On March 5 and 6 the the Department of Biology was visited by an external review team (Fred Delcomyn from Univ. Illinois, Lou Feldman from Univ. California-Berkeley, Dan Howard from New Mexico State University). From all indications, a favorable review of the department was forwarded to College of Natural Sciences Dean Rick Miranda. Congratulations to all of you in the Department of Biology for your talent, hard work, and accomplishments!

Special Assistant Professor Gul Shad Ali and Professor ASN Reddy hosted a group of Denver High School students for visit to their laboratory and an introdcution to the ins and outs of transgenic potatoes.

Assistant Professor Mark P. Simmons returned from his long trek to Madagascar to find that he was awarded a three year grant from the National Science Foundation to continue his phylogenetic studies of the Celastraceae. Word!

Professor Mike Antolin was awarded a Research Experience for Undergraduates supplement to his NSF funded project on "Plague as a model for low prevlanece/epizootic disease dynamics" to support two students during summer of 2007. One position will be taken by Alexandra Ard, a Biological Sciences Major from the Department of Biology.

Much of the Department of Biology will be on the road during Spring Break week from March 9 to 18. See you when we all get back!

Associate Professor LeRoy Poff is lead author on a paper in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, entitled: "Homogenization of regional river dynamics by dams and global biodiversity implications." Co-authors include former PhD student Julian Olden and former post-doc David Merritt.

Associate Professor LeRoy Poff's new paper in PNAS, on the negative effects of dams on flow regimes and biological diversity of rivers has made quite a splash! The research was covered in the Observatory section of Science Times in the New York Times on March 6, under the title "The Greater Impact of Dams."