1995 pbio newsletter

1822-1995: Celebrating l73years ofBotany at Ohio University

BNewsletter 1995

Ohio University

College ofArts and SciencesDepartment ofEnvironmental

and Plant BiologyAthens, Ohio 45701-2979

REPORT FROM THE CHAIROccasionally, a series of seemingly unrelated events

coalesce and force one to reflect; for me, this was such ayear. The undergraduate awards ceremony, the death ofBob Lloyd, a state review ofour doctoral program, and theretirement of Norm Cohn started me thinking about thenature and rewards of a career in academia.

At the undergraduate awards ceremony I encourageawardees to attend graduate school with the ultimate goalof entering the academy, so that the ranks of the faculty arereplenished with outstanding scholars. Usually the vastmajority of the awardees are young women, and I particularly encourage them to follow this course. I believe that acritical mass of women, who could frame the debate, ratherthan the current situation where a few women integrateinto a male paradigm, would change the nature of science—possibly for the better, e.g., female primatologists.

The pathway to the professoriate is intimidating.First, one competes to enter a quality graduate school andspends five or six years completing requirements for thePh.D. degree. Next, one competes with 25 to 100 highlyqualified applicants for a position that pays $30,000 to$35,000 per year; if successful, one spends the next six toseven years laboring to get tenure. Finally, as a tenuredprofessor, one has the rare privilege of having one’steaching performance evaluated by freshmen, and one isstill not making enough money to buy a Lexus! Factor intothis the special family responsibilities of women, and itwould seem that encouraging a young woman to enter the

profession is contrary to the constitutional provision thatprohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Ifwe rejectShaw’s observation that “He who can, does. He whocannot, teaches,” what is the allure of an academic career?One clue may be found in the life and times of Bob Lloyd.

Bob had been in poor health for a number of yearsas a consequence ofhis diabetes. Several years ago hereceived a short reprieve, when he had a kidney transplant,but diabetes is relentless. He used a walker to avoidcompression fractures and more recently transportedhimself in a mechanical wheelchair. The day before he died,with failing eyesight, he was reviewing a manuscript for aprofessional journal. How does one explain the desire to beprofessionally active, rather than seek disability? I think oneanswer is that Bob’s psyche was so dependent on hisprofessional career that he could not be psychologicallywhole without his job. The willingness of many faculty tomeld personality and profession suggests that the lattermust be very satisfying, but in what way?

In many occupations, the organization is hierarchical:there are many workers, fewer managers/vice presidents,and one president. Promotion in the hierarchy iscompetitive; it occurs at the expense of colleagues. Bycontrast, in academe a person primarily competes againsta standard, and there is no limit on the number of fullprofessors. The latter organization favors collegiality andan esprit de corps, where the group can benefit from theaccomplishments of individual members. The state review

Research and teaching laboratories in the newly renovated Porter Hall are up and running!

2 Botany Newsletter 1995

of our doctoral program is an example. One componentof our self-study was a questionnaire sent to all doctoralgraduates requesting evaluation of their experiences asgraduate students and subsequent careers. Although facultymembers may be aware of the accomplishments of theirown students, few were aware of the collective success ofour alumni. The faculty can be proud to be members of adepartment that has played a small role in the professionaldevelopment of so many fine individuals.

This sense of collective accomplishments iscomplemented by personal experiences. For example,in Minneapolis an airline pilot came up to me and said,“I recognized your voice, I had you in 101 fifteen yearsago, and I really enjoyed the course.” Teaching is at hearta selling job, and there is no greater satisfaction than sellingstudents on their unrecognized potential: Norm Cohn’sretirement dinner was a perfect example. Ralph Quatranowas the after-dinner speaker. He graduated from Colgate,where he majored in football and lacrosse, althoughofficially he was an education major. His career objectivewas to be a high school football coach, and he came toOhio University to obtain the necessary science back-ground to teach high school science. Norm directedRalph’s M.S. work and convinced him he had the abilityto pursue doctoral work at Yale. The rest is history.

A well-known plant physiologist who is a recognized leaderin The American Society of Plant Physiologists, Ralph iscurrently chair of the department of biology at NorthCarolina. As if to demonstrate that this example is notunique, another attendee, Bob Gray, e-mailed us to say,“Norm has a special place in my life, and it is likely thatI would not have gone on to graduate school at Illinoiswithout the stimulus that he provided.” Bob is currentlyAssociate Dean of the School of Public Health at theUniversity of Michigan.

The take-home lesson is that a career in academemay appear, to quote Churchill, to have Cnothing tooffer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat,” but it is morelike the weather in March—in like a lion, out like a lamb.Reflecting on Bob Lloyd’s life, the Ph.D. review, thegenuine affection expressed at Norm’s retirement dinner,and a variety of personal experiences, I conclude thatmembership in the professoriate is such a rewardingcareer that it is almost a crime to take the money.

Ivan K. SmithProfessor and Chair

DIRECTORY: FACULTY AND STAFFInternet AddressName

H. Blazier

J. BraseltonP. Cantino

J. CavenderN. CohnJ. DowlerJ. H. GraffiusT. L. GreggB. IngrahamC. KeifferL. LarsonG. MapesB. McCarthy

J. MitchellE. MooreG. Rothwell

Telephone

593-4547593-1131593-1128593-4551593-4659593-1126593-1133593-1134593-1124593-1125

[email protected]@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.educantinoJouvaxa.cats.ohiou.educavenderJouvaxa.cats . [email protected]@[email protected]

Lab/Office

BotResFac 204Porter 406Porter 411Porter 309Porter 510Porter 317Porter 307cPorter 400Porter 315aPorter 315bPorter 307eRidges, Bid 7Porter 416Porter 508Porter 302a/303bPorter 401Ridges BId 7Porter 405Porter 504Porter 512Porter 500Porter 400Porter 419Porter 317

[email protected]

[email protected]@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edumitchellj Jouvaxa.cats.ohiou. edu

J. SalickA. ShowalterI. Smith*A. TreseM. TrivettI. Ungar**Dept. OfficeDept. FAX

593-1117593-1615593-4548593-4552593-1129593-1118593-1122593-1135593-4550593-0260593-1134593-1120593-1126593-1130

rothwelkJouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu

*Chair

[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]

**Chair, Graduate Program

Botany Newsletter 1995 3

DONATIONS TO THEDEPARTMENT VIA THEOHIO UNIVERSITY FUND

When Dean Molineu invites you to participate inthe College of Arts and Sciences Annual Roll CallforExcellence, we encourage alumni and friends of ourdepartment to make a small gift, de4qnated to theDepartment ofEnvironmental and Plant Biology. Your giftsare important in supporting specific departmental activitiessuch as expenses incurred at the District Science Fair; e.g.,plaques to students with the top junior and senior projectsand plaques to the smdents’ schools are totally paid for bydonor contributions. Your donations also support plantacquisition and labeling at the Botany Garden andGreenhouse as well as some student travel. Our increasingdependence on donations makes us increasingly aware andappreciative of alumni and friends who support theseactivities.

This year Jacqueline McCalla Smith established adeferred gift scholarship, The Professor Arthur BuckleBotany Scholarship for Women. An annual awardwill be made to a female undergraduate of demonstratedacademic ability. Ms. McCaIla Smith requested that therecipient of the award also receive copies of RachelCarson’s books Silent Spring and Sense ofWonder inrecognition of the impact these books had upon her.She explains her desire to honor Dr. Blickle thus:

“During the late 1940’s Professor Arthur Blickieturned the teaching ofBotany into an art form! Thoughthis was not my major those months spent in his classroomand laboratory have become lifelong happy memories.Decades later an adult joy was becoming Charter Memberand now Trustee Emeritus for Botanica, The WichitaGardens to beautify a part of Kansas—partly due to afine instructor years before at Ohio University in Athens.Life comes full circle.”

A second fund was established, The Environmentaland Plant Biology Memorial Fund, to allow alumniand friends who lack the resources to initiate an endowedfund to make memorial contributions to the department.This fund was initiated by memorial donations forRobert M. Lloyd. Other specific funds to which youmay contribute are:

The Charles E. Miller Scholarship (an undergraduateaward)

The Monroe T. Vermillion Scholarship (anundergraduate award)

The Lee and Irene Roach Graduate Fund (for cellular& molecular biology graduate student research).

For the past ten years there has been a steady andsignificant growth in the number and size of donations tothe department via the Ohio University Foundation.Donations for the 1994 calendar year totaled $5,330,which is 36% greater than 1993. We appreciate this

immensely! We wish to recognize the following alumniand friends who contributed to the department during1994. We will respect the wishes of anyone who prefers toremain anonymous, and we hope that you will bring anyomissions to our attention.

