Other Director of Graduate Studies
Before the first day of classes, a meeting shall be held between each student and the respective DGS of PSM-ABS. The purpose of this meeting is to review the student’s tentative Plan of Study in light of their career goals. The student and the DGS will agree on the courses that the student will take in the first semester.
ISTVAN MOLNAR is the Program Chair of the Professional Science Masters in Applied Biosciences. The Program Chair is appointed by the Dean of the Graduate College from nominees submitted by the Executive Committee. The Chair’s foremost duty is to administer the Program and activities of the Executive Committee.
Istvan Molnar is also DGS for the Industrial Microbial Biotechnology track.
His main research interest is the biosynthetic engineering of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi and algae) for pharmaceutical, agricultural, chemical industrial and bioenergy applications and the biosynthesis of small molecule natural products. But his research also includes: Arid Lands, Genetics and Molecular Ecology, and Natural Products Discovery and Development.
He teaches MIC, PLP, ARL 452/552: Antibiotics, a biological perspective.
Concurrent with his 2 positions in PSM-ABS, Dr. Molnar is also Program Chair of the Arid Lands Resource Sciences GIDP.
Read more about Dr. Molnar at: http://snre.arizona.edu/facilities/npc(link is external)
ANNE WERTHEIMER is the Director of Graduate Studies for the Diagnostics Laboratory Sciences track.
She is an Assistant Professor in the College of Medicine (Research Scholar Track).
Her research interests are:
- Microbe-host interactions
- Specifically microbial pathogenesis
- Concomitant immune response with respect to host age
Read more about Dr. Wertheimer at: http://immunobiology.arizona.edu/profile/anne-m-wertheimer-phd(link is external)
HANNA (JOHNNY) FARES is the Director of Graduate Studies for the Molecular & Cellular Biology track.
He is a Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and a member of the University of Arizona Cancer Center. The goal of his studies is to decipher a novel cell biological pathway linking regulators of endosomal and lysosomal transport; this will advance the field of membrane transport, identify the basis for tissue-specific death in some diseases, and identify potential therapies for the lysosomal storage disorder Mucolipidosis type IV.
His areas of research are:
- Mechanisms of Disease(link is external)
- Cell Signaling, Trafficking, and Polarity(link is external)
- Organelle Biogenesis and Function(link is external)
Read more about Dr. Fares at: http://mcb2.arizona.edu/fares/(link is external)
MURAT KACIRA is the Director of Graduate Studies for the Controlled Environment Agriculture track.
His research has involved the areas of greenhouse and plant energy balance studies, plant growth and health monitoring using image processing and machine vision applications, design and development of continuous plant monitoring systems, automated data acquisition and instrumentation, optimization of greenhouse natural ventilation using computational fluid dynamics applications.
Dr. Kacira is a faculty member of the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at the University of Arizona.
Read more about Dr. Kacira at http://ag.arizona.edu/research/kacira/