December 2006

NEW STUDENTS

We have a bumper crop of new students joining us this spring. Please say hello to our new students when you see a new face in the halls: Deepak Balasubramanian (Major Advisor: Kalai Mathee), Rebecca Bernard (Major Advisor: Jim Fourqurean), Gerald Berry (Major Advisor: Frank Jochem), Nikeisha Chin (Major Advisor: Lidia Kos), Adriana Galvis (Major Advisor: Alejandro Barbieri), Kristin Kuehl (Major Advisor: Laurie Richardson), Casuarina McKinney (Major Advisor: Craig Laymna), Shalini Mehrotra (Major Advisor: Leung Kim), Aaron Miller (Major Advisor: Laurie Richardson), Varinder Pal Singh Pannu (Major Advisor: Kalai Mathee), Barbara Zen (Major Advisor: Lidia Kos),

DEPARTMENTAL SEMINARS

Longin Kaczmarsky (Major Advisor: Laurie Richardson) presented his Ph.D. proposal seminar entitled “Characterizations of the major coral diseases of the Philippines: Porites ulcerative white spot syndrome and novel growth anomalies of Porites” on 6 December 2006.

Robin Smith (Major Advisor: Todd LaJeunesse) presented his Ph.D. proposal seminar entitled "Specificity, stability, and comparative physiology of coral-Symbiodinium mutualisms: Evaluating the potential for acclimation and/or adaptation in reef corals on 14 December 2006.

RESEARCH SEMINARS

Chad Husby (Major Advisor: Steve Oberbauer) presented a Plant Talk entitled “Fibonacci spirals and fractals: some mathematical patterns in plants” on 6 December 2007.

GRANTS & AWARDS

Alessandro Catenazzi (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) was awarded a one-year postdoctoral fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation. He will work with Dr. Mary Power at University of California after he completes a one-year postdoctoral appointment with Henry Mushinsky and Earl McCoy at the University of South Florida. Ale will be working on conservation of the sand skink in the Archbold Biological Station. Congratulations Ale!

CLUB ACTIVITIES

The Comparative Immunology Club met on 5 December 2006 in HLS II 396. They held their end of the year party.

The MCB Club hosted a game night on December 6th at 5 pm (HLS 216).

The LTER student group held a skating night at the Kendall Ice Skating Arena on December 7, 2007.

The FIU Herp Club sponsored a Gradskeller on 7 December 2007.

PUBLICATIONS

Laura May-Collado (Major Advisor: Douglas Wartzok) had a chapter from her dissertation accepted for publication: May-Collado L. J. and D. Wartzok. 2007. The freshwater dolphin Inia geoffrensis produces high frequency whistles. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 121 (2): in press.

Laura’s paper published this year in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution was the second most downloaded paper in the journal in the first three months of 2006. Clearly Laura’s study of odontocete relationships is generating substantial scientific interest. Congratulations Laura!

FORMER STUDENTS

Joshua Voss (Major Advisor: Laurie Richardson) recently published a paper: Voss, J.D. and L.L. Richardson. 2006. Nutrient enrichment enhances black band disease progression in corals. Coral Reefs 25:569-576.

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