News and photo from alumna Lizhen Yan

Lizhen Yan (Ph.D. 1997) is a clinical research specialist at Merck in Rahway, New Jersey. On April 29, 2007, she ran her first half marathon, then on Nov 04, 2007, she ran the New York City's full marathon (see picture of Lizhen, her husband and ETOX alumnus Guoqiang Jiang and their child). She writes that starting the running of a marathon in middle 40s has completely changed her mind-set of what a person can do. She is currently the Rahway Chapter Chair for Merck's Asian Pacific Network and is an executive board member of Merck's Toastmasters Club. Recently (May, 2008), she was voted as Merck's most amazing woman. Our congratulations to Lizhen for these impressive achievements!

Positions available

Recently I have become aware of a number of positions that are available. A brief description of the position and where to find more information is presented below.

The firm Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) is looking for a recent graduate or postdoctoral fellow to fill a molecular toxicologist position. A senior scientist position is also available. More information can be found at here.

The consulting firm ChemRisk is also looking for individuals with recent degrees in toxicology and related degrees. More information can be found here.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking qualified applicants for multiple positions to work in the Ambient Standards Group (ASG), Health and Environmental Impacts Division (HEID), Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) in Research Triangle Park., NC that is within EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) - see http://www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps for more information on OAQPS. Specifically, EPA is seeking Epidemiologists/Health Scientists/Toxicologists/Ecologists/Biologists who will play key roles in planning and managing the scientific/policy assessments for the criteria air pollutants, review the national standards for these pollutants, serve as lead authors for the health- or welfare-related sections of the risk/exposure analyses and policy assessments, and participate in public review meetings.

Epidemiologist/Health Scientist Vacancy Number: RTP-DE-2008-0106; RTP-MP-2008-0175 Series/Grade: GS-601-11/12/13

Interdisciplinary Health Scientist/ Vacancy Number: RTP-DE-2008-0110; RTP-MP-2008-0194 Toxicologist/Physical Scientist Series/Grade: GS-601/1301/1530-11/12/13

Ecologist/Biologist Vacancy Number: RTP-DE-2008-0133; RTP-MP-2008-0243
Series/Grade: GS-0401/0408-11/12/13

Open Period: May 28 - June 23, 2008

If you are interested, please contact me at david.eastmond@ucr.edu and I will forward the email with the information.

In the News: Cranor Speaks on Chemical Toxicity

Dr. Carl Cranor, ETOX faculty member and member of the Department of Philosophy, recently spoke about "Chemical Toxicity in Children and Adults: Moral and Regulatory Issues" as part of UC San Francisco's Perspectives in Medical Humanities seminar series. For more details about his talk and the series, please go the the InsideUCR website.

Jury receives Distinguished Alumni Award

On May 2 at an awards and honors banquet in Madison, Wisconsin, Dr. Bill Jury, an ETOX faculty member and member of the Environmental Sciences Department, was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Fellow Award from the Department of Physics at the University of Wisconsin. The award is intended for an alumnus “who has earned the respect and admiration of the physics community.” We congratulate Bill in this well-deserved recognition. Additional details can be found at the Inside UCR website.

UCR well represented at the UC Toxics Annual Meeting at the Mission Inn

On April 11-12, the systemwide UC Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program held its annual meeting at the Mission Inn in Riverside. A number of our students who are receiving support from the Program presented posters and Jay Gan gave a nice talk about his research on pyrethroids. In addition, a substantial number of our students and faculty attended. Below are a series of photos that my wife Elizabeth and I took at the symposium.

Opening reception. See if you can find the 3 UCR students.

Karla Pliego

Heather (Yehong) Wang

Mae Nillos, JP Baquiran and Dr. Dan Schlenk

Melinda Bigelow, Katy Zimmermann, Karla Pliego and Cathy Cathers

Dr. Bob Krieger

Yanhong Li

Homero Camacho

Mae Nillos and Catherine Gibbons

Catherine Gibbons, Karla Pliego and Katy Zimmermann

Karla Pliego, Cathy Cathers, Elizabeth Eastmond, Katy Zimmermann, Noriko Nishino, Melinda Bigelow

Yong Jiang, Yanhong Li, Wesley Hunter

Drs. John Knezovich and David Eastmond

Dr. Jay Gan

Zhenshan Chen and Sukon Aimanant

Sharon Walker recognized as Woman of Distinction

Sharon Walker, a relatively new ETOX faculty member, was recently recognized by the Girl Scouts of the San Gorgonio Council as one of the top 10 female leaders in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Sharon is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, and according to the Inside UCR newspaper, was selected for the 2008 Women of Distinction for achievement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Her research focuses on the investigating factors controlling bacterial adhesion and transport as it affects water quality. She has recently begun similar studies of the movement of nanoparticles through soil. We congratulate Sharon on this nice recognition.

Alvaro Alvarado presents seminar at UCR

On April 2, Alvaro Alvarado (Ph.D., 1998) returned to UCR to speak in the Environmental Toxicology Seminar series. His talk was entitled, "Quantifying the Health Impacts of Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter” and drew upon his experience working with both the federal EPA and his more recent experience working at the California Air Resources Board. Following his seminar at lunch, he talked to a group of our graduate students about working in government and his experiences in applying and interviewing for positions. It was an enjoyable visit and I know the students appreciated his insights about job hunting. [I forgot to take a picture during his visit but a recent picture of Alvaro and his daughter can be seen on the ETOX blog as one of last summer's posts.]