CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
9/2007 - present
National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), Bethesda, Maryland, USA
Computational Biology Branch
Postodoctoral training as NIH Research Fellow
Advisor: Dr. Ivan Ovcharenko
8/2001 – 8/2007
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
Ph.D. in Biology
Dissertation: "Contribution of transposable elements to genomic novelty: a computational approach"
Advisor: Dr. Wojciech Makałowski
8/2000 – 8/2001
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
MS in Wildlife (not finished; transferred to Penn State in 8/2001)
Research conducted: Genetic differences between two Central Louisiana white-tailed deer populations with two different breeding peaks.
10/1994 - 6/1999
Transilvania University, Brasov, Romania
BS in Silviculture and Forestry Engineering
Graduation thesis: "The Pilot Study of the European Mink (Mustela lutreola) Population in the Danube Delta"
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Ing. Aurel Negrutiu
PUBLICATIONS
For a list of publications, please click here.
RELEVANT EXPERIENCE AND RESEARCH
May 26 - June 8, 2005
Research effort to elucidate the origins and amplification mechanism of the Muridae specific ID6 repeat.
Institute of Experimental Pathology and Molecular Neurobiology
University of Münster, Münster, Germany
Advisor: Dr. Jürgen Brosius [Group web site]
May 3–8, 2004
Assistant for the 2nd Penn State Bioinformatics Workshop [Web site]
University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
May 23 – July 3, 2003
Training in modeling of proteins with transposable element inserts
Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research
University of Manchester, Manchester, England
Advisor: Dr. Jordi Bella
9/1999 – 5/2000
Study and research program for the development of the European mink (Mustela lutreola) population study project in the Danube Delta, Romania. This program involved mink live trapping in Romania, and several rounds of discussions at University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria
September 23-29, 1999
Discussions and study for the European mink population study project at the WWF Auen Institut in Rastatt, Germany
1998 - 1999
Main investigator in the Danube Delta for the pilot study of the European mink population in the Danube Delta. This project was supported by the WWF Auen Institut, Rastatt, Germany, and Danube Delta Institute, Tulcea, Romania, with permission from the Administration of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, Tulcea, Romania
1996 - 1999
Coordinator of the National Monitoring Network for the Application of the Bern Convention in Romania, a network with 24 Romanian ecological NGOs
1998
Coordinator and make-up editor of The Guide of The National Monitoring Network for the Application of the Bern Convention in Romania [Web site]
1996 - 1998
Editor-in-chief of SILVA, the newsletter of the Forestry Students Organization SILVA (OSS SILVA) [Web site]
1996 - 1998
Coordinator of the national campaign "The Wolf - Enemy or Friend?" meant to turn the people’s image of the wolf from that of a harmful animal to that of an asset. This project was supported by the local office REC Romania of The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC)
1996-1997
Participation in field activities for the Carpathian Large Carnivore Project, a joint initiative of the Munich Wildlife Society, the Forest Research and Management Institute (ICAS) of the Romanian State Forest Administration and the Carpathian Wildlife Foundation [Web site]
1995 - 1996
Participation in field and research activities for the "Prejmer Forest and Swamps" project, an effort of OSS SILVA to save the biotope of the endemic Romanian species Armeria barcensis
1992 - 1994
Survey of the white stork (Ciconia ciconia) population in Gurghiu region, Romania, for the Romanian Ornithological Society
COMPUTER SKILLS
Programming: Perl/BioPerl, C, [ Turbo PASCAL ]
Operating Systems: Unix/Linux, Windows, MacOS X, MS DOS
Software: protein structure modeling (Genemine, Pymol), databases (MySQL), statistical software (SAS, Minitab), Matlab, HTML editing, publication editors (e.g. Quark Xpress, Microsoft Publisher), graphics editors (e.g. Adobe Photo Shop, Corel Draw, etc), Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, etc.
