DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
SEMINAR SERIES SPRING 2001

Date: January 9th 2001 

 

Title: Bacterial Biofilms - Their Growth on Earth and Potential Use in Spaces 

Robert J.C. (Bob) McLean, Ph.D.
Department of Biology 
Southwest Texas State University 
601 University Drive San Marcos, TX 78666 Phone: 512-245-3365 Fax: 512-245-8713 
Email: rm12@swt.edu
URL: http://www.bio.swt.edu/micro/mclean/mclean.html

Date: January 16th 2001(4 pm)

Presidential Lecture Series 2001:
Nobel Laureate Dr. Murray Gell-Mann

Title: Regularities, Randomness and Complexity in the Universe

Venue: Graham Center Ballroom, University Park

Murray Gell-Mann
Professor and Co-Chairman of the Science Board of the Santa Fe Institute
1399 Hyde Park Road
Santa Fe, NM 87501-8943
Phone: 505-984-8800
Fax: 505-982-0565
Email: mgm@santafe.edu
URL: http://www.santafe.edu/sfi/People/mgm/

Date: January 23rd 2001 

Burroughs Wellcome Visiting Professor at FIU: Michael Zasloff, MD., PhD.

Title: The Aminosterols of the Shark: Their Discovery, Function and their Development as Drugs to Control Cancer and Obesity

Michael Zasloff, MD., PhD.
President, Magainin Research Institute 
Magainin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 
5110 Campus Drive 
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462 

Adjunct Professor, Departments of Human Genetics, Pharmacology, and Orthopedics
University of Pennsylvania
School of Medicine

Email: mzasloff@magainin.com

Date: January 25th 2000 (12 noon)

Special Seminar by the Canadian Killam Research Fellow:Elaine Newman, PhD.

Title: Does Escherichia coli need s-adenosylmethionine? No SAM, no cell division.

Elaine Newman, PhD.
Professor
Concordia University
1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West,
Montreal, QC.,
Canada, H3G 1M8
Phone: (514) 848-3410
Fax: (514) 933-9558
Email: neweb@vax2.concordia.ca
URL: http://artsci-ccwin.concordia.ca/biology/

 

Date: January 31th 2001 

Tropical Biology Distinguished Seminar Speaker:
Harry W. Greene, Ph.D.

Title: Heroes, theories, and the importance of organisms in biology

Harry W. Greene, Ph.D
Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Cornell University
E251 Corson Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone: (607) 254-4265
Fax: (607) 255-8088
Email: hwg5@cornell.edu
URL: http://www.es.cornell.edu/greene/greene.html

More about Tropical Biology Symposium: http://www.fiu.edu/~biology1/symposium.html
Tropical Biology Program: http://www.fiu.edu/~biology1/tropical/index.html

Date: February 6th 2001

Title: Damselfish Neurofibromatosis: Features and Etiology 

Michael C. Schmale, PhD 
Associate Professor 
Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries 
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science University of Miami 
4600 Rickenbacker Cswy. 
Miami, FL 33149 
Phone: 305-361-4140 Fax: 305-361-4600 
Email: mschmale@rsmas.miami.edu
URL: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/people/mschmale.html 
Date: February 13th 2001 

Title: Understanding population growth for conservation biology: it's hard to predict, especially the future

Gordon A. Fox, PhD. 
Department of Biology, SCA 110 
University of South Florida 
4202 E. Fowler Ave. 
Tampa, FL 33620-5150 
Phone: (813) 974-7352 
Fax: (813) 974-3263 
Email: gfox@chuma1.cas.usf.edu
URL:http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~gfox/ 

Date: February 23rd 2001

Title: Analysis of Bacterial Communities in Controlled Biological Systems

Jennifer L. Adams, PhD.
Microbial Ecologist
Kennedy Space Center
FL 32899
Phone: 321-476 4271
Fax: 321-853-4165
Email: jennifer.adams-1@ksc.nasa.gov

Date: February 27th, 2001 

MBRS Distinguished Seminar Speaker:
Jeffrey D. Palmer, PhD.

Title: Evolutionary Transfer of Mitochondrial Genes to the Nucleus: When, What, How, and Why (or Why Not)? 

Jeffrey D. Palmer, PhD.
Distinguished Professor 
Department of Biology 
Indiana University, 
Jordan Hall 
Bloomington, IN 47405 
Phone: 812/855-8892 
Fax: 812/855-6705 
Email: jpalmer@bio.indiana.edu
URL: http://www.bio.indiana.edu/

Date: March 7th 2001

Comparative Immunology Distinguished Seminar Speaker

Title: Dermo disease in the eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica caused by Perkinsus marinus : Innate immunity and parasite adaptations

Gerardo R. Vasta, Professor
University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute
Center of Marine Biotechnology
Suite 236, Columbus Center
701 East Pratt Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
Tel (410) 234 8800
Fax: (410) 234 8896
Email: vasta@umbi.umd.edu
URL: http://www.umbi.umd.edu/~comb/faculty/vasta/vasta.html

Date: March 13th 2001

Title: The role of long distance dispersal versus local retention in replenishing marine fish populations.