American Electric Power Corp. do Jack Katlic,matching Roger Ames

Robert L. AmesRobert A. ArnoneLois Jeanne BartellisMaynard & Patricia BatesCharles W., Jr., & Helen J. BaughTimothy Bell & Joan F. MarxPeter M. BenjaminArthur F. Beyer, in honor of Dr. Arthur BlickleFrederick BonecutterThomas Henry Brennan & Christina K. WhitmanRobert A. CheneveyNorman S. CohnKenneth A. DrakeRobert G. & Bonnie B. Frasch

James K. HackerGary HansonEdmund M. HearneKeith HermanRichard G. & Carole HoltLindell & Dawn HoltzmeierDavid R. HugheyJudith Kae JardineCarolyn S. Howes KeifferJoseph G. LacoWilliam J. LambertJoseph LanfranchiLaurence A. & Elizabeth LarsonMartin & Penelope LeighningerCharles & Arlene LyonsEdward W. MansfieldS. Jane MartyPaul D. MeeksWayne A. MiettyPatrick B. MikesellElla Miller-Thompson (C. E. Miller Scholarship

donation)James M. & Elizabeth M. MollElizabeth D. MooreDaniel MoranPauline Janet MunkMichael A. PoklarThaddeus R. PreisnerBill & Margaret PriceRalph S. QuatranoLouis J. RagnoMichael D. RossIvan K. & Lynn SmithTom SnyderRobert W. Specker


Jay J. SquireKenneth R. StewartNorman B. StoutBertalan L. SzaboEllen Lyn TaylorHarold M. ThompsonIrwin & Ana UngarMartin A. VaughanDavid A. WerntzFloyd R. & Marlene V. WestWestvaco Foundation/Gary B. HermannWarren A. & Jean Wistendahl

AWARDS AND HONORS

This year’s awards ceremony was held on June 2at 4 p.m. in the 1804 Lounge ofBaker Center, whichaccommodated the 75 people in attendance. Following ashort period for refreshments and general visiting amonggraduate and undergraduate students, parents and faculty,the informal ceremonies began. Joining the members of thedepartment to honor the smdent recipients of the awardswere DEAN MARGARET COHN ofthe HonorsTutorial College and DEAN HAROLD MOLINEUof the College of Arts and Sciences . The awards werepresented by PHILIP D. CANTINO, NORMAN S.COHN and WAN K. SMITH.

Faculty and Graduate Students

DR. IRWIN A. UNGAR was selected last year asthe university’s Outstanding Graduate Faculty member and,by tradition, was this year’s speaker at the commencementfor the conferral of master’s, Ph.D. and D.O. degrees.

FORREST MEEKINS, a graduate student inplant ecology, received two awards recognizing herteaching efforts : the Outstanding Graduate Associate and theOutstanding Graduate TeachingAssistant. The OutstandingGraduate Associate award is conferred and administeredentirely by undergraduates and carries with it a check for$500. The Outstanding TeacherAward is conferred by theDepartment of Environmental & Plant Biology and carrieswith it a check for $200. Forrest is a magna cum laudegraduate of The College of William & Mary.

Undergraduate Awards

The Distinguished Professor Scho1arshi recipients areselected by the individual Distinguished Professors of OhioUniversity. The students selected by DR. NORMAN S.COHN for next year’s scholarships are CORY SICA,who will be a sophomore in the Honors Tutorial College,and SARA KULAKOSKI, who will be a junior in theHonors Tutorial College. Both are majoring in PlantBiology.

The C. Paul and Beth Stocker Scholarships are awardedeach year to first- and second-year undergraduates. Fornext academic year the scholarships, each worth $2250,are awarded to MEGAN BEILSTEIN (Honors TutorialCollege) and RYAN MAENPA (College ofArts &Sciences) . Megan has completed her first year in Environ-mental & Plant Biology with a grade-point average of3.619. She is from Mansfield, Ohio, and has spent a goodpart of her life on the family blueberry farm. She has astrong interest in plant tissue culmre and is an expert ingrowing Hosta plants from culmred tissues. Megan hasbeen working in DR. COHN’s laboratory with graduatesmdent DAN MORAN as part of her preparation for acareer in plant propagation. She feels that the development

Ohio University Fund Donations

1985 $ 150 (+p)

1986 $ 195 (+p)1987 $ 4401988 $ 8851989 $ 1,0151990 $ 1,6951991 $2,1001992 $ 3,7361993 $ 3,9241994 $ 5,330

(+p) = plus payroll that’s not specified

Richard Rypma1923-1995

Dr. Richard “Dick” Rypma, who retired in 1990as an associate professor in the Botany Department,died March 16 after a brief illness.

An Athens native, Dr. Rypma received a B.S.in agriculture and M.S. in horticulture and plantphysiology from OU and a Ph.D. in Plant Ecologyfrom Ohio State University.

Dr. Rypma taught at Texas A & M and OhioState, as well as Ohio University. From 1978-1990he was horticulturist and plant curator for the OUDepartment of Botany. He served on the university’secology committee from 1980-86. He also operateda commercial nursery and held two U.S. patents onholly species that he developed. He was a chartermember and interim president of the Association ofUniversity Greenhouse and Garden Curators and theauthor of many professional papers and articles.

A WWII veteran, Dr. Rypma was active inveterans’ affairs as well as in Adult Continuing Education, Communiversity, and Tn-County VocationalSchool advisory. He served two terms on Athens CityCouncil.


I&lakoski, Michelle Schafer.

of plant tissue culture was the most important event in thehistory of plant biology. RYAN, from Ashtabula, Ohio,with lineage from Finland, has a grade-point average of3.970 at Ohio University and was a National MeritScholar. He was a three-sport athlete in high school andreceived a scholar-athlete-of-the-year award. Ryan’sinterests lie in genetics and plant breeding, and he thinksthat the most important advance in plant biology was thework of Gregor Mendel.

The Lela A. Ewers Science Scholarship is for a full-timeundergraduate student on the Athens campus majoring inany field ofthe namral sciences. Selections are made by thescholarship committee of the College of Arts & Sciences.The $700 award was presented to MICHELLE R.SCHAFER, a sophomore with a grade-point average of3.3 17. A Cincinnatian, Michelle was attracted to OhioUniversity by its beautiful campus and the design of theplant biology program. Her interest in the outdoors isunderscored by her wish to be around in the year 3000to find out if and how the environmental and populationproblems were solved. Perhaps more realistically, Michelleplans to attend graduate school after completing her workat Ohio University.

The Thomas M. Wolfe Scholarshi, award was establishedby his wife, Edna, to honor Mr. Wolfe, a 1919 graduate of

Ohio University. The Wolfe fund provides for a total of sixscholarships each year, three to juniors and three to seniors.Two of them are given to students in plant biology withstrong academic records and who show promise in theareas of conservation and ecology. This year these awardswere presented to JAY BURKE, a junior, and MEGANGROSS, a senior. Jay received $325 and Megan, $975.Megan is from Troy, Ohio, and has received both academicand athletic awards. Until recently, Megan played rugbywith great success. She has been to Belize and Guatemalaand has had some fascinating experiences for one so young,including being attacked by a bat in central America.

The late CHARLES E. MILLER was a professorand chairman of the Department of Botany (now theDepartment of Environmental & Plant Biology) until theearly 1980s. His memorial fund provides some scholarshipsupport for majors in this department. This year’s awardwent to GRETCHEN WALTERS, an undergraduatefrom Wheeling, West Virginia. In addition to herachievements in plant biology, Gretchen received awardsfor French at state and local levels. She too has traveled toBelize and Guatemala through Ohio University programs,and she is planning a trip to southern Africa in the nearfuture, perhaps as a prologue to a fumre assignment in thePeace Corps. A notable connection is the fact that her

Undergraduate award winners, from left to rrqht: Gretchen Walters, Megan Hanley, Megan Beilstein, Noel Studer,FoestMeekins (Ph.D. student), Krista Reutzel, Ryan Maenpa, Brad Smith, Megan Gross, Coy Sica, Sara


mother was a graduating senior in May of 1970 whenOhio University closed following the Kent State shootingsand local rioting. Needless to say, Mrs. Walters had somemisgivings about Gretchen’s heading for Athens; but thisstory has, indeed, a happy ending.

Outstanding Graduating Seniors

Every year each college of the university recognizesthe outstanding graduating senior in each department.The Department ofEnvironmental & Plant Biologytraditionally selects two people for the award of $100,one in the College ofArts & Sciences and one in theHonors Tutorial College. The outstanding graduates inJune 1995 were KRISTA REUTZEL of the HonorsTutorial College and NOEL STUDER of the College ofArts & Sciences . Krista was valedictorian of her AlexanderHigh School class and has been on the Ohio UniversityDean’s list every quarter. Her academic achievements wererecognized with the C. Paul and Beth Stocker, Lela A.Ewers, and Dean’s scholarships during her undergraduateyears, and she graduates with a grade-point average of over3 . 7. Krista plans to take the next year off to recover fromthe dreaded organic chemistry laboratory course and thento attend graduate school. Her great love is the outdoors,and she spends many hours hiking and backpacking. Kristaalso received a $25 gift certificate at the Little ProfessorBookstore.

Noel, with a grade-point average ofover 3.6, comesfrom a family of biologists—her father has a degree inforestry, and her mother is a namralist. She credits herexperiences in DR. COHN’s beginning biology class andDR. CAVENDER’s permaculture class as additionalstimuli for smdying plant biology. Noel feels that“vegetation is the key to our comfort on this planet, and it

is important that humans not forget this.” After spendingthe summer of ‘95 at Louis Bromfield’s Malabar Farm inOhio, Noel will be serving in the Peace Corps forestryprogram in West Africa for two years.

Noel is also our Outstanding Graduating Senior inEnvironmental Biology this year and received a $25 giftcertificate at Little Professor Bookstore. Also receiving the$25 gift certificate is the Outstanding Graduating Senior inApplied Plant Sciences for 1995, BRAD SMITH, whoachieved a grade-point average of 3.6. Brad is from Troy,Ohio, and spent a year at the University ofMontana inMissoula, which gave him the opportunity to explorethe great western outdoors. Brad is interested inintegrating people with the environment and will bespending some time working in a farming and gardeningrehabilitation project during the summer as a first step inthe pursuit of this goal.

