VOTER ELIGIBILITY AND BALLOT INFORMATION:

• Ballots will be accepted from all Regular FUN members who have submitted the on-line FUN information form and paid dues in 2004 ($15) and/or 2005 ($35). Information submitted via the FUN info form is the official source of FUN membership data. If you have not received voting information via the FUN mailing list, please complete and submit the on-line FUN information form and/or contact the FUN Webmaster, Dr. Deborah Colbern , to confirm your e-mail information, or the FUN Treasurer, Dr. Gayle Brosnan-Watters to confirm your dues payment. Organizational members are allowed an additional vote to be cast by a (non-student) representative from their organization. (Sorry, student members are not eligible to vote - FUN Bylaws: Article III-Membership .) Ballots will be authenticated by matching the e-mail address on the ballot with the e-mail address listed on the previously submitted FUN information form.

Sonsoles de Lacalle - Nominee for President-elect
Chair, Department of Biological Sciences
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science - Los Angeles, CA

M.A. International Institute of Education, Rome, Italy
M.D./Ph.D. University of Navarra, Spain

I joined FUN in 2000, and from then on my students and I have participated actively in the FUN Poster/Social held during the annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting.

Since 1999, I have supervised 25 students in my laboratory, 13 of them undergraduates. I have published 8 peer-reviewed papers with 9 students as coauthors; 5 were undergraduates at the time the work was performed. Many of my students have presented their work at the SfN/FUN Poster session, and some have received FUN Student Travel Awards. With the growing recognition of the importance of undergraduate research, increasing support for undergraduate participation at FUN events and similar venues is clearly a high priority.

In June 2001, I was fortunate to participate in a meeting organized by Project Kaleidoscope and the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience at Trinity College, in Hartford (CT). That workshop on “Undergraduate Neuroscience Education: From the Enchanted Loom to the World Wide Web” was a turning point in my career, as I discovered the scientific and educational possibilities of establishing and building Neuroscience Programs at the undergraduate level. I believe FUN should actively support the development of similar events, particularly regional forums, and find ways to support those who wish to establish undergraduate neuroscience programs at their institutions.

Mary Harrington - Nominee for President-elect
Department of Psychology
Smith College - Northhampton, MA

I received my BS in from Pennsylvania State University, my MA in 1982 from University of Toronto, and my PhD in 1986 from Dalhousie University. I am currently Tippit Professor in Life Sciences at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

I teach undergraduate courses in Biological Rhythms, History of Neuroscience, and Experimental Methods in Neuroscience. I have just published a textbook for teaching research methods to neuroscience students (The Design of Experiments in Neuroscience, Wadsworth, 2005). My research lab generally has 5-8 undergraduates working on experiments, and I have mentored more than 50 undergraduates in my lab in the past 10 years. My research, on the neural regulation of circadian rhythms, has been supported by grants from NIH, NSF, and Pfizer. I serve on the editorial board of the Journal for Neuroscience and the electorate nominating committee for AAAS.

I would like to serve to continue the mission of FUN, and to work on behalf of neuroscience educators and undergraduate students. I will work to solidify funding for our travel award initiatives, and to promote our Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education.

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Mary Lou Caspers- Nominee for Secretary
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of Detroit Mercy - Detroit, Michigan

B.S. 1972, Chemistry, University of Detroit
Ph.D. 1977, Biochemistry, Wayne State University, School of Medicine
Visiting Research Investigator in Neurology, University of Michigan;
Guest Researcher, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD
Currently: Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Detroit Mercy

I have been at the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM) for my entire career. Although we have a small M.S. program, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry focuses on undergraduate education and I thoroughly enjoy working with undergraduate students. My teaching obligations include freshmen chemistry laboratory as well as undergraduate and graduate biochemistry courses. In the senior seminar course for biochemistry majors, I have incorporated a neurochemistry unit in which the students read review and journal articles from the current literature. UDM, which was founded by the Jesuits and Sisters of Mercy, is committed to the education of the whole person, and as such requires a course that discusses societal issues as a prerequisite for graduation. Therefore, students in the biochemistry seminar course also discuss the societal concerns related to the research articles that they read.

My research projects deal with the distribution in brain of the three alpha subunit isoforms of the sodium/potassium ATPase. This work is carried out with the help of undergraduate students, some of whom have been recipients of FUN travel awards.

Having a student participate in the FUN poster social last year allowed me to appreciate the instrumental role that FUN can perform in inspiring and shaping future neuroscientists. Even though I work at a large university, I am housed at a branch campus comprised of only undergraduates. The presence of the residential undergraduate honor’s college on my campus offers me the opportunity to work with very bright, motivated students. I believe that participating in research is integral to a sound education in neuroscience and I am committed to involving promising students in my lab. As part of my commitment to the importance of undergraduate education, I serve on the undergraduate curriculum committee, have published with undergraduates as co-authors and received the university’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award.

