Orientation

August 13-18, 2008

Incoming Students:

Jing Chen, Ye Sun, Jessica Biever, Kai-Ting Fan, Toko Mori, Brendan Epstein, Suma Sreekanta, Roseanne Healy, Mike Nelson, Mike Wilson, Jo Heuschele

We would like to thank the following faculty and students for making the 2008 orientation a great success!!!
David Biesboer (Director of the Itasca Research Station), Jerry Cohen (Director of Graduate Studies, Bill Gray (faculty), Georgiana May (faculty), Min Ni (faculty), Neil Olszewski (faculty), Nevin Young (faculty), and Gail Kalli (coordinator).

TA's:

Jessica Biever, Kai-Ting Fan, Xing Liu, Ye Sun

Plant Biological Sciences Graduate Program Orientation Events

Lab Modules and Research Talks:

Dr. David Biesboer - "Nitrogen Cycling in Iron Springs Bog"
Dr. Jerry Cohen - "The biochemistry of auxin conjugation"
Dr. Bill Gray - "Protein-protein interactions: Detecting auxin-induced binding of SCF-TIR1 substrates with pull-down assays"
Dr. Neil Olszewski - "Protein glycosylation affects hormone signaling and plant development"
Dr. Georgiana May - "Fungi of northern Minnesota"
Dr. Nevin Young - "Bioinformatics"
Dr. Min Ni - “Photomorphorenesis, flowering, and seed development"

Activities:

Pontoon tour
Barbecue
Floating Bog Tour

Annual retreat

Agenda

8:00 - 8:45: Check in and breakfast

8:45 - 9:00: Welcome - Jerry Cohen

9:00 - 9:30: Update from PBS Committee Chairs- Ryoko Oono, session chair

Admissions (Steve Gantt)
Colloquium (John Ward)
Curriculum (Gary Muehlbauer)
Financial Aid (Gary Gardner)
Itasca (Bill Gray)
IGERT (Sue Gibson)
Phytograds (Ryoko Oono)

9:30 - 10:15: Robert Elde, Dean of the College of Biological Sciences

Introduction - Jerry Cohen

10:15 - 10:40: Break

10:40 - 10:55: First-year student introductions- Kerrie Sendall, session chair

Jessica Biever, John Compton, Kai-Ting Fan, Jennifer Irving, Moana McClellan, Christopher Pinahs, Ye Sun

10:55 - 12:00:   PBS Student Research Talks -   Amy Dykstra, session chair

Rachel Mills - Pre-thesis talk: "Study of a prairie invasive in NW Minnesota"
Yun Zhou - "SHB1 function in de-etiolation and flowering"
Ed Gilding - "The Blunt End to a Sharp Object: Restructuring Trichomes"
Victoria Ranua - "The reproductive strategies of the Minnesota threatened species, Viola lanceolata (Violaceae)"
Abbe Award - Brian Arnold - VandenBosch, session chair

12:00 - 1:00: Lunch

1:00 - 2:00:   PBS Student/Post Doc Research Talks   - Yun Zhou, session chair

Brian Piasecki- "Centriolar maturation and ciliary formation in Chlamydomonas"
Jenny Cechaine - "Multiple Phytochromes Mediate Progeny Germination Responses to Light Quality in the Maternal Environment"
Adam Huang - "Identification of a Protein Kinase and a RING - Finger Protein Involved in Plant Sugar Response"
Lynn Hartweck - "Special Ops of the Plant World: Secret Agent and Spy"

3:00 - 4:00: Poster session (post docs and grad students) - Carrie Eberle, session chair

4:00 - 4:30: Retreat Day Summary/Door Prizes - Cohen

4:30: Tour of the Conservatory (Optional) - Tim Whitfeld