Sloan Program Personnel
J. B. Alexander (Sandy) Ross, Ph.D., Sloan Program Principal Investigator
406.543.6026
sandy.ross@umontana.edu
Professor Ross is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at The University of Montana, the Director of the BioSpectroscopy Core Research Laboratory, and a Special Assistant to the Associate Provost for Graduate Education. He joined The University of Montana Chemistry Department in 2001 as Professor and Director of the BioSpectroscopy Core Laboratory. Previously, he was Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Co-Director of the Biophysics, Structural Biology, and Biomathematics Training Program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine at New York. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 1976 under the joint supervision of D.A. Deranleau and D.C. Teller. He carried out postdoctoral research with A.L. Kwiram at the University of Washington, L. Brand at the Johns Hopkins University, and P.H. Petra at the University of Washington. He has served as Visiting Professor at the University of Parma, Italy, and as Visiting Scientist at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Sandy is a physical biochemist specializing in time-resolved excited-state spectroscopy. He teaches physical biochemistry, general biochemistry, and chemical literature and scientific writing. He is an investigator in the Center for Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics and the Center for Structural and Functional Neuroscience. Professor Ross became the Sloan Scholar Program Principal Investigator when Dean David Strobel retired in July 2008.
Penelope F. Kukuk, Ph.D, Co-principal Investigator
Research Professor
406.243.5896
penny.kukuk@mso.umt.edu | website
Penelope F. Kukuk received her B. S. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in Zoology and her Ph. D. from the University of Kansas in Ecology and Systematics. After postdoctoral work at Cornell University's Department of Entomology she undertook a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Dr. Kukuk moved to Montana in 1989 as a Research Associate Professor in the Division of Biological Sciences and is currently a Research Professor in that department. Her major scientific research focus is the evolution of sociality, particularly the fitness consequences of cooperation in groups made up of non-relatives. In addition to her scientific interests, Dr. Kukuk is the PI and director of projects with the goal of engaging the totality of human diversity in the scientific enterprise. Two of them, Project TRAIN and Bridges to the Baccalaureate, provide summer research experiences at UM to tribal college students to facilitate their advancement to four-year institutions and graduate school. A third assists American Indian students as they complete graduate degrees and make the transition to Tribal College faculty positions. Project PACE is aimed at increasing the numbers and status of women scientists in academia. She is also the co-PI of the Sloan Program.
Dr. Patrick Weasel Head, Sloan Program Cultural Consultant
406.243.4479
patrick.weaselhead@mso.umt.edu
Dr. Patrick Weasel Head, Blackfeet and Gros Ventre, is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet tribe in Montana. Patrick has been involved with the Sloan program since its inception in 2005. He serves as the cultural consultant to the program and also serves as an adviser to the Sloan Scholars and their mentors. He is currently also working on a grant in the School of Education to increase the number of Native American teachers. Patrick earned his doctorate degree in education from the University of Oregon.