University News
NIH Funds Centers to Study Structural Biology of HIV
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), components of the National Institutes of Health, have launched three new research centers to deepen our biological understanding of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The centers, expected to receive $54 million over 5 years, will integrate a variety of techniques from structural biology and biochemistry to capture in unprecedented detail the three-dimensional structures of HIV proteins bound to human cellular components, such as proteins or DNA. The structural information will help elucidate how the different components interact and reveal new approaches for disrupting those interactions, potentially leading to new targets for HIV therapies or vaccines.
The centers are led by Alan Frankel, Ph.D., a biochemist at the University of California, San Francisco; Angela Gronenborn, Ph.D., a structural biologist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; and Wesley Sundquist, Ph.D., a biochemist at the University of Utah.
Frankel's HIV Accessory and Regulatory Complexes (HARC) Center, which is slated to receive more than $18 million, will develop new tools and methods to create a complete picture of HIV-host cell interactions occurring during the early phases of the virus's life cycle. The center will focus on key HIV proteins that perform important regulatory and accessory functions.
Gronenborn's University of Pittsburgh Center for HIV Protein Interactions, estimated to receive about $16 million, will specialize in developing a structure determination pipeline to image pivotal events occurring right after the virus fuses with the host cell. The center will establish a framework for computationally predicting important cellular partners for HIV and for experimentally validating such predictions.
Sundquist's Structural Biology Center for HIV/Host Interactions in Trafficking and Assembly will receive about $19 million to use computational and experimental methods to analyze HIV molecular complexes and determine how they interact with and commandeer cellular machinery to traffic throughout the cell and form new virus particles. By visually reconstructing various elements of virus particle assembly and trafficking, the center aims to develop HIV into a model for studying how other human viruses interact with cellular hosts.
New methodologies and tools developed by the centers will be available to the research community at large. The centers also will collaborate with other scientists engaged in structural and functional studies of HIV, including researchers funded by NIAID through a coordinated funding program.
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University of Washington to Open China Office in Beijing
University of Washington President Mark A. Emmert announced that the university will open an office in Beijing as part of an effort to expand its presence in China.
Emmert made the announcement during a visit to the UW campus this morning by Zhou Wenzhong, ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the United States.
Emmert also announced the appointment of Hank T. Wang, a 30-year veteran in China relations, as vice president of the University of Washington China office. Wang will identify, promote and enable UW research and learning opportunities with Chinese universities, research institutes, government and industry. He also will manage a China-based staff that will facilitate the work of UW faculty, staff and students in connection with university programs related to China.
Wang is currently a principal with the law firm of Garvey Schubert Barer. He also is a professor of law at Shantou University School of Law and adjunct professor of law at the China University of Law and Political Science.
He earned a degree from St. Louis University School of Law in 1992. Prior to that, he had a 20-year career as a law-enforcement officer with the Chinese Army, as a strategic analyst with the Chinese Air Force and as vice chairman of the department of international studies and languages at the Chinese Naval Academy of Surface Warfare. Subsequently he served as legal counsel at what was then the only international law firm in Dalian, China.
The UW offered its first classes about China in 1909. Today there are more than 400 students from China enrolled in UW degree programs, comprising the largest group of international students studying at the university. In addition to Chinese students seeking degrees, there are nearly 300 post-graduate scholars from China in residence at the UW, the second-largest group of international scholars at the university. The UW has 20 faculty members in its China Studies Program, and more than 50 faculty members collaborating with colleagues in China. In 2005-06, the UW sent 120 students to China through various foreign study and exchange programs.
In the past, the UW's China focus was on courses taught on the UW Seattle campus, with individual scholars traveling to China when possible. In the coming decades, many more courses will take place in China, in cooperation with Chinese universities and scholars, according to Wise.
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NIH Peer Review Advisory Committee Gains Eight New Members
The Director of the National Institutes of Health, Elias Zerhouni, M.D., has appointed eight new members to the NIH Peer Review Advisory Committee. This committee provides technical and scientific advice on matters related to the procedures and policies governing the scientific and technical evaluation of NIH grant applications. Peer review is the key method NIH uses to ensure that the $20+ billion it invests in biomedical research grants each year advances the most promising research.
