Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas from Riverside

Merry Christmas to all from Riverside.  I hope you enjoy the holidays and have a happy and successful new year.  Below is a picture of the latest addition to my nutcracker collection, generously given by Elizabeth, my wife.





Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Photos from recent ISPTS conference held at UC Riverside

In late November, UC Riverside hosted the International Symposium on Persistent Toxic Substances.  Prof. Jay Gan took the lead on organizing the symposium which was an impressive event consisting of plenary sessions, multiple concurrent sessions, a reception, lunches, a banquet, etc.  There were a number of excellent presentations including prominent speakers in the field, and almost 300 people attended.  It was particularly enjoyable to see the involvement of students, led I believe by Stacia Dudley, one of Jay Gan's graduate students, who took care of many of the local arrangements.  Below are photos from the symposium.  Our thanks to Jay and his team for organizing such an outstanding conference. 




Prof. David Volz from UC Riverside
 
Prof. Ron Tjeerdema from UC Davis

Prof. Samantha Ying with 3 student award winners

Graduate students in attendance

Graciel and Gabi

More graduate students

Some of the students who helped with the local arrangements

Monday, December 21, 2015

Summer Fellowship for Advanced Graduate Student at ILSI

The message below was forwarded to me earlier today.

The ILSI North America Technical Committee on Food and Chemical Safety is sponsoring a summer fellow to work on a case study for a food-related chemical using the RISK21 approach for evaluating and comparing the applicability of traditional toxicology studies and complex data sets generated by in silico and HTS technologies in chemical safety assessments. The deadline to apply is Friday, 29 January 2016.

The announcement is also posted on the ILSI North America website: http://www.ilsi.org/NorthAmerica/Documents/ILSI%20North%20America%202016%20Summer%20Fellowship%20Announcement.pdf

We would like to request you to share the attached announcement with your graduate student members (Risk Assessment Specialty Section, SOT) who might have an interest in applying.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Thank you.

Kind regards,
Mansi

Mansi Krishan, PhD
Science Program Manager
ILSI North America
1156 Fifteenth Street, NW
Suite 200
Washington, DC 20005-1743
202.659.0074 ext. 138
mkrishan@ilsi.org

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Samantha Ying is Lead PI on Major Grant



The UC Office of the President through its President's Research Catalyst Award program has sponsored a competition for grants that will address important areas of interest to the state of California and the University.  Samantha Ying, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and an ETOX faculty member, is the lead Principal Investigator on a recently awarded $1.69 million grant to study soil and how it crops use water and respond to drought conditions.  Her selection and project were written up in UCR Today.  The article can be found at this link. Our congratulations to Professor Ying and her colleagues for their selection as recipients of this major grant.

Sladek and Deol Study Continues to Attract Attention

The research of Poonam Deol and professor Frances Sladek which I spotlighted in July, continues to attract attention.  Their PloS One paper has been viewed or downloaded more than 28,000 times and has been referred to on numerous new sites.  Most recently, it has been referred to extensively in an article in People magazine.  Again, our congratulations to Drs. Deol and Sladek for these recognitions of their work. 

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Terrible Tragedy Too Close to Home

As you are probably aware, this past week there was a domestic terrorist attack just to the north of Riverside, in San Bernardino, in which 14 people were killed and 21 injured.  Two of those killed and two of the injured were alumni from UC Riverside.  Of particular note, one of the injured was Jennifer Stevens who graduated in Environmental Sciences with an emphasis in Environmental Toxicology this past June.  She was enrolled in two of the classes that I taught last year.  She is a fine young woman, and we hope that she has a speedy and complete recovery.  In the photo above, the flags in Washington, DC (and on U.S. government buildings throughout the world) are at half staff today and tomorrow in respect for those in San Bernardino who lost their lives or were injured in the attack.  We wish for the best for the survivors and their families as well as for the families and loved ones of the deceased. 

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Faculty positions in Environmental Toxicology at UC Riverside

UC Riverside has embarked on an ambitious effort to increase the size of its faculty.  One very positive aspect of this is that the administration has approved a search to hire up to 4 new faculty members in Environmental Toxicology.  Part of the description from the recruitment website is pasted below.  More information can be found here.

"....up to four positions in the area of Environmental Toxicology at both the junior and senior levels. The placement of each successful candidate may be in the departments of Environmental Sciences, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Division of Biomedical Sciences, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, or another relevant department, depending on the preferences of the candidate and the host departments. Junior candidates are expected to develop an internationally recognized and externally funded research program in one or more areas related to environmental health and toxicology. Senior candidates must have a demonstrated record of success in these areas."

If you are aware of great candidates, please encourage them to apply.  Thanks. 

Toxicologist Position at the National Toxicology Program

The National Toxicology Program, part of the NIEHS, is searching for a toxicologist to work at their facility in Durham, North Carolina.  More information can be found here