CobwebsSpring 2002 - Volume 6

A N ewsletter for Alum ni in Biolo gy , Natural Resou rces M anage ment, Env iro nm ental Scie nce,

Planning and Resource Management and Group Science

A Woodchuck DilemmaKarel Rogers, Biology Dept. Chair

Remember that old thing we used to saywhen we were kids? “How much woodwould a woodchuck chuck if a

woodchuck could chuck wood?” I justdiscovered that is as hard to type as it is tosay. Woodchucks are the subject of thiscolumn because for nearly a year the BiologyDepartment has been deeply involved in the

well being and fate of one particular woodchuck that we’ve namedSpinner. Being biologists, we all know we shouldn’t interfere with theoften harsh workings of natural selection, but sometimes situationssimply call for some exceptions. Last spring, a couple of frantic non-biology GVSU students came tothe Biology Department office because there was a woodchuckstaggering around in circles over by the arboretum pond. Realizing thatnatural selection is OK with most people as long as it doesn’t result inpublic, painful death, we gave these students a nice box and encouragedthem to bring the woodchuck back to the department office. At the time,we thought they would never be able to get it in the box so our problemwould be solved. Instead they returned shortly with Spinner. The namemakes sense now, doesn’t it? Our department coordinator, ConnieIngham, has many talents and foremost among them is the ability tosolve just about any problem that occurs, including finding medical carefor a spinning woodchuck

In Spinner’s case, her strength is her personality. .

On her way home, Connie left Spinner with the Blandford NatureCenter of the Public Museum of Grand Rapids, a nature center andwildlife rehabilitation center located in northwestern Grand Rapids. IfSpinner didn’t make it, we thought we could recover her body and haveher become part of the mammal collection that Joe Jacquot has beendeveloping. Their diagnosis was that she had a broken leg. They thoughtthey could get it healed and build her up physically so she would be ready to spend the winter back in the wild. Things weren’t quite sosimple though. Spinner ended up losing a toe because of maggotinfection and it soon became clear that she was an exceptionalwoodchuck who could not be released to the wild. Spinner will “spin” aslong as she lives because she has a permanent balance issue. It seemsthat our weaknesses are frequently balanced (no pun) by strength though.

In Spinner’s case, her strength is her personality. Shortly into herrehabilitation, Spinner learned to roll over on to her back to take

medicine, her personality is very mellow, andshe is a natural at begging for food. The naturecenter personnel decided that Spinner couldhave a permanent home at the nature center asone of the animals who are involved ineducating the public about wildlife. So theupshot of this story is that Spinner’s genes areout of the woodchuck gene pool but she isexperiencing a gentler, kinder version ofnatural selection and is performing someexcellent community service with her life. Somaybe the saying should be, “How much goodcould a woodchuck do if a woodchuck wouldcoach kids?”

On another note, the MS in Biology has beenapproved by the Faculty Senate and will likelybe implemented for Fall 2003. Although theimplementation time line is uncertain, we arepreparing to recruit for our first class duringthe 2002-03 academic year. Even though this isa versatile master’s program designed to meetthe individual needs of Biology and NaturalResource Management professionals in the westMichigan region, it is not advisable to takecourses before your program of study has beenapproved. In short, even though the wait hasbeen long, it is important to be patient until thisprogram is implemented. The wait will beworth it, I’m sure.

$ $ $ andBiology ClubNewsHeather Bill and NicoleDafoeMark Staves, faculty advisor

It’s been another busy year for the BiologyClub! We’ve tried to bring Biology out ofthe classroom by hosting speakers and

extracurricular activities for students andfaculty in the department. During the fallsemester, we invited a number of professionalscoming from a variety of backgrounds to speakto the club. Topics ranged from forensic science

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with distinguished alumnus Kristen Schelling to the future of transgenicswith Dr. Pam Swiatek of the Van Andel Research Institute. We hadanother successful hayride this fall at Char’s farm and also joined forceswith a campus chapter of Circle K, an international volunteer group, tocollect canned goods for donation to the Dégagé Soup Kitchen duringthe holiday season. In addition, Grand Valley’s chapter of Beta BetaBeta Biological honor society inducted seven new members this fall andwe’re looking forward to having them join us for the winter semester!