The Outstanding Senior in Plant Biology is MEGANHANLEY, who was born at Mather Air Force Base inCalifornia, but grew up in northern Ohio. Megan was amember of the National Honor Society and received an

Ohio Board of Regents Scholarship to Ohio University,where she achieved a grade-point average of 3.434. Meganclaims that she first tuned into plant biology when herparents gave her a plant instead ofa dog! Her work withthe Athens Community Organic Garden group hasintensified her interest in the field. But another of Megan’stalents is in a very different realm: she has studied the artof belly dancing and has even tried to teach some of theecology graduate students how to do it. For her academicachievements, however, the department presented Meganwith a $25 gift certificate to Little Professor Bookstore.

Young BotanistAwards from the Botanical Societyof America, which recognizes the most outstandinggraduating seniors who show promise in the field ofbotany, were given to KRISTA REUTZEL, NOELSTUDER, BRAD SMITH and MEGAN HANLEY.As was stated in last year’s Plant Science Bulletin(vol. 40(2) : 37), “botanists can be reassured thatexceptionally motivated, talented and interested studentsare pursuing plant studies across the U.S. and Canada.”

Other HonorsDR. WARREN A. WISTENDAHL, Professor

Emeritus, was presented the Herbert Osborn Award bythe Ohio Biological Survey in May 1995. This awardrecognizes Professor Wistendahl’s noteworthyaccomplishments in research and teaching about Ohio’splant communities and his years of service to the OhioBiological Survey. Dr. Wistendahl has also been a trusteeofThe Nature Conservancy and played a major role inestablishing the Dysart Woods area as a preserve andfor study.

GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS

A major success in grant acquisition this year isthe multiply funded, fully integrated, digital ScientificImaging Facility. The facility includes a scanning electronmicroscope, a transmission electron microscope and lightphotomicroscopes for producing images at magnificationsof more than 100,000 times original size. All of theinstruments capture images in a digital format whichcan be stored, processed, and printed with computertechnology.

The facility will open in September 1995 in theResearch and Technology Center. Support for the facilitycame as a result of the coordination of effort by DR. GARROTHWELL, with funds totaling $265,000 from theNational Science Foundation, the Ohio Board of RegentsAction Fund, the Ohio University 1804 Endowment, andthe College ofArts & Sciences. DR. J. P. BRASELTONhas also succeeded in obtaining the Transmission ElectronMicroscope for this facility.


DR. NORMAN S. COHN received a ResearchChallenge grant of $4200 for his studies of invertase genesequences in the pea plant. DR. BRIAN McCARTHYreceived two grants, one from the Baker Fund for $5850to smdy the Oak-Hickory forest stand in southeasternOhio, and a second from the U.S. Forest Service for$5000 to study the effect ofburning on oak forestregeneration.

DR. IRWIN UNGAR received three researchgrants for his smdies ofhalophytes. The PetroleumEnvironmental Research Forum provided $20,000 forthe “Remediation of Brine Contaminated Soils withHalophytes” project. The “International Symposiumon High Salinity Tolerant Plants,” held in Pakistan,was supported by a grant for $33,000 from the NationalScience Foundation. A research project entitled “JornadaLegacy Data” was funded by a $20,000 grant from theCoalition for International Environmental Research andAssistance.

DR. ARTHUR TRESE received $48,508 fromthe Dupont Chemical Co. for the “Assessment of fieldapplication potential of biosolids waste cake producedfrom Dupont’s Washington Works.”

FACULTY NEWS

Cell and Molecular BiologyAdjacent is a photograph from the first manuscript

submitted to a journal by one of our department facultymembers in which all the microscopic images were totallyprocessed digitally, from collection of the data to printing.The manuscript resulted in part from JAMES P.BRASELTON’s sabbatical research while at the ScottishCrop Research Institute and also included some researchwith the confocal microscope in the neurobiology lab inWilson Hall. The image is of stages of mitosis in an onionroot tip and shows prophase (a), metaphase (b), anaphase(c), and telophase (d) in 3D. To view the images in 3D,either relax and cross your eyes until the right and leftimages fuse in the middle, or use a standard 3D map-reading device. The images were collected using aMolecular Dynamics Sarastro 1000 Confocal ScanningLaser Microscope, and the files were transferred throughthe Ohio University computer network from the confocalmicroscope’s computer in Wilson Hall to Dr. Braselton’scomputer in Porter Hall. The images were adjusted andlabeled with Adobe Photoshop on the computer in ourdepartmental computer lab and printed with a dyesublimation printer in the Visual Communicationdepartment. Now that DR. ROTHWELL’s grant for animaging facility is activated, we will be doing more of thistype of image processing without having to go into adarkroom. Since the Porter Hall renovation caused somuch vibration in the building, we have not been able to

do any electron microscopy and are eagerly awaiting theremodeling of facilities in another building so we can againuse our electron microscopes. The confocal microscope inWilson Hall has allowed Dr. Braselton to keep busy whileelectron microscopy is on hold.

Dr. Braselton also is working on a review paperof the Plasmodiophoromycetes and is starting to transferhis light and electron microscopic negatives of thePlasmodiophoromycetes into digital format. Any formerstudents who have light or electron micrographs ofmembers of the Plasmodiophoromycetes and would liketo have the images added to our digital files may send thenegatives along with magnification and other pertinentinformation about the negatives to Dr. Braselton. Oncethe images are digitized, he will return the negatives.

Although he ostensibly has retired (he will teachone quarter each year and continue to harass his graduatestudents), NORMAN S. COHN remains interested inthe developing pea plant. One of his doctoral students,LONG ZHANG, has been successful in isolating andsequencing an invertase gene that appears not only to beinvolved in the wounding response in the shoot, but alsoto be activated primarily in the root at other times. Longexpects to finish his Ph.D. in 1996. DAN MORAN,Cohn’s other doctoral student, has been characterizingtwo genes that are activated in response to the hormone


gibberellin, with the goal of identifying the regulatorysequences of these genes and the mechanisms by whichthey are activated. During the summer of 1995 anundergraduate intern, SARA KULAKOSKI, is workingwith Dan on this project. During the course of the lastyear, Cohn and his group have presented several papersat the Plant Physiology meetings (1994 and 1995), inAmsterdam at the International Congress of PlantMolecular Biology (1994), and at the InternationalConference on Plant Growth Substances in Minneapolis(1995).

JOHN P. MITCKELL attended the PlantMolecular Biology International Congress in Amsterdamin June 1994 and presented a poster paper. “After a sidetrip to Pompeii to see dead people,” he remrned to Athens,Ohio. JIRA KATEMBE finished his Ph.D. and movedto a postdoctoral position at Miami University (Oxford,Ohio) under a NASA grant on gravitropism. FREDGILDOW (a master’s graduate from long ago) is inInvergowrie, Scotland, on a Fulbright grant; and DAVESOMERS (an Honors Tutorial College graduate, alsofrom long ago) has moved from the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley to the University of Virginiaat Charlottesville.

Using molecular and biochemical approaches,ALLAN SHOWALTER’s lab group continues toinvestigate the structure, expression, and function of plantcell wall proteins (i.e., extensin, glycine-rich protein, potatolectin, and arabinogalactan proteins) . The group includesdoctoral graduate students (SHU-XIA LI, AYYAPPANNAIR, and LUKE YUAN), two master’s students(GRATTAN WELCH and LILY WANG), and onepostdoctoral fellow (JIM THOMAS). Shu-xia hasimmunolocalized extensin and potato lectin in carrot,potato, and tomato plants. She has also isolated andcharacterized cDNA and genomic clones for a tomatoarabinogalactan protein. This work should be written forher dissertation and publication within one year. Grattanhas completed his research on the mechanism of wound-induced glycine-rich protein gene expression and isolated apotato extensin gene clone; he has completed his thesis andis now safely at home in Barbados! Ayyappan has isolatedand is trying to define the functions ofvarious carrot cellwall peroxidases. Luke has isolated and is sequencingpotato extensin and lectin gene clones and plans to examinetheir regulated expression. Jim is studying the role of cellwall peroxidases in the cross-linking of plant cell wallproteins. Lily is working on a new project in the lab incollaboration with IRWIN UNGAR. She is studyingthe physiological and molecular effects of growing thehalophyte Atrrlex triangularis at various salt concentrations. A new post-doctoral researcher should join the labin September to work on the cloning and sequencing ofthe betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BAD) gene fromthe halophyte Atrrlex triangularis on an Ohio UniversityPost-Doctoral Fellowship awarded to Dr. Showalter andDr. Ungar. Allan attended and presented a research poster

at a Keystone Symposium on “Plant Cell Biology:Mechanisms, Molecular Machinery, Signals and Pathways,”in Taos, New Mexico, January 7-13, 1995. He was alsoasked by the commission on Plant Gene Nomenclature tocontinue to serve as the Organizer of a Working Groupon Cell Wall Proteins for the purpose of determining thestructure of plant-wide gene families, to recommenddesignations for plant-wide families, and to assigndesignations at the level of individual genes encodingcell wall proteins. Dr. Showalter has also been invited tospeak at the Seventh Cell Wall Meeting in Santiago deCompostela, Spain, September 26-29, 1995. Allan andhis wife Carol continue to experience the joys of parentingwith Jaqueline, 6, Christian, 3, and Alexander, 1. “They area handful, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.”

DR. IVAN SMITH has two M.S. students,BEN HOLT and SANFORD KOHORST. Ben isinvestigating the effects of three cultivation methods—double digging, single digging, and surface cultivation—on the yield and ionic composition of green beans andbeets. Sanford is extending the work ofTom Vierheller(Ph.D. 1990) by examining in vivo reduction of oxidizedglutathione, where the pool of oxidized glutathione isproduced either by treating plants with aminotriazole orexposing them to low temperature (5°C).

