Fall 2011 - the Department of Biology - Syracuse University

the conference continued annually for 25years. Held in the informal atmosphere of theUniversity’s Adirondack conference centers,first at Sagamore and later at Minnowbrook,these meetings were highly stimulatory anduseful for over a thousand graduate students,postdocs, and faculty from the northeasternUnited States and Canada.The respect and affection generated byhis interactions with the numerous graduatestudents and postdocs Elias mentored at SUis exemplified by the following comments.“The things I learned from him both asa scientist and a young adult have carriedthrough my adult life and my career at theNational Cancer Institute. In addition to beinga great scientist Elias was a gentle and caringperson who was able to spark the excitementof doing science in me that has lasted to thepresent. During my own career he has servedas a role model in my mentoring of graduateand postdoctoral students.” (Bob Callahan,Ph.D. 1970)“His doctoral graduates not only learnedhow to be good scientists, they also learnedhow to think like good scientists. I owe hima huge debt of gratitude for the time, effort,and resources that he invested to make methe man I am today.” (David Schwartz, Ph.D.1979)“Elias Balbinder was my doctoraldissertation advisor, and no studentcould have hoped to have a more caring,understanding, and patient mentor. Thosecharacteristics were balanced with a demandfor rigorous science and critical thinking.He taught me how to think about researchproblems and write about results. Writingscientific manuscripts under his guidancewas a seminal learning event for me. To thisday, I still cannot open a bottle of Lepage’sRubber Cement without the smell remindingme of a worked-over manuscript with pagefragments held together by that stuff. Foryou young readers, “cut-and paste” had adifferent meaning in 1970! When it came todata management, I vividly recall our boundnotebooks and how their distribution wassomething of a sacred ceremony. How wewere to use them was made clear and wenever met to talk science in Elias’s officewithout them. Sharing data was yet anotherexample of the scientific culture of the lab.The Balbinder collection of thousands ofgenetically defined Salmonella typhimuriumstrains was there for use by the scientificcommunity. Requests for mutants seemed toroll in nonstop, and were always honored. Twoyears ago the NIH published a policy on datasharing in research. Elias knew the right thingto do long before the government steppedin to “help out”!” (Francis L. Macrina, Ph.D.1972)Several of his departmental colleaguesformed lasting friendships with Elias thatcontinued after his departure from Syracuse.His enthusiasm and caring enriched ourlives, and have left a rich store of cherishedmemories.H. Richard Levy, Professor EmeritusROGER MILKMANRoger Milkman, who was on the faculty of theDepartment of Zoology from 1960 to 1968,died on January 5, 2011. Roger earned hisA.B., A.M., and Ph.D. (1956, with P.R. Levine)at Harvard, and did postdoctoral researchwith Boris Ephrussi at the Sorbonne andCNRS in France. Before coming to Syracusehe was assistant professor of zoology at theUniversity of Michigan and after leaving, hejoined the faculty of the biology department atthe University of Iowa, where he was active forover 30 years before retiring.Roger’s research interests were broad andinterdisciplinary, embracing important issuesin population genetics, evolution, embryology,and physiology. His laboratory studies ofa polygenic trait in the fruit fly Drosophila(the crossveinless phenotype), and on themolecular genetic evolution of the bacteriumEscherichia coli are classic, as is his publishedtheoretical work on the forces acting ongenetic variation in natural populations. As ascientist, Milkman will be most rememberedfor his contributions to the selectionist vs.neutralist debate, for his 1978 paper “Selectiondifferentials and selection coefficients” thatunified two conceptualizations of selection,and for his development and application ofa “clonal frames” theory accounting for thestructure of genomic diversity in E. coli.He was a passionate, demanding teacherwho used metaphor, song, and limericks toexplain complex topics in genetics. ThoruPederson (B.S. 1963, Ph.D. 1968) recallstaking his first biology course, “Zoology 10,”which was taught by Milkman. Pedersonwrites: “The fall semester of the course washeld in Hendricks Chapel due to renovationsunderway in the classroom building and Dr.Milkman gave his lectures in academic robes,citing the chapel setting as the reason. He wasthe first science teacher who excited me, andover the years I have realized that he was oneof the most superb teachers I have ever had.He launched the course by imitating the strutand squat of a courting herring gull male, theacademic robes adding a profile that remainsas a photographic image burned into mymemory.”Professor Milkman will be remembered forhis vigorous engagement of people and ideas.He observed with sharp eyes, ready tongue,and keen wit. He loved his teaching, science,life, classical music, good food, fine wine,chocolate, languages, instant repartee, andhumor. He is survived by his wife of 52 years,Marianne; four children, Ruth, Louise, Janet,and Paul; and six grandchildren.H. Richard Levy, Professor Emeritus(Note: Some portions were taken from anobituary by Bertil Hille, the Wayne E. CrillEndowed Professor at the University ofWashington Department of Physiology andBiophysics, with input from a number of friends,family, colleagues, and former graduate (Ph.D.)students.)FALL 201123