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Summer Science Institute
Participating Faculty
Summer Science Institute: Immersion in Science Presenters
Dr. Rebecca Baldwin
Assistant Extension Scientist
Department of Entomology and Nematology
Baldwinr@ufl.edu
http://webbugs.ifas.ufl.edu/rebecca_baldwin/Default.htm
Dr. Baldwin’s research involves testing the toxicity of fatty acid salts on cockroach species. She serves as co-director of the Florida School Integrated Pest Management Program. Her other research focuses on the public perception of insect pests and pesticide usage. Over the past five years she has led continuing education sessions for some of the top pest management companies in the state of Florida.
Dr. Sixue Chen
Associate Professor of Botany
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
schen@ufl.edu
http://web.botany.ufl.edu/people/faculty/faculty-chen-sixue.html
Dr. Chen’s research interests include plant metabolites that are often closely related to human nutrition in health. His research focuses on how, why, and where plants store these compounds that are related to our nutrition. His main focus is on the glucosinolates that are important in the Brassica crops (oilseed grape, broccoli, and cabbage). These compounds are important for herbivore and insect nutrition, and give us the flavors for cabbage and condiments such as mustard. Some of these compounds show anti-carcinogenic properties. Dr. Chen’s lab focuses on how these compounds are produced and metabolized.
Ms. Ginger Clark
Scientific Coordinator - Genetic Analysis
Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research
ginger@biotech.ufl.edu
http://news.ufl.edu/2000/05/23/wild-id/
As scientific research coordinator of Biotechnologies for Ecological, Evolutionary and Conservation Sciences Genetic Analysis Laboratory; Ginger Clark applies molecular technology to studies in ecology, evolution, and conservation biology. Ginger Clark developed a technique that could not only determine species based on tissue samples or blood, but also the gender. The technique can identify any hoofed species, from cows to horses to antelopes, from most countries in the world. The work quickly became useful in poaching cases.
Dr. Kevin Folta
Assistant Professor
Department of Horticultural Sciences
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
kfolta@ifas.ufl.edu
http://www.hos.ufl.edu/kfolta/
Dr. Folta’s lab research includes studying the effect that small amounts of light (green light) have on gene expression in plants. The results of his lab have shown that with this wavelength of light there has been gene expressions that were not explained before with conventional light systems or the absence of light. The other facet of the Folta Lab has to do with using LED lighting to control the quality of light plants receive which can lead to the manipulation of plant growth and development.
Dr. Anthony Gonzalez
Associate Professor
Department of Astronomy
anthony@astro.ufl.edu
http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~anthony/index.html
His research is primarily focused upon issues related to observational cosmology, galaxy evolution, and the evolution of galaxy clusters.
Dr. Michelle Manuel
Assistant Professor
Materials Science and Engineering
College of Engineering
mmanuel@mse.ufl.edu
http://www.materialsdesigngroup.com/
Dr. Manuel is an expert in materials selection. Her research efforts are dedicated to the design of advanced materials from high performance light metal alloys to self healing alloy composites.
Dr. Alison Morse
Assistant Instructor
Forest Genomics Labs
School of Forest Resources and Conservation
ammorse@ufl.edu
http://forestgenomics.ifas.ufl.edu/
Dr. Morse is currently an investigator in the Forest Genomics Lab which is a group of scientists studying the genetic traits of plants to improve the production of bioethanol to make it a competitive fuel source with oil, developing and implementing techniques for carbon storage in order to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, and to understand the genetic and environmental causes of phenotypic variation in plants for future tree improvements such as disease resistance.
Dr. Kevin Powers
Assistant Engineer
Associate Director, R & D Facility, Particle Engineering Research Center
kpowers@erc.ufl.edu
www.erc.ufl.edu/
Dr. Powers’ main research interest lies in Sol Gel derived powders and glasses, surface chemistry of high silica glasses and synthesis of nanoscale particles with unique optical characteristics. Dr. Powers has also authored numerous articles published in scholarly journals.
Dr. Vicki Saradejini
Associate Professor
Department of Astronomy
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Vicki@astro.ufl.edu
http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~vicki/
Dr. Saradejini’s studies focus on the study of active galactic nuclei which are the centers of galaxies that are illuminated much more than the rest of the galaxies’ electromagnetic spectrum. She studies the morphological characteristics of these galaxies, their spectroscopic readings derived from their radiation, and how they change over time.
Dr. Richard Snyder
Associate Professor, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
Director of the Center of Excellence for Regenerative Health Biotechnology
Director of Human Applications within the Powell Gene Therapy Center
http://cerhb.rgp.ufl.edu/
Dr. Snyder was primarily responsible for the generation of State funds for the construction of a facility for CERHB at Progress Park in Alachua. The mission of the CERHB is to provide not only world-class research but also commercialization of technologies targeted as possible treatments and cures for human disease. He has also been responsible for the creation of a complementary facility, “Florida Biologix,” which serves as a bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing and testing services operation and provides jobs in the biotechnology industry for citizens in and around Alachua County.
