News

Emory University intends to make two or more distinguished faculty appointments in Mathematics, under the newly launched Science Faculty Distinction program. This initiative, part of Emory’s strategic plan to enhance faculty excellence, aims to significantly strengthen the basic sciences and mathematics by recruiting a number of outstanding scholars in select disciplines. The first such hiring focus will be in areas related to Computational Number Theory, broadly defined, and will contribute to a transformative change in the department of Mathematics and Computer Science. A guiding principle is for the new faculty members to add significant new strengths while enhancing and bridging existing areas of scholarship within MathCS. New faculty will complement existing areas of excellence within the department, build key connections to the physical and natural sciences at Emory and link to closely related strategic endeavors such as the Computational and Life Sciences initiative.

We invite nominations and applications from outstanding scholars who are internationally renowned scientific leaders within their fields. Candidates must have a PhD in a relevant discipline, a stellar record (and continued promise) of exemplary accomplishment in research, and a commitment to excellence in teaching. Appointments are subject to final funding approval, and are expected to be at the tenured Associate or Full Professor level. However, truly exceptional candidates at all levels will be considered. We invite queries both from individuals and from small teams of collaborating scholars who bring complementary strengths to the Science Distinction initiative. Women and underrepresented minorities are especially encouraged to apply. Applications consisting of a cover letter, CV, research and teaching statements, and three letters of recommendation directly from recommenders should be submitted via Mathjobs.org. Informal inquiries are also invited by email (n16@mathcs.emory.edu). Screening begins December 1, 2009 and will continue until all positions are filled. For additional information about the department and Emory’s strategic plan please see: http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/ and http://www.emory.edu/strategicplan/.

Emory University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and welcomes applications from women and members of minority groups.

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of mathematics Raman Parimala has been invited to deliver a plenary address at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Hyderabad, India, in August 2010. Parimala has previously given a regular invited address at ICM 1994 in Zurich. That was already an honor, but being invited to give a plenary address is more so: only about 20 mathematicians are selected to give a plenary address at each quadrennial conference. The ICM is the largest conference onmathematics and is hosted by the International Mathematical Union. The most prestigious recognitions, including the Fields Medal, are awarded at this event, in which the most important research contributions are presented by leading mathematicians.

James Taylor, Assistant Professor of Math & Computer Science and Biology, is lead PI on a recently awarded NIH "GO" grant titled "Dynamically scalable accessible analysis for next generation sequence data". Emory, Penn State, and Georgia Tech are collaborating institutions on this exciting project that brings gene sequence analysis within easy reach by leveraging "Cloud Computing" technologies. GO grants are highly competitive awards made under the NIH stimulus program; projects are selected for the high short-term impact. More details on Professor Taylor's research can be found at http://bx.mathcs.emory.edu

Bug splatter study is data driven

The next time you take a road trip, think before you clean the bug splatter off your car. Those insect remains may actually be more interesting than your vacation photos.

“It turns out that your car is a sampling device for understanding the biodiversity of all the places you’ve been,” says James Taylor, a computational biologist at Emory.

Genome Research recently published a paper by Taylor and collaborators that applied advanced DNA sequencing techniques that are traditionally used on microbial samples to look at insect biodiversity. “We were curious whether these techniques would work for more complex organisms,” Taylor says.

To collect genetic material for the study they used the bumper and windshield of a moving vehicle. Two samples were collected: on a drive from Pennsylvania to Connecticut, and on a trip from Maine to New Brunswick, Canada.

“We found that there is a huge amount of insect diversity, but what was really surprising was to see the enormous amount of novel sequence,” Taylor says. “It’s indicative of how poorly we have sampled the whole tree of life in genome research so far. There’s an enormous amount of species out there.”

Road tested

Taylor is a co-developer of Galaxy, an open-source software system for analyzing genetic data. The Galaxy developers recently refined the system, creating the Galaxy metagenomic pipeline that allows a research team to integrate all of the data, analyses and workflows of a study, and then publish this material as a live online supplement.

The bug splatter paper served as the first test of the metagenomic pipeline. “I believe that this study is one of the most transparent and reproducible bioinformatics papers ever,” Taylor says. “Anyone can go online, follow links and see every step of our analysis and exactly what parameters were used. And they can take our data and do their own analysis of other questions.”

No computational experience is required to use the free Galaxy system, Taylor says. “All of science is becoming computationally intensive, so tools like this are needed to improve transparency.”

DNA sequencing technology is getting cheaper, opening more doors for research by small investigators, and Taylor is focused on serving this niche.

“Nowadays, you can have a crazy idea like studying bug splatter and without a lot of money or work, you can go out and do it just to see what’s there,” he says.

Suresh Venapally, a visiting professor in the department for the 2009-10 year, was recently named as one of only eleven recipients of the prestigious Bhatnagar award in 2009. The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards for Science and Technology are given to scientists below 45 years of age, for their outstanding scientific contributions made primarily in India during the last 5 years proceeding the year of the Prize. The SSB Prize comprises a citation, a plaque and a cash award of Rs.5,00,000/- , and are given to the recipients by the Prime Minister of India. The department offers hearty congratulations to Suresh!