Department News
David Steingraeber, Jack E. Cermak Outstanding Advisor Award
May 8, 2013
Endowed in 1984 to honor excellence in academic advising, including recognition by students and peers as an outstanding advisor; capacity to offer career as well as academic advising; interpersonal communication skills that lead to beneficial advising relationships; and contributions to the improvement of advising services and/or the appreciation of academic advising throughout the campus.
Lisa Angeloni, Dale Broder, & Don Mykles receive college-wide awards
April 16, 2013
Three members of the Department of Biology are to be honored with College of Natural Sciences awards: Lisa Angeloni: Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring E. Dale Broder: Graduate Student Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring Donald L. Mykles: Faculty Excellence in Graduate Education and Mentoring Please join us at the College of Natural Sciences Awards [...]
Diana Wall receives coveted Tyler Prize
March 25, 2013
Dr. Diana Wall, University Distinguished Professor and Director of the School of Global and Environmental Sustainability, has been named the 2013 recipient of the Tyler Prize. This is the highest international recognition given in environmental science each year, and is richly deserved by Dr. Wall for her scientific work in the Antarctic and on global [...]
Dr. Pat Bedinger named a Professor Laureate in the College of Natural Sciences
Dr. Pat Bedinger has been named a Professor Laureate in the College of Natural Sciences at Colorado State University for 2013-2014. This is the highest recognition in the College, and is for Dr. Bedinger’s outstanding work as a Master Teacher and a research mentor, and for leading a large multi-university research group investigating the molecular [...]
Biology Research Makes Ripley’s Believe it or Not!
March 1, 2013
Efforts underway in the laboratory of Professor June Medford use Plant Synthetic Biology to develop new traits such as enabling computer design detection abilities in plants. Work for the Medford lab was recently described in the “esteemed” publication, Ripley’s Believe it or Not.
Webb Lab: Bats more likely to carry disease than rodents
February 14, 2013
Rodents hugely outnumber bats, but bats are more likely than rodents to carry viruses that can be transmitted between animals and humans, according to new research by Colorado State University disease ecologists. “There’s been a lot of speculation that bats might be special in some way as far as their potential to host zoonotic diseases,” [...]
Guppy Study at Colorado State University Could Tell Scientists about Genetics of Conservation
January 31, 2013
Biology professors at Colorado State University have obtained a three-year, $400,000 National Science Foundation grant to study the effects of genes moving from one population to another. Increasingly, wildlife managers are discovering the benefits of informing conservation action and policy with research on the genetics of populations. For example, relocation is a common management tool [...]
Professors Don Mykles and LeRoy Poff Awarded as Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (along with three other from the College of Natural Sciences)
December 4, 2012
Five Colorado State University professors in the College of Natural Sciences have been awarded the American Association for the Advancement of Science distinction of Fellow. The title of AAAS Fellow, one of the most prestigious honors in science, requires nomination by scientific peers. This year’s class from CSU includes three in from the Department of [...]
Dr. June Medford awarded $2 million DOE grant to re-engineer plants for biofuels
December 3, 2012
A Colorado State University team has received a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to produce a biological control system for bioenergy crops. June Medford and Mauricio Antunes, both professors in the Biology department, and Ashok Prasad, a professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering, received the grant from Advanced Research Projects Agency [...]
S.D. governor proclaims Thursday Diana Wall Day
September 27, 2012
It will be forever stamped in the history books in South Dakota: Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, will always be known as “Dr. Diana Harrison Wall Day.” Gov. Dennis Daugaard will honor Wall, University Distinguished Professor at CSU, as part of a ceremony tonight where she will receive the Mines Medal of South Dakota School of Mines [...]
CSU’s June Medford receives top national honors for PR initiatives
July 30, 2012
Awarded Gold CASE “CSU Biologist Builds Bomb-Sniffing Plants” was awarded a national Gold CASE Circle of Excellence Award, the top honor in the category of Media Relations Programs and Plans. The campaign gained world-wide media attention for Professor June Medford’s work with a computer designed detection trait that changes a plant’s colors when pollutants or [...]
