2009 ETOX Fall Social

On Friday October 2, Yinsheng Wang and his wife hosted potluck dinner and fall social at their home. There was a good turnout of students and faculty. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Below are some photos of the evening.

Gayatri Sankaran and Kristi Capsel, the ETOX graduate student representatives to the UCR Graduate Student Association this year.

Zhenshan Chen and his wife.

Group shot while eating.

Faculty members Paul Ziemann, Yinsheng Wang, Jay Gan, Dave Eastmond and our newest faculty member Nicole zur Nieden.

Zhenshen Chen, Su Bum Lee and new student Do Hyung Kim.

New graduate students, Laurel Dodgen and Ashley Swanson

Dr. Noriko Nishino, a recent alumna, Katy Zimmerman and Richard Belcher

New graduate students Xueyun Zheng and Qian Cai.

Prof. Jay Gan

Our hosts for the evening, Prof. Yinsheng Wang and his wife.

And in Florence, Italy

The 10th International Conference on Environmental Mutagens immediately followed the IWGT meeting and took place in Florence, Italy. In additional to those in Basel, ETOX alumnae Jennifer Sasaki was also in attendance. Above is a picture of several of us at dinner. Jennifer is at the end of the table, Maik Schuler is to her left in the photo and I am next to Maik. Our colleagues and friends Roland and Maria are on the right.

ETOX Grads well represented in Basel, Switzerland

The 5th International Working Group on Genotoxicity Testing took place in Basel, Switzerland Aug. 17-19. There were several ETOX grads (and a post doc) in attendance including Krista Dobo, Drew Olaharski, and Maik Schuler. Drew has been working in Basel for the past 5 months and will be returning to New Jersey next week. I wasn't able to see Bjarte Furnes but apparently he is currently working in Basel as well. It was enjoyable to see our former students. Above is a picture of Drew and Marilyn Aardema (a colleague at P&G) at a reception.

Noriko Nishino selected for Outstanding TA Award

Noriko Nishino, a current ETOX student working with Drs. Arey and Atkinson, was recently awarded the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the Department of Environmental Sciences. Above is a picture of Noriko (holding certificate) and Lynnie Cua. Our congratulations to Noriko for this nice recognition.

2009 Annual Student Symposium Photos

This year's annual student symposium took place on Tuesday June 23 at the Botanic Gardens. The weather was very pleasant and for the first time in many years, we did not need to use the air conditioning. There were 21 excellent student presentations as well as a hosted lunch and evening reception. Noriko Nishino won the T. Roy Fukuto award, Kelly Thrippleton Hunter and Jean-Paul Baquiran were honorable mentions, and Gayatri Sankaran received the award for best 1st year student presentation. The students gave the outstanding mentor award to Janet Arey and their choice for best presentation also went to Noriko Nishino. The seminar committee did a great job in planning and organizing the event. Our thanks go to Dawn Huffman and the members of the Student Symposium Committee (Dr. Paul Ziemann, Seminar Chair, Dr. Janet Arey, Richard Belcher, Zhenshan Chen, Lynnie Cua, Lei Ren, Kristy Richardson and Gayatri Sankaran) for organizing the Symposium and Reception. Special thanks to Zhenshan Chen who took most of the photos which are posted below.

Yinsheng Wang, the Program Director (on left) and the student award winners (from the right, Noriko Nishino, Gayatri Sankaran, J.P. Baquiran, Kelly Thrippleton Hunter).

Janet Arey with her outstanding mentor plaque and Zhenshan Chen

Kristy Richardson and Katy Zimmerman announcing the students' choice award.

Kristy Richardson presenting a gift card to Noriko Nishino.

First year students (Kristi Capsel, Si Bui, Gayatri Sankaran, Minh Vuong

Yehong "Heather" Wang with her child

Students in Bob Krieger's lab

Kelly Thrippleton Hunter and Lynnie Cua

JP Baquiran and Lei Ren

Zhenshan Chen and Gayatri Sankaran

An evening group shot.

Commencement Photos

The Environmental Toxicology Program was very well represented at UCR's Commencement ceremonies that took place on June 7. Eight students (Melinda Bigelow Dyk, Noriko Nishino, Kelly Thrippleton Hunter, Yanhong Li, Wesley Hunter, Homero Camacho, Yehong "Heather" Wang, and Mae Nillos) who have finished their dissertation this past year (or plan to finish shortly) were hooded by their faculty advisors. Below are a number of photos of most of the graduating students in their robes.

Belated congratulations to Wesley Hunter and Mae Nillos

I am a little slow posting this but didn't find out about it until this past week. Wesley Hunter's poster entitled, "Sampling pyrethroid bioavailability with disposable PDMS fibers." was selected as the Best Student Poster Presentation at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 5th World Congress in Sydney, Australia, last fall. Mae Nillos's poster was given an honorable mention. Our congratulations to both Wesley and Mae for this nice recognition. Above is a picture of Wesley and his wife Katie who was able to travel to Australia with him.