Van Doren Outstanding Science Communicator Award

This award recognizes and honors an individual at Syracuse University who has inspired and elevated student and/or the public’s interest in and appreciation for science.

About: This award is named in the honor of Dr. Kevin Van Doren, a former Syracuse University Biology professor, who was tragically killed in 1995, while camping with his family in the Adirondacks. Kevin was an outstanding scientist, educator, communicator, and person.

The Kevin Van Doren Outstanding Science Communicator Award acknowledges and honors Syracuse University BIO undergrad/graduate students, postdocs, and/or faculty who have made outstanding contributions in two or more of the following areas:

1. Communicating science to the general public via articles, visuals, cartoons, infographics, movies, art, etc.

2. Innovation in science education using science communication modalities to increase understanding of complex ideas and scientific concepts

3. Social justice efforts, outreach, activism and advocacy on behalf of women, disadvantaged, marginalized, and disabled populations in science and beyond

The award recipients will receive:

1. $500 award

2. A framed award certificate

3. Dinner with Jean Van Doren, Dr. Van Doren’s wife, and former students and colleagues

Award recipients will be selected by a committee composed of Professor Van Doren’s family members and former students. For 2022 this committee will consist of at least Ahna Skop, Jean VanDoren, Jay Braun, and Jim Lissemore. The announcement of the winner will be made at the annual SU Biology Awards Ceremony in April/May 2022. When possible, we will be joined by Jean Van Doren. Professor Van Doren’s former students and colleagues will be invited to this event.

We are requesting donations to establish a yearly award in his name at Syracuse University in the Biology Department.

In Memoriam:

Kevin received his bachelor’s degree in Biology, with a concentration in Marine Biology, from Southeastern Massachusetts University in 1977. He had planned to pursue a career in marine biology but there were few graduate programs open to him at that time. As a result, Kevin worked outside of science for two years before accepting a technician position in 1979 at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology working with Bill Crain on actin gene expression in sea urchin embryos. In 1980 he entered a Ph.D. program in the Department of Biochemistry at SUNY- Stony Brook and carried out his thesis research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Under the direction of Joseph Sambrook and Yakov Gluzman, Kevin worked on developing adenovirus as a mammalian cloning vector and completed his Ph.D. in 1985. He then entered the C. elegans community by taking a post-doctoral position with David Hirsh at Synergen, Inc. in Boulder. During most of his four years in Boulder, Kevin studied the newly discovered phenomenon of trans-splicing. He contributed to several significant discoveries about the nature of trans-splicing including the existence of SL RNA as a snRNP particle with novel functions.

In 1989, Kevin joined the faculty of Syracuse University where he continued working on pre-mRNA processing in general and trans-splicing using a variety of approaches. He made eager use of data from the C. elegans genome and cDNA sequencing projects to pursue genes identified as putative homologs of RNA splicing factors in other organisms. One of these genes, a homolog of the Drosophila suppressor of white-apricot gene, led Kevin to a productive collaboration with Paul Bingham (SUNY- Stony Brook) in which they identified a novel conserved motif in this proposed splicing factor. Kevin also was taking a reverse genetic approach to splicing in C. elegans and had collaborated with the Plasterk and Kohara labs to screen their TC1 banks to find insertions within other putative splicing homologs.

Kevin was an enthusiastic teacher. Among his efforts were the development of an ambitious molecular biology lab course for undergraduates and graduate students and participation in the Freshman Forum, a new course at that time designed to introduce students to college life and allow them to get to know a faculty member as a potential mentor and friend. Kevin drew great pleasure from mentoring undergraduate students in his research lab.

Kevin's first loves in life were his family and the outdoors. He was a devoted husband and very loving father who liked nothing better than hiking, camping, or skiing with his family. His other interests included fly-fishing, biking, wood-working, and cooking, to name a few. He was active in his church and coached his daughters' soccer team. Those of us fortunate to have known Kevin will remember him as a vibrant, outgoing, warm, and funny man who was a wonderful friend and colleague. (from: http://wbg.wormbook.org/wli/wbg14.1p5/)