Contact: Rick Peterson, Manager of News Services, 920/832-6590
For Immediate Release
October 12, 2000
Lawrence University Alumni Scientists Help Celebrate Dedication of
Science Hall
APPLETON, WIS. -- Seven Lawrence University graduates who have gone
on to distinguished careers in the sciences will play prominent roles in
helping the college celebrate the opening of the most ambitious building
project in its history.
Culminating 10 years of planning and nearly two years of
construction, Science Hall, the $18.1 million, 78,000-square foot new
home to the college's molecular science programs, will be officially
dedicated Thursday, Oct. 19.
Thomas Steitz, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular Biophysics
and Biochemistry at Yale University, headlines the dedication ceremonies
as the event's keynote speaker.
Steitz graduated cum laude from Lawrence in 1962 with a bachelor's
degree in chemistry and earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology and
biochemistry from Harvard University. Prior to joining the Yale faculty,
Steitz worked at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular
Biology in Cambridge, England.
A recipient of the American Chemical Society's Pfizer Prize, Steitz
also serves as an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute,
studying structures of protein-nucleic acid interactions. He was
awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by Lawrence in 1981.
Prior to Steitz' keynote address, six alumni will share their
perspectives on the role of science in the undergraduate curriculum
during a panel discussion in Science Hall's atrium. Participants in the
forum include Carol Arnosti, Thomas Baer, Andrew Binns, Dr. Mary
Dinauer, Dr. Ashley Haase and Deborah Sycamore.
Arnosti, an assistant professor of marine sciences at the
University of North Carolina, earned a bachelor's degree magna cum laude
in chemistry from Lawrence in 1984. Following graduation she was
awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which she used to study the
maritime history of Northern Europe, and a Fulbright Fellowship to
study organic chemistry in Aachen, Germany. After completing both
fellowships, she returned to the U.S. and earned her Ph.D. degree in
1993 at the renowned Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
She received a second Fulbright Fellowship to study at the Max
Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany, before
joining the faculty at the University of North Carolina. Her research
interests have been supported by grants from the American Chemical
Society, the National Science Foundation and the Environmental
Protection Agency. Lawrence recognized Arnosti's accomplishments in
1994 with the Nathan M. Pusey Distinguished Achievement Award.
Baer founded and serves as CEO of Arcturus Engineering Inc. in
Mountainview, Calif., a company that develops instrumentation for the
life sciences and medicine, including cutting-edge technology such as
laser capture microdissection for precise molecular analysis. After
graduating magna cum laude with a degree in physics from Lawrence in
1974, Baer earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago.
He is a past director of the Optical Society of America and a member of
the American Physical Society. Lawrence honored Baer with its Lucia R.
Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award in 1994.
Binns, a professor of biology at the University of Pennsylvania,
joined the faculty there in 1980 and has served as chair of the
department since 1995. A 1971 magna cum laude graduate of Lawrence with
a major in biology, Binns was one of the original recipients of the
National Science Foundation's prestigious Presidential Young
Investigator Award. First given in 1984, the award is aimed to help
universities attract and retain outstanding young researchers. He
earned his doctorate degree in developmental biology from Princeton
University in 1979.
A 1975 summa cum laude graduate of Lawrence, Dinauer is widely
recognized as one of the nation's leading researchers in pediatric
hematology and oncology. After earning her Ph.D. in biochemistry and
her M.D. degree with honors from the University of Chicago, she started
her teaching career at Harvard Medical School in 1988.
Dinauer joined the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1991 as
associate professor of pediatrics, where she serves as the Nora Letzer
Professor of Pediatrics and Medical and Molecular Genetics. She has
earned the Excellence in Pediatric Research Award of the American
Academy of Pediatrics and was chosen as a Woman of Distinction by
Soroptomist International. Earlier this year, Dinauer was presented
Lawrence's Lucia R. Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award.
Haase, a specialist in viral pathogenesis research and credited
with major contributions to AIDS research, is professor and head of the
department of microbiology at the University of Minnesota. He graduated
summa cum laude from Lawrence in 1961 and earned his M.D. from Columbia
College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1965. Prior to joining the
University of Minnesota, he worked at the University of CaliforniaSan
Francisco Medical School, the Fort Miley V.A. Hospital in San Francisco,
the National Institute of Medical Research in London and the National
Institutes of Health.
A member of numerous professional organizations, among them the
American Society for Microbiology and the National Advisory Allergy and
Infectious Diseases Council, Haase serves on the Lawrence Board of
Trustees and was the recipient of the 1990 Lucia R. Briggs Distinguished
Achievement Award.
Sycamore is a partner at Morrice & Associates, a Denver, Colo.,
company that develops drilling sites around the world. A geologist
specializing in carbonate depositional environments, log interpretation
and Caribbean tectonics, Sycamore has participated in international
explorations in Belize and Ireland. A 1980 graduate of Lawrence with a
degree in geology, Sycamore began her career as an exploration analyst
for Union Texas Petroleum Corporation. She is a member of the American
Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Rocky Mountain Association of
Geologists and the Women's Energy Coalition.