And speaking of the winter semester...we are hoping to be able toreschedule our annual Ravine Clean-up as it was cancelled during thefall due to inclement weather. We are also excited to see continuedfaculty support and involvement in the club. Trips in the planning stagesinclude a zoo trip, a trip to the Frederick Meijer Gardens and of coursethe annual trip to Chicago. Continued $$$ expansion will also be afocus for the coming semester. We hope to establish a weekly journalclub for $$$ members and faculty, as well as induct more members thissemester. We are looking forward to another great semester with thestudents and faculty of GVSU!

2001-2002 Officers: Heather Bill, President; Jennifer Slusher, VicePresident; Nicole Dafoe, Secretary; Ryan Frisch, Treasurer.

Check out upcoming events at www2.gvsu.edu/~bioclub/!

Soil and Water Conservation SocietyNews – Neil MacDonald, Advisor

This year’s officers include Nikki MacDonald(President), Bob Sanders (Vice President),Shawn Weisler (Treasurer), and Kelly

Hoffman (Secretary). Fall, 2001 activities includedthe M-45 Highway clean-up and an adopt-a-streamproject to repair check dams at Van Raalte Park inHolland. During the fall semester, SWCS hostedpresentations by Chip Francke, naturalist with theOttawa County Parks and Recreation Commission,and Tim Sullivan of the USFWS Sea LampreyControl Program. In October and November, weassisted the Ottawa County Parks and RecreationCommission with a survey project at Hager Park inGeorgetown Township. SWCS members KateRieger, Bob Sanders, and Bruce VanDenBoschconducted surveys to establish a series of benchmarks along the stream,which allowed the NRM 250 class to rapidly survey a series of crosssections at designated stream locations.

Results of these surveys are being used by park planners and engineersin the design stages of the Hager Creek restoration project. A group ofSWCS members also attended the State of the Lakes Conference hostedby AWRI in Muskegon on November 7th. This was an especiallyproductive conference in that two of the SWCS attendees subsequentlyobtained either an internship (Nikki MacDonald) or a job (Kate Rieger)at AWRI this winter. During the winter, 2002 semester, we hosted aseries of guest speakers, including Tim Redder, Ottawa County SoilErosion Agent, Nancy (Morse) Cuncannan, District Representative forthe MDEQ Land and Water Management Division, and Jeff Reicherts,Surface Water Specialist for Kalamazoo County Human Services

Department. All are graduates of the GVSUNRM program, and spoke about theresponsibilities and challenges of their currentpositions. By popular demand, they alsodiscussed how they successfully made thetransition from being GVSU students tobecoming resource management professionals.On February 21, SWCS members attended theMDEQ Soil Erosion Control Concepts 2002conference in Grand Rapids. SWCS activitiesplanned for the end of the semester includehelping with the GVSU Science Olympiad,participating in another adopt-a-stream projectin Holland, and ending the semester with thetraditional highway clean-up. As usual, we alsoenjoy impromptu pizza lunches, social outings,and the annual t-shirt design contest.

Grand Valley Vet ClubBobbi Conner, President

Still arelativelyyoung

organization oncampus, the GrandValley Vet Club hasbeen working on expanding on the goals setforth by some of its founders in 1999. The mainfocus of the organization is to provide a supportgroup for those Grand Valley studentsinterested in pursuing a career in veterinarymedicine, whether students are looking tobecome veterinary technicians or doctors ofveterinary medicine. The club meets on abi-weekly basis, in order to discuss upcomingevents, alert each other about job opportunities,new information about veterinary schools andrequirements, and any other pertinentinformation. As of late, another focus of themeetings is to discuss news in the field, usuallyin the form of journal articles concerninganimal diseases and treatments. The goal issimply to expand each member’s knowledgeabout the field of veterinary medicine.

The club also boasts a website,www2.gvsu.edu/~pre-vet/index.html, which ismaintained by the Vet Club’s advisor, TerryTrier. The website, while still growing,currently includes information about the pre-vetemphasis, suggested course work, some ofMSU’s Veterinary requirements, as well assources for additional information.

