Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Alabama

Welcome

to the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alabama. At this site you will find information about undergraduate degrees, courses and programs, and contact information for faculty, staff, and graduate students. You will also find descriptions of faculty research programs, and graduate programs in Ecology, Evolution and Systematics and Molecular and Cellular Biology.

Departmental news

Faculty promotions, effective 16 August 2008: Bob Findlay, Alex Huryn and Milt Ward to Professor; Phil Harris to Associate Professor. Congratulations all!

Haj A. Allali, graduate student in the PhycoLab, has received the 2008 Grants in Aid of Research Program Award from the Phycological Society of America for his research project "Subaerial tropical microchlorophytes from Western Africa." (7/08)

Daryl W. Lam, graduate student in the PhycoLab, has received the 2008 Grants in Aid of Research Program Award from the Phycological Society of America for his dissertation project "Assessment of subaerial microchlorophytan phylodiversity in Surinam, South America." (6/08)

View-Hune (Alex) Teoh has joined our department as the new lab manager for the Steven Johnson Molecular Systematics Lab. Alex started 2 June (Monday) and is in the process of getting an email address, paperwork, etc., and generally settling in to UA and Tuscaloosa. Please drop by and welcome Alex to the Biological Sciences' family the next time you are in Mary Harmon Bryant Hall. (6/08)

Sophomore Biology majors Kalen Berry of Hartselle and Susan M. DeLeon of San Antonio, Texas have been awarded Goldwater Scholarships. (5/08)

Drs. Kim and Guy Caldwell have won the first annual HudsonAlpha Prize for Outstanding Innovation in Life Sciences. Congratulations Guy and Kim! More info here. (5/08)

The following Biology majors were recognized at the Undergraduate Research Conference

Oral presentation First Place: Samuel Kyle Lee
"Seize the Worm: Genetic Analysis of Aberrant Neuronal Activity."
Faculty Mentors: Drs. Guy and Kim Caldwell

Oral presentation Third Place: Britton O’Shields
"In the Search of New Phylogenetic Markers for the Bar Coding of Life Project: Algae."
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Juan M. Lopez-Bautista

Poster Presentation First Place: Stacey Fox
"Mechanistic Analysis of torsinA Function by RNAi."
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kim Caldwell

Poster presentation Fourth Place: Tara Wood
"Bacterial Warfare: Assessing the Effects of Competition on Antibiotic Production."
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Julie Olson (4/08)

Dr. Leslie Rissler is a member of the jointly funded NCEAS (National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis) and NESCent (National Evolutionary Synthesis Center) working group on Mechanistic Distribution Models: Energetics, Fitness, and Population Dynamics. Over the next two years she will be working with this group in Santa Barbara, CA and Durham, NC. One goal is to develop new methods that integrate geographic variation in traits and adaptation within species to better predict species range shifts during climate change. (4/08)

Dr. Leslie Rissler is also a member of the recently funded NESCent catalysis group titled: Perspectives on the Origin and Conservation of Biodiversity in Patagonia. She was selected as a member to review the conservation implications of a NSF PIRE project in Patagonia. This work starts in June of 2008. (4/08)

Dr. Fabio Rindi, postdoctoral researcher in the PhycoLab, has accepted the position of Algal Systematist at the National University of Ireland, Galway, starting April 2008, congratulations and good luck to Fabio! (3/08)

Local news broadcast on dystonia research in the Caldwell lab. (3/08)

Dr. Juan Lopez-Bautista organized and led a discussion group on the Molecular Systematics of Algae at the University of La Habana, Cuba, during the week of February 2nd - 8th. The venue was the Centro de Investigaciones Marinas, and several scientists, including some from remote parts of Cuba, attended the discussion group. This PhycoLab project is being sponsored by the Alabama-Cuba Initiative. (2/08)

Biology major Rene Rivas has been named to the USA Today All-USA College Academic First Team. More info on Renee and on UA's six other winners here. (2/08)

Biology major Kyle Lee has been awarded the Benjamin Cummings Biology Prize (2/08)

Research in the Caldwell lab has led to the identification of five genes that may offer protection to Parkinson's Disease. (2/08)

Graduate student Daryl Lam has been elected as student representative to the Executive Committee of the Phycological Society of America for 2008-2011. (1/08)

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