PResident's RePORt 2009/2010 - University College Cork

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Foreword UCC at a Glance Academic Developments Teaching and Learning Research College Reports: Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences Business and Law Medicine and Health Science, Engineering and Food Science Events Student Experience Sports and Recreation Buildings and Estates Cork University Press Finance Governing Body IRIS Appendix 52 • Microbiology scientists publish in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A team of scientists led by Dr Max Dow from the Signalling and Pathogensis group at the BIOMERIT Research Centre (Microbiology) UCC have had their recent findings accepted for publication in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. • Scientific links established between UCC and China: The Department of Microbiology welcomed Shi Qi An from The Institute of Molecular Genetics, Guangxi University, Nanning, PRC who visited the laboratory of Dr Max Dow at the BIOMERIT Research Centre. Ms Shi Qi An was here on an extended research visit as part of SFI-funded International Research Partnership between the research groups of Dr Max Dow at UCC and Chinese research group led by Professor Ji-Liang Tang at Guangxi University. The emphasis of the International Research Partnership programme is to support talented visionary scientists in a bilateral exchange programme to the mutual benefit of Ireland and the participating country. During her visit Shi Qi An worked on a long standing joint project between the research groups aimed at understanding the role cell-to-cell signalling plays in virulence in plant pathogenic bacteria belonging to the genera Xanthomonas. • UCC Students selected for international research training project: UCC students of Microbiology, Genetics and Bioinformatics are involved in a project which is being led by the internationally renowned US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), a world-leading institute in DNA sequencing located in Walnut Creek, California. As a result of an international competition, UCC is one of 16 universities worldwide to be chosen to participate in an international project to carry out scientific analysis of the DNA sequences of bacteria. In fact, UCC is only one of three non-US universities selected for the 2010 DOE Joint Genome Institute’s ‘Education Programme’ project, the other two being in Lund, Sweden, and in St George’s in Grenada, West Indies. Awards (staff and students) • Saranna Fanning (PhD Microbiology) an NUI Travelling Studentship funded Saranna to avail of the research knowledge and expertise in the area of bifidobacteria at UCC and yeast genetics expertise in the labs of Professor Aaron P. Mitchell, formerly of Columbia University, NY, USA and now at Carnegie Mellon University, PA, US, to explore two distinct research topics as part of her PhD thesis. • IDF Elie Metchnikoff Prize Four scientists have been awarded the IDF Elie Metchnikoff Prize in Microbiology for 2010. The Prize is named in honour of the recipient of the 1908 Nobel Prize and is awarded in recognition of their contribution to the study of lactic acid bacteria. The prize-winners are Dr Catherine Stanton and Professor Paul Ross of Teagasc, Moorepark and Professors Colin Hill and Gerald Fitzgerald (Microbiology). All four scientists are Principal Investigators in the APC and in Food for Health Ireland and each has recently been awarded a DSc from the National University of Ireland for their published work. • Heather McLoughlin (PhD Microbiology) received two awards this year. She was the winner of the UCC Science for All Postgraduate Student Public Presentation Competition, in which young scientists have to explain themselves ‘without the jargon’ to a live audience. She also received the PhD category award for this year’s UCC BioSciences Institute Researcher of the Year competition. • Dr Robert Ryan who holds a position in the Signalling and Pathogenesis Group led by Dr Max Dow at the BIOMERIT Research Centre Department of Microbiology, UCC, was awarded a Starting Investigator Research Grant in October 2009. Dr Ryan was one of 15 highly-talented SIRG award recipients. The funding, under a new Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) initiative, will help researchers at an early stage in their careers to progress towards a fully independent academic research career. • Microbiology Academics elected to the Royal Irish Academy: Colin Hill, Professor of Microbial Food Safety, and Principal Investigator, APC, was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy • Professor Fergal O’Gara, Director of the BIOMERIT Research Centre, has been appointed as Vice-President of the Royal Irish Academy. He has also been elected to the RIA Council representing the Committee of Science. Professor O’Gara was first elected as a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2003.
Foreword UCC at a Glance Academic Developments Teaching and Learning Research College Reports: Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences Business and Law Medicine and Health Science, Engineering and Food Science Events Student Experience Sports and Recreation Buildings and Estates Cork University Press Finance Governing Body IRIS Appendix 53 Events and Conferences • UCC’s Boole Library was presented with a new biomedical book, Bifidobacteria-Genomics and Molecular Aspects by Professor Douwe van Sinderen (Microbiology) Department and Principal Investigator at the APC (September 2010). • VIBE Bioinformatics Conference: delegates presented the results of the latest research in the area of ‘bioinformatics’, a rapidly developing field that uses computer technologies to address a variety of problems in contemporary biology. The meeting was organised by three UCC bioinformaticians, Drs Marcus Claesson (Microbiology), Pasha Baranov (Biochemistry) and Avril Coghlan (Microbiology), and was attended by researchers from around Ireland. • Professor Colin Hill (Microbiology) presented his work at the Society for General Microbiology’s autumn meeting in Nottingham in September 2010. School of Mathematical Sciences Awards, Prizes, Honours – Staff and Students • Dr D. Rachinskii joined the Advisory Board of the journal Mathematische Nachrichten. • Dr Niall Fitzgerald won the 2009 IEEE International Contest on Data Mining. Events and Conferences • International Conference on Multi-Rate Processes and Hysteresis in Pecs, organised by Professor A. Pokrovskii and Dr D. Rachinskii (jointly with Professor Ivanyi, Professor O’Malley and Professor Sobolev), took place in Hungary (June 2010) • Dr D. Rachinskii edited Proceedings of the International Conference on Multi-Rate Processes and Hysteresis 2010 for IOP Journal of Physics: conference series. Activities promoting mathematics in the wider community • Mathematics Enrichment Programme: Students representing different secondary schools from the Cork area participate annually in the UCC Mathematics Enrichment Programme initiated by Dr Donal Hurley and Professor Finbarr Holland, and run by staff members in the School of Mathematical Sciences. In 2010, around forty students took part in the programme. Of these, eight competed in the Irish Mathematical Olympiad, five were ranked in the National Roll of Honour, and two became part of the six-member team to represent Ireland at the International Mathematics Olympiad. • Mathematical Sciences Open Afternoon: The School of Mathematical Sciences held their annual open afternoon in December 2009. Approximately 50 students attended the event from secondary schools throughout Munster. Presentations and demonstrations were delivered on the Mathematical Sciences programme in UCC including modern developments in: mathematics; applied mathematics; statistics; financial mathematics and actuarial science. • National Team Math Final 2010: Second-level mathematics students gathered at UCC in March 2010 for the National Final of Team Math, following competitive heats throughout the country. The competition format is based on that of a Table Quiz where students work in teams of up to four solving eight rounds of problems. Sixteen teams competed at the final and Christian Brothers College, Cork, emerged as the overall winners. SEFS Outreach Activities: • Campus-wide Science Week • Discovery Science Festival • BT Young Scientist Exhibition • Engineers Week • Comprehensive Student Recruitment/Outreach Programme • Transition Year programmes in biochemistry, computer science and microbiology.
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PResident's RePORt 2009/2010 - University College Cork

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