Dr. Frank Fish, Biology, received a grant in the amount of $1.3 million from the Office of Naval Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative for the Biologically-Inspired Autonomous Sea Vehicle program for “Towards a Mission Configurable Stealth Underwater Batoid.”  The study is a collaboration with Dr. Hilary Bart-Smith, University of Virginia; and Dr. Alexander Smits of Princeton University.  Professor Fish was highlighted in the April 2008 issue of National Geographic for his work on the application of the geometry of the humpback whale flipper for wind turbine design in the article “Biomimetrics: design by nature.”

The following Biology undergraduate students were recognized during the Spring 2008 semester: Amanda Rowlands received an Honorable Mention at the 2008 CAS Outstanding Student Awards; Radhika Bhatt, Sara Farjo, and Erica Szonntag received awards for their presentations at The WCU Research Consortium Research Day.  

Dr. Maureen Knabb and Dr. Erin Gestl were each awarded a 2008 CASSDA Grant.  Dr. Knabb's project is entitled “Does quadraplex (G4) DNA exist in normal and cancerous cells?”. Dr. Gestl's project is entitled “Interaction of Proteins (DNA Polymerase) during DNA Replication”.  

Dr. Greg Turner, Biology, published the article, “Oak seedling growth and ectomycorrhizal colonization in adjacent oak stand and declining eastern hemlock stands infested with the hemlock woolly adelgid,” with J. Lewis, J. LiCitra, A. Tuininga, and A. Sirulnik, in Tree Physiology, 28: 629-636, 2008. 

Lori Timm, Biology graduate student, was co-author on a presentation with Dr. Frank Fish entitled 'Hydrodynamic flow through the nasal cavity of sharks.'

Biology students Amanda Rowlands, Kimberly Urban, Apurva Bidja, Danielle Roy, Ryan Feeney and Lilly Afshari and Dr. Oné Pagan published the article "Reversal of cocaine-induced planarian behavior by parthenolide and related sesquiterpene lactones" in Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 89: 160-170 (2008). The article was also coauthored by Dr. Mahrukh Azam (chemistry). 

Dr. Russell Vreeland, Biology, co-authored the paper “Virgibacillus salaries sp. nov., a novel halophilic bacterium isolated from a Saharan salt lake” with N. Hua, H. Amel, H. Isoda, T. Naganuma, in international Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. He presented “Going where no MAN has gone before: microbial space craft abound” at the Delaware Astronomical Society on March 18.  The Kansas Underground Salt Museum is housing an exhibit showcasing the work of Dr. Russell Vreeland.  “Take it with a Grain of Salt—Life inside a Permian Period Fluid Inclusion” will open on May 31st and is the centerpiece for an entire weekend of activities. 

Dr. Greg Turner, Biology, co-authored the paper, “Exotic plant distributions along disturbance corridors at the Grassy Hill Area, Franklin County, Virginia,” with Marriane Demkó in Banisteria, Fall 2007, 30: 19-26.  He and Professor Gerald Hertel, Biology, presented the poster entitled “Invasive plants in the Gordon Natural Area” at the Delaware Invasive Species Council’s 8th Annual Meeting, Delaware City, DE, in November.  

Dr. Frank Fish, Biology, gave several presentations the Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology conference in San Antonio, TX, Jan 2-6:  He presented an invited symposium talk, 'Hydrodynamic flow control in marine mammals', which was co-authored with Laurens Howie and Mark Murray of Duke University and the United States Naval Academy, respectively.  He also presented a paper 'What's the point? Undulatory swimming with the tapering tail of the alligator,' which was co-authored with George Lauder of Harvard University.  Professor Fish co-authored the talks 'A hydroelastic model for the scaling of steady swimming in cetaceans' with Virginia Engel and John Long of Vassar College and William McLellan and Ann Pabst of the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and 'Hydrodynamic performance of the minke whale (Balaenoptera acutotorostrata) flipper' with Lisa Cooper of the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy. In addition, he presented an invited talk "Biomechanics of terrestrial locomotion" at the New Bolton Center of the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School on January 23, 2008. Dr.  Fish was co-author of a presentation, “DPIV measurements on Dolphins: Examining Gray’s paradox,” at the 60th annual meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics of the American Physical Society on November 19.  His co-authors are Paul Legac and Timothy Wei of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Terrie Williams  of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Professor Fish served on a National Science Foundation grant proposal advisory committee, which was held November 1-2.  In addition, Professor Fish was named to the position of Associate Editor for the journal Marine Mammal Science, which is the journal of the Society for Marine Mammalogy.

Dr. Frank Fish and Dr. Russell Vreeland, Biology, were participants in the Careers in Science 2008 at the Franklin Institute Science Museum on the Science and Technology Careers panel for area high school students on March 5.