In addition to the weekly meetings, the VetClub has organized an annual bake sale,represented Grand Valley at a local

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veterinarian’s Pet Celebration, and has brought in a number of speakersfrom different fields animal science. Members also attend the annualVet-A-Visit at Michigan State University’s College of VeterinaryMedicine.

With the new pre-veterinary biology emphasis, the Vet Club isexpecting more pre-veterinary students to enroll at Grand Valley witheach coming year, and our hope is that the Vet Club continues to providean avenue of learning and support.

Student Scholarship Day 2001

Undergraduate research/scholarship is a very important part of theteaching mission in GVSU Biology and Natural ResourceManagement. Each year students present their results at Student

Scholarship Day (SSD) held in the spring. Research topics this past yearspanned the complexity of biology, covering cell and molecular biology,ecology, physiology, resource management, environment and healthissues, anatomy, and animal behavior. Below are a list of the authors,titles of talks given, and their faculty sponsors who gave much of theirtime and efforts. We should be very proud of these students!

Matthew Early. Do rapid bio-assessment protocols (RPB’s) giveerroneous results in the determination of stream quality? Sponsor: J.Dunn

Kris Williams. Measuring the influence of soil moisture on soil CO2

efflux. Sponsor: K. McCrackenAngela Faber. Drinking water quality on dead-end streets. Sponsor: N.

ShontzChad Hipshier. Effectiveness of pheromones and insecticides in

controlling insects on farms in southwest Michigan. Sponsor: C.Griffin

Michelle Green. Patterns of sperm depletion in tree swallows. Sponsor:M. Lombardo and P. Thorpe

Stefanie Shuker. Identification of environmentally sensitive areas inPlainfield Charter Township. Sponsor: C. Griffin

Kris Williams. Developing a GIS-based environmental modeling lab fornonscientists. Sponsor: C. Griffin

Emily Sauter. Effects of PCB contamination on tree swallows in theKalamazoo River Basin. Sponsor: C. Griffin

Shelley Brege. Woodlot Management Survey at Blandford NatureCenter’s Sugarbush Festival. Sponsor: C. Griffin

Steven Hallock. Rapid reclamation and reuse of nonpotable water.Sponsor: C. Griffin

Jaime Freed. Applying acaradial compound dusters to squirrel feedersto treat mange in wild squirrels. Sponsor: C. Griffin

Erin McIntosh. Duration of exposure to full-spectrum light affectsvitamin D levels in captive reptiles. Sponsor: J. Hunt

Jessica Hackman. Participation of grassroots organizations in naturalresource management. Sponsor: C. Griffin

Mitchell Grohowski. Nesting preferences of white-footed mice(Peromyscus leucopus). Sponsor J. Jacquot

Scott Szabo. Landscape planning around WGVSU transmission towers.Sponsor: C. Griffin

Armetris Forman. The effects of calciumchannel blockers on the generation ofaction potentials in Chara corallina.Sponsor: M. Staves

John Shoup. Restoration and managementplan for riparian areas impaired bylivestock on Weldon Creek. Sponsor: C.Griffin

Rachel Morrison. On the anatomy of thecloacal “kiss” of the tree swallow. Sponsor:M. Lombardo and T. Strickler

Chris Mieczkowski. Developing a ravinesystem nature trail - Lubbers Farm, OttawaCounty, MI. Sponsor: C. Griffin

Keith Piccard. Potential for gene pool lossesduring long-term seed storage. Sponsor: S.Blackman

Jason DeBoer. Biological and chemicalchanges in forest composition in relation totopography. Sponsor: K. McCracken

Lisa Robinson. Predicting fire outbreaksthrough GIS technology. Sponsor: S. Menon

Jeffrey Linkfield. Soil analysis of an organicfarm and management implications.Sponsor: C. Griffin

Pete Bosscher. Assessing viable wild turkeyhabitats among different ecosystem types.Sponsor: C. Griffin

Brenda Tinsley. Relationship between aquaticinsect community and water quality on thePigeon River. Sponsor: C. Griffin

John Stegmeier. Wetlands mapping fortownship ordinances using GIS. Sponsor: S.Menon

