Director Gerben Zylstra Steps Down

August 2008

After serving as Director of the Biotech Center since October 2001, Professor Gerben Zylstra has stepped down as of June 30. Dr. Zylstra has been active in all aspects of the center's programs from building infrastructure to research, teaching, outreach, and international exchange programs. Dr. Zylstra founded and managed the biorobotics lab, the DNA sequencing core facility, the biotech equipment shared facility, and the Foran Hall computer classroom; as well as providing support for major equipment shared with other departments on the Cook Campus. As a result, the Biotech Center's facilities and the strength of its research program have been instrumental in recruiting new faculty to SEBS. Dr. Zylstra also encouraged a major increase in international research collaboration, participating actively in research projects with Central Asia, Brazil, South Korea, and the European Community, while continuing his own very productive research program with major federal support and more than 60 publications in the last 7 years. In addition, he obtained federal grants to fund graduate fellowships in Microbiology (DoEd-GAANN), U.S.-Brazil undergraduate exchange (DoEd-FIPSE), and biotechnology undergraduate fellowships (NSF-SSTEM), while carrying a heavy teaching load of 4 or more undergraduate courses per year and supervising numerous graduate and undergraduate students in his own lab. He has been a member of the Rutgers Graduate School Executive Committee since 2006, served on the self-study committee for the Middle States Reaccreditation, and served as faculty advisor to the Designer Genes club since 2005, among countless other committees within Rutgers as well as outside. Dr. Zylstra is taking a year's leave before resuming his regular teaching and research responsibilities as a member of the Biotech Center and the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology.

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