Scope | Faculty & Staff Notes

Memberships, Appointments & Awards

Richard T. Di Giulio, professor of environmental toxicology, and director, Duke Superfund Basic Research Center, has assumed the role of director for Duke University’s Center for the Comparative Biology of Vulnerable Populations following the departure of its original director, Dr. David Schwartz. Schwartz left Duke University Medical Center in May to direct the National Institute of Environmental Health and Safety (NIEHS) in Research Triangle Park, N.C. The center provides support and pilot funding in three research areas: neurobiology and neurodevelopmental disease, pulmonary biology and disease, and environmental health policy. It maintains four research support core facilities and a community outreach and education program. The center is comprised of 37 investigators from the Nicholas School, the Duke University Medical Center, Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Law, and the University of North Carolina.

Di Giulio also is a member of the Committee on Assessment of the Health Implications of Exposure to Dioxin, organized by the National Research Council. The committee, which began its work in October 2004, is reviewing the EPA’s risk assessment of dioxin and anticipates a report on its findings in December 2005.

He also has been a member of the Computational Toxicology Committee of the EPA’s Board of Scientific Counselors since December 2004. This committee provides external oversight for EPA’s newest research center, the Center for Computational Toxicology.

Gabriele Hegerl, associate research professor, Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, was appointed to the scientific advisory board for the Alfred Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, in May. The WegCenter is an interdisciplinary, internationally oriented research center of the University of Graz (UniGraz), Austria, started in December 2004. It brings together research teams and scientists from fields such as geophysics, climatology , economics, and geography, with an overall aim to become a national and international center of excellence for research in the fields of climate and global change.

In March, Michael K. Orbach, professor of the practice of marine affairs and policy and director, Duke University Marine Laboratory, accepted an award on behalf of the Surfrider Foundation for the NOAA “NGO of the Year” at a ceremony on Capitol Hill. In attendance were N.C. Congressman Walter B. Jones Jr. and NOAA representative Admiral Conrad Lautenbacker. Orbach is serving a second term as chairman of the Surfrider Congressman Jones (left),Mike Orbach, and Admiral Lautenbacker. Foundation’s Board of Directors. The foundation is an international environmental advocacy organization devoted to the protection of beaches, waves and coastal water quality around the world. Nicholas School graduate Chad Nelsen, MEM’94, is its environmental director.