Bryan Rupar. Wild turkey habitat analysis forOttawa County, Michigan. Sponsor: S.Menon

Katherine Rieger. Knowledge of fishconsumption advisory guidelines amongGrand Rapids residents. Sponsor: C. Griffin

Kapala Hoge. Using geographic informationsystems to analyze the optimal habitat forthe salmon in the Willapa River watershedin Washington state. Sponsor: S. Menon

Jason DeBoer. The relationship between thefamily Centrachidae and water quality.Sponsor: C. Griffin

Terry Grimard. Wetland inventory for BrooksTownship, Newaygo County, Michigan.Sponsor: C. Griffin

Brenda Tinsley. Urban sprawl - can GISinputs in planning provide an antidote?Sponsor: S. Menon

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Alan Braspenninx. Predictions of high healthrisk areas due to arsenic levels in groundwater. Sponsor: S. Menon.

Bryan Rupar. Management plan for improving wildlife habitat, timberrevenues, and ecosystem health. Sponsor: C. Griffin

Terry Grimard. Road/streamcrossing inventory of Duck Creek.Sponsor: S. Menon

Adam Nelson. Microbiological survey of public drinking fountains onGVSU campus. Sponsor: R. Morgan

Brenda Tinsley. Putting spotted knapweed to sleep - restoring nativegrasses on a disturbed site. Sponsor: N. MacDonald

Ryan Frisch and Michael Poulos. What are you eating? A molecularanalysis of fish muscle proteins. Sponsor: R. Morgan and N. Shontz

Michelle Green, Devan Hauck, Mindy Mazurek, Rachel Morrison,Jacquelyn Schei, Amber Seggie, Jennifer Slusher, LizabethSperry and Matt Vanden Heuvel. Survey of large mammals atPierce Cedar Creek Institute, Barry Co., MI. Sponsor: J. Jacquot

Michelle Green, Devan Hauck, Mindy Mazurek, Rachel Morrison,Jacquelyn Schei, Amber Seggie, Jennifer Slusher, LizabethSperry and Matt Vanden Heuvel. Survey of small mammals atPierce Cedar Creek Institute, Barry Co., MI. Sponsor: J. Jacquot

Frances Haarsma. The character of solid waste found in the GVSUravine system. Sponsor: J. Jacquot

Rebecca Miller and Bruce Whitaker. Evaluation of petrifilm plates asa possible method to determine levels of E. coli in surface water.Sponsor: R. Morgan

Richard Schmaltz. Microbiological survey of sediment at a suspectedcontamination site on Muskegon Lake, MI. Sponsor: R. Morgan

Leslie Stanton. A statistical analysis of weather at GVSU. Sponsor: M.Northup and N. Rogness

John Stegmeier. Isolation of bacteria from the sarcophagus of thepitcher plant Sarrecenia purpuria. Sponsor: R. Morgan

New Courses approved:NRM 150 - Introduction to Natural Resources. NRM 150 isdesigned to provide an overview of the natural resource andenvironmental management fields. An interdisciplinary approach is usedto explore both the natural and social science aspects of these areas ofstudy. We will discuss the reasons why management of natural resourcesand their human use is necessary. Then we will discuss a variety ofnatural resources (soil, vegetation, animals, water, and air) and how theyare managed.

BIO 418 - Natural History of Florida. In May 2001, thirteen GVSUstudents participated in a two-week field course to southern Florida ledby Professor Joe Jacquot. The group spent time near Naples, in theEverglades, Florida Keys, and the Dry Tortugas. Trip goals includedvisiting a diverse set of ecosystems from pine woodlands to coral reefs,determining the dominant organisms and processes within each system,and to look at the effects of introduced species in southern Florida. Amore detailed trip report with pictures and links can be found at http://www.gvsu.edu/biology/florida/Florida.html.

Photo ContestThe first annual Biology Department PhotoContest was held this fall semester. Studentswere asked to submit photos that dealt withsome aspect of biology or natural resourcemanagement. We had 41 photos submitted by15 different people. The faculty then voted forthe best photos. The top eight photos arecurrently on display on the second floor ofPadnos. The photos can also be viewed at:www.gvsu.edu/biology/photos/photos.html .

