William B. Whitman

(706) 542-4219
whitman@uga.edu

For a full CV click here

Education

  • Bachelor of Science, 1973, from the Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York at Stony Brook
  • Doctor of Philosophy, 1978, from the Department of Microbiology, University of Texas at Austin.  Advisor: F. Robert Tabita.
  • Postdoctoral work, Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois, 1978 - 1982.  Advisor: Ralph S. Wolfe.

Academic Positions

  • Assistant Professor of Microbiology, University of Georgia, 1982-1988
  • Associate Professor of Microbiology, University of Georgia, 1988-1993
  • Professor of Microbiology, University of Georgia, 1993-present.
  • Head, Department of Microbiology, University of Georgia, 2006-2012.

Membership in Professional Societies

  • American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1975-present
  • American Society for Microbiology, 1975-present
  • Southeastern branch, American Society for Microbiology, 1982-present
  • Bergey’s International Society for Microbial Systematics, 2010-present

Awards

  • National Research Service Award, NIH-PHS Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1979
  • Presidential Young Investigator Award, 1984
  • Achievement Award for New Scholars, 1985, Southern Conference of Graduate Schools
  • Fellow, 1995, American Academy of Microbiology
  • Bergey’s Award, Bergey’s Manual Trust, 2000
  • P.R. Edwards Award, Southeastern Branch of the American Society for Microbiology, 2000
  • Robert G. Eagon Award, Southeastern Branch of the American Society for Microbiology, 2004
  • Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2006
  • USFCC/J.Roger Porter Award, American Society for Microbiology, 2010
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences Visiting Professorship for Senior International Scientists, Institute of Microbiology, Laboratory of Xiuzhu Dong, 2013

Professional Service

  • Secretary, ICSB Subcommittee on the taxonomy of methanogenic bacteria, 1986-2001
  • Advisory Board, N.I.H. Stable Isotope Resource at Los Alamos, 1988-1995
  • Associate Editor, International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology, 1995-2001
  • Chair, Division I (General Microbiology), American Society for Microbiology 2003
  • Trustee and Treasurer, Bergey’s Manual Trust, 2006-present
  • Advisory Board, N.I.H. Stable Isotope Resource at Los Alamos, 1988-1995
  • Supervising Editor, Bergey’s Manual Trust, 2006-present
  • Treasurer, Bergey’s International Society for Microbial Systematics, 2010-present
  • Editor, Archaea, 2013-present

Outreach Interests

  • Judge at local and stete High School Science Fairs, 1995 to present
  • Microbiology demonstrations at elementary schools, 2003 to present

Dissertations Directed

  • Jer Song Shieh (1988) Carbon metabolism in methanococci
  • Jonathan Ladapo (1990) Investigation of wild type and acetate auxotrophic mutants of Methanococcus maripaludis
  • RuYe Xing (1992) Branched-chain amino acid biosynthetic pathway of archaebacterium Methanococcus spp.
  • Peter Godfrey Simpson (1993) Investigation of amino acid metabolism in Methanococcus voltae
  • Timothy Bowen (1993) The development of a genetics system for Methanococcus
  • Yu-Ling Yang (1994) Investigation of pyruvate oxidation regulation of Methanococcus
  • Jyoti Keswani (1994) Use of molecular approaches for identification and classification of the methane producing archaea, Methanococcus
  • Debra Lynn Tumbula (1