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College of Arts and Science, Miami University

The Department of Microbiology

Alumni Newsletter - Summer 2018

2018 Microbiology undergraduate and graduate student awardees

Support Microbiology!

With areas of emphasis in Molecular Microbiology, Microbial Pathogenesis and Environmental Microbiology, the Department of Microbiology provides our majors a wide range of laboratory experiences and a faculty that is dedicated to excellence in teaching and research.

Renovation of our home in Pearson Hall depends on receipt of financial support from the state of Ohio as well as donations. Please make a gift today!

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Message from the Chair

Dear Microbiology alumni and friends,

This past academic year was an exciting and challenging one for the Department of Microbiology, and we’d like to tell you about some of the highlights.

Phase 1 of the Pearson Hall renovation is moving along and will be completed as planned by the start of the 2018-2019 academic year. Phase 2 of the renovation plan, which will start in September, will focus mostly on research labs and facilities with the goal of completing the entire process by the end of the summer of 2020. Once completed with the financial support from Miami University, the state of Ohio as well as donations, the renovated PSN Hall will provide a modern teaching, training, and research hub that will promote and empower the connections between classrooms and research labs in the biological sciences, including microbiology. In addition, it will provide an open welcome area on the ground floor in front of the main entrance, while adding a brand new glass-encased atrium in the center of the building, where students can spend time engaged in their coursework and assignments and discuss research ideas and projects with their mentors and peers.

The entering undergraduate class in 2017-2018 included 33 majors in both Microbiology and Medical Laboratory Science. This past academic year 38 undergrads joined 23 graduate students in research labs, including 7 new graduate students pursuing MS and PhD degrees. Overall, 73 undergraduate students co-authored 33 presentations made at regional, national, and international professional meetings, with two of them included in two peer-reviewed journal publications.

For more details, see Miami Microbiology Alumni on the MBI website.

We welcome visits from alumni. If you’re planning to visit, please contact me and we’ll be happy to arrange your visit, talk to you, and show you the renovated teaching and research classrooms and labs.

Sincerely,

Luis Actis
Professor and Chair

Student News

Jacob Schlichter represented Miami University at the 10th Annual Science Education Alliance Symposium at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, VA. Microbiology is a participant in this program in which first-year undergraduates isolate, characterize, and annotate genomes of bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) from soil samples that they obtain. Dr. Mitch Balish also attended the meeting, which featured students and faculty from about 100 colleges and universities across the United States and beyond.
Graduating senior Rebecca Wyma, who did research in the laboratory of Dr. Mitch Balish, was featured in a student spotlight from the Mallory-Wilson Center for Healthcare Education.

Faculty News

Microbiology faculty members have also received significant grant awards to support their research programs that actively involve undergraduate and graduate students. Drs. Annette Bollmann and D.J. Ferguson were each awarded grants from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Bollmann’s grant supports research on bacterial communities and the oxidation of ammonia, an essential step in a fundamental environmental process that enables life on Earth to carry on. Dr. Ferguson’s funding is for studying how microbes generate methane, not only a significant greenhouse gas but also a potential source of energy, from a class of molecules called quaternary amines, found in the environment.
The Department of Microbiology welcomed our new Assistant Professor Dr. Xin Wang, who came from Texas A&M University. With his focus on synthetic biology, including the engineering of bacteria to produce valuable chemical compounds, as well as proteomics and the study of microbiomes, he adds expertise to the department in modern and important research areas.

Expanding the Microbiology Curriculum: Public Health and Nursing

The Microbiology curriculum is also expanding with the purpose of offering courses to help provide alternative professional outcomes to our students.

The College of Arts and Science and the College of Education, Health, and Society created a new major in Public Health. Students will take a common set of core courses and will also elect one of four different specialization tracks. Microbiology is administering the Bachelor of Arts in Public Health: Human Disease and Epidemiology track. This program offers students new opportunities to prepare for careers that are increasingly valuable to our society.
Microbiology is also contributing to the newly expanded Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, now offered on the Oxford Campus, as well as on the Regional Campuses. Nursing majors can take coursework offered by the Department of Microbiology to fulfill their degree requirements.