CAMPUS CURRENT Faculty News

Faculty Activities (continued)
Coral “Invaders” are Focus of Study
Octocorals, so-called because of the eightfold radial symmetry
of their tentacles, are commonly found on reefs throughout
the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Yet many questions about
their taxonomy, the identification of species and their
phylogenetic relationships remain.
Dyson DiMaggio Maloney Tucker
An international team of researchers, including Catherine
McFadden, Vivian and D. Kenneth Baker Professor in the
Life Sciences, has received a four-year grant of $160,000 from New to the HMC Faculty
the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation to study the Ericka Dyson, assistant professor of religious studies B.A.,
Xeniidae family of octocorals in the Red Sea. Mount Hoyloke College; M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Columbia
Xeniid species are difficult to distinguish by visual obser- University
vation, but genetic sequencing offers a reliable way to Research specialty: 19th-century American religious move-
identify species and genera within the family. ments, church/state relations, and science and religion
McFadden will contribute her expertise in Fast fact: This past summer, she accompanied 24 high school
octocorals and mitochondrial gene- students to the Middle East as part of a pre-college program
sequencing with the nuclear gene-se- she organized, entitled “Culture and History: Understanding
quencing capabilities of Robert Toonen the Arab World.”
of the University of Hawaii and Tel
Samuel DiMaggio, professor of engineering (previously adjunct)
Aviv University Yehuda Benayahu’s
B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Columbia University
knowledge of octocoral ecology and re-
Research specialty: launch vehicle dynamics
production. As species are determined
Fast fact: He is a former director of structural dynamics at
on the basis of genetics, the researchers
Space Exploration Technologies, Hawthorne, Calif. and runs
hope to find visual characteristics that
his own consulting business called DiMaggio Engineering
will enable scientists and recreational divers
Company.
to identify octocoral species in the field.
The grant will fund research and collaboration
Katherine N. Maloney, assistant professor of chemistry B.S.,
among the three institutions, allowing students from each to
Pacific Lutheran University; M.S., Ph.D., Cornell University
visit the others and share techniques for genetic sequencing
Research specialty: small organic molecules (natural products)
and species identification.
produced by some organisms to facilitate their interactions
with other organisms
Appointments and Promotions
Fast fact: Works with Catherine McFadden in Biology, ex-
Francis Su was elected to a two-year term as first vice-president
ploring the use of natural product profiles to complement
of the 27,000-member Mathematical Association of America.
molecular (DNA) phylogenetic analyses in studies of the evo-
The organization advances the mathematical sciences, espe-
lutionary relationships among soft corals.
cially at the collegiate level.
Jennifer Tucker, Hixon-Riggs Visiting Professor of Science,
The HMC Board of Trustees approved the promotion of
Technology, and Society
William Alves to full professor, effective this past July. A fac-
B.A., Stanford University; M.Phil., University of Cambridge;
ulty member since 1995, Alves is a composer and video artist
Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University
with interests in many traditional musics around the world,
Research specialty: Tucker is visiting from Wesleyan Universi-
especially that of the Indonesian gamelan; computer music;
ty, where she is associate professor of history, science in society
abstract animation and visual music; and alternate tuning sys-
and feminist, gender and sexuality studies
tems. He is author of the textbook, Music of the Peoples of the
Fast fact: She is co-organizing the annual Hixon-Riggs confer-
World, and is co-director of MicroFest, the annual Southern
ence, Feb. 18–20, 2010, entitled “Science, A Moving Image.”
California festival of microtonal music. He started The Harvey
Mudd College American Gamelan in 2001.
8 Harvey Mudd College FALL/WINTER 2009
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