Langer Receives UW Alumni Outstanding Faculty Award

May 4, 2007 -- Pamela J. Langer, associate professor of molecular biology, is the 2007 University of Wyoming Alumni Association/Wyoming Student Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Award recipient.

The award recognizes the critical role she has played in the lives of her students. It honors individuals who have contributed significantly to student learning experiences and have had a positive influence on students' career development. Award recipients are selected from nominations submitted by graduating students.

"Ever since the first day that I walked into Pam's office, desperately needing advising assistance, she has been genuinely interested in my well-being and success as an individual and as a student," says student Alisa Mori of Kemmerer in her nomination.

"Pam is a personable and approachable professor who truly has a passion for teaching and for supporting others. She is never too busy to talk through any topic with any student, whether it is where and how to apply to graduate school or what metabolic acidosis entails."

Langer has assisted many students through her teaching and lab research experiences. Mori recalls her experience, "With her aid, I've completed three National Science Foundation/Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research fellowships and one Paul Stock work study grant in the lab. Throughout these endeavors, Pam was constantly (and patiently!) giving me advice, explaining lab techniques and concepts that were unfamiliar to me, and editing my NSF/EPSCoR papers and presentations."

Through Langer's efforts, Mori has gained the skills needed to pursue a graduate degree at Purdue as a fully-funded graduate student.

Langer received her B.S. in biological sciences (1973) from Indiana University and her Ph.D. in biology (1980) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She completed her postdoctoral research at Wellcome Trust Research Lab at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Cambridge University, Nairobi, Kenya, and also at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass.

Her career at UW started in 1986 in the Department of Molecular Biology as a supply assistant professor. From 1988-1993 she was an assistant professor and in 1994 became an associate professor. She also serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Among her UW awards are the UW Excellence in Advising Award in 1999, and the University of Wyoming Paul Stock Faculty Award in 1993. Langer has co-written numerous journal articles and books, including "Mutagenesis and cellular responses to DNA damage" in the 1982 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute Monograph Series.\

Photo
Helpful Mentor -- Pam Langer, right, associate professor in the University of Wyoming Department of Molecular Biology, assists student Alisa Mori of Kemmerer in a project to determine genetic properties of spider silk. Langer's efforts to help students have earned her the 2007 UW Alumni Association/Wyoming Student Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Award. (UW Photo)

Posted on Friday, May 04, 2007