Yamato Wins Award at Marine Mammal Biennial

Joint Program student Maya Yamato has won the John G. Shedd Award for the Overall Best Student Presentation at the 19th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals. Her talk, "The auditory anatomy of the minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata): Insights into potential sound reception pathways in a baleen whale," was co-authored by Darlene Ketten, Julie Arruda, Scott Cramer, and Kathleen Moore. Maya and her collaborators, "combined classical dissection with biomedical imaging techniques such as X-ray computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging to describe the anatomy of the minke whale head with a focus on the ear region."

Congratulations Maya!

Photo credit: Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology

PS.  Both Maya and I know that is not a minke whale.

Stocker Newest Member of JCBO

Roman Stocker, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, has been appointed to JCBO.  Prof. Stocker's appointment began November 1, and will last for three years.

Prof. Stocker's research "focuses on the physical ecology of microorganisms and on microscale transport phenomena."

Please join me in welcoming Roman to the Joint Program.

2012 Admissions Schedule

2012 Admissions Schedule

I can't believe another year has come and gone.  A new admissions season always reminds me how fast time flies.  

This year Assistant Scientist Aran Mooney will join Matt Johnson and me as the Biology Department representatives on the Admissions Advisory Committee.  Aran, Matt and I will have many applications to read.  If we look sleepy around the end of January, you will know why!

Here is the schedule of important admissions dates:

• January 5: Application deadline
• January 12: Files available for Admissions Committee review
• January 26: First cut by Disciplinary Committees (to approximately 15 applicants)
• January 30: Biology Department admissions meeting (cull list to approximately 10)
• February 9: Admissions Advisory Committee "Pizza" meeting
• February 14: JCBO admissions meeting
• February 16: Joint Program Committee meeting (final decisions)
• February 16: Begin notifying applicants
• March 12-13: Open House (12th at MIT, 13th at WHOI)

Please mark your calendars now and, if at all possible, save March 13th, even if you don't think a new student will be joining your lab this year.  Open House is much more engaging for prospective students when there are lots of us around.

Biology Students Win Fellowships

Kristen Hunter-Cevera

Harriet Alexander

Please join me in congratulating JP Bio Students Harriet Alexander, Kristen Hunter-Cevera and Emily Moberg. Harriet and Kristen both won prestigious three-year fellowships from the Department of Defense. The National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowships are awarded to "individuals who have demonstrated the ability and special aptitude for advanced training in science and engineering."

In addition, Harriet and incoming student Emily Moberg were awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships.  According to the website, "the reputation of the GRFP follows recipients and often helps them become life-long leaders that contribute significantly to both scientific innovation and teaching. Past fellows include numerous Nobel Prize winners, U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, Google founder, Sergey Brin and Freakonomicsco-author, Steven Levitt."

But don't worry, Harriet, Kristen and Emily....no pressure!

Entering JP class of 2011 is complete!

The dust has now settled and the results are in! The entering class of 2011 is now complete. They are:

• Alexander Bergan (UC San Diego; advisors: Gareth Lawson & Andone Lavery)
• Alexis Fischer (Wellesley College; advisor: Don Anderson)
• Jesse McNichol (Mount Allison Univ.; advisor: Stefan Sievert)
• Emily Moberg (MIT; advisor: Mike Neubert)
• Julie Van der Hoop (Dalhousie Univ.; advisor: Michael Moore)

Thanks to everyone who helped in the admissions process, from evaluating applications, to giving open house tours.  Special thanks to Tricia Morin Gebbie and Ronni Schwartz who made the process go so smoothly.

JP Student wins AGU Award

The accolades continue to accumulate for Biology JP students and postdocs. Here's news that Santiago Herrera has won an Outstanding Student Paper Award for his presentation Biodiversity of the Deep-Sea Benthic Fauna in the Sangihe-Talaud Region, Indonesia: Observations from the INDEX-SATAL 2010 Expedition. Santiago gave his presentation at the 2010 AGU Fall meeting in San Francisco. The selection committee said, "Your presentation was recognized as among the best of a strong group of student presenters, which sets an example for your fellow students and the entire AGU membership."  Among the 14 co-authors were fellow JP student Eleanor Bors and Santiago's advisor, Tim Shank. You can find the abstract here.  Congratulations Santiago!

Bio Postdoc Wins Society of Toxicology Award

At the Society of Toxicology (SOT) annual meeting this week in Washington, DC, WHOI Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Alicia Timme-Laragy won the first place award for postdoctoral research from the Molecular Biology Specialty Section of SOT. Here she is presenting her poster "Nrf2b: a novel Nrf2 paralog in zebrafish" (co-authored by S l Karchner, D G Franks, M J Jenny, and M E Hahn).  Good work Alicia!

JP Biology Grad Wins ASLO Prize

Recent MIT/WHOI Joint Program graduate Joanna Gyory has won the Best Poster Prize at this year's ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting for her poster "Turbidity as a cue for synchronous reproduction in the barnacle Semibalinus balanoides."  The poster was coauthored by her Ph.D. advisor Jesus Pineda.  Congratulations Joanna!

2011 Ocean Ventures Fund Competition

OCEAN VENTURES FUND (OVF) GUIDELINES, 2011

The Ocean Ventures Fund was created in response to the traditionally conservative and time consuming funding procedures of federal agencies. The intent of OVF is to promote hard-to- fund research and innovation by encouraging scientists to take chances in following their curiosity.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY:

OVF is open to all students in the MIT/WHOI Joint Graduate Program in Oceanography and Oceanographic Engineering. The research idea and the proposal text must come from the graduate students, not his/her supervisor. Students are the Principal Investigators. Both disciplinary and interdisciplinary proposals are encouraged, as are projects relating to EPA- funded research.

CALENDAR:

The submission deadline for OVF proposals is April 1, 2011. Proposals will be reviewed during April 2011 by the WHOI Education Coordinators, Dean, and Associate Dean. Award decisions will be made and notices will be sent in May for research start-up on June 1, 2011. At least 8 awards may be given in 2011.

PROPOSAL FORMAT:

With the exception of the following, OVF proposals should follow NSF guidelines. The explanatory text may not exceed four pages (maximum of six with illustrations). A cover letter must recap the proposal in lay person's terms and include reasons for applying to OVF. Remember to state clearly the research objective and why it is important.

The OVF Proposal must include the following sections in this order: 1. Cover letter, no longer than one page. 2. Endorsement letter, no longer than one page, from student's advisor. 3. Title page with abstract, including signatures of department chair and advisor. 4. Explanatory text, not to exceed four pages (excluding figures). 5. Bibliography. 6. Budget; should not exceed $15,000.00. 7. Curriculum Vitae. 8. Please provide the proposal in hard copy and pdf format to your Education Coordinator.

BUDGET:

Budgets may be used be for your stipend, if you are unsupported by a research grant. Salary support for technical assistance may also be included, as well as cost of equipment, supplies, travel, and computer time. Budgets must be calculated using WHOI (i.e., not MIT) rates.

EVALUATION:

Proposals are judged on: 1. Quality of science and how clearly you express it. 2. Appropriateness for funding by OVF, as opposed to funding by conventional research sources.

Submit your proposals, by April 1, to your education coordinator.

Education Coordinators: Biology, Mike Neubert; MC&G, Mark Kurz; G&G, Delia Oppo; AOPE, Tim Stanton; Physics, Steve Lentz