AWARDS / GRANTS
12/2006
2007 Alumni Association Dissertation Award, The Graduate School, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
2/2006
Best "Bioinformatics and Biology" poster at Computation Day 2006, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
1/2006
Graduate Assistant Excellence in Teaching Award for 2005, Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
5/2004, 5/2007
Support from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for participation at "The Biology of Genomes" conference, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, USA
5/2003 – 7/2003
Grant from The Pennsylvania State University through its Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) program, for protein structure modeling at University of Manchester, Manchester, England
8/2001 – 5/2003
The Braddock Supplement Award from the Eberly College of Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
8/2001 – present
Graduate Assistantship from the Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
08/2000 – 8/2001
Graduate Research Assistantship from School of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
3/2000
Selected to receive the "NASA-MSU Professional Enhancement Award", providing support for attending IALE 2000 (the annual conference of the U.S. Chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology)
1998 - 1999
One year research grant from The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) through its WWF Auen Institut in Rastatt, Germany for the pilot study of the European mink population in the Danube Delta
5/1999
Second prize at the Scientific Students Session of Transilvania University of Brasov, 1999 edition, for the paper "The Pilot Study of the European Mink (Mustela lutreola) Population in the Danube Delta"
5/1995
Special mention at the Scientific Students Session of Transilvania University of Brasov, 1995 edition, for the paper "Contributions to Morpho-Anatomical Study of the Leaves of the Isolated and Non-isolated Spruce Trees"
10/1994 - 6/1999
Merit-based scholarship offered by Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
8/2004 - 12/2004, 7/2005 - 8/2005, 8/2006 - 12/2006
Teaching assistant for BIOL 110 (Basic Concepts and Biodiversity)
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
Course coordinators: Dr. Carla Hass (2004, 2006), Dr. Danielle Garneau (2005)
Lab coordinator: Dianne Burpee
1/2003 – 5/2003
Teaching assistant for BIOL 497D (Practical bioinformatics)
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
Course coordinator: Dr. Wojciech Makałowski
1/2002 – 5/2002, 1/2004 - 5/2004, 1/2005 - 5/2005
Teaching assistant for BIOL 240W (Biology: Function and Development of Organisms)
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
Course coordinator: Dr. Mitch Price
Lab coordinator: Dianne Burpee
10/1997 – 7/1998
Pedagogical training at Transilvania University, Brasov, Romania, that included teaching practice at Forestry Highschool, Brasov, Romania
Coordinator: Dr. Rodica-Mariana Niculescu
PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
June 2-7, 2007
Mobile Elements in Mammalian Genomes
A FASEB Summer Research Conference
Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Resort, Tucson, Arizona, USA
May 8-12, 2007
The Biology of Genomes [Web site]
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Cold Spring Harbor, New York, USA
May 24-28, 2006
Genomes, Evolution, and Bioinformatics - the annual meeting of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE) [Web site]
[ Acted as chair and moderator for the Transposable Elements session ]
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
March 31 - April 4, 2006
Genomic Impact of Eukaryotic Transposable Elements [Web site]
The Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, California, USA
July 20-23, 2005
Comparative and Functional Genomics - the 24th Summer Symposium in Molecular Biology [Web site]
Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
March 18-20, 2005
Northeast Ecology and Evolution Conference (NEEC) [Web site]
Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
June 17-20, 2004
Genomes and Evolution - joint annual meeting of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE) and the American Genetic Association (AGA) [Web site]
Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
May 12-16, 2004
The Biology of Genomes
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Cold Spring Harbor, New York, USA
September 16-19, 1999
The 18th Mustelid Colloquium
Schloss Zeillern, Austria
May 3-10, 1997
International Student Week in Ilmenau, ISWI '97 - Let's Build Our Future [Web site]
Participant in group no. 7 - "Environmental Protection - Contemporary and Future Concepts"
Ilmenau, Germany
July 3-8, 1996
Consultation of NGOs and Involved Populations on Sustainable Mountain Development
Toulouse, France
PARTICIPATION IN SELECTED ROMANIAN CONFERENCES
April 26-28, 1996
The Annual National Conference of the Romanian Ornithological Society, Cluj, Romania
October 7-10, 1995
The National Conference of the Environmental NGOs, Eforie Nord, Romania
April 13-16, 1995
National Seminar - The Involvement of NGOs and Local Authorities in the Institutionalization of the Environmental Monitoring System. Baile Felix, Romania
March 27-31, 1995
Seminar on ecological restoration of bushes, Ploiesti, Romania
May 13-15, 1994
Workshop - Organization Structures and Meeting Techniques, Odorheiu Secuiesc, Romania
Coordinator: MilieuKontakt Oost-Europa, The Netherlands
LANGUAGES
Romanian, English, French
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION
2004 - present
Member of Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution [Web site]
1996 - present
Member of The Mountain Forum, a worldwide network for the exchange of information on mountain issues [Web site]
1994 – 1999
Member of The Forestry Students Organisation SILVA (OSS SILVA), one of the most important ecological students’ NGO in Romania (1995-1999: president) [Web site]
1992 – present
Member of the Romanian Ornithological Society [Web site]
Home | Last updated: April 2008