McKnight Land Grant Professorship: Randy Singer

Randy Singer awarded McKnight Land-Grant Professorship

Randy Singer, D.V.M., Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Department at the College of Veterinary Medicine, has been selected to receive a University of Minnesota McKnight Land-Grant Professorship.

The McKnight Land-Grant Professorship is a two-year appointment that includes a $30,000 research grant in each of two years, summer support, and a research leave in the second year. McKnight Land-Grant Professors are chosen for their potential for important contribution to their field; the degree to which their past achievements and current ideas demonstrate originality, imagination, and innovation; the potential for attracting outstanding students; and the significance of the research and the clarity with which it is conveyed to the non-specialist.

The goal of the program is to advance the careers of the University of Minnesota's most promising junior faculty at a crucial period in their professional lives. Singer's professorship will begin on July 1, 2005, and continue through June 30, 2007.

Singer's research interest is infectious disease epidemiology.

"I apply an ecological approach to a disease system, in which host, environment, agent, and other factors that influence pathogen transmission and persistence are evaluated," he explained. "These studies incorporate tools and methods in a variety of areas, including molecular biology, microbiology, and mathematical modeling. Ultimately, my goal is to combine epidemiological, ecological, microbiological, and hydrological models to predict the likelihood and extent of ecosystem-human-animal transmission of specific bacteria."

Singer received his D.V.M. in 1995 and Ph.D. in 1999, both from the University of California, Davis. In 2000, he received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.

"We re very proud that Dr. Singer has been selected as a recipient of this prestigious award," said Richard E. Isaacson, professor and chair of the College s Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Department. The College is now home to two faculty members with McKnight awards. In 2004, Moses Kariuki Njenga, an associate professor in the Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Department, received a McKnight Presidential Fellows Award.

The University of Minnesota Graduate School established the McKnight Land-Grant Professorship in 1987. It was named for a significant endowment gift from the McKnight Foundation that was then combined with a share of the Permanent University Fund. This Fund, released to the University by the legislature in 1985, came from the original land grant to the University. The name of the professorship emphasizes this public-private partnership.

Jan. 7, 2005