In DR. ARTHUR TRESE’s laboratory there hasbeen one graduation in the last year, that of MOHAMEDKASSIM. Kassim’s thesis, which continued some workthat SHAWN BAKER started several years ago,demonstrated that ethylene induces defense responses inbean nodules, but these defense responses do not directlylead to senescence in the nodules. Mohamed is nowlooking for work as a microbiologist in Canada andconsidering graduate school options as well. Dr. Trese hascontinued to build on his research and is getting a betteridea of the factors that cause bean nodules to senesce.DENNIS BISHOP presented a talk on more recentdevelopments with this project at the Ohio Academy ofScience meetings this spring.

Dennis joined the lab in 1994 as a master’s studentand has been participating in a research project funded byDupont to examine the potential application options fora biosolid waste material generated at their on-site waste-water treatment facility. With the greenhouse and field plotstudies, this project is beginning to look more like ecologythan molecular biology. “Although it has been a strugglefor me to retrain in another field, it is well worth theeffort,” says Art Trese. “One benefit is a collaboration thatis developing between people in my lab with DWIGHTMITCHELL in DR. CAVENDER’s lab to look atcomposting properties of the biosolid waste material.”

LORI SPARGROVE joined the lab this fall asone of the first MCB master’s candidates. She has beenperfecting transformation ofArabidopsis in our lab, as partof a project to study gene regulation in the process ofnodulation. The focus of her research will be the ability ofnodule tissue to respond to wounding, as other plant tissue


does, through the production of defense enzymes andphytoallexins.

Systematics and MorphologyDR. PHILIP CANTINO’s research continues to

center on the systematics of the Lamiaceae. He isfrequently to be found in the computer lab, where he isrunning a series of phylogenetic analyses of the mints andtheir relatives using a combination of morphological andmolecular data. The latter (sequence variation in the rkcLgene) has been provided by RICHARD OLMSTEAD(University of Colorado) and STEVEN WAGSTAFF(Ph.D., 1992) for this collaborative project. Phil has beeninvited to present the results this August at the annualAIBS meeting in a symposium entitled “TranslatingPhylogenetic Analyses into Classifications.” Dr. Cantinorecently joined the editorial board ofSystematic BioThgy.Graduate student BEN TORKE joined Dr. Cantino’slab this past fall and is undertaking a systematic study ofSalvia section Ekmania (Lamiaceae), a group endemic toHispaniola.

With his sixth and final year as departmental GraduateChair drawing to a close, Dr. Cantino looks forward tospending more time on research than has been possible thepast few years. His other major service responsibility thisyear has been chairing the Ohio University Ecology andEnergy Conservation Committee, which advises theadministration about the environmental aspects ofuniversity activities and planning decisions. One of the foursubcommittees, chaired by undergraduate representativeNOEL STUDER, is developing a proposal for a majorexpansion of the university recycling program. Othersubcommittees are focusing on improving energyconservation on campus and developing a set ofland use recommendations for the undeveloped portionofThe Ridges. At the suggestion ofVice President forAdministration GARY NORTH, the BiotechnologySubcommittee (chaired by Dr. Cantino) organized afull-day “Forum on Biotechnology” in May. The purposeof the event was to present various perspectives on thebenefits, risks, and societal implications of geneticengineering and to provide an opportunity for discussionabout this controversial topic, which has been the focusof student demonstrations in recent years . Ten speakersand panelists were involved in the forum, includingART TRESE and JAN SALICK. Six of the speakerswere specialists from outside Ohio University. ForDr. Cantino, who had never organized an event of thismagnitude, it was a challenging experience (and one thathe is not eager to repeat).

DR. JAMES CAVENDER presented two papers atthe Fifth International Mycological Congress held duringAugust at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver,B.C. : “Cellular slime molds in forest soils of Germany,”with JEANNINE CAVENDER-BARES (Harvard

University), and “Recent collections of dictyostelid cellularslime molds from Central and South America,” withJ. C. Landolt (Shepherd College) and S. L. Stephenson(Fairmont State College) . During winter quarter, Cavenderwas on sabbatical leave. He traveled to the Amazon of Peruand collected soils from the rainforest. Twenty-two speciesof cellular slime mold were subsequently isolated, several ofwhich appear to be new. During winter break, Cavendertook six smdents—undergrads NOEL STUDER,MEGAN GROSS, BRAD SMITH and GRETCHENWALTERS and grads BILL SHORES and KARENCHISOLM—to Belize and Guatemala for the IntegrativeTropical Botany class. Students identified and learned theuses of 235 plants, visited small-scale diversified farms,and spent a week at BARC (Belize Agroforestry ResearchCenter ). Graduate student Bill Shores is working onselection of mustard varieties, while BUTCH(DWIGHT) MITCHELL is working on disease-suppressive compost. Undergrad EVAN SMITH dida project on the cultivation of gourmet and medicinalmushrooms. MICHAEL STEPHENSON completedrequirements for the MSES degree, successfully defendinghis thesis, “Taxonomy and ecology of dictyostelid cellularslime molds in a small watershed at the Ridges inSoutheastern Ohio.”

The fossil plant collections that have been developed by DRS. GAR ROTHWELL and GENEKATHLEEN MAPES were moved to the Ridges,Building #7, in June of 1992. Renovation and furnishingof the facility, and arrangement of approximately 500,000specimens, is nearly complete. Displays of plant andanimal fossils are being prepared for public display. Thecollections are supported by a 10,000-volume library andspecimen preparation facilities.

DR. MARY LOUISE (“COOKIE”) TRIVETThas joined the faculty of the Department of Environmentaland Plant Biology for one year to fill the position inPteridology and Evolution left vacant by the unexpecteddeath ofDR. ROBERT LLOYD. Dr. Trivett, a graduateof Ohio University, will contribute award-winningteaching abilities, bubbling enthusiasm and qualityscholarship to the service of the department.

Undergraduate students STEPhANIE HENDERSON and JENIFER RICE are completing projects on300-million-year-old plants from Texas. They presentedtheir work at the Midcontinent PaleobotanicalColloquium, held at the University of Pennsylvania,Philadelphia, on Mother’s Day weekend, and are inthe process ofwriting up their results for publication.KRISTA REUTZEL has begun studying fossil fernsfrom 14-million-year-old deposits of Washington state,and has discovered two new species.

RUDOLPH SERBET, Ph.D. candidate, coauthoreda major systematics paper on seed-plant phylogeny withDr. Rothwell and will be working at the Royal TyrellMuseum of Paleontology in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada,this summer as a curator of fossil plants. Rudy’s work on


the plants that supported Cretaceous dinosaurs waspresented at the Midcontinent Paleobotanical Colloquium.

BEN HOLT, a graduate student ofDR. SMITH,has completed work on reproductive biology of themaidenhair tree, Ginkgo. Ben will present a joint paperwith Dr. Rothwell on his results before the AmericanInstitute of Biological Sciences Meetings in San Diegoin August, 1995.

GAR ROTHWELL has continued his work on theevolution and relationships of major groups of land plants.Results on the systematics of seed plants were published inSystematic Botany and theJournal ofPlant Research, and hewas invited to present his findings before an internationalconference in Stockholm, Sweden, last November.Rothwell also is completing studies of fern relationships,and he was recently invited to present the work at theBailey Hortorium, Cornell University. Other aspects ofthe fern studies are being presented at an internationalsymposium at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, England(July), and at a symposium on Fossils and Phylogenyto be held in conjunction with the annual meetings ofthe Botanical Society of America in San Diego (August).

Ecology and Evolutionaiy BiologyDR. BRIAN C. McCARTHY continues his

work on forest reproduction and stand regeneration insoutheastern Ohio oak-hickory forests. He is particularlyexcited about resurrecting the 1983 data set from hismaster’s thesis research directed by DR. WARRENWISTENDAHL in 1983-84. The trees in the standwhere he originally conducted his smdy were allpermanently tagged and mapped. Preliminary assessmentsindicate that there has been over 50% mortality of thehickories in this stand. Oak is suffering similar declines.Regeneration in most local forests appears to bepredominantly maple—suggesting large-scale standconversions throughout the region over the next fewdecades. Colloquium speaker DR. ORIE LOUCKS,from Miami University, visited the stand in Februaryand spotted many symptoms of air pollution stress,which he contends is a major problem in the Ohio Valley.Dr. McCarthy received a Baker Fund grant of $5,850 tocontinue his studies of the dynamics of this stand throughthe fall of 1995. Undergraduate GRETCHENWALTERS will assist him in the field and laboratoryduring the summer months. ELYSSA ARNONE, anundergraduate PACE student, spent much of the yearwith Dr. McCarthy establishing a computerized literaturedatabase on hardwood regeneration and assisting withvarious research projects in the lab.

GARY GREER joined Dr. McCarthy’s lab this yearafter the passing ofDR. LLOYD. Gary is in the last year(so he says) of his doctoral studies and is interested in theevolutionary ecology offerns. He began his studies with acommunity-level study attempting to evaluate the factors

controlling the distribution and abundance of ferns in alocal forest. Gary’s latest interest is in evaluating the roleofphenotypic plasticity in fern population dynamics.

J. FORREST MEEKINS is in the second yearof her doctoral program. She is continuing whereDr. McCarthy left offwith his previous work concerningthe community-level effects ofAlliariapetiolata (Brassicaceae) . Garlic mustard is an introduced weed that is takingover the understory of many eastern oak and mixed-speciesforests. While not previously reported as being a “problemspecies” in southeastern Ohio, both Brian and Forrest arecontinually amazed at the population size and extent ofinfestation of this species as they look for study populationsthroughout the county. Forrest is also trying to understandthe habitat resource structure that permits garlic mustardto enter and proliferate in a habitat.

