrush-like bird that lives only in Madagascar, anisland nation in the Indian Ocean off thecoast of southeastern Africa. Specifically, hewould like to study cooperative breeding,in which a single, unrelated bird helps abreeding pair raise its young.
Jameson found this bird during a six-month trip he took through Africa follow-ing his Peace Corps stint—a trip he paid forwith Peace Corps earnings, a trip he madein part to find a place he might conduct re-search in graduate school and beyond. Andjust as Niger had, says Jameson, Madagas-car “took hold of me.”
Phot
o co
urte
sy o
f Chr
is J
ames
on
Chris Jameson (front left) and park wildlife team on census
mission for annual large mammal survey at W National Park Niger
the 2,200-square-kilometer W National Parkremains biologically rich.
Jameson regularly saw elephants,hippos, crocodiles, baboons, monkeys,and a variety of antelope species—most ofthe mammals this continent is famousfor. But despite the exotic appeal ofthese wild animals, he found himselfparticularly drawn to the bird species,
18 FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000
NEARLY 60 YEARS AFTER RECEIVING HIS PH.D. FROM THE
University of Minnesota, Thomas Reid lives quietly in his lake-
side home just north of St. Paul. His unassuming demeanor,
however, conceals a pioneering spirit, one that led to some
remarkable innovations.
In a career that spanned more than 50 years at 3M, Reid
developed patented products that include Scotchgard™ stain
repellent and the low-adhesion coating that makes it possible
to unwind and dispense Scotch tape easily. He began dental
and pharmaceutical research that led to lifesaving drugs. He
founded the company’s pharmaceutical, dental research, and
biosciences laboratories, and become the first director of its
biochemical research laboratory.
“The senior leadership in the areas of biology and
chemistry were all hired by Tom,” says College of Biological
Sciences (CBS) dean Robert Elde. “He really set the tone for
chemistry, biology, and the intersection of the two at 3M.”
Now, Reid, who earned his doctorate in biochemistry in
1943, and who says the University is “one of Minnesota’s
biggest assets,” has given a substantial gift that will enable
CBS to establish the Thomas Reid Graduate Fellowship in
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics (BMBB).
The fellowship is one of the first for CBS under the
University’s new 21st Century Graduate Fellowship Endow-
ment, which matches private gifts of $25,000 or more to create
fellowships for promising graduate students. Matching funds
have been made possible from the royalties of the University’s
licensing agreement with the pharmaceutical company Glaxo-
Wellcome for the AIDS drug carbovir.
Reid’s generous gift offers vast potential, says Elde, who
identifies graduate fellowships as “the highest priority” in
CBS’ capital campaign. “It will give us the ability to add that
margin of excellence, that extra something, that attracts the
top students,” he says.
Charles Louis, head of BMBB, agrees, calling graduate
fellowships “the number one priority in terms of fund-raising
for BMBB.” Reid’s gift, coupled with the University’s matching
funds, “will be extremely helpful in allowing us annually to go
after at least two of the very best applicants to our program,”
he says. These outstanding students “have many offers from
our peer institutions, so the stipend levels have become a critical
factor in our ability to recruit them.”
Now, thanks to Reid, the University of Minnesota can offer
these students fellowship support for up to five years while they
concentrate on their research.
Reid himself came to the University by way of Rutgers,
where he earned his undergraduate degree in entomology and
his master’s degree in organic chemistry. Although Purdue avidly
courted the promising young scholar (“They did put a lot of
pressure on me,” Reid remembers), he came to Minnesota to
study with the legendary Ross Gortner, whose work, Reid says,
“is the basis of modern biochemistry.” Reid thought about an
academic career himself, but after a two-year stint with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, he found his niche at 3M, where he
began work as an organic chemist. “I only planned to stay a
couple of years,” he chuckles.
Because of his own comprehensive background, Reid
believes it is important that fellowship recipients have broad
experience in the chemical sciences. The first fellowship is
expected to be awarded in fall 2001.
Reid, who received the University’s Outstanding
Achievement Award in 1998, is typically modest when asked
about his reasons for making such a generous donation. “It’s
an opportunity to give something back,” he says simply.
–Mary Shafer
Biochemist gives back
Thomas Reid
John
Nol
tner
FRONTIERS SUMMER 2000 19
College of Biological SciencesUniversity of Minnesota123 Snyder Hall1475 Gortner AvenueSt. Paul, MN 55108
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
NonprofitOrganizationU.S. Postage
P A I DPermit No. 155Minneapolis,Minnesota
Reconnect with CBS!
TH E UN IVE RSITY OF MI NN ESOTA
Alumni Association (UMAA) is working
hard to represent the U’s more than
300,000 alumni and countless friends.
Please join in the excitement by joining
UMAA—and at the same time, you can
reconnect with the College of Biological
Sciences (CBS).
Simply join UMAA using the enclosed
envelope, and you’ll also become a
member of the Biological Sciences
Alumni Society (BSAS), which promotes
BSAS sponsors an annual fal l
reunion weekend at Itasca State Park,
cosponsors CBS’ Career and Internship
Fair, runs a mentoring program that
connects undergraduates with alumni,
and sponsors merit scholarships. We
also are working to develop an active
and informed biological sciences
community of alumni by adding more
career and networking opportunities to
our list of events.
UMAA/BSAS membership is open
to everyone. Member benefits include
career help, a subscription to Minnesota
magazine, low-cost Internet service, and
savings on U of M sporting and cultural
events and clothing.
If you join now, you’ll receive a FREE
U of M sesquicentennial T-shirt. At the
same time, you’ll help BSAS in two ways.
First , you’l l be counted as part of
UMAA’s “Recruitment 2000” campaign,
a competition among like-sized alumni
societies with cash rewards for societies
that sign up the most members. Second,
BSAS will receive a percentage of your
membership fee. (Both help further BSAS
service activities.)
BSAS Merit Scholarship winner Chris
Jokinen, a senior biochemistry/
microbiology major, with BSAS board
member Dick Osgood at the CBS
Awards and Recognition Dinner
BSAS cosponsors the annual CBS
career and internship fair.
To f ind out more about BSAS,
please contact Paul Germscheid at 612-
624-3752 or [email protected],
or go to www.cbs.umn.edu/7alumni/
7c_alumsociety.html.
We would love to have your involve-
ment and support!
The BSAS annual Itasca weekend is fun for the
whole family. These kids are showing off their
entries in the name tag decorating contest.
excellence in CBS; supports CBS stu-
dents; and offers professional oppor-
tunities, networking, and fun for our
alumni and friends.
Kat
hryn
Han
na
Kat
hryn
Han
na
Kat
hryn
Han
na