Established by law and charter, the Peer Review Advisory Committee meets 2-3 times a year and advises the NIH Director, the NIH Deputy Director for NIH Extramural Research and the Director of the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR). The committee is cochaired by Toni Scarpa, M.D., Ph.D., Director of CSR; and Jeremy Berg, Ph.D., Director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The committee convened at NIH on August 27, 2007.
Five of the new members will begin their terms immediately:
R. Lorraine Collins, Ph.D., is a senior research scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions and a research professor in the Department of Psychology at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Dr. Collins' research interests include cognitive and behavioral approaches to the conceptualization, prevention, and treatment of addictive behaviors; commonalities among addictive behaviors; and psycho-social issues related to substance use and misuse.
Garret FitzGerald, M.D., is chair of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and director of its Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics. Dr. FitzGerald's research interests include the pharmacology of prostaglandins and their inhibitors and the role of peripheral molecular clocks in inflammation and cardiovascular biology.
Heidi Hamm, Ph.D., is chair of the Department of Pharmacology at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Hamm's research interests include protein-protein interactions across cell membranes related to metabolic regulation, specifically what is known as the G protein coupled signaling mechanism.
Story Landis, Ph.D., is director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at NIH. Dr. Landis oversees the Institute's annual budget of $1.5 billion, as well as a staff of more than 900 scientists, physician-scientists, and administrators.
Jane Steinberg, Ph.D., is the director of the Division of Extramural Activities at NIH's National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Steinberg manages the institute's review and grants management activities as well as its extramural policy and advisory council.
The three other appointed members will begin their terms in January 2008.
Jill Buyon, M.D., is professor of medicine and associate director of the Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, at the New York University School of Medicine in New York City. Dr. Buyon's research interests include studies of tissue injury aspects of lupus disease and studies of the molecular aspects of congenital heart block in neonatal lupus.
Paulette Gray, Ph.D., is the director of the Division of Extramural Activities at the NIH National Cancer Institute. Dr. Gray oversees the institute's extramural research policies and procedures, research integrity and portfolio tracking, as well as coordinates its advisory committees. She also oversees the review officers and other staff members who manage the institute's portfolio of over 7,000 research and training grants.
Andrew Murray, Ph.D., is the Herchel Smith Professor of Molecular Genetics and director of the Bauer Fellows Program at Harvard University. Dr. Murray's research interests include the segregation of cell chromosomes during mitosis into two identical sets before cell division, particularly the lining up of chromosomes on the mitotic spindle before chromosome segregation and the linkage of sister chromatid.
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Robert Buhrman Named Vice Provost for Research; Robert Richardson to Become Science Adviser
Robert Buhrman, director of Cornell's Center for Nanoscale Systems (CNS), has been named vice provost for research. He succeeds Nobel laureate Robert Richardson, who will become senior science adviser to Provost Carolyn (Biddy) Martin and President David Skorton.
Buhrman will lead the office that guides and manages universitywide research efforts and steers local, national and international outreach for Cornell research.
While attending to research policy at the highest level on campus, Buhrman will oversee the four national research centers and 12 Cornell research centers that report directly to the Office of the Vice Provost for Research. In his new role Buhrman also will be responsible for the Cornell Center for Technology, Enterprise and Commercialization, the Center for Animal Resources and Education, and several other research administrative offices.
Buhrman, the John Edson Sweet Professor of Engineering in Cornell's School of Applied and Engineering Physics, joined the faculty in 1973. His current research interests include nanomagnetics, condensed matter physics at the nanometer scale and thin film materials and device physics.
A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the Materials Research Society, Buhrman plans to continue his research while juggling his duties as vice provost. He will step down as director of CNS.
Richardson became Cornell's first vice provost for research in 1998. He has represented the university on federal committees and has positioned Cornell to use its strengths in obtaining federal research funding.
For example, Richardson was a co-author of a 2005 national academies of science report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future," calling for an urgent need to bolster United States science and technology competitiveness to keep pace with rapid globalization.
