Prof. Yinsheng Wang Receives RIVER Award from NIEHS

Professor Yinsheng Wang, faculty member of the Chemistry Department and ETOX faculty member, was one of six scientists selected nationally by the NIEHS to receive a Revolutionizing Innovative, Visionary Environmental Health Research, or RIVER, award.  This prestigous award provides 8 years of funding to established researchers and supports groundbreaking projects in environmental health sciences.  With the award, Yinsheng and his laboratory will study how alkylated DNA lesions affect genomic stability and can lead to disease. More information can be found here.  Our congratulations to Yinsheng for this impressive award and recognition.  

Principal Investigator/Supervisor Position Available in New Hampshire

 A principal investigator/supervisor position is available in the Environmental Health Program (EHP) at the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services in Concord, New Hampshire. The EHP assesses the health impacts of toxic chemicals in the environment.  The successful candidate will plan, coordinate, and supervise the administration of environmental health risk assessment program, manage comprehensive risk assessment services for the State, interpret public health guidance and policies, and provide expert technical assistance within NHDES.  To apply and get more information, go to the NH State Jobs website and select the "Search for Jobs" tab in the upper left corner, and enter "40339" as the Job ID to view the full job posting.  Our thanks for ETOX alumnus Efrem Neuwirth for letting us know about this opportunity.  

 

Postdoctoral/Staff Scientist Position Available

A postdoctoral researcher or staff scientist position investigating molecular mechanisms underlying cardiovascular and metabolic diseases is available in the lab of Prof. ChengChang Zhou, a Biomedical Sciences and Environmental Toxicology faculty member, at UC Riverside.  If interested, more information can be found at this link to the Science Careers webpage.    

Prof. Adler Dillman receives an R35 Outstanding Investigator Award from the NIH

Adler Dillman, an associate professor in the Department of Nematology and Environmental Toxicology Graduate Program faculty member, recently received a Maximizing Investigators' Research Award for Early Stage Investigators from the NIH for his research on how parasitic worms escape immune detection.  The R35 award is unusual in that it funds a research investigator rather than a specific project, and over the 5-year period of the award will allow Adler and his research group to pursue new directions as opportunities arise.  More information on the award and Adler's research can be found at the UCR News website. The news release was also picked up by Google News as I first saw it there.  Our congratulations to Adler!  We wish him continued success in his research. 

Prof. Manuela Martins-Green Recognized for Service to the UC Academic Senate

Prof. Manuela Martins-Green, chair of the Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology and Environmental Toxicology faculty member, recently received the 2020 Oliver Johnson Award for Distinguished Leadership in the Academic Senate.  The Johnson award is the highest award given by the University of California to a University of California faculty member who has performed outstanding service to the Academic Senate at both the campus and systemwide levels. Dr. Martins-Green is the first UC Riverside professor to win this award in more than two decades.  Our congratulations to Manuela for the award and our thanks for her ongoing service.  

Surprise Retirement Zoom Gathering for Prof. Eastmond's Retirement

Monday June 29 marked my (Dave Eastmond's) last day as a full-time faculty member at UC Riverside.  Without my knowledge, my former graduate students and alumni from the Environmental Toxicology Graduate Program organized a Zoom meeting at 5 pm in recognition of my years at UCR.  It was a really nice occasion, and fun to see and hear from the many students and post docs who have moved forward and advanced in their careers. They also sent me a nice floral arrangement.  Some screenshots from the event are shown below.  A special thanks to Sharada, Virunya, and Naomi for organizing the reunion, and also to Elizabeth, my wife, who coordinated things at home to keep me in the dark.  

2020 Annual Symposium Held by Videoconference

On Monday June 15, 2020, the Environmental Toxicology Graduate Program held its annual student symposium by Zoom videoconference.  It was an outstanding event being well organized and showing a lot of creativity during these challenging times.  In addition to being a video conference, the format differed this year in a number of other ways.  The more senior students presented their research during the Spring quarter during the seminar series.  The symposium consisted of a smaller number of oral presentations as well as an online poster session (which I might mention was outstanding with online posters, a prerecorded explanation of the poster by the student and a Zoom link during the poster session where one could speak to the student and ask questions).  In addition, there was a raffle, a yoga session just before lunch and a presentation of awards and recognition of recent graduates.  The symposium was well attended; I counted 60 people connected during the final award session.  Winners of the various awards are shown below.

We would like to especially recognize Victoria (Tori) McGruer who, with Prof. Ying-Hsuan Wang and Prof. Wenwan Zhong (shown in red below), took the lead in organizing the symposium.



Various screen shots illustrating aspects of the event.

 

Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award to Dr. Nicole zur Nieden