Dr. Arnoldo Valle-Levinson
Associate Professor
Civil and Coastal Engineering Department
College of Engineering
arnoldo@ufl.edu
http://users.coastal.ufl.edu/~arnoldo/arnoldo.html
Dr. Valle-Levinson is interested in the effects that ocean and sea depths have on the volume exchange at the mouth of estuaries, fjords, and lagoons. He is focusing on the effect that wind, density, and tide has on the exchange process between estuaries and the coastal ocean.
Dr. William Vernetson
Associate Engineer
Director of the University of Florida Training Reactor
Department of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering
College of Engineering
vernet@ufl.edu
http://www.nre.ufl.edu/department/faculty.php
Dr. Vernetson works on Reactor safety, power and non-power reactor operations and training, systems design and probabilistic safety assessment, criticality analysis, neutron activation analysis. The UFTR is used within the Nuclear and Radiological Engineering (NRE) Department at the University of Florida to train students to operate reactors, for laboratory courses for a variety of departments, and as a radiation/neutron source for various research programs and experiments such as trace element analysis of ocean sediments, soil sediments, plants, biological materials, etc.
Dr. William Wise
Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences
College of Engineering
bwise@ufl.edu
http://www.ees.ufl.edu/homepp/wise/
Dr. Wise’s research interests include: Forensic Hydrology, Wetland Hydrology, Spatial and Temporal Rainfall Analysis, Hydrologic Restoration & Management, Land Development and Planning, Pore-Scale Modeling of Fluid Flow, Hydrologic Characterization via Tracers, Groundwater Contaminant Transport, and Modeling of Variably-Saturated Flow. Dr. Wise works in collaboration with The Howard T Odum Center works to understand both the controlling factors for wetland hydrology and the linkage between hydrology and the structure and function of wetland and lake ecosystems.
Summer Science Institute: Explorations in Life Science Presenters
Dr. Jaret Daniels
Assistant Professor
Department of Entomology and Nematology
Assistant Curator, Florida Museum of Natural History
jcdnls@ufl.edu
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/daniels.htm
Dr. Daniels’ research focuses on insect ecology and conservation, with particular emphasis on Lepidoptera. He is specifically interested in seasonal ecology, population dynamics, behavior, and imperiled species recovery. Dr. Daniels authored several Butterfly Field Guides and articles on Southern Floridian insects.
Dr. Daniel Hahn
Assistant Professor
Department of Entomology and Nematology
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
dahahn@ifas.ufl.edu
http://danhahn.ifas.ufl.edu/danhahn.htm
Dr. Hahn’s current research involves studying the mechanisms that have caused diversification of insect species. He accomplishes this by studying the physiological traits in closely related species with divergent life histories and by studying the differences within a species. He also focuses mainly on the metabolic history of insect species. He is also interested in how insects react with their environment and the how insects cope with environmental stress.
Dr. Connie Mulligan
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
Associate Director
UF Genetics Institute
mulligan@anthro.ufl.edu
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/mulligan/Webpage/
Dr. Mulligan’s research involves analyzing the molecular genetic variation in order to reconstruct the evolutionary history and relationships of human populations and human pathogens. Specifically her lab involves: biocultural evolution of populations in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, process of migration in East Asia and the New World, identification of genetic variants in diseases such as alcoholism, and using ancient DNA to reconstruct past genetic diversity and evolutionary history.
Dr. Roger Reep
Professor and Graduate Coordinator
Department of Physiological Sciences
College of Veterinary Medicine
McKnight Brain Institute
reep@mbi.ufl.edu
http://www.mbi.ufl.edu/people/fac-form.php?id=83
Dr. Reep’s research interest involves a neurological disorder called neglect. This defect happens in about 40% of cases where there is right hemisphere brain damage, often produced by stroke. This disease is caused by a failure to respond to stimuli presented to the side of the body opposite of the brain injury. He is currently developing a rodent neurological model to help explain and help treat this disorder. Dr. Reep is also involved in studying manatees and is currently focused on the sensory hairs that occur all over the manatees body whereas in most mammals they simply occur on the face. These hairs could be used to detect water movements associated with other animals, tidal flows, and river currents.
Dr. Douglas Soltis
Professor and Chair
Department of Botany
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
dsoltis@botany.ufl.edu
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/soltislab/
Dr. Douglas Soltis researches in close collaboration with Dr. Pamela Soltis. Current major interests of Dr. Soltis include the study of higher level phylogenetic relationships and character evolution in the angiosperms, floral evolution, the genetic basis of key floral differences in basal angiosperms, the genetic and genomic consequences of polyploid speciation, conservation genetics of rare plant species, and phylogeography.
Dr. Pamela Soltis
Curator, Florida Museum of Natural History
Molecular Systematics and Evolutionary Genetics Lab
psoltis@flmnh.ufl.edu
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/soltislab/
Dr. Pamela Soltis’ research is currently interested in unveiling the molecular systematics of plants, the evolution of the flower, the evolution of plants with more than two sets of homologous chromosomes known as polyploidy, how plant life is spread by geographical region (particularly focusing on the Southeastern United States and the Pacific Northwest), and the genetics of rare plant species.