In his new position, Richardson will continue to represent Cornell nationally. He will also continue to serve as the director of the Kavli Institute at Cornell, a think tank charged with exploring the major challenges and opportunities for the science of very small structures.
A Cornell faculty member since 1967, Richardson has led an active research program to study matter at very low temperatures. In 1996, he shared the Nobel Prize in physics with David M. Lee, Cornell professor of physics, and Douglas Osheroff (Cornell Ph.D. 1973), now a physics professor at Stanford University. They received the prize for their 1971 discovery that the helium isotope helium-3 can be made to flow without resistance -- a state called superfluidity -- at about two-thousandths of a degree above absolute zero.
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Richard Hodges Named Director of University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Richard Hodges has been named the Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Dr. Hodges will join Penn Oct. 1 from his position as director of the Institute of World Archaeology at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom.
A world-leading classical and early medieval archaeologist specializing in western Europe, Hodges has been director of both The Prince of Wales' Institute of Architecture in London and The British School in Rome. For the past nine years, he has worked extensively on archaeological and cultural heritage projects in Albania including the creation of a large cultural heritage institute in Tirana and a new archaeological museum in Butrint.
As director of the British School in Rome from 1988 to 1995, Hodges created new galleries for archaeology and contemporary art, modernized the physical plant and reformed the charter. A professor at Sheffield University from 1976 to 1995, he was the 2005 Charles Eliot Norton Lecturer at the American Institute of Archaeology and has served since 2003 as a board member of the Packard Humanities Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., for which he has overseen major archaeological projects in Greece, Italy, Turkey and Ukraine.
Named an Officer of the British Empire in 1995, Hodges is the author of 10 books on such subjects as archaeology and the beginnings of English society, primitive and peasant markets and towns and trade in the age of Charlemagne. His "Wall-to-Wall History: The Story of Roystone Grange" was the 1992 British Archaeological Book of the Year. He is an editor of 16 books and author of more than 100 essays and pamphlets, primarily on archaeology in Italy, Albania and early northwest Europe.
Hodges earned his Ph.D. from Southampton University in 1977, with a thesis on eighth and ninth century ceramics, and his undergraduate degree in archaeology and medieval history from Southampton University in 1973.
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Wharton's Schmittlein Named New MIT Sloan Dean
David C. Schmittlein of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School has been selected as the next John C Head III Dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management, effective Oct. 15 Provost L. Rafael Reif announced.
Schmittlein, who served as Wharton's deputy dean for seven years and as its interim dean this July, is a noted scholar, a widely published author and commentator and an international marketing consultant.
Schmittlein is well known for his research on the impact of a firm's marketing actions, designing market and survey research, and creating effective communication strategies. His current work focuses on marketing research methods.
Schmittlein joined the Wharton School in 1980 and served as a leading administrator and faculty member for more than 25 years.
He was the founding director of Wharton's interdepartmental M.B.A. major, managing electronic commerce. He has served as the chair of the marketing department, the vice dean and director of doctoral programs and the co-director of Wharton's Center for Marketing Strategy Research.
Schmittlein currently serves on the international advisory board for Groupe HEC, the leading French business school, and on the academic advisory board for the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai.
As a consultant, he has assisted in the design and analysis of market research for world-class manufacturing and service firms including American Express, AT&T, Bausch & Lomb, Boston Scientific, Ford Motor Company, Gianni Versace S.p.A., Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Pfizer, Revlon, Siebe PLC, the Oakland Raiders, Quaker Oats Co., and Time Warner.
Schmittlein received his B.A. in mathematics from Brown University and a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in business from Columbia University. He is a member of the American Marketing Association, the American Statistical Association, and the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences.
In announcing Schmittlein's appointment, Reif praised Howard W. Johnson Professor of Economics and Management Richard Schmalensee, who served as dean of MIT Sloan for nine years.
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Tom Campbell to Step Down as Berkeley's Haas School of Business Dean in July 2008
Tom Campbell, the Bank of America Dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, will step down from his position next summer after completing his five-year appointment, he told faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the school on Monday, August 27.
Campbell said he will make an announcement about his future plans after he leaves on July 15, 2008.
