FACULTY
& STAFF
HIGHLIGHTS
from around COSAM
Santos Appointed Program
Officer at NSF
Feminella Named COSAM’s Associate
Dean for Academic Affairs
Jack Feminella, professor and chair of the
Department of Biological Sciences, was appointed
to succeed Vince Cammarata as COSAM’s
associate dean for academic affairs. Feminella
received his bachelor of science from SUNY
Oneonta, his master of science from the University
of North Texas, and his doctorate from the
University of California, Berkeley. He joined
COSAM’s Department of Biological Sciences
in 1991, served as graduate program office from
1999 to 2008, and as department chair from 2008
to 2015. Feminella, a professor of stream ecology,
has studied the ecology of a variety of stream
organisms and ecosystems in Oregon, California,
Washington, Arkansas, and across the Southeast
since 1978. At Auburn, Feminella’s research has
centered on ecological questions at the population
and community levels of organization using model
organisms ranging from stream microbes like algae,
bacteria, and fungi, to macrobiota such as benthic
invertebrates and vertebrates, to study the influence
of environmental conditions on the organization
and function of stream ecosystems. He has served
as faculty advisor to approximately 20 graduate
students, secured numerous grants and publications,
and regularly teaches organismal biology, general
ecology, invertebrate biodiversity, stream ecology,
and an undergraduate seminar in ecology. He
was named outstanding faculty member of the
Auburn University Graduate School in 2008,
received the COSAM Dean’s Award for faculty
service and outreach in 2009, and the President’s
Outstanding Collaborative Units Award in 2011.
Feminella officially began his term on Aug. 1, 2015.
Robert Boyd (http://www.auburn.edu/academic/
cosam/faculty/biology/boyd/), professor and
undergraduate program officer in the Department
of Biological Sciences, is serving as interim chair of
the Department of Biological Sciences. For more
information on Feminella, visit his webpage at
www.auburn.edu/cosam/feminella.
Biological Sciences Professor Scott Santos
accepted an appointment as a rotating
program officer in the Division of Integrative
Organismal Systems at the National Science
Foundation. As such, Santos is spending the
2015-16 academic year at NSF assisting the
ISO deputy division director in the daily
operations and management of the division.
Santos, who is also the co-director of
the Auburn University Molette Biology
Laboratory for Environmental and Climate
Change Studies, conducts research related to
population genetics, resource conservation,
genomic evolution, and symbiosis biology in
aquatic — both freshwater and marine —
microbes and multi-cellular organisms, with a
variety of molecular tools and computational
approaches being utilized in these pursuits.
He recently received a two-year grant from
the NSF’s Division of Environmental Biology.
The research proposal, “Assessing Evolution of
Euryhalinity in Anchialine Shrimps,” and the
funding will allow Santos to further investigate
the evolution of the molecular mechanisms of
osmoregulation in shrimp species from coastal
ponds and pools.
He has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed
publications since 2001 in journals such as The
Biological Bulletin, Marine Biology, Journal of
Phycology, Environmental Microbiology, Current
Biology, Marine Ecology Progress Series, Animal
Conservation, PLoS One, Molecular Ecology,
and Proceedings of the National Academy of the
Sciences USA.
College of Sciences and Mathematics
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