Faculty Profile:Dr. Sheila A. Blackman

Sheila was bornin Bethesda,Maryland, thedaughter of anAmericaneconomist andScottishlinguist. Herfamily moved toKabul, Afghanistan,when she wasabout 1 yearold. From

Afghanistan her family moved to Istanbul,Turkey, where Sheila lived until she was 8. Thefive years in Turkey were formative in Sheila’slater interest in biology. She spent most of hertime exploring the woods and fields incommonly-held wild preserves near her house.Sheila’s family next moved to Calgary, Alberta,Canada where Sheila continued to pursue herlove of outdoor life. Her parents provided herwith numerous books about science, whichSheila avidly devoured. In ninth grade, careerguidance exercises showed her most suitablecareer to be wildlife photographer.

However, in high school, Sheila showed moreinterest and aptitude for Chemistry,Mathematics and Physics than Biology. Sheilawas - and still is - interested in “why?” and“how?” questions and Biology, at the highschool level, tended to be more descriptive thanthe other sciences. Nonetheless, Sheilapersevered in biology, and gravitated to thecellular and biochemical aspects as sheprogressed in her undergraduate degree. Shewon a national fellowship to work with Dr. EdYeung, a new graduate of Yale University, atthe University of Calgary during the summerafter her junior and senior year. This

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opportunity to do research was pivotal for her career as a scientist. Dr.Yeung was an enthusiastic young scientist, and guided Sheila in asuccessful study of seed development. This work resulted in her firstpublished paper. In 1981, Sheila entered the graduate program atQueen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Her Ph.D. dissertation with Dr. David Dennis, involved a problem ofplant cell biology. She investigated how some proteins synthesized in thecytoplasm were transported into plastids, such as chloroplasts.

After obtaining her Ph.D., Sheila left for Ithaca, NY, where shestudied with Dr. A. Carl Leopold (son of Aldo) at the Boyce ThompsonInstitute for Plant Research for several years. Dr. Leopold was the kindof scientist that Sheila had aspired to become when she was anundergraduate. Dr. Leopold had inherited his father’s ethics and nerve topersuade the public on scientific issues important to the future of theworld and humanity. He introduced Sheila to the importance ofpreservation of genetic diversity in agricultural plant species.

It was natural for Dr. Blackman then to take a position at the NationalSeed Storage Laboratory in Ft. Collins, CO (a facility of the USDA) totry to “rescue” some corn seed. These were the last remaining seed fromsome Argentinian landraces. These landraces were a “goldmine” ofgenetic diversity but were no longer being cultivated in Argentinabecause farmers had switched to modern hybrids. The seeds haddeteriorated to the extent that they were officially pronounced “dead”(incapable of field germination) but Sheila was able to mollycoddle theembryos in tissue culture so that plants and seeds were produced fromsome of the original seeds. Her work emphasized the tremendousimportance of maintaining viable populations representative of the entiregenetic diversity within agricultural species.

After completing her work at the National Seed Laboratory, Sheilatook a position as research scientist with Weyerhaeuser corporation inSeattle, WA. Her team was trying to make artificial seeds of Douglas firthrough a process known as somatic embryogenesis. She worked therefor several years, continuing a very long-distance relationship with herhusband-to-be Mark Staves (then a professor at GVSU). In 1995, shebecame disgruntled with the commute, and announced to her managerthat she was quitting Weyerhaeuser.

In the fall of that year, she moved to Grand Rapids without a job, butfound GVSU, always growing and looking for new instructors, wassearching for a plant developmental biologist. Sheila applied for theposition and she has been at GVSU ever since. She regularly teaches Bio406 (Cell and Molecular Laboratory), 112 (Introductory Biology), and423 (Introduction to plant development and biotechnology).

She has a research program involving undergraduate students inseveral areas. The first involves cellular mechanisms controllingdevelopment in plants. She is particularly interested in the existence andnature of short-distance controlling factors. At the moment she ispursuing the hypothesis that cell wall-plasma membrane adhesionproteins are important in plant development (Physiologia plantarum 112:567-571). On this project, she collaborates with Dr. Mark Staves. Inaddition, Sheila has a project investigating the effects of long-term seedstorage on genetic diversity in a model system. Further, she is active ininvestigating agricultural policies and practices (including geneticallymodifying foods) here and in developing nations.