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer will create a campus committee to conduct a national search for a new dean for the Haas School in the coming days.
Over the coming year, Campbell said he will increase efforts to expand the permanent, full-time faculty so the school can improve its ratio of faculty to students and offer more and a wider variety of courses -- a major goal of the school during his administration. Campbell also plans to solidify the school's emphasis on teaching about ethics in business.
Among the accomplishments of the Haas School while under Campbell's leadership:
The school has improved its showing in the major business school rankings so that its programs are regularly rated among the top ten.
Fund raising has reached record levels, helping the school make progress toward its goal of financial self-sufficiency. Contributions to the Haas School annual fund have grown 75% during his administration, and the school's endowment has grown 87% to reach $194 million. Haas also received the largest single gift in the school's 108-year history -- $25 million from an anonymous donor in August 2006.
Several academic programs were expanded to serve more students. The undergraduate program increased its intake by 25% to accommodate the growing demographic bulge of students entering UC Berkeley. The Evening & Weekend Berkeley MBA Program added a second weekend cohort, and the Center for Executive Development dramatically expanded its programs for business executives. A new Master's in Accounting program received faculty approval and will be launched soon. The school has also increased and improved its wide array of services for and outreach to students, alumni, and corporate recruiters.
The school's initiatives in socially responsible business were transformed and expanded into a highly successful Center for Responsible Business that supports innovative teaching, research, experiential learning, and industry-sponsored partnerships.
A new Center for Public and Nonprofit Management was launched this summer to build on the school's thriving program in this area.
A regenerated focus on ethics in business education was reflected in a mandatory ethics course for students and regular guest lecturers on the subject, including appearances by federal and state prosecutors, convicted white-collar criminals, and prominent whistleblowers.
Campbell has also been overseeing the implementation of a new strategic plan for the Haas School that includes plans for a new building, new faculty hiring, additional fund-raising for faculty research, increased student scholarships, and a new branding strategy centered around "Leading Through Innovation." The strategy was developed in 2005 by then-Acting Dean Richard Lyons, while Campbell was on leave.
A former Stanford Law School professor, Campbell has appeared as a guest lecturer while dean in classes at UC Berkeley's business and law schools. He is currently teaching a business law course in the Haas School's Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA Program and the Evening & Weekend MBA Program.
Campbell's five-year appointment as dean of the Haas School was extended by one year, allowing him to take a one-year leave to serve as Director of Finance for the State of California in December 2004, an appointment made by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Prior to joining the Haas School in 2002, Campbell was a law professor at Stanford University Law School for 19 years, beginning in 1983. He was elected five times to represent the Silicon Valley area of California in the United States Congress. Campbell also was elected as a California state senator in 1993.
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Museum of Nature & Science First: UT Dallas Students, Faculty Contribute to Exhibit Content
Three students and two faculty members at The University of Texas at Dallas are content contributors for an exhibit at the Museum of Nature & Science (MNS), Dallas that focuses on optical illusions and why they occur. It is the first time the MNS has worked with university students to develop content.
The "MixedSignals:A Visual Neurobiological Experience" feature was created by Eugene McDermott Scholars Katie Enderle, Jonathan Lane and Adam Raw with faculty assistance from Dr. Russell Hulse and Dr. Michael Kilgard.
A part of the permanent collection, the 2,000-square-foot exhibit is currently on display in the Large West Gallery of the MNS Science Building and will remain there until the end of the year.
Enderle will begin her junior year as an electrical engineering major at UT Dallas in August. In May, both Lane and Raw graduated. Lane received two degrees, one in mathematics and one in computer science. Raw earned a chemistry degree. Both are pursuing graduate degrees at other universities. Hulse is a professor in the University's School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Kilgard is an associate professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
In 2006, the Dallas Museum of Natural History, The Science Place and the Dallas Children's Museum merged to become the Museum of Nature & Science. The museum is currently located in Fair Park and has plans to build a new facility in Victory Park in the coming years.
UT Dallas' Eugene McDermott Scholars Program provides full scholarships and unique cultural and civic opportunities to academically talented high school students.