Elizabeth Johnson
Councilor

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Deborah O'Dell
Councilor

Deborah O'Dell - Nominee for Councilor
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Mary Washington - Fredericksburg, VA

I received my PhD in Cellular and Developmental Biology from SUNY Stony Brook working on magnetic field detection in honeybees. I then did postdoctoral work in the lab of Malcolm Burrows at Cambridge University where I was also the Trevelyn Research Fellow of Selwyn College. I have been teaching at University of Mary Washington since 1992, where like many other FUN members I am the only neuroscientist in the Biology Department. My work ranges from protein expression in developing and aging nervous systems to the effects of magnetic fields on nervous tissue. Many of my research students have done projects in the area of neuroscience (from psychology majors looking at protein expression during learning to biology students examining retinoic acid in brains) and they have presented at FUN (and SFN) and have gone onto graduate programs in neurobiology.

I have been a member of FUN since 1994, and have found it to be a very supportive and encouraging experience. I would like to contribute to FUN to support the development of neuroscience at the undergraduate level and support undergraduate faculty in the same way that FUN has supported me.

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I have a PhD in neuroscience from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia where I studied cortical development in the wallaby. Upon completion of my dissertation, I taught math in Honduras, Central America. Then in 2001, I joined Arkansas State University as an assistant professor of psychology and started a research lab in behavioral neuroscience. Undergraduate students majoring in the sciences are the backbone of this program.

Because the students at Arkansas State University are showing an increased interest in neuroscience, I helped found the first ASU Society for Neuroscience Club and am currently a faculty co-sponsor. I am also part of the newly established Arkansas Biosciences Institute that supports bioscience and tobacco-related research. My own research focuses on nicotine and its effects on physiology and behavior. Courses I teach include Physiological Psychology, Mammalian Neurobiology, Evolutionary Psychology, Quantitative Methods, Introduction to Psychology, and Contemporary Psychology.

As an Associate Dean in this college of 1100 within a University of 13,000 undergraduates, I am the pre-medical and neuroscience advisor to students in an intense, highly-competitive liberal arts college within the larger world of our research University. This gives me diplopia sometimes, but the two views allow me to see the problems and advantages of both educational environments. As part of the University, I have helped develop a Neuroscience Minor to serve the needs of all USC undergraduates, while as part of the Honors College, I promote research opportunities and teach neuroscience courses.

Jeff Smith - Nominee for Councilor
Department of Psychology
Mount Union College - Alliance, Ohio

I am currently an assistant professor of psychology at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio. My Bachelor’s degree in psychology was awarded by Georgia College in 1993. Following, I earned my Ph.D. from Emory University in Atlanta Georgia, specializing in behavioral neuroscience. Under the guidance of my advisor, Donald Stein, I developed and expanded my interests in recovery from traumatic brain injury and neuroplasticity. Since beginning my career at Mount Union I have worked diligently to support undergraduate neuroscience. In my sixth year at Mount Union College I can finally say; neuroscience is now in bloom! The faculty of MUC has just approved our new major in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience and we have recently greatly expanded our facilities for those that wish to explore the complexities of the CNS. I see these growth opportunities and my involvement in FUN to be directly related.

Keith Trujillo - Nominee for Councilor
Department of Psychology
California State University, San Marcos

I have longstanding interests in training the next generation of scientists and in increasing diversity in science and academia. I’ve been at California State University San Marcos, an undergraduate institution, since 1994 where I have been extensively involved in training students in laboratory research. My students regularly present their work at the annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting, as well as at other scientific conferences.

I am currently Professor of Psychology and Associate Director of the Office for Biomedical Research and Training at CSU San Marcos. I began my college career at Shasta Community College, where I received an Associate of Arts degree in Biological Sciences. I then received Bachelors degrees in Biological Sciences, Psychology and Chemistry from California State University, Chico and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of California, Irvine. Following completion of my Ph.D. I worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and a Research Investigator at The University of Michigan.

My area of interest within the neurosciences is psychopharmacology, with a focus on the neural basis of drug abuse and addiction. I have been a member of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) for over 10 years and have been a Councilor for the past two years. In addition, I have been a member of the Committee for Neuroscience Literacy for the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) since 2003. In this capacity, I’ve been working to build collaborations between FUN and SfN, and will continue these efforts if re-elected as a Councilor. The greater visibility that FUN has within SfN, the better we can serve the undergraduate neuroscience community.

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I teach courses in Physiological Psychology, Psychopharmacology, and Neural and Psychological Disorders, as well as a Laboratory in Brain and Behavior. I also am part of a team-taught Introduction to Psychology course. I advise students who major in Psychology with a concentration in Neuroscience, a program that has increased from 3 students to 21 since my arrival at Colby.

I have supervised five students doing honors research and have had another 20 work with my in the laboratory. My primary research interest is the secondary pathology of traumatic spinal cord injuries, but students have taken on projects in the lab in such diverse areas as environment-dependent tolerance to ethanol, contagious yawning, and the effects of laughter on immune function. One manuscript from these projects in under review and a second is in preparation.