New Faculty Profiles
 
In January 1999, the faculty welcomed Rolf Karlstrom to the Biology Department. Dr. Karlstrom comes to us with a B. S. from Northern Arizona University, a Ph.D. from the University of Utah and postdoctorals at the Max-Planck Institute for Developmental Biology at Tübingen, Germany and the Skirball Institute of New York University Medical Center. Rolf is featured in the Zebrafish article on page 1 of this issue.  Shown here (left to right) is Biology Department Chairman Chris Woodcock at the opening of the new Zebrafish Breeding Facility which Rolf (with daughter astride hip) directs.
 
Last February we welcomed Yin-Long Qiu to the Biology Department.  Dr. Qiu is our long awaited plant molecular evolutionist.  Y-Q received a B. S. from Nanjing Agricultural University, PRC, and a Ph.D. from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  He spent three postdoctoral years at the University of Indiana with Jeffrey Palmer, one of the world's leaders in plant molecular evolution.  He then accepted an Assistant Professorship at the Institute of Systematic Botany at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.  Y-Q will join Ron Adkins, our recently hired mammalian molecular evolutionist, featured in BioMass Issue #1 "New Faculty Profiles", strengthening molecular evolution within our department.
 
Just at press time we received news that Jeffrey Podos, our prime candidate for the behavioral ecologist position, has signed on to come to UMass this fall.   Dr. Podos comes to us with a B. A.

magna cum laude from Franklin and Marshall College, a Ph.D. from Duke University and a postdoctoral stint at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, where he obtained training in the Analysis of Biological Diversification project.

                Help Us Help You
As you can see from the articles in this issue, the Biology Department has not been standing still since the last BioMass Alumnus Newsletter.   If you feel you are not participating in this movement, all we can say is "Come on down!".  We need your help and participation to make our efforts meaningful.  Certainly, communicate with us via the return card or by Email.   If you have an answer to alumni posed questions, why not write or Email us via the Alumni Forum.  We will continue to publish thoughts you wish to share with your fellow alumni on our WWW page as well as in issues of this newsletter.

You may also be interested in how many of your fellow biology alumni have joined the new internet age with a presence on the WWW.  The alumni links page includes internet examples of both the academic and commercial exploits of our Biology alumni.  If you would like your WWW page listed, or if the one listed has changed, please contact us by Email through the Alumni Forum, or write directly to Joe Kunkel at joe@bio.umass.edu.

Another link from the Biology Alumni Website provides useful professional links which can help the young biologist explore the practical aspects of alternative paths in biology. In addition, there is another link which may help an academic plan the next sabbatical.  Any additional links that alumni wish to share should be Emailed to us.  Help us help all our alumni!