New facultyStephen Burton

Dr. Burton receivedhis B.S. and M.S.from NortheasternState University inOklahoma. Herecently completedhis Doctor of Artsat Idaho StateUniversity. Dr.Burton is activewith the ScienceEducation group at

GVSU and co-teaches the GVSU ScienceTeacher Assistants seminar along withProfessor Paul Huizenga. Research interests forDr. Burton include both education andbiological emphases. He is interested indeveloping and evaluating the effectiveness ofinquiry based activities. His biological researchinterests are in conservation biology with afocus on the effects of habitat destruction andalteration on amphibians. Currently he isworking with students to implement amphibianresearch in Michigan. Furthermore, he and Dr.Karel Rogers are working with 3 students indeveloping a project to study amphibiandiversity in Madagascar. Dr. Burton teachesBiology I, Environmental Ethics, and ScienceTeaching Assistant Seminar.

Alex G. NikitinDr. Nikitinreceived hisMasters Degree inBiology andEducation fromKiev StateUniversity inUkraine, andshortly thereafterwas accepted into aPh.D. program inBiology at BowlingGreen State University. His dissertation wasdevoted to the genetics of life histories of thefruit fly Drosophila. His postgraduate work wasin the field of gerontology and development.Prior to arriving at Grand Valley, Dr. Nikitinworked in the Pediatric Oncology Division ofthe University of Michigan Medical School,where he studied the genetic processes thatcontrol normal development and the

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developmental “mistakes” that lead to cancer and other human diseases.The genetic control of human development is the focus of his researchactivity here at GVSU. In his research, he uses the fruit fly Drosophila asa model system to study the genetic control of organ formation(organogenesis) during early development.

Jerome DrainDr. Jerome Drain joined the biologydepartment in the winter of 2001 as aVisiting Professor and now is an AssistantProfessor. Originally from Durham, NC, hereceived his B.S. in Chemistry from Wakeforest University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistryand Molecular Genetics from the Universityof Alabama at Birmingham. His formaltraining is in the areas of protein/lipidbiochemistry and cell biology. His Ph.D.research and current research interestsinvolve the biochemical pathways of thenon-immune killing of parasites. At GVSUhe teaches general biology and cellular andmolecular biology laboratory.

Patricia MatthewsPatricia Matthews is completing her 30thyear of employment at GVSU. Beforeentering into a tenure track position in theBiology Department, Pat worked for overtwenty years as an adjunct professor. She didmost of her undergraduate coursework at theUniversity of Michigan and received bothher B.S. and M.Ed. at GVSU. She hascurrently completed her Ph.D. coursework atMichigan State University in the College ofEducation, Department of Higher, Adult,Lifelong Education. She will be doingresearch on her dissertation this summer, in

addition to freshman orientation at GVSU. For the Biology Department,she teaches Introductory Biology, Biology of People, IntroductoryEnvironmental Science, Medical Bioethics, Human Genetics, GeneticsLab., Teaching Reproductive Health, and Freshman Studies. She enjoysinteracting with all levels of students and likes the diversity of herteaching assignments. Pat continues to do community service as afirefighter-paramedic for two volunteer rural departments – service thatshe enjoys even more than teaching (if that is possible!).

Faculty ActivityDr. Shaily Menon attended a Summer Institute on Writing in theSciences at MSU, June 2001, presented an invited paper in a symposiumat the Association for Tropical Biology meeting in Bangalore, India, July2001, received an NSF travel grant to attend the ATB meetings, attendedConservation Biology meeting in Hilo, Hawaii, August 2001, where shepresented a poster, attended a workshop on teaching ConservationBiology, and participated in a discussion on conservation literacy

guidelines. She also became a member of theSociety for Conservation Biology’s EducationCommittee.

