February 7, 2003

This week, the biology department received it’s eighth Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award is granted to three faculty or lab instructors within the university each year. Each fall nominations from faculty or students are submitted to a committee who "seek appropriate information from various sources before making its recommendation". The committee uses the criteria of the ability to stimulate students to think creatively and critically, demonstrated caring for student learning, the ability to present complex information clearly, demonstrated enthusiasm for and innovation in teaching and a sustained record of excellence. Since it's inception in 1982, Biological Sciences holds the record for the most awards! Our department has won the award 8 times, while Education, Chemistry, History and English all tie for second place with 6 awards each. Those awarded the prize were Rolf Mathewes (86), Fulton Fisher (87), Alton Harestad (88), Gerhard Gries (93), Margo Moore (95), Larry Dill (98), Tammy McMullan (01) and Doug Wilson (02). SFU is a university whose research and publications are world renown, it's good to see that those who teach well are recognized by the university. Some may believe that there is a trade-off between excellence in teaching and excellence in research but there are those who believe both can and should be done well. LAD

DAVID GREEN

NEW AVIAN POP’N BIOLOGIST

Despite being our newest faculty member, David's is a familiar face to many around the Department. Originally from Britain, he did his MSc at SFU from 1991-93 (on ospreys), before going down-under to ANU Canberra, first to work, and then to do a PhD. David then accepted a position at U Queensland in Brisbane, from which we were fortunate to lure him. As a result, he and his wife Elsie Krebs (also with a PhD in biology) and sons Joshua (8) and Daniel (4) have swapped beaches and watersports for mountains and skiing. David will be working in collaboration with the Canadian Wildlife Service, as part of the Department's very successful Center for Wildlife Ecology. He's an expert on dispersal in birds and how such individual behaviours influence population genetics and dynamics. This is extremely important stuff in today's world, where natural habitats are so frequently fragmented by such human activities as logging. He expects soon to initiate comparative studies on sedentary and migratory passerines (songbirds), including the strange aquatic dipper, or water ouzel. In his spare time, David claims to be a foosball wizard! Drop by his office (B8273) sometime to introduce yourself and welcome him back to SFU. LMD

ACADEMIC HONESTY AND INTEGRITY TASK FORCE

The Task Force was created in spring 2002 by VP Academic John Waterhouse. It is charged with examining issues of academic integrity at SFU, consulting widely within the university community, and recommending ways to create a climate of academic honesty. The Task Force is not just about undergraduate cheating on tests and assignments-it is concerned with all aspects of academic integrity at SFU. The Task Force has met with a wide variety of interested groups and individuals on campus (a list is available on the website at www.sfu.ca/integritytaskforce/index.html) In January, the Task Force began a web-based survey of SFU faculty, teaching assistants and graduate students, to gather information on current beliefs and practices on academic honesty issues. The Task Force is holding a half-day forum on February 27th to discuss the results with the university community. You’re invited to participate-check out “events” on the web site for details. In the meantime, the results of a survey of first-year students, conducted last fall, are also available on the web site.

Consultations are ongoing and the Task Force is eager to hear your thoughts about academic honesty and integrity at SFU. Contact the Task Force at academic-honesty@sfu.ca. You can also reach individual task force members to discuss your concerns. There are two task force members from biology: Alton Harestad (harestad@sfu.ca ) and Jen Perry (jperry@sfu.ca jperry@sfu.ca ). The complete list of committee members can be found on the web site. JP

NEW POST DOCS

*Lena Suzuki working with Dr. Lynne Quarmby

*Anders Odeën working with Dr. Arne Mooers.

DEFENCES

Jeff Powell (MPM - Dr. Webster) Feb 17^th 10:30 in B9242.

Interguild antagonism between biological controls: combined use of entomopathogenic nematodes and Aphidoletes aphidimyza in pest management.

SEMINARS

Interviews for the cell biology position will be held this month. Please join us for the seminars.

*Dr. Ken Teter (University of Colorado, Health Sciences) Feb. 14^th 1:30pm in B9242

Entry of cholera toxin into the eukaryotic cytosol.

*Dr. John Copeland (Cancer Research, UK) Feb. 10^th 3:30pm in B9242

            Activation of the transcription factor of SRF by actin remodeling proteins.

Bio-Bull can be found on the biology home page - www.sfu.ca/biology/biobull/

 

GRIES LAB

In the Gries lab they study mechanisms of insect communication and host selection. Particularly, they elucidate intra- and interspecific sonic and semiochemical communication signals, and investigate how these signals may have evolved in response to community composition, scarceness of larval resources, and physical parameters of the micro-habitat. If applicable, they develop acquired knowledge for more sophisticated manipulation of insects in commercial settings. LAD

GERHARD GRIES – Gerhard has been at SFU for 16 yrs. He was educated in Gottingen, Germany before coming to Canada for a post doc after which he stayed on as faculty. He loves the wilderness and wildlife, wildflower and wildlife gardening.

ADELA DANCI – Adela is from Romania where she attended the Faculty of Silviculture in Brosov. That is where she first became interested in pests of coniferous forests. She’s been in Vancouver for a year and a half studying endoparasitoids of gypsy moths at SFU, skiing and enjoying movies.

SHANNON DERKSEN - Shannon is halfway through her MPM working on peach tree borers. She did her BSc at Malaspina University College in Nanimo not too far from where she grew up in Lantzville. Her hobbies are camping and softball but there's a dark side to her as well. For her undergrad thesis she dissected opossums just to see their stomach contents.

REGINE GRIES – Regine has been in Canada and at SFU for 14 yrs. She obtained her MSc at Universitat Gottingen in Germany where she also met Gerhard. He managed without her for two years before convincing her that Vancouver wasn’t such a bad place to be. Her own job description is research tech, lab manager and “girl for everything in the lab”.

MELANIE HART - Melanie has only been in the Gries lab for a few months. She hails from Courtenay BC but has most recently moved from Victoria where she completed two degrees: a BSc and a BA. She will be working on her MSc studying the acoustic communication of peach twig borer.

ZAID JUMEAN – Zaid did his BSc at University of Western Ontario before coming to SFU to do his MPM studying a parasitic wasp of codling moth. He only has months to go but should have no trouble finding a job. He’s had some job experience working as an animal (insect) wrangler on DaVinci’s Inquest. At his desk you can find a picture of maggots on a dummy corpse. He placed them there himself.

GRIGORI KHASKIN – Grigori has been working in Gerhard’s lab for 12 yrs and is kept busy these days synthesizing phermones. He comes from Kiev, Ukrain where he obtained a PhD in physio-organic chemistry. When asked for an interesting fact about himself he writes that his son graduates from SFU this year and that he spent the summer of ‘86 in the Chernobyl clean up. I think he tops everyone else in the interesting fact department!

GEOFF McLEOD - Geoff is another newbie having arrived from the University of Regina by way of, well, Vancouver. After completing a BSc in Regina, he did a second degree (Bachelor of Forestry) at UBC. He will be working on the native elm bark beetle to earn his MSc here at SFU. He’s a retired rugby player but still is involved with Juijitsu and weight lifting.

LUCIAN MIRCIOIU - Lucian, the second Romanian in the lot (first chronologically) obtained his BSc at Transilvania University (Really!) and a MSc at the Forest Research and Management Institute, also in Romania. He is doing his MPM at SFU but that's not all…he is the student rep of the Professional Pest Managers Association and is the founder and president of the forestry student organization SILVA. Interesting fact…he served in the Romanian regular army for one year, boot camp and all.

JONATHAN MULLAN - Jonathan is currently on Vancouver Island, writing his thesis on cabbage looper in greenhouses and was therefore unavailable for a picture. He did his BSc at SFU as well.

YORIANTA SASERILA – Yorianta comes from Indonesia where he did his undergrad. He’s been at SFU for 8 yrs completing a MSc and is very close to finishing his PhD. He’s done well here gaining acclaim for his TA-ing by receiving the Teaching Excellency Award in the Biology Department in 2000. His other claim to fame is that he helped to discover vanillin in the male sex phermone of oil palm bunch moth. Vanillin is the compound that gives vanilla its flavour. Tasting bug guts was mentioned when speculating about his methods and he did not dispute this possibility!

KRISTINE SCHLAMP - Kristine workes with peach tree bober, sexually frustrating males to enhance the sex phermone. She received her BAHT at Olds College, Alberta before joining the lab to pursue her MPM degree. When she is not in her bioassay room, she can be found biking on the trails, falling down the mountain with her dogs in hot pursuit, or at home with a menagerie of animals.

MARK SIDNEY - Mark originally came from England but judging from his accent that was many years ago. He is almost done his MSc thesis studying peach twig borer and spends most of his free time in the gym or on the wall rock climbing. Burnaby Mtn, especially the research forest, is literally his home away from home.

STEPHEN TAKACS -Steve started out on a quest many years ago to obtain his high school equivalency diploma but just wasn't satisfied with that. He's been at SFU since 1989 and has completed his BSc, MSc and PhD. Now he's in the habit of coming to campus every day and nobody has told him to go home so we'll probably be seeing him around for a little while more. His hobbies include drawing, painting, Aikido and (he looks the part even with his hair cut) motorcycles.