JENNIFER REED continues with her M.S. thesisresearch on factors determining the distribution andabundance of plant phenols (tannins in particular) in oakfoliage and fruits. After Jennifer collected her acorns lastautumn, she found an enormous number of aborted anddepredated fmits. Of the 25% remaining viable acorns, sheis finding strong genotypic or site-specific factors whichcontrol tannin abundance in the foliage and fmit. Jenniferis “having so much fun” she has applied to the graduateprogram to continue on for a Ph.D. She plans to continueher work with acorn production and tannin compositionand hopes to expand her work out into the quantitativegenetics of secondary compounds and the effects of fireon oak reproduction and defensive compounds.

SCOTT ROBISON is likewise working towardsthe completion ofhis M.S. thesis work. He began lastyear with an elaborate experimental study attempting toevaluate how Caya ovata (shagbark hickory) seedlingsperceive various light environments and allocate theirresources accordingly. Scott is attempting to control boththe absolute quantity and duration oflight exposure bymanipulation via experimental shade-houses located at thebotany gardens. Scott is discovering that the above-groundlight patterns are having a considerable influence belowground, which was not originally anticipated. LikeJennifer, Scott decided that he would expand his studiesand has been accepted into the Ph.D. program for theupcoming academic year.

The U.S. Forest Service is beginning a large, welldesigned (replicated) study of the effects of burningon oak forest regeneration in southeastern Ohio.DR. McCARTHY and SCOTT ROBISON received$5,000 in funding for a proposal to evaluate the changes incanopy structure following fire using hemispherical canopyphotography. The arrival of a new Pinnacle RecordableCD drive in the departmental research computer lab willpermit all of the work to be done digitally.

SHERYL HANSEN, TODD HINES and JEFFCHAPMAN all conducted their undergraduate researchprojects in Dr. McCarthy’s lab this year. Sheryl has beenconducting a two-quarter study of the potential allelopathic


effects ofAlliaria petiolata shoot and root extracts on seedgermination and seedling growth. She has already beenable to conclude that the mechanism of invasion andpersistence ofAiiaria is not allelochemically based.Todd has been working on the age-diameter relationshipsof river birch (Betula nzqra) in multiple stands throughoutsoutheastern Ohio. The species grows under high-stressconditions (flooding and acid mine drainage) in southernOhio, and an attempt is being made to evaluate its growthrate under these conditions. Jeff has been examining theage structure and biomass allocation patterns of roots andshoots of field-grown populations of Caya ovata seedlings.

Rumors of BRIAN’s snoring persist after a recentovernight conference trip to Pennsylvania, where he and anumber of graduate students spent two evenings in a verycold log cabin. Of greater significance, however, is thatBrian’s wife MOLLY produced CAELON ANGUS, an8-pound 12-ounce, 21-inch-long boy, on June 11, 1995.

DR. JAN SALICK believes that ethnobotany isexperiencing a tremendous resurgence of scientific interestand investigation as the world begins to worry aboutconserving both its valuable biodiversity and indigenousknowledge about plant uses. Ethnobotany within theDepartment of Environmental and Plant Biology isdeveloping in many directions. ED PFEFFER, a graduatestudent in Salick’s lab, is studying willows for both biomassproduction and watershed restoration, particularly the roleof hybridization and vegetative reproduction in theirpopulation biology. KIM SWANTEK has been awardeda Houk Graduate Student Grant to study the domestication and ecological interactions among cochineal insects,Opuntia cactus, and people. She will also be attending theTropical Biology field course in Costa Rica offered by theOrganization for Tropical Studies, a consortium of 50 top-ranked U.S. universities; Ohio University is very honoredto have had four students accepted into three OTS coursesthis summer, including students from not only PlantBiology but also Biological Sciences and InternationalStudies. Congratulations to all four! Harvard, Yale,Cornell, and Berkeley students are also among thesuccessful competitors for the OTS places.

Ethnobotany has two students from the M.S. programin Environmental Studies as well. DAN BECHER isfinishing a master’s thesis on archaeological seeds thoughtto be domesticated by the Woodland Indians in theHocking Valley. DR. ELLIOT ABRAMS inAnthropology is funded for the dig, and Dan is analyzingthe seeds uncovered. There are seeds of maygrass (Phaliwisspp.) and lambsquarters (Chenopodium spp.) that arethOught to have been prehistorically domesticated andthen later dropped as crops with the arrival of maize; theseformer crops are now present in our local flora as weeds.The other Environmental Studies ethnobotany student isCYNTHIA RICCARDI, who has just received a $4000grant from Southeast Asia Studies for thesis research onindigenous agriculture of the Wana, a little-known tribeon the island of Celebes, Indonesia. Good luck, Cynthia!

A fifth ethnobotany smdent, KAREN CHISOLMfrom International Studies, is participating with South-eastern Ohio alternative farmers to investigate historical,present and fumre land-use planning by analyzing plantdata with the Geographical Information System (GIS) inGeography. Southeastern Ohio has a wealth of indigenous,traditional and modern alternative agricultural methodsthat are the subject of Karen’s thesis research.

DR. JAN SALICK, the major professor of thesegraduate smdents, continues her work on non-timberforest products in the Peace Park of Costa Rica andNicaragua, with its haW-million hectares of tropicalrainforest. She has recently remrned from Costa Rica,where she helped design a Danish project on buffer zonemanagement, including non-timber forest products. Herlatest results are published in the Annals ofthe MissouriBotanical Garden and EcologicalApplications. Additionally,she is presenting her work to both the InternationalSociety for Tropical Forestry at Yale and the Society forEconomic Botany at Cornell. By the way, Jan has four newPh.D. and master’s students joining the department nextyear, just to keep ethnobotany fully engaged.

DR. IRWIN A. UNGAR is continuing his researchefforts on the effects of environmental stress on the growthand survival of plants. He is currently studying the effectof salinity stress on the halophytes Atrz4expatula andA. triangularis. The research has been assisted by studentsWENDY GRANT, MEGAN HANLEY and NOELSTUDER. DR. M. AJMAL KHAN (Ph.D. 1985) hasjoined the laboratory on a Fulbright Fellowship. He isdoing a comparative study of the germination responsesto temperature and salinity of halophytes from Pakistan.Graduate student CAROLYN KEIFFER and Dr. Ungarhad the pleasure ofvisiting Dr. Khan at the University ofKarachi in December. They were members of an NSF-supported group often U.S. scientists who presentedpapers at the International Symposium for High SalinityTolerant Plants, which was organized by Dr. Khan.

Carolyn Keiffer is being supported by a PetroleumEnvironmental Research Forum grant to study thepossibilities of using halophytes to remediate brine spilllocations. LI-WEN WANG, a master’s student, isworking jointly with Dr. Ungar and DR. SHOWALTERto determine the physiological and molecular responses ofAtrilexprostrata to salinity stress. JACKIE ADAMS isworking on the effect of salinity on the reproductivecharacteristics ofSpergularia marina, and she is planningto complete her doctoral degree this year. NANCY DEWhas completed her master’s degree and is maintaining hçrinterest in Blennerhassett Island.

IRWIN is completing his final year as director of themaster’s program in Environmental Studies. He is directingtwo master’s student theses in this program. Other membersofour faculty—ALLAN SHOWALTER, ART TRESE,BRIAN McCARTHY, JIM CAVENDER, and JANSALICK—have also been involved in the direction ofresearch projects for students in the MSES program.


so I RETIRED!Robert L. Lloyd

193 8-1994

by Philz Cantino

As I’ve thought about Bob since his death,various memories and feelings have come to mind.I would like to share some of these with you.

I think the overriding memory for me will be hiswarmth and sense of humor. I always felt welcomedin Bob’s office. It was sort of a haven from thefrenzied pace of the Botany Department. Bob was asbusy as everyone else, but somehow he always foundthe time when I wanted to chat—whether aboutscience, or departmental affairs, or simply about life.He had a broad perspective on the world that I foundvery enlightening. And there was always that spark ofhumor that made it a particular delight to be with him.

This same openness and warmth that I appreciatedwas also extended to students and was no doubt oneof the reasons why Bob developed close friendshipswith students. The rapport he developed with someof the graduate smdents in his lab through the yearswas quite extraordinary.

A second thing I’ll remember about Bob, andwhich I always respected him for, was his sympathyfor the underdog and his anger at the oppression inthe world. This led him, for example, to speak outpublicly against the persecution of homosexuals, astand which took courage at that time, as it continuesto today. I’ve wondered whether his intense feelingabout persecuted peoples stemmed from his identification with his own Native American ancestry, ofwhich he was very proud.

Bob was also extremely supportive ofwomen inscience, an area where women have had a hard timemaking inroads. It was no coincidence that so manyof our most promising female students gravitated tohis lab—although, in fairness, Lee also deserves muchof the credit for this. The two of them created a verysupportive atmosphere for women in that lab.

The other thing I’ll remember about Bob washis quiet fortitude in the face of a battery of healthproblems that would have brought most people totheir knees far sooner. He had every reason to complain about his fate, but he did not. Bob was neverone to whine. When he did talk about his healthproblems, it was with a sort of detachment, as thoughhe were talking about someone else. Bob was dealta rough hand, but he played it out with courage andwith class. And in so doing, he was an inspiration tothose of us who are sometimes tempted to complainabout the much lighter crosses we have to bear in life.

