Recent Departmental News

Donn Branstrator, associate professor, Department of Biology, talked about his Sea Grant-funded research on WTIP radio on Wed., Jan 18 .

Branstrator along with Meghan Brown and Lyle Shannon, recently published Sea Grant-funded results, “Population regulation of the spiny water flea (Bythotrephes longimanus) in a reservoir: Implications for invasion,” in Limnology and Oceanography.

Tom Hrabik, associate professor, Department of Biology, talked about his Sea Grant-funded research on WTIP radio on Thurs., Dec. 22. Listen to the archived interview.

Gerald Niemi, Euan Reavie, G.S. Peterson (EPA-NHEERL), J.R. Kelly (EPA-NHEERL), Carol A. Johnston (South Dakota State University), Lucinda Johnson, R.W. Howe (University of Wisconsin-Green Bay), George Host, Tom Hollenhorst (EPA-NHEERL), Nick Danz (University of Wisconsin Superior), Jan Cibrowski (University of Windsor), Terry Brown, and Rich Axler published “An Integrated Approach to Multiple Stressors in Lake Superior” in the journal Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management, Vol. 14, 2011.

Nick Danz, P.B. Reich, L.E. Frelich (both of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus) and Gerald Niemi, professor, Department of Biology, published “Vegetation controls vary across space and spatial scale in a historic grassland-forest biome boundary,” in the journal Ecography, Vol. 34, 2011.

Julie Etterson, associate professor, Department of Biology, gave a talk at Purdue University in the Department of Biological Sciences on Nov. 2, 2011 entitled "Evolution in response to climate change."

John Pastor, professor, Department of Biology and Angela Sharp, instructor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, recently published a paper on a model of chronic wasting disease in deer populations (Ecological Applications 21: 1024–1030, 2011). The model shows that the disease persists and destabilizes deer populations as carrying capacity increases. Sharp and Pastor are now researching how hunting can be used to control the disease.

Clay Carter, associate professor, Department of Biology, presented an invited talk entitled "A role for auxin and PIN6 in the regulation of quantitative nectar secretion in the Brassicaceae" at the International Botanical Congress 2011 in Melbourne, Australia on July 29, 2011.

A SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY made by UMD research scientists Matthew Andrews and Lester Drewes, and which has the potential to prevent life-threatening complications due to severe blood loss, has taken a major step toward commercial use. Working in collaboration with the scientists, the U's Office for Technology Commercialization has signed a license agreement with Denver-based Ariel Pharmaceuticals authorizing the private company to develop and commercialize the blood loss therapy. For more information, see discovery.

UMD ZOMBIE FEST - Six professors from four UMD colleges will present a one-evening symposium on the topic of “Zombies" on Thurs., Oct. 27 in BohH 90 at 7 pm. John Schwetman, Department of English, will discuss will discuss the “zombie” as a literary trope tied to the Apocalypse; Scott Carlson, Department of Psychology will discuss how modern psychiatric definitions of what constitutes a mental disorder would apply to “zombie-ism”; John Dahl, Department of Biology, will discuss the discovery of prion-associated infectious diseases; Tim Craig, Department of Biology, will discuss how parasites can take over the brains of insects and other animals to manipulate their hosts for their own purposes; David Cole, Department of Philosophy, will discuss the "ethics of killing zombies"; and Edward Downs, Department of Communication, will discuss the history of zombie-themed video games. For more information, contact John Dahl.

Julie Etterson, Associate Professor, received a $1.199 million grant from the National Science Foundation for a four-year study, Project Baseline, a living plant genome reserve for the study of evolution. Etterson, principal investigator, joins Steven Franks, Fordham University; Susan Mazer, University of California, Santa Barbara; and Ruth G. Shaw, Duke University who will serve as co-principal investigators. The UMD budget is $816,200. In addition, Etterson was highlighted in the Sept. 23 issue of Science magazine.

Thomas R. Hrabik, Associate Professor, was elected president of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Fisheries Society.

The UMD Field Experiment Station held a harvest fruit and tour the UMD Heritage Seedling Trial Orchard on Sat., Sept. 24. Restoration of this five-acre historic seedling trial orchard has begun. Visitors saw a variety of old and young trees and a wide range of fruit types and leared how this orchard will provide opportunities for students and the community to learn about tree fruit development, variety identification, organic and integrated pest management, restorative pruning, grafting and more. For more information and directions to the orchard, visit the farm website.

Allen F. Mensinger, Professor, was recently elected to the Science Council at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. The Science Council is an advisory body of the MBL whose primary role is to advise the Director/CEO and inform the Board of Trustees on all research and education matters, including scientific appointments and the creation and review of Centers/Programs.

John Pastor, Professor, and Rachel MaKarrall, Instructor, have paintings and drawings in the show "Places Between, Species Within" at the Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, Wisc. The show also includes paintings by other members of Project Art for Nature, a collaboration of artists and illustrators from Minnesota and Wisconsin creating artwork that promotes stewardship of threatened natural areas in our region.

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