May 28, 2008

Dr. Alejandro Calderon-Urrea, an associate professor of biology at California State University, Fresno, will receive the 2008 Andreoli Biotechnology Service Award on Saturday, Jan. 12, during at the 20th annual CSU Biotechnology Symposium in Oakland.

The award recognizes a faculty member from the 23-campus California State University system who has made outstanding contributions to the development of biotechnology.

It is named in memory of Dr. Anthony Andreoli of California State University, Los Angeles. He was committed to the idea that the CSU has a special role in higher education by providing opportunities to a large population of nontraditional students with fewer options for advancement.

Since joining the Fresno State faculty in 1997, Calderon-Urrea has served as the principal investigator for a grant that helps train minority students for biomedical study and employment. He received the 2006 Provost's Award for Graduate Teaching and Mentoring and the 2005 Claude Laval, Jr. Award for Innovative Technology and Research.

He obtained his bachelor's degree from Universidad del Valle in Colombia, his master's degree from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium and his Ph.D.
from Yale University. His postdoctoral work focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms involved during plant-pathogen interaction.

During summer 2007, Calderon arranged for four Fresno State biology students to participate in Yale's elite summer program of classroom and lab research in genomics and bioinformatics, which use computers to analyze biological data, some of which is locked in genetic code.