Bob will be missed in the Botany Department,and I will miss him personally.

by Norman S. Cohn

May 15, 1970. Lou Duysens was here for adepartmental colloquium and I was to drive him afterwardto Yellow Springs, where he was to give a seminar at theKettering Labs. [Some ofyou may remember that, at thetime, L. N. M. Duysens (pronounced Dow-zenz) wasMr. Photosynthesis. We had become friends during myyears in The Netherlands.] The atmosphere in Athens wasfull of tension and excitement. The ROTC storage buildinghad been burned the night before, and there was a greatdeal of “outdoor activity.” I got him safely to YellowSprings, and called home to say I just might stay thereovernight with some friends. Never mind that idea.The University was officially closed that evening andthe students told to go home. Driving into town tothe University the next morning made me think of myexperience in Prague two years before when the Russianswere massing on the border of Czechoslovakia—Court andUnion Streets were lined with National Guard troops withfixed bayonets. One required a pass to enter the campus,which was also posted with National Guardsmen.The air was still heavy with tear gas. This is the most vividrecollection of my life in Athens and as a faculty member atOhio University. As a part of this memory, a few days afterwe closed I was confronted by an angry faculty memberwho almost socked me because he objected to the decisionmade by the Faculty Senate about the handling of gradesfor the unfinished quarter. I had the misfortune of beingVice Chairman of the Senate and head of the committeethat made the decision.

May 22, 1968. Another brilliant and memorable eventoccurred during the last major flood to hit Athens. I wasstanding on the back steps of Porter Hall watching theHocking River flow tranquilly by my feet. President Aldenhad come to view the debacle of three feet of water in thebasement. (Oddly enough, Larry Larson refused ever toreturn to his basement lab! And he didn’t!) As we stoodtogether with several others in the beautiful sunshine,Vernon Alden congratulated me on being selected asDistinguished Professor. I was speechless—this was acomplete surprise, and he was apologetic for letting thecat out of the bag, having assumed I had already been told.It was something that had never occurred to me. But it isalso an amusing recollection, given that my first interviewwith Dean Rush Elliott of the College of Arts & Sciencesincluded his shocking remark that I would not last here ifI came; “people from the East never stay.” That still strikesme as something short of a welcome, but I received a finewelcome from my new colleagues—Bill Gambill, ArtBlickle, Atwell Wallace, Warren Wistendahl and the lateMonroe Vermilion.

It is very much a shock to realize that I am actuallyretiring when I remember myself as the young “whippersnapper” (or so I was perceived) in 1959. As an example ofacademic progress, I must note that I am still on the fifth

13Botany Newsletter 1995

floor ofPorter Hall after all these years. Larry Larson atleast moved upward. Admittedly, I was out of Porter Hallin other places for 24 years. One of those places wasWilson Hall on the College Green, where I served asGraduate Dean from 1970 to 1979. In May of 1970 theUniversity closed; in July I became a Dean. I had hadenough harassment as a faculty member and needed a newvariety oftorture. During that period following the tumult

station (or sometimes Monday) ; when we served aschaperones at fraternity and sorority teas (never saw asingle cup oftea without foam on it!). A couple of othershocks of those times were learning that our real estateagent checked our “reliability” with Dean Elliott when wewere negotiating to buy a house BEFORE RECEIVINGTENURE, and a cautionary comment from a colleagueabout the potential danger of an untenured faculty memberflaunting a John F. Kennedy bumper sticker. These are buttwo curious and disturbing elements of academic history,which too often repeats itselfin different guises. Thecurrent furor about the cost ofPh.D. programs and theneed for their review is just such an example; in this case,in part, because of both poor institutional and individualmemories and the unwillingness to study the past.

Twenty-five years ago I first became involved in thebattle with the Board of Regents on the same issue, butat least we managed to forestall the reviews that are nowtaking place. Yet the reasons and the political forcesremain the same. Although my years as Graduate Deanwere during some turbulent times and both physicallyand emotionally wearing, there were many gratifications.Some of those continue with my own graduate students,with the careers of past students, and with the emergenceof recent brilliant undergraduates. As Warren Wistendahialways told me, our primary role as professors is to sendout students who are better than their professors, who askbetter scientific questions, and who extend that cuttingedge. In this regard I have been very successful.

My research career has changed directions at leasttwice, in part because I could be considered to have ashort attention span, but mainly because I saw the fieldopening up to new ways of attempting to answerquestions. My time at the University ofLeiden (abouttwo and one-halfyears all told) made an enormousdifference in my life and the lives of my wife andchildren—culturally, socially, politically and scientifically.In fact, our older son lives and works in The Hague andspeaks accentless Dutch (unless you count a Utrecht

over the Vietnam war, the invasion of Cambodia, and anenormous change in student and faculty attitudes aboutacademic requirements and the inclusion of minoritystudent issues, the axe fell on the University budget andthe enrollment declined significantly. There was muchwringing of hands and hanging of crepe, but somehowmost of us survived. It is a bit unnerving to realize thatRobert Glidden is the sixth president of the Universitysince I began my career here.

Athens has never been a dull place; infuriating perhaps,but not dull. I have started an academic novel, but there areso many potential murder victims, I haven’t decided yetwhich former administrator it will be! So, gone are thedays when one had to import bagels and lox; when theNew York Times came in late Sunday morning to the bus

OHIO ij;1vER51TY 1804CLASS GATEWAY

?P11:DrI i:!I!tJ and knwledq k

beLrt tit’:ts5an 10 qd qovernrneflt

and fle ppness of fflGflklnd

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The Guard at the Gate—i 970.

The Hocking River moves to Porter Hall in 1968.


accent), and our daughter speaks with, she claims, aLeiden accent. My experiences at the National ScienceFoundation were at the time the field of molecular biologywas beginning to bloom, the other major influence on thedirection of my work. (It ain’t easy to teach yourself tothink in molecular biology after being an administratorfor 12 years!) But perhaps the most compelling influencewas the interest of the graduate smdents who came intomy lab in the 1980s; in effect I was forced into thecurrent direction—was I forced at last to the brink of the21st century? Possibly. One ofthe major thrusts of plantbiology is now in the realm ofregulation. Genetic controlsof the cell cycle have been among the most excitingdevelopments in the past several years, but now regulation

in the context of signal transduction seems to me to be atthe new cutting edge. I will watch this development withconsiderable interest. After the great physicist Eugene P.Wigner retired he wrote, “Like most of the best physicists,I knew little botany, medicine, astronomy, geology,metallurgy, or magic . . . All of my life I had wondered:How do we control our breathing? Perhaps a simplequestion to a physician, but I wanted for the first timeto learn the answer and to somehow integrate it into myscientific thinking.” My own scientific goals are perhapsmore limited. I look forward to continuing to work withand learn from my graduate students as we search for clues

.to the regulation of genes that respond to the hormonegibberellin during the growth of the pea plant. And I lookforward to finding out where the next cutting edge willbe—and the magic of it. So—is this retirement?

Some people want to know why I am retiring, sinceI appear to be healthy (knock wood), am not bitter, andam not in a bad mood. One reason is that I want to havesome freedom to do other things and go other places while

I am still able to walk and understand the spoken word.A freighter trip to New Zealand is on the agenda for late1995. In addition, a long-standing ambition has been towrite a book about my experiences working for a federalagency—maybe even an exposé! There will be no mysteryhere, nor a murder victim. My success with a pianist and aclarinetist (a faculty member in Sociology) in obtaining ajoint grant from the Ohio Arts and Humanities Councilfor performances ofmusic ofthe 1930s and 1940s led toa wonderfully received, packed-house performance onApril 30 and is starting to bring inquiries from producingorganizations in Ohio for additional engagements. AndI continue my classical work with a recital in the Fall of1995. Perhaps as good a reason to retire as any is notunlike that portrayed in another lovely comment byEugene Wigner: “My Princeton job expired in June of1971. I had committed the crime ofbecoming 68 yearsold [Cohn is not yet that old.] . . . And they asked me verygently and politely, as if they were fond of me for havingmanaged to reach such an advanced age. So I retired.”I was not asked or forced to retire, and I want not toreach the stage of having students or others cringewhen I walk into the room. Most people are still largelygentle and polite to me, and there is a university rulethat retired faculty may not attend committee meetings.So I retired!

WOMEN IN SCIENCEOn Wednesday, April 26, 1995, our department

participated in the 15th annual Women in Science Dayheld at Ohio University. On this day, junior high schoolfemales from local and regional schools were invited tovisit Ohio University to learn about career opportunitiesfor women in science fields. This event is designed toencourage these students to consider pursuing careersin the sciences by exposing them to a variety of sciencedisciplines. This year over 600 students attended theevent. Students spent the day attending lectures andvisiting informal display booths set up in ClippingerHall by each of the participating Ohio Universitydepartments.

At Norman S. Cohn’s retirement dinner, from left to rrqht:Long Zhang, Chen-ZhaoJian Vierheller, Daniel Moran,Ralph Quatrano, Cohn, Robert Gray, Judy Kertesz Gray,alipresent orformergraduate students.


Our department participated by displaying a varietyof plants from our greenhouse, showing botanical videos,providing information about the research interests andother activities of the women faculty, staff and graduatestudents in our department, and presenting students withfree plants to take home and care for. Graduate studentsFORREST MEEKINS (on the left) and JENNIFERREED coordinated our department’s involvement in theScience Day this year.

Two graduate students from our department presentedseminars for the students. NANCY DEW told studentsabout her work on’Blennerhassett Island, focusing on theplants found on the island and the design of ecologicalstudies. KIM SWANTEK’s talk centered around thedomestication of the cochineal insect and the prickly pearcactus and the uses of both organisms by people today.The speakers and volunteers from our department helpedmake this day an enjoyable learning experience for thevisiting students.