Salazar, Wall named ‘Women of Vision’
July 13, 2012
The Colorado Women of Influence have honored university distinguished professor Diana Wall and Guadalupe Salazar, the director of El Centro at Colorado State University, as 2012 Women of Vision. The winners were announced at a July 11 gala at the Fort Collins Marriott. “We are extremely proud that Diana Wall and Guadalupe Salazar have been [...]
Professor Mike Antolin Appointed Interim Chair
June 18, 2012
Beginning July 1, Dean Nerger has appointed Professor Mike Antolin as Interim Chair of the department. The Dean noted as Associate Chair Mike has been very engaged in the Department and is well aware of the department operations. She believes Antolin will maintain the continuity of the department leadership and planning as well as keep [...]
Steve Stack and CSU researchers help crack tomato’s DNA code
June 11, 2012
Professor Stephen Stack and a group of CSU researchers were part of an international team that could enhance production for the $2 billion tomato industry. Tomatoes could be reengineered to get tastier and survive droughts and pests now that a CSU professor’s team and some 300 other scientists from around the globe have sequenced the [...]
Dan Bush is the new vice provost for Faculty Affairs
May 29, 2012
Daniel Bush, professor and chair of the Department of Biology in the College of Natural Sciences, has been named vice provost for Faculty Affairs at Colorado State. He will begin his new post on July 1. Read the full story at: http://www.today.colostate.edu/story.aspx?id=7303
Dr. Shane Kanatous to study regeneration of seal cells
April 23, 2012
Biologist Shane Kanatous runs the only laboratory in the world that has isolated and grown primary muscle cells of Weddell seals. This summer, with seed money from the Office of Naval Research, he will set out to prove he can generate a similar primary muscle cell line from California’s northern elephant seals – all in [...]
Professor Alan Knapp Leads National Drought Study on Grasslands
February 28, 2012
A Colorado State University biologist will lead a national team that will experimentally impose severe drought in Great Plains grasslands and evaluate how the landscape responds – the first large-scale project of its kind. The National Science Foundation has awarded $3.7 million to Alan Knapp, a biology professor and senior ecologist with the Graduate Degree [...]
You say tomato, I say potato: Wild tomatoes could unlock secrets of fungus behind Irish potato famine
February 23, 2012
Wild tomatoes could help researchers design potatoes resistant to the fungus that caused the Irish potato famine and still threatens potato crops around the globe, said a Colorado State University biologist who has received a $5.8 million National Science Foundation grant for the research. Read the whole story: http://www.today.colostate.edu/story.aspx?id=6852
University Distinguished Professor appointed to White House panel reviewing U.S. presence in Antarctica
Two planes, one ship, one Zodiac raft and three days will get University Distinguished Professor Diana Wall to an icy end of the earth this week where she will help evaluate the U.S. research presence in Antarctica. Read the whole story: http://www.today.colostate.edu/story.aspx?id=6853
Groundhog Day always special at CSU thanks to biology professor
February 2, 2012
Professor Greg Florant gets lots of media attention around the same day every year: Groundhog Day. http://www.today.colostate.edu/story.aspx?id=6749
Chemistry, Biology Chairs Elected Fellows of American Association for the Advancement of Science
December 19, 2011
Two chairs of the College of Natural Sciences – Daniel R. Bush in biology and Ellen R. Fisher in chemistry – have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a prestigious peer honor awarded to a select group of scientists across the country each year. http://www.today.colostate.edu/story.aspx?id=6597
World Food Prize Laureate to Deliver Thornton-Massa Lecture
September 8, 2011
Gebisa Ejeta, a World Food Prize laureate who was raised in a thatched hut in Ethiopia and later used his training as a plant breeder and geneticist to abate hunger in Africa will deliver an invited talk about food security on Sunday, September 11. http://www.today.colostate.edu/story.aspx?id=6015
CSU biologists tackle bigger, better plants for biofuels with $1.3 million DOE, USDA grant
August 18, 2011
Three Colorado State University plant biologists have received a $1.35 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to genetically engineer bigger and better plants that could provide more physical mass for biofuels. http://www.today.colostate.edu/story.aspx?id=6043