Department of Biology
June 30: Professors Ronda Rolfes and Matthew Hamilton have been awarded tenure and promotion to Asssociate Professor. Both have worked very hard, put their hearts into this pursuit and are very well-deserving. Congratulations to both of them!
May 22: The Commencement Address for the 2005 Georgetown College Graduation was given by former Department of Biology faculty member Rita Colwell. Dr. Colwell received an honorary degree for her work on the cholera-causing bacterium Vibrio cholerae as well as her service to the nation as the head of the National Science Foundation. She challenged graduates to change the world dependent on each person's own passions.
May 21: Biology majors received several honors at the Tropaia Exercises associated with commencement: Megan Brooks and Jason Robertson each received the Biology Medal. Lou Ojeifo received the Edward L. Mahoney Medal and Louis Licamele received the computer Science Award. Gillian Fell received the Thomas Francis Graham Award and the Katherine Kraft Medal. Congratulations to all!
May 20: Congratulations to the biology majors who were inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Megan Brooks, Kyle Brown, Gillian Fell, Doug Gallo, Reem Hasan, Jessica Melone, Lou Ofeifo, Andreas Rauschecker and Iga Wegorzewska from the 2004 graduating class, and Phil Lehman and Renee Westley from the 2005 class.
April 27: The Sigma Xi research symposium was held during the evening, with 12 students from the Departments of Biology and Physics presenting. The Sigma Xi Research Award was given to Rasha Khoury. Rasha performed her research project under the direction of Professor Heidi Elmendorf.
April 24: The Senior Thesis Symposium was held in the ICC with a luncheon in the Faculty Club. During the luncheon the Chapman Medal was awarded for superior research to Kyle Brown. Kyle has been working with Prof. Matthew Hamilton.
April 19: Prof. Joseph Neale has been named Paduano Distinguished Professor beginning next year. He is the first in our department to receive a named and endowed chair. Joe's outstanding achievements, his superb teaching and wonderful research, and his leadership within the Department and the University make such recognition truly deserved. Congratulations Joe!
April 15: Three Nature Genetics papers are featured in Thomson ISI's listing of Red-Hot Research Papers of 2003, including one co-authored by undergradate Kirk Lohmueller (COL '05). Link to the paper.
April 14: Graduate student Dan Kjar received an award during the Graduate School Research Days for his project on biodiversity. The Research Days Forum displays work performed by graduate students from across campus, and is sponsored by the Graduate School.
April 9: Andreas Rauschecker (COL '04) has been awarded a full scholarship from the Clarendon Fund to study neuroscience at Oxford University next year. This award is very rare for foreign students. Good job, Andreas!
April 2: Adam Raff (COL '05) has received a competitive Oncology Fellowship for study at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles this summer. Although this fellowship is targeted to students who have completed one-year of medical school, Adam out-competed the other applicants. Well done, Adam!
March 29: Vicki Rafalski (COL '05) and Kirk Lohmueller (COL '05) have been each awarded with a Goldwater Scholarship. This award is given to undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing a career in scientific research and a limited number are awarded nationally. Congratulations to both students!
March 19: Prof. Ronda Rolfes was awarded a grant for $420,000 from the National Science Foundation to fund her project entitled "Regulation of Purine Nucleotide Biosynthesis in Yeast".
March 2: Congratulations to Gillian Fell who won the Eighteenth Annual Student Research Days Competition in the Student Division. Kudos also go to the runners-up: Noreen Bukhari and Jason Robertson in the Student Division and to Indrani Som in the Post-doctoral Division. Two of our students also received an Honorable Mention during the competition, Melissa Altura in the Student Division and Laura Gehl in the Pre-doctoral Division.
February 1: Iga Wegorzewska (COL '04) was awarded the prestigous Churchill Fellowship from the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States for advanced study in the sciences at Churchill College, Cambridge. Iga is the first Churchill Fellow at Georgetown and one of only eleven fellows nationwide. Well-done to both Iga and her mentor Prof. Joseph Neale.
October 22: The Departmental Annual Awards Ceremony was held in the Riggs Library. Amorsolo (JR) Suguitan was awarded the Departmental Graduate Student Award for outstanding research and service to Biology. Gillian Fell received the Taylor-Weber Award for academic excellence amoung senior biology majors. The recipients of the 2003 Zukowski Research Award, Sarah Connolly, Megan Brooks and Gillian Fell, were also recognized during the ceremony and they gave a presentation of their work.
July 23: Congratulations to Professor Martha Weiss for receiving tenure and promotion! Well done and much deserved!!
July: Welcome Peter Armbruster! Peter is the newest faculty member of the Department of Biology.