Dr. Mark Staves chaired the Botany and PlantEcology Section of the Michigan Academy ofSciences at the University of Michigan –Dearborn. He was the coauthor (with Dr.Sheila Blackman and GVSU biology graduateMarc Miedema) of a paper published inPhysiologia Plantarum. He also presentedpapers (co-authored by GVSU student AngelaFaber) at the annual meetings of the AmericanSociety of Plant Biologists and the MichiganSpace Grant Consortium. Dr. Staves is also thePrincipal Investigator for a $469,000 grantfrom the National Institutes of Health, whichwill bring under-represented minority studentsto GVSU to pursue careers in biomedicine.

And seek for truth in the groves of academe.Horace

They learn enough who know how to learn.Henry Brooks Adams

Life After GVSUHi Pat!

Iwas wondering if alumni are encouraged toparticipate in Biology Club and Tri-Beta. Igraduated 7 years ago from GVSU. You

may remember me as the geeky guy whoworked in the stockroom setting up fruit fliesfor Nancy Shontz, washingdishes for Lana, and attemptingto do PCR with chicken genomicDNA for you. Well, a lot haschanged since then. The lasttime I saw you was 4 years agojust before my wedding. Now,I’ve graduated from LSU with the Ph.D., and Iam a post-doc here at the Van Andel Institute.Interestingly enough with all the beer I drankas an undergrad, I guess it’s a good thing thatI’m a yeast geneticist!

If you have a few free moments, I would liketo have lunch with you sometime and see all thenew things at GVSU.

Best wishes,Donald L. Pappas, Jr., Ph.D.

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Alumni NewsGVSU graduate Keri Konarska was “in the news” as they say, when theDetroit News covered her GIS work for Livingston county. The full storycan be read here: http://detnews.com/2002/livingston/0201/15/d05l-391020.htm

New Arrival!Katherine Kantz and Keith Fessel arepleased to announce the birth of their son,Henri Paul Fessel on May 26, 2001 (8lbs15oz, 20in.). Henri has already startedbuilding the community service portion ofhis CV by participating in the LakeMichigan beach clean-up.

Looking for back issues of Cobwebs? No problem! We are online at:http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/cobwebs/Cobwebs.htm

Keeping in TouchWe hope you enjoy our newsletter and that you will keep in touch withus. We welcome your feedback. Share news with us–even if it is old toyou. Give us your email address and expect some kind of response(though not an instant one). We are accessible throughrogersk@gvsu.edu, phone: 616-895-2470. Keep the Biology Departmentinformed of changes in your mailing address, and if there are classmatesout there that you’ve lost touch with, ask us for addresses. And don’tforget to visit us at www.gvsu.edu/biology or from the GVSU homepageunder academic programs.

April 22, 1805. “I ascended to the top of thecutt bluff this morning, from whence I had amost delightful view of the country, the wholeof which except the valley formed by theMissouri is void of timber or underbrush,exposing to the first glance of the spectatorimmence herds of Buffaloe, Elk, deer, &Antelopes feeding in one common andboundless pasture. . . . walking on shore thisevening I met with abuffaloe calf whichattatched itself to meand continued to followclose at my heels untill Iembarked and left it.”

May 31, 1805. “The hills and river Cliftswhich we passed today exhibit a most romanticappearance. The water in the course of time indecending from those hills . . . has trickleddown the soft sand clifts and woarn it into athousand grotesque figures, which with the helpof a little immagination and an oblique view . .. are made to represent eligant ranges of loftyfreestone buildings . . . statuary . . . longgalleries . . . the remains or ruins of eligantbuildings . . . some collumns standing . . .others lying prostrate an broken . . . nitchesand alcoves of various forms and sizes. . . . aswe passed on it seemed as if those seens ofvisionary inchantment would never had andend . . . vast ranges of walls of tolerableworkmanship, so perfect indeed that I shouldhave thought that nature had attempted here torival the human art of masonry had I notrecollected that she had first began her work.”

Meriwether Lewis

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Name: ________________________________________________________ Year graduated: ________________

Corrected address :___________________________________

___________________________________________________ Please send to: Biology DepartmentGrand Valley State University

______________________________ Zip __________________ Allendale, MI 49401

email: _________________________

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GVSU Vet Club member Erin McIntosh searches for a career in veterinary medicineduring Vet-A-Visit at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine.