Revised June 1997
S. Laura Adamkewicz
CURRICULUM VITAE
ADDRESS: Department of Biology MSN-3E1, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22033. voice 703-993-1047; fax 703-993-1046; e-mail ladamkew@gmu.edu; web mason.gmu.edu/~ladamkew
PERSONAL Born March 28, 1941 in Columbia, South Carolina. Married July 13, 1962 to Edward Stanley Adamkewicz ; daughters Joanne and Elaine.
EDUCATION
1962 Stanford University, A.B. with distinction - Biology
1968 University of Virginia, Ph.D. - Biology
PRESENT PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Associate Professor of Biology, George Mason University
POSTIONS - OCCUPATIONS
1960 - 1962 Research Assistant, summers only, U.S. Medical Equipment Laboratory, New York
1968 - 1969 NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Iowa
1969 - 1970 Research Associate with Lowell Adams, G.W. Hooper Foundation, California
1970 - 1978 Withdrew from professional life from the birth of my first child until the youngest child reached five years of age.
1978 Instructor, Departments of Biology and of Animal Science, Northern Virginia Community College
1979 - 1988 Assistant Professor, George Mason University, yearly special appointments until 1982, tenure track from 1982 to 1988
1988 - Associate Professor, George Mason University
RESEARCH INTERESTS AND EXPERIENCE
My research interests have always centered on the field of
evolutionary genetics, particularly on the question of what
forces affect allele frequencies in real populations. Most of my
efforts have attempted to verify the genetic bases of
uninvestigated polymorphisms and to determine what forces might
maintain them. At all times this work has been with natural
populations in the field rather than with simulations or
laboratory populations. Until 1990, much of the research has used
enzyme electrophoresis because this tool permits the detection of
genetic variation in seemingly uniform populations. However, my
interest has extended to any promising polymorphism whatever its
nature and regardless of the species. This interest accounts for
the wide range of organisms that I have studied: isopods,
ascidians, fruit flies, ground squirrels and marine mollusks. In
work with hard clams during the 1980s, I found associations
between different genotypes for electrophoretic variants and
fitness parameters such as viability and growth rate, assessing
the quantitative genetics of these variables and demonstrating
that they behave as polygenic determinants of growth. I also
began to investigate shell color polymorphisms in scallops and
clams.
In 1989, I became interested in beach clams of the genus Donax because of their hyper-variable polymorphism. Because any study of this polymorphism demanded a clear understanding of the validity and relationships among species in the genus, this interest led to the use of DNA markers in the study of donacid systematics and phylogeny, which in turn developed into an interest in molecular phylogeny. At present I am using the sequence of 18S rDNA to assess relationships within Class Bivalvia.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
American Malacological Union
AWARDS AND HONORS
Scholarships and Fellowships
1958 - 1962 National Merit Scholarship
1964 - 1965 Virginia Mason Davidge Fellowship
1965 - 1968 National Defense Education Act Fellowship
1968 - 1969 NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship
Honors
1962 Phi Beta Kappa
1967 Lychnos Society (graduate women's honor society, University of Virginia)
1967 Phi Sigma Award (to an outstanding graduate student,
University of Virginia)
RESEARCH GRANTS
1. Genetics of growth in hard clams. January 1980 - December 1981. ($100,000) with J. R. Wall. National Sea Grant Program.
2. Genetics of reproduction and growth in hard clams. January 1982 - December 1983. ($86,000) National Sea Grant Program.
3. Geographical effects on growth rates in the hard clam. January 1984 - June l987. ($82,000) National Sea Grant Program.
4. Population structure of blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay. November 1987 - December 1988. ($6,200) Virginia Sea Grant Program Development Funds.
5. Graduate Research Assistantship. August 1989 - May 1990. ($6,000) George Mason University.
6. Population structure of blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay. January 1990 - December 1991. ($6,000) Maryland Sea Grant)
7. Faculty Study Leave. Awarded in December 1990 to be used from January through May of 1992. ($22,000) George Mason University.
8. Graduate Research Assistantship. August 1991 - May 1992. ($6,000) George Mason University.
9. Graduate Research Assistantship. August 1992 - May 1993. ($6,000) George Mason University.
10. Evolutionary genetics of donacid clams. January 1992 - December 1993. ($24,000) The Thomas F. Jeffress and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust.
11. Evolutionary diversity, a proposal to support the research of Danyelle Townsend. ($800) GMU research stipend.
12. Species identification of sipunculan larvae, a proposal to
support the research of Lisa Bates-Karten. ($1500) GMU research
stipend.
PUBLICATIONS
Adamkewicz, S. Laura. 1969. Colour polymorphism in the land isopod Armadillidium nasatum. Heredity 24: 249-264.
Adamkewicz, S. L. and R. D. Milkman. 1970. A multiple sample homogenizer/applicator for cellulose acetate electrophoresis. Drosophila Information Service 45: 192.
________. 1970. Apparent heterosis in the second chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. Drosophila Information Service 45: 98.
Berger, E., L.Adamkewicz, and R.Milkman. 1970. A glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase polymorphism in Limulus polyphemus. Isozyme Bulletin 3: 33.
Adamkewicz, S. Laura and Lowell Adams. 1971. Electrophoretic variety of hemoglobin in the California ground squirrel. Biochemical Genetetics 5: 517-519.
Bason, C. and S. L. Adamkewicz. 1980. Differential staining for phospho- glucomutase loci. Isozyme Bulletin 14: 95.
Adamkewicz, S. Laura. 1984. A live testing procedure for clams. Isozyme Bulletin 17: 72.
Adamkewicz, S. Laura, Stephan R. Taub, and J. R. Wall. 1984. Genetics of the hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria. I. Mendelian inheritance of allozyme variation. Biochemical Genetics 22: 215-219.
Adamkewicz, S. Laura, Stephan R. Taub, and J. R. Wall. 1984. Genetics of the hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria. II. Size and genotype. Malacologia, 25: 525-533.
Kraeuter, John, Laura Adamkewicz, Michael Castagna, Robert Wall, and Richard Karney. 1984. Rib number and shell color in hybridized subspecies of the Atlantic Bay Scallop, Argopecten irradians. Nautilus 98(1): 17-20.
Adamkewicz, Laura. 1988. Geographical effects on growth rate in the hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria. Journal of Shellfish Research 7: 146.
Adamkewicz, Laura and Michael Castagna. 1988. Genetics of shell color and pattern in the bay scallop Argopecten irradians. Journal of Heredity 79: 14-17.
Adamkewicz, Laura. 1989. Differences in the frequencies of several shell characters in the clam Donax variabilis around Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The Veliger 32: 21 - 28.
Elek, J.A. and S.L. Adamkewicz. 1990. Polymorphism for shell characters in the Atlantic Bay Scallop Argopecten irradians (Lamarck). American Malacological Bulletin 7: 117-126.
Estes, J.H. and S.L. Adamkewicz. 1991. A comparison over time of two Virginia populations of the coquina clam, Donax variabilis. Virginia Journal of Science 42: 321-332.
Nelson, W.G., E. Bonsdorff, and L. Adamkewicz. 1993. Ecological, morphological, and genetic differences between the coexisting bivalves Donax variabilis Say, 1822, and Donax parvula Phillipi, 1849. The Veliger 36:317-322.
Adamkewicz, S. Laura and M.G. Harasewych. 1994. Use of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers to assess relationships among beach clams of the genus Donax. The Nautilus, Supplement 2:51-60.
Adamkewicz, S. Laura and M.G. Harasewych. 1996. Systematics and biogeography of the genus Donax (Bivalvia: Donacidae) in eastern North America. American Malacological Bulletin 13:97-103.
Harasewych, M.G., S. Laura Adamkewicz, Judith A. Blake, Deborah Saudek, Tracy Spriggs, and Carol J. Bult. 1997. Phylogeny and relationships of pleurotomarid gastropods (Mollusca: Gastropoda): an assessment based on partial 18S rDNA and cytochrome c oxidase I sequences. Molecular Marine Biology and Biotechnology 6:1-20.
S. Laura Adamkewicz, M.G. Harasewych, Judith A. Blake, Deborah Saudek, Tracy Spriggs, and Carol J. Bult. 1997. A molecular phylogeny of the bivalve mollusks. Molecular Biology and Evolution 14:619-629.
Harasewych, M.G., S. Laura Adamkewicz, Judith A. Blake,
Deborah Saudek, Tracy Spriggs, and Carol J. Bult. 1997.
Neogastropod phylogeny: a molecular perspective. Journal of
Molluscan Studies 63:327-351.
BOOK CHAPTERS, REVIEW ARTICLES, AND MANUALS
Adamkewicz, Laura, Robert Chapman, and Dennis Powers. 1987. Genetics and the conservation of estuarine species. Pages 75 - 85 in: Maurice P. Lynch and Elizabeth C. Krome, editors. Perspectives on the Chesapeake Bay: Recent Advances in Estuarine Sciences. Chesapeake Research Consortium, Gloucester, Virginia.
Adamkewicz, Laura. 1990. Contemporary Biology Manual I. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, IA. ISBN 0-8403-5953-5
Adamkewicz, Laura. 1991. Contemporary Biology Manual II. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, IA. ISBN 0-8403-6348-6
Adamkewicz, Laura. 1991. Review of Human Genetics, 2nd edition by John B. Jenkins. The American Biology Teacher 53(7): 447.
Adamkewicz, Laura. 1995. Review of The Human Genome Project, Deciphering the Blueprint of Heredity, Necia Grant Cooper, editor. The American Biology Teacher 57(8): 554.
Adamkewicz, Laura. 1996. Genetics Laboratory Manual.
Times-Mirror Higher Education Group, Dubuque, IA. ISBN
0-697-34766-4.
WORK IN PREPARATION OR IN SUBMISSION
Adamkewicz, S. Laura, M.G. Harasewych, Matthew Passmeyer, and Patrick M. Gillevet. Relationships among bivalve orders based on partial sequences of 18S r DNA. In preparation for The Journal of Molecular Evolution.
M.G. Harasewych, S. Laura Adamkewicz, Matthew Passmeyer, and
Patrick M. Gillevet. Molecular evidence for the relationships of
archiotaeneoglossan gastropods. In preparation.
ORAL PRESENTATIONS, POSTERS, AND UNPUBLISHED ABSTRACTS
"Electrophoretic variation in the hard clam Mercenaria." April 1980. Semi-annual meeting of the Atlantic Estuarine Research Society (poster)
"Genotype frequencies in an artifically bred cohort of the clam Mercenaria." August 1980. Annual meeting of Southeastern Ecological Genetics Group (oral)
"Genotype frequencies in three natural populations of the clam Mercenaria." October 1981. Semi-annual meeting of Atlantic Estuarine Research Society (abstract and oral)
"Genetics of the hard clam Mercenaria, size and genotype." June 1982. Second International Symposium or Molluscan Genetics (abstract and oral, refereed)
"Associations between size and genotype in the clam Mercenaria." April 1983. Invited seminar at Chesapeake Bay Laboratories (oral)
"Associations between size and genotype in the hard clam Mercenaria." October 1983. Invited seminar at University of Virginia (oral)
"Changes in gene frequency during the domestication of the hard clam Mercenaria." March 1984. Fifteenth Annual Meeting, World Mariculture Society (abstract and oral, refereed)
"Differential survival of genotypes in a closed population of the hard clam Mercenaria." June 1985. Second International Symposium on Genetics in Aquaculture (abstract, refereed)
"Geographical effects on growth rate in the hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria." August 1987. 79th Annual Meeting of The National Shellfisheries Association (abstract and oral, refereed)
"A comparison of colors, patterns, and shell lengths over time in two populations of the clam Donax variabilis." With Joan Estes, May 1988. 66th Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Sciences (oral and published abstract)
"Differences in the frequencies of several shell characters in the clam Donax variabilis around Cape Hatteras, North Carolina." June 1988. Annual meeting of the American Malacological Union (abstract and oral, refereed)
"Genetic studies for the improvement of mariculture in the hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria." November 1988. Invited seminar at the College of Marine Sciences, University of Puerto Rico (oral)
"Genetic composition and shell variability of the clam Donax variabilis in the Cape Hatteras area." With Nancy E. Budd, May 1990. 68th Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Sciences (oral and published abstract)
"Genetic variation in the beach clam Donax revealed by the RAPD amplification of genomic DNA." May 1992. 70th Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Sciences (oral and published abstract)
"Genetic differentiation among samples of the beach clam Donax denticulatus in Jamaica." June 1992. Annual meeting of the Americam Malacological Union (oral presentation by John Slapcinsky, published abstract)
"Molecular markers to assess relationships among species of beach clams in the genus Donax." August 1992. International Symposium on Molecular Techniques in Molluscan Phylogeny in Sienna, Italy. (oral)
"Biogeography of the genus Donax (Bivalvia: Donacidae) in eastern North America." July 1994. Annual meeting of the American Malacological Union in Houston, Texas (oral and published abstract).
"A molecular phylogeny of the bivalves." June 1995. Annual meeting of the American Malacological Union in Hilo, Hawaii (oral and published abstract).
TEACHING RESPONSIBILITIES
Courses Offered Regularly:
Biology 311 - General Genetics
Biology 313/413 - Human Genetics for the Social Sciences
Biology 572 - Human Genetics
Courses Offered Occasionally:
Biology 575 - Selected topics in Genetics
Biology 495 - Special Readings
Biology 497 - Special Problems
Biology 693 - Graduate Research
Biology 695 - Seminar in Molecular, Microbial and Cellular Biology
Biology 799 - Thesis
PRESENT SERVICE WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY
Department of Biology:
Course Coordinator for Biology 311
Undergraduate Committee 1995-
Committee on Committees 1997
Ad hoc Committee for an Honors Program 1997
Ad hoc Committee to Revise Membership 1997
Search Committee for Molecular Biology
Search Committee for Biology 103/104
College of Arts and Sciences:
CAS Councillor-At-Large 1997-
GRADUATE STUDENTS SUPERVISED
Jane Elek, MS Thesis
Kerry Bosley, MS
Martin Gilroy, MS
Kevin Ballard, MS Thesis
Joan Estes, MS Thesis
Nancy Becker, MS
John Slapcinsky
J.J. Morgan, environmental program
Lisa Bates-Karten, Ph.D.
Danyelle Townsend, MS
Vanessa Ford, MS
Allyson Via-Norton, doctoral research