John-David Swanson

303 Wartik Building

Penn State University

University Park, PA 16802, USA

+1 814 8637958 (W) +1 814 8807813 (H)

E-mail jds24@psu.edu

Objective

I am currently seeking an assistant professor position. I wish to continue my post Ph.D. career in an academic setting where I intend to strike a balance of research and teaching. I am available for employment August 2004.

Summary of qualifications

I am currently “All But Dissertation” towards a Doctor of Philosophy in Integrative Biosciences (Ecological and Molecular Plant Physiology Option) with a Minor in Statistics at the Pennsylvania State University; I am planning on graduating July 2004. For my thesis I am describing the physical and molecular growth and development of Theobroma cacao flowers and relating my data with that of model systems through statistical models. I also teach Karate. This involves running both formal university courses and the University club, both of which I introduced to Penn State.

Education

The Pennsylvania State University Summer 1999 - Present

University Park, Pennsylvania

All but dissertation Ph.D. in Integrative Biosciences,

Ecology and Molecular Plant Physiology option Overall GPA 3.84

Ph.D. Minor in Statistics Minor GPA 4.0

2 year Life Sciences Consortium Fellowship

University of Waikato

Hamilton, New Zealand

Masters of Science and Technology (Hons), 1998

Major in Biology

Coursework in Genetics, Biochemistry and Mammalian Physiology

Thesis entitled “The application of molecular markers with respect to the New Zealand forestry industry”

Studentship at Fletcher Challenge Forests, Te Teko, New Zealand

Supervised by Dr. Marie Connett, Dr. Michael Devey and Dr. Chrissen Gemmill

Diploma of Management Studies, summer 1996

Equivalent of the First year of an MBA program.

Bachelor of Science and Technology, 1996

B.Sc. (Tech) is a four-year degree unique to Waikato University

One year full time employment in Industry

Major in Biology

Minor courses in Computer studies, Chemistry and Management

Professional experience

Pfizer Inc. July 2001 – September 2001

Grotton, Connecticut, USA

Worked as a Summer Research Associate

Identified possible SNPs in human populations possibly linked to cardiovascular disease

The Pennsylvania State University June 1998 - June 1999

State College, Pennsylvania, USA

Senior Research Technologist in Dr John Carlson’s laboratory

Set up new lab, protocols, and trained seven graduate students and staff

Responsible Day to day operations including, ordering, safety, communication, and maintenance of laboratory

Coordinated a large Douglas-fir molecular mapping project making use of microsatellite technology, an ABI 377 DNA sequencer and a staff of two

Fletcher Challenge Forests Sept 1996 - May 1998

State Highway 30, Te Teko, New Zealand

M.Sc. (Tech) thesis work. Compared and contrasted the major methods of generating molecular markers, including RAPDs, RFLPs, AFLPs, microsatellites, iSSRs, mitochondrial, chloroplast and ITS markers.

Aid the Fletcher Challenge Forests tree breeding program; used various fingerprinting, marker aided selection, and parental testing experiments on Eucalyptus species and Pinus radiata.

Traveled to CSIRO, Canberra, Australia in May of 1997, Learn RFLP technology with Dr. Michael Devey

Tasman Forestry Ltd. Nov 1994 - July 1995

State Highway 30, Te Teko, New Zealand

Second placement for the B.Sc. (Tech), in the Molecular Biology Laboratory at Tasman Forestry.

Responsible for all experiments involving gene mapping.

Fingerprinting mislabeled Pinus radiata clones in the tissue culture lab, seed orchard and the forest using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers.

Progeny testing of seed from control pollinated clones

New Zealand Forest Research Institute Nov 1993 - Mar 1994

Sala St, P.O.Box 3020, Rotorua, New Zealand

First placement for the B.Sc. (Tech), Gene Mapping and Fingerprinting Program.

Isolated DNA from plant tissue and fieldwork collecting both needle and core samples from selected trees.

Skills

Lab Skills: DNA/RNA extraction, PCR, Southern Blotting (non radioactive, Radioactive), northern blotting cloning, sequencing (on 377, 3700 Perkin Elmer Machines), both acrylamide and agarose electrophoresis, silver staining, plasmid isolation, DNA/RNA quatitation, digestion, ligation, DNA fingerprinting, linkage mapping, paternity analysis, cladistics, collection of field data, AFLPs, Microsatellite markers (SSRs), RAPDs, SCARs, RFLPs, PCR-RFLPs, maternal and paternal markers, use of nested markers, fixing, embedding and staining of plant materials for light microscopy and electron microscopy, time lapse design and setup, cDNA Library construction, 3` and 5` RACE, Microarray construction and analysis, BAC Library screening.

Computer Skills: Use of all Microsoft products incl; Word, Excel, Access and Power Point. Can use statistical packages SAS, Splus, and minitab. Can do some programming in Basic and Pascal. Am comfortable with command line interfaces such as Unix and Dos. Am comfortable with either Macs or PCs.

Awards and publications

2003 Winner of the LaMarr Kopp Award. This is given annually to an outstanding Faculty member, Graduate Student, undergrad Student, and staff member for service to the international community and research with a significant international component.

2001 Winner of the Norman and Ardeth Frisbee Award. This is given to an outstanding foreign graduate student who in the eyes of the search committee contributes the most to the international spirit of the university.

1999-2001 Life Science Consortium Fellowship, Penn State University

Swanson, J-D, Carlson, J.E., Guiltinan, M.J. (In preparation), The Morphological development in the flowers of Theobroma cacao: a comparison to other flowering species.

Swanson, J-D, Lee, A.J., Guiltinan, M.J. (2003), USDA Cacao Fingerprinting Ring Test: Results from Penn State University. INGENIC Newsletter, July, Iss. 8, Pg. 22-25.

Swanson, J-D, Carlson, J. E., Guiltinan, M.J. (2002), Gene Discovery in Cocoa using Arabidopsis and Cotton DNA Databases. American Society of Plant Biology, Plant Biology 2003 meeting, Denver, Co, USA.

Amarasinghe, V., B. Wu, P. Xu, J-D Swanson, J.E. Carlson (1999), Douglas fir SSR marker development and mapping. PAGVII Forest Tree Genome Workshop.

Swanson, J-D, M. Anandasayanan, R.J.H. Jones, M.B. Connett (1997), Differentiation of Pinus radiata clones using microsatellite markers. Seventh annual Queenstown Molecular Biology meeting.

Swanson, J-D, S. Sivakumaran, M.E. Devey, M.F. Nolan, M.B. Connett, R.J.H. Jones (1997), A comparison of radioactive and non-radioactive methods for detecting RFLPs in Pinus radiata. IUFRO: Genetics of Radiata pine conference.

Teaching

Wrote and Implemented Kines: 59 Karate 1, Srp-04 to present

Responsible for all aspects of course including development, teaching, selection of instructors and TA’s

Approved by Penn State Faculty Senate and implemented Spr ’04, Responsible for 2-4 sections of 30 students each semester

Wrote and Implemented Kines: 67 Physical Conditioning, Spr ‘04 to present

Responsible for all aspects of course including development, teaching, selection of instructors and TA’s

Implemented Spr ’04, Responsible for one section of 10-20 students each semester

Wrote and implemented the ESACT 183 Karate, Fa, spr, Sum 2000 – Fa, 2003

Responsible for all aspects of course including development, teaching, selection of instructors and TA’s

Implemented Fall 2000 taught two to four sections of 30 students, Course replaced by Kines 59 in Spr ‘04

Teaching Assistant for the Kines 445: Advanced Biomechanics, Spr 2001

Teaching Assistant for Bio 110: Intro to Biology ,Summer of 2000 and 2002, fall of 2000

responsible for laboratory sections of 25 students

Classroom leader of twenty 5^th and 6^th graders during two biology summer camps in 2000

Ran and coordinated elementary biology experiments

Teaching Assistant for IBIOS 593 Graduate Mol. Bio. Lab, Summer of 1999 and 2000

Mentored three undergraduate students between Fa 2000 and Fa 2003,

One published a manuscript on DNA fingerprinting of Theobroma cacao

All three are in the Schreyer’s honors college at the Penn State University

Wrote, implemented and taught two week workshop at SEPLAC, Ilehus, Brazil, 1999

Taught the use of AFLPs and the application of the Perkin-Elmer 377 DNA sequencer for Cacao crops

Teaching Assistant for Bio 101 and Bio 102 at The University of Waikato, 1996

Included both laboratory and course work tutorials

Professional activities

Member of Search Committee to replace the retiring Director of International Student Services at Penn State University, 2003/4

Invited speaker at Texas A&M University and Westvaco, S.C. (now ArborGen), 1999

“Current Situation of Forestry in New Zealand”

Invited Dr. Colin Matheson (CSIRO, Canberra, Australia) to talk at the Pennsylvania State University's School of Forest Resources lecture series, 1998

Was interviewed and played a major role in the molecular biology section of the Society of American Foresters (SAF) promotional video which is intended to recruit new students into forestry, 1998

Extracurricular activities

Involved in Martial Arts since 1981, Nidan in Karate Do, Tested under Kanazawa and Okazaki, 2^nd Degree in Tae Kwon do

Head Instructor for St Peters School, Cambridge, NZ from 1993-1996

Co-Instructor for Whakatane Shotokan Karate Do form 1996-1998. Selected fro NZ team 1997

Founder and Head Instructor of Penn State Shotokan Karate do club 1998-present

Enrolment of 200 Penn State faculty, staff and students

Current US Collegiate National Champions (2003) in Team Kata, and Womens Team Kumite

Have produced 8 individual National Champions

Collegiate East Coast Champions in Mens and Womens Team Kumite, 2^nd in Team Kata for 2003

Have hosted two International level instructors from outside Penn State (some from overseas) per semester

Club fundraised and sponsored members to take part in 200-2004 THON events (for children with cancer)

Have been invited to teach seminars on karate for colleges, church groups, philanthropic, and school events

Completed a one-month cycle tour of the South Island of New Zealand, covering some 1,600-km, Jan 1997

Community activities

Volunteer Orientation Leader for the international student services for fall 1999-2003 and Christmas of 1999. Ten day live-in position to coordinate and help helped new international students adjust to life in the USA

Talk at local schools as a guest speaker about the fundamentals of Molecular Biology, 1999-2004

Co-present a lecture for incoming international Graduate Students with the Director of International Student services, Fall 2002-2003

Presented talks for the international student council, including school children and adults.

Mentor to two Pennsylvania Governors School children during summer of 1999.

President of the University House Residents Association, 1993

Presided over a committee of 18 members responsible for a budget of $12,000.

Organized trips, social events and entertainment

Provided a channel of communication between the management and 240 residents

References

Dr. John Carlson, 304 Wartik Building, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802.

Ph) 814-863-7561, jec16@psu.edu

Dr. Marie Connett, P.O. Box 840001, Summerville, SC 29483

Ph) 843-851-5087, mbconne@arborgen.com

Dr. Carla Hass, 208 Mueller Lab, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802

Ph) 814-863-4708, cah19@psu.edu

Mr. James Lynch, 410 Bouckie Building, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802

Ph) 814-865-6348, jfl1@psu.edu