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THE FISHER ENDOWED CHAIRS

Academic Years 2007 – 2010

Dr. Jennifer Scott, assistant professor of astronomy, is the second recipient of the Jess and Mildred Fisher Endowed Chair in Biological and Physical Sciences. Dr. Scott’s appointment to the Fisher Chair will commence on August 16, 2007 and will be for three years.

We are very pleased to announce that Dr. Jennifer Scott, assistant professor in the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geosciences, has been selected as the second recipient of the Jess & Mildred Fisher Endowed Chair in the Biological and Physical Sciences. Dr. Scott's appointment to the Fisher Chair will commence on August 16, 2007 and will be for three years. As holder of a Jess and Mildred Fisher Endowed Chair, Scott will be provided a monetary award of $20,000 for each of three years that may be used for, but is not limited to, a summer faculty stipend, professional travel, research equipment and supplies, and undergraduate student research support.

Dr. Scott received her B.S. (Highest Honors and Highest Distinction) in physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1994 and her Ph.D. in astronomy from the University Research Fellow at the Space Telescope Science Institute of Johns Hopkins University and as a National Research Council Fellow at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Her research focuses on quasars – the distant, powerful galactic nuclei powered by accretion onto super-massive black holes – and the intergalactic medium, the gaseous matter between galaxies and the reservoir of material from which they formed. She has authored 15 peer-reviewed research papers published in top tier astronomical journals.

As one of the Fisher Endowed Chairs, Scott’s research plans include studies of quasar environments; examinations of the connections between galaxies and the intergalactic medium; and refinement of measurements of the ultraviolet background radiation field. She will conduct much of this work in close collaboration with her undergraduate students. Scott also intends to use the visibility of the Fisher Chair to promote community outreach and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education efforts by creating the first Project ASTRO network in the Baltimore-Washington area. Project ASTRO links astronomers to teachers by bringing inquiry-based astronomy activities to K-12 classrooms.

Academic Years 2006 – 2009

Dr. Joy Watts, Assistant Professor of Biology, has been selected as the first recipient of the Jess & Mildred Fisher Endowed Chair in the Biological and Physical Sciences. Dr. Watts’ appointment to the Fisher Chair will commence on August 16, 2006 and will be for three years.

We are very pleased to announce that Dr. Joy Watts, Assistant Professor of Biology, has been selected as the first recipient of the Jess & Mildred Fisher Endowed Chair in the Biological and Physical Sciences. Dr. Watts’ appointment to the Fisher Chair will commence on August 16, 2006 and will be for three years. As the holder of the Jess and Mildred Fisher Endowed Chair, she will be provided a monetary award of $20,000 for each of three years. This award may be used for, but is not limited to, a summer faculty stipend, professional travel, research equipment and supplies, undergraduate student support, and a three-hour course load reduction per annum in her teaching.

Dr. Watts received her B.Sc. (Hons.) in Applied Biology from Liverpool John Moores University and her Ph.D. in environmental microbiology from the University of Warwick. Before arriving at Towson in 2004, Dr. Watts served as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Center of Marine Biotechnology at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. Dr. Watts is a leading expert in the use of molecular tools to examine the ecology and distribution of microbial communities associated with PCB dechlorination in the environment. Her research plans during her tenure as the Fisher Endowed Chair will include continuing studies of microbial communities in the Chesapeake Bay as well as new projects focusing on studies of new dehalogenating microorganisms that exist in symbioses with sponges from the Chesapeake Bay and identifying new microorganisms from catfishes that are associated with the degradation of carbon polymers in wood that normally resist degradation. Dr. Watts will conduct much of this work in close collaboration with her undergraduate students.

*** The Jess and Mildred Fisher Endowed Chairs in the Biological and Physical Sciences were established in June 2005 as part of a $10.2 million gift to the College from the Robert M. Fisher Foundation. The purpose of the Fisher Endowed Chair is to honor the memory of the Fisher family by incorporating research opportunities into the undergraduate learning experience through the support of the scholarly growth of highly promising faculty researchers in the physical and biological sciences who are in the early stages of their careers at Towson. ***

The Jess and Mildred Fisher
College of Science and Mathematics
Smith Hall, Room 312 (campus map)

Phone: 410-704-2121
Fax: 410-704-2604
E-mail: fcsm@towson.edu