RECENT FACULTY ANDSTUDENT PUBLICATIONS

Abu-Asab, M. S., and P. D. Cantino. 1994. Systematicimplications of pollen morphology in subfamiliesLamioideae and Pogostemonoideae (Labiatae).Annals ofthe Missouri Botanical Garden 81 : 65 3-686.

Badger, K. S., and I. A. Ungar. 1994. Seed bank dynamicsin an inland salt marsh, with special emphasis on theinland halophyte Hordeumjubatum L. InternationalJournal ofFlant Sciences 155 : 66-72.

Cavender, J., E. Vadell, and M. Holmes. 1995.Dictyostelium citrinum, D. medusoides, andD. granuThphorum : three new members of theDictyosteliaceae from forest soils of Tikal, Guatemala.Mycologia 87: 551-559.

Cohn, N. S., L. Zhang, J. P. Mitchell, C.-Z. JianVierheller. 1994. Gibberellin-stimulated changes inabundance of two mRNAs in the developing shoot ofdwarf peas Pisurn sativum L. InternationalJournal ofPlantSciences 155: 498-505.

Kieliszewski, M. J., A. M. Showalter, and J. F. Leykam.1994. Potato lectin is a modular protein sharingsequence similarities with the extensin family, thehevein lectin family, and snake venom disintegrins(platelet aggregation inhibitors). PlantJournal 5:

849-861.

McCarthy, B. C. 1995. Eastern old-growth forests. OhioWoodlandJournal 2: 8-10.

McCarthy, B. C. 1994. Experimental studies of hickoryrecmitment in a wooded hedgerow and forest. Bulletinofthe Torrey Botanical Club 121 : 240-25 0.

McCarthy, B. C., and K. K. Bailey. 1994. Distribution andabundance of coarse woody debris in a managed forestlandscape of the central Appalachians. CanadianJournal ofForest Research 24: 13 17-1329.

McCarthy, B. C., K. K. Bailey, and E. P. van den Borghe.1994. New records and activity patterns of Carabidbeetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in western Maryland.Coleqpterists Bulletin 48 : 319-323.

Rahman, M., and I. A. Ungar. 1994. The effect ofcompetition and salinity on shoot growth andreproductive biomass ofEchinochloa crus-galli. AquaticBotany 48: 343-353.

Rothwell, G. W. 1994. Phylogenetic relationships amongferns and gymnosperms; an overview.Journal ofPlantResearch 107: 411-416.

Rothwell, G. W., and R. Serbet. 1994. Lignophytephylogeny and the evolution of spermatophytes:a numerical cladistic analysis . Systematic Botany 19:443-482.

Sheng, J., and A. M. Showalter. 1994. Plant cell wallstructural proteins : regulated expression and roles infungal infection. In Host WallAlterations by ParasiticFungi. Eds. 0. Pterini and G. B. Oullette. APS Press,St. Paul, pp. 91-102.

Showalter, A. M., J. Sheng, Z. Yuan, and M. Kieliszewski.1994. DNA cloning ofpotato extensin and potatotuber lectin, a novel extensin-like glycoprotein. InThe Pasç, Present and Future ofPlantBiology. Eds. T. D.Ho and H. Pakrasi. Washington University, St. Louis,

pp. 114-118.

Trese, A. T. 1995. A single dominant gene in McCallsoybean prevents effective nodulation with Rhizobiumfredii USDA257. Euphytica 81: 279-282.

Ungar, I. A. 1995. Seed germination and seed bankecology in halophytes. In Seed Development andGermination. Eds. J. Kigel, M. Negbi, and G. Galili.Marcel Dekker, New York, pp. 599-628.

Ungar, I. A., F. A. Bryan, J. Adams, and C. H. Keiffer.1994. Eleocharisparvula (K. & S.) Link., a new speciesrecord for the flora of Ohio. Ohiojournal ofScience 94: 74.

STUDENTS COMPLETINGGRADUATE DEGREES

M.S. : Cheryl Anderson, David Cooper, MargaretFoderaro, Mohamed Kassim, John Stryker, Grattan Welch


VISITORS TO THE DEPARTMENT

Marc Abrams, Pennsylvania State UniversityKemuel Badger, Ball State UniversityCarol Baskin, University of KenmckyDan Cosgrove, Pennsylvania State UniversityPeter Davies, Cornell UniversityJosé Faceffi, University of Adelaide, AustraliaRobert Gastaldo, Auburn UniversityJudy Kertesz Gray, Ann Arbor, MichiganRobert Gray, University of MichiganMitsuyasu Hasebe, Purdue UniversityChristopher Haufler, University of Kansas

Ph.D. ALUMNI

Harry Hoitink, Ohio State UniversityM. Ajmal Khan, University ofKarachi, PakistanJohn Kiss, Miami UniversityMatt Liebman, University of MaineOne Louks, Miami UniversityRalph Quatrano, University ofNorth CarolinaAnna Roosevelt, Chicago Field MuseumJohn Thieret, Northern Kentucky UniversityChristopher Town, Case Western Reserve UniversityCharles Werth, Texas Tech University

As part of the self-study for the state review of our doctoral program, we sent a questionnaire to alumni. We weregratified by the high response rate and impressed by the career development that the responses demonstrated. Thefollowing is a list of respondents, current positions and addresses.

Name (Year Graduated) Current Position

Charles W. Good (1974)

Shelia Delfeld Hanes (1975)

Eric E. Karrfalt (1975)

Edwin K. Squires (1976)

David G. Pechak (1976)

H. Michael Harrington (1978)

Michael E. Held (1980)

Ronald L. Biro (1980)

Dennis E. Hardin (1982)

Theodora Lee Gregg (1983)

James E. Mickle (1983)

Assoc. Prof.

Prof. of Biol. andMarine Science

Owns a business

Prof. and Chair, Dept.Environmental SciencesTaylor University

Research PrincipalKraft Foods

Asst. Dean, Acad. AffairsUniv. Hawaii/College ofTropical AgricultureAssoc. Prof.

Professor/Chair

Lab Automation Mgr.Pioneer Hi-Bred Intl.

Forest EcologistFlorida Dept. of Agriculture

Adjunct Asst. ProfessorDept. of Env. & Plant Biol.Ohio University

Asst. Professor

Ohio State University/Lima CampusLima, OH 45894

Eckerd CollegeSt. Petersburg, FL 33733

10261 Fry Rd.McKean, PA 16426

4315 S 900EUpland, IN 46989

23 W 261 FoxcroftGlen Ellyn, IL 60137

Dept. of Plant Molecular Physiology3190 Maile Way503 St. JohnHonoluylu, HI 96822

Department of BiologySaint Peter’s CollegeJersey City, NJ 07306

7300N.W. 62ndAve.P.O. Box 1004Johnston, IA 5013 1-1004

806 Devon Dr.Tallahassee, FL 32308

16 Northwood Dr.Athens, OH 45701

Dept. of Botany and Biol. ScienceInterdepartmental ProgramNorth Carolina State UniversityRaleigh, NC 27695-7612

Address


Name (Year Graduated) Current Position Address

Hamid Karimi (1984)

Robert W. Martin (1984)

Ajmal M. Khan (1985)

Thomas K. Warne (1985)

Cynthia A. Wagner (1985)

Russell K. Robbins (1986)

Kathiravetpillai Arumuganathan (1988)

Zeqi Zhou (1988)

Marlis Rahman (1989)

Kemuel S. Badger (1989)

James E. Nellessen (1989)

Mones S. Abu-Asab (1990)

Thomas L. Vierheller (1990)

Chenzhao (Jian) Vierheller (1991)

Mary Louise C. Trivett (1991)

Jin Zhou (1991)

Robert G. Hamilton (1991)

Steven J. Wagstaff (1992)

Liu-Liu Wu (1992)

Janelle S. Pryor (1993)

William J. Katembe (1994)

Administrator

Mgr. ofNew TechnologyProgram/Dreyers/Edy’s BrandIce Cream

Assoc. Prof.Univ. of Karachi, Pakistan

Research Assoc.Univ. of Tennessee

Self-employed TechnicalWriter/Editor

Asst. Prof. of BiologyDrury College, MO

Research Asst. Prof.Univ. of Nebraska

Research ScientistBayer Corp.

ChancellorUniv. Pandalas/Indonesia

Asst. Prof. Biol.Ball State Univ.

Env. ScientistNew Mexico Env. Dept.

Assoc. Scientist/Medical ScienceResearch Inst./1-Ierndon, VA

Asst. Prof.Prestonsburg Comm. Coil/KY

Asst. Prof.Prestonsburg Comm. Coil./KY

OU/Asst. Prof.(1-year position)

Post-doc Feilow/Children’sHospital at L.A., U.S.C.

Asst. Prof.Mississippi College

Research Scientist/LandcareResearch (New Zealand)

Post-doc/U. Mich. Med. Ctr.