 

Robert K Cowen, Ph. D.
Professor and Maytag Chair of Ichthyology
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
University of Miami
4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, FL 33149
Phone: 305 361 4023
Fax: 305 361 4600
Email: rcowen@rsmas.miami.edu
URL: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/divs/mbf/people/rcowen.html

 

Date: March 27th 2001 

Co-sponsored by Biology Graduate Student Association

Title: Quorum Sensing Regulation of a Capsular Polysaccharide Virulence Factor in the Plant Pathogenic Bacterium, Pantoea stewartii - Not Quite Like the Paradigm. 
Susanne von Bodman, Ph.D. 
Assistant Professor 
University of Connecticut 
Department of Plant Science 
Ag. Biotech Building, U- 163 
1390 Storrs Road 
Storrs, CT 06269-4163 
Phone: 860-486-4408 
Fax: 860-486-0534 
Email: svbodman@canr.uconn.edu

 

Date: April 3rd 2001

The Glaser Seminar Distinguished Lecturer:
Dr. Mark V. Lomolino

Title: Splendid Isolation, Downsizing Nature, and the Parable of the Woolly Mammoth.

Dr. Mark V. Lomolino
Associate Professor and Heritage Zoologist
Oklahoma Biological Survey and Department of Zoology
University of Oklahoma.
Phone: 405 325 2440
Email: island@ou.edu
URL: http://www.ou.edu/cas/zoology/faculty/cv/Lomolino.htm

Date: April 5th 2001 in GC243W at 12 noon

Presidential Seminar Series 2001 proudly presents :
Gunther Stent
Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology
Member of National Academy of Sciences
The editor of THE DOUBLE HELIX by JimWatson.

Title: Consciousness: The Last Great Unsolved Biological Problem

Gunther Stent
University of California, Berkeley
Department of Molecular & Cell Biology
142 Life Sciences Addition #3200
Berkeley, CA 94720-3200
Phone: (510) 642-5214
E-mail: stent@uclink4.berkeley.edu
URL: http://mcb.berkeley.edu/faculty/NEU/stentg.html

 

Date:April 6th at 2 pm in Wertheim Conservatory 130

Title: Origins of Molecular Biology: Looking for "Other Laws of Physics"

Gunther Stent
University of California, Berkeley
Department of Molecular & Cell Biology
142 Life Sciences Addition #3200
Berkeley, CA 94720-3200
Phone: (510) 642-5214
E-mail: stent@uclink4.berkeley.edu
URL: http://mcb.berkeley.edu/faculty/NEU/stentg.html

 

 

Date: April 10th 2001 

Title: The evolutionary significance of photosymbiosis in fossil and Recent Soritacea (Foraminifera)

Dr. Susan Richardson
Postdoctoral Fellow,
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Marine Station at Ft. Pierce Florida

 

Date: April 17th 2001 

LTER Distinguished Seminar Speaker:
Hans W. Paerl-Kenan, Ph.D. 

Title: Anthropogenic nitrogen inputs to coastal ecosystems in the 21st century: evolving sources, scales and consequences

Hans W. Paerl-Kenan, Ph.D. 
Professor of Marine & Environmental Sciences 
Institute of Marine Sciences 
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
3431 Arendell Street 
Morehead City, NC 28557 USA 
Phone: (252) 726-6841, Ext. 133 
Fax: (252) 726-2426 
Email: hpaerl@email.unc.edu 
URL: www.marine.unc.edu/neuse/modmon

What is Long Term Ecological Research? 
http://www.fiu.edu/~ecosyst/lter/ 
 

Date: April 24th 2001 

Special Undergraduate Honors Year Seminar


Waveform detection of conspecifics in the weakly electric fish Gymnotus carapo

by Montserrat Alfaro
(Dr. Philip Stoddard, research supervisor).

Population structure of spotted sunfish (Lepomis punctatus) in the Florida Everglades as revealed by DNA microsatellite analysis
by Janette Garcia
(Dr. Joel Trexler, research supervisor).

Changes in electrolocation as a function of amplitude of the weakly electric fish, Brachyhypopomus pinnicaudatus
by Marina Olman
(Dr. Philip Stoddard, research supervisor).