Adj. Prof.Tougaloo College, MS

Post-docMiami Univ. of Ohio

DC DCRA/ERA Water Res. Mngt. Div.2100 Martin Luther King, Jr., Ave., S.E.Suite 203Washington, DC 20020

1250 Whipple RoadUnion City, CA 94587

186 Mill Street, Apt. M4Athens, OH 45701

428-1/2 W. Locust St.Johnson City, Tn 37604

6075 Weaver Rd.Berlin, OH 4440 1-8715

2376 W. Rockwood St.Springfield, MO 65807

6421 South 32nd StreetLincoln, NE 68516

18 Scarlett CourtNew City, NY 10456

Air TowarPadeng, Indonesia

3660 5. Garrison RD 5Upland, IN 46989

3213 Ave. San Marcos #4Santa Fe, NM 87505

4708 Cherokee, #103College Park, MD 20740

65 South EvergreenPrestonsburg, KY 41653

65 South EvergreenPrestonsburg, KY 41653

12758 SR 13Millfield, OH 45761

315 N. Curtis Ave., #EAihambra, CA 91801

124 Glen Hollow Dr.Clinton, MS 39056

80 South BeltLincoln, New Zealand

Ann Arbor, MI

P.O. Box 529Clinton, MS 39060

3 18 East ChestnutOxford, OH 45056


DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL

FacultyJames P. Braselton, ProfessorPhilip D. Cantino, ProfessorJames C. Cavender, ProfessorNorman S. Cohn, Distinguished ProfessorJ. Herbert Graffius, Associate ProfessorBrian C. McCarthy, Assistant ProfessorJohn P. Mitchell, ProfessorGar W. Rothwell, ProfessorJan Salick, Associate ProfessorAllan M. Showalter, Associate ProfessorIvan K. Smith, Professor and ChairArthur T. Trese, Assistant ProfessorMary L. Trivett, Assistant Professor (1 year)Irwin A. Ungar, Professor

Adjunct FacultyTheodora Lee Gregg, Adjunct Assistant ProfessorGene K. Mapes, Adjunct Associate Professor

Faculty EmeritiArthur H. Buckle, Associate Professor EmeritusLaurence A. Larson, Professor EmeritusWarren H. Wistendahi, Professor Emeritus

Postdoctoral and Research AssociatesJim Thomas

StaffJudith Dowler, Departmental SecretaryBrenda S. Ingraham, Technical TypistCarolyn S. Howes Keiffer, Technical AssistantElizabeth D. Moore, Technical AssistantHarold Blazier, Greenhouse Curator

Graduate StudentsDoctoral Students: Jackie Adams, Todd Egan, Gary K.Greer, Carolyn S. Keiffer, Donggiun Kim, Shu-Xia Li,J. Forrest Meekins, Dan Moran, Ayyappan Nair, RudolphSerbet, Zhixiong Yuan, Long Zhang

Master’s Students: Cheryl Anderson, Dan Becher(MSES), Dennis E. Bishop, Margaret Foderaro, Wendy M.Grant, Ben Holt, Sanford D. Kohorst, Dwight Mitchell,Edward Pfeffer, Jennifer Reed, Cynthia Riccardi (MSES),Scott Robison, Arthur Bill Shores, Lori Spargrove, JohnM. Stryker, Kim Swantek, Ben Torke, Judy K. Vincent

Undergraduate PACE students

Elyssa Arnone, Wendy Crabill, Megan Gross, StephanieHenderson, Noel Studer, Gretchen Walters

NEWS OF ALUMNI

KEN BRIDLE (B.S. 1980), ofWalnut Cove, NorthCarolina, received his Ph.D. at Wake Forest University,worked for a while as a plant physiologist at R.J. Reynolds,and is now on the staff of SciWorks. Ken serves as Directorof Exhibits and Science Interpretation at the Winston-Salem—based company. SciWorks is the Science Centerand Environmental Park of Forsyth County. Ken findshis position “a very rewarding application of my scienceinterests. I develop, build and maintain indoor andoutdoor exhibits, schedule traveling exhibits and generallyprovide a source of informal science education to thepublic, student groups, teachers and the local news media.”

STEVE CORSO (B.S. 1993) is a doctoral student at theUniversity ofMichigan pursuing his interests in tropicalplant systematics with Dr. William Anderson. Steve willsoon be traveling to Surinam with Randy Evans of theMissouri Botanical Garden, assisting him in his searchfor plants with medicinal properties and developingpreliminary ideas for a dissertation project.

DONALD R. DRAKE (M.S. 1987) soon begins histhird year as an Assistant Professor of Biology at GeorgiaSouthern University. One of his colleagues is another O.U.graduate with a master’s degree from this department—DR. KISHWARMJRZAMAUR (M.S. 1961).Don teaches courses in general botany, ecology and plantphysiology in addition to working with three graduatestudents. One ofhis projects, funded by the Department ofDefense, involves developing a management plan to allowFort Stewart to institute fire regimes that will promote theregeneration and protection of its longleaf pine/wiregrasscommunities. In the summer of 1995, Don and twocolleagues will be returning to Tonga (in the Pacific) tocontinue studies of the relationships among vegetation,birds, and disturbance in a project funded by the NationalGeographic Society. While his daughter ‘Alieta will soonbegin third grade, his wife Maile is pursuing a degree inanthropology at Georgia Southern. Maile joins Don insome ethnobotanical research in Tonga. We are happy tonote that Don and his colleagues are very impressed withour Newsletter!

PAUL GOLDSTEIN (M.S. 1975) received the 1995Outstanding Research Award from the University ofTexas. The last time someone from Biology won thataward was 20 years ago, and Paul says, “I am pleased tohave won it yet I feel that my research has only just begun.My many projects keep me out of trouble!”

CHARLES (CHUCK) HAMMER (M.S. 1984) isnow serving as Health Commissioner for the WashingtonCounty Health Department and the Beipre City HealthDepartment.


JOHN ICLOCK (M.S. 1993) is still teaching biologywith the University ofMaryland Asian Division in Korea.His research in Ifugao, The Philippines, is soon to lead toa publication in the International Tree CropsJournal entitled“Indigenous Forest Management ofthe Ifujao in Lagane,Ifugao, Philippines.” Another major accomplishment is hisdaughter, Irene Nokomis Kiock, now nine months old.

KONRAD T. KMETZ (B.S. 1969) received his master’sdegree in 1973 and his Ph.D. in 1975 from Ohio StateUniversity in Plant Pathology. He is currently Manager forDevelopment and Registration—AsiaPacific AgriculturalProducts for E. I. Dupont in Wilmington, Delaware.Previously, Konrad worked in a variety of positions inresearch and development in the U.S., Canada, LatinAmerica and the Asian Pacific. With two growing children,Konrad’s interest in outdoor activities continues—basket-ball (including coaching), baseball and tennis are amongthe more prominent ones. Dr. Kmetz received theDistinguished Alumni Award from the College ofAgriculture at Ohio State University.

EDWARD C. O’ROURKE (MS. 1973) is currentlyin the Department of Molecular Biology, Bristol-MyersSquibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Princeton,New Jersey, where he works on protein expression, signaltransduction and oncogenic transformation. Ed writes,“I’m happy to read in the 1994 Newsletter thatDR. COHN has an outside window in his office in therenovated Porter Hall. I’m wondering if his new office isarranged so that his graduate students must pass through itin order to go in and out of the lab? This was the situationwhen I was his graduate student and we were located inthe windowless eaves of the fifth floor of Porter Hall.It was a long way from there to the Sorvall centrifuge inDR. LARSON’s lab on the ground floor. Somewherebetween the two labs on the stairs where I tripped whilecarrying a night’s worth ofwork is a preparation ofchromatin from onion root tips.” Although many of Ed’sresearch experiences have been in areas not directly relatedto botany, he says that “my training under Dr. Cohn’sdirection was one of such a solid approach to science thatI still strive to apply what I learned from him. But, once,during a brief sabbatical in Redwoods National Park, Ihad the opportunity to directly apply the teachings ofDrs. Wistendahi, Ungar, Graffius, Miller, Blickle andMr. Vermillion.

MICHAEL QUINONES (M.S. 1989) is anenvironmental consultant with a firm called EnvirosearchInternational in Salt Lake City. The company does wetlandidentification, design and permit work. We wonder ifMichael plans to participate in the Winter Olympics in2002, since it will be so handy!

JACK R. SUTHERLAND (MS. 1960) is principalresearch scientist and head of forest pathology at thePacific Forestry Centre in Victoria, British Columbia.Jack received the Canadian Phytopathological Society’sOutstanding Research Award, the highest award presentedby the society, at their annual meeting in Edmonton in1994. Sutherland, who has a Ph.D. in plant pathologyfrom West Virginia University, was cited for his researchon regeneration diseases, especially diseases of forestnursery seedlings. In his recent communication to us,Jack pointed out that it was “strange, but the only facultymember that I know there now is DR. COHN, who fromthe picture in the 1994 Newsletter, seems to have lost a bitof hair—and he appears to be slimmer than he was 34years ago!” Dr. Cohn is not sure whether to take all of thisas a fond memory and compliment, or to challenge Jack toa duel! In either case, we would be delighted to have Jackvisit the new Porter Hall.

BERTALAN L. SZABO (B.S. Agriculture 1947;M.S. Botany 1948), retired ChiefNaturalist at SummitCounty Metro Parks in Ohio, writes of some of hismemorable experiences at Ohio University. Speaking ofDR. MATHENY’s ecology class, “He walked into classone day and said, ‘How would you like to blow yourbreath through a broom?’ Our lecture that day was on thevalue of windbreaks on the Western prairies and aroundour homes. He challenged the class to put out the flamingcandle held behind the spread bristles of a whiskbroom.The prize was an ice-cream soda. Some members of theclass hyperventilated in the endeavor but no one won. Thishappened in October of 1940.” He also remembers that“DR. ARTHUR BLICKLE came with a brand-newPh.D. degree to the department. He was a handsomefellow and the girls crowded around him between classes.”

JIN ZHOU (Ph.D. 1991) continues her postdoctoralresearch at the University of Southern California in theSchool ofMedicine. Jin did her doctoral study under thesupervision ofDR. ALLAN SHOWALTER.

We hope that all ofyou readers will continue to send us news ofyour whereabouts and endeavors. You make our work worthwhile.Please write to Profrssor Ivan K Smith in this department.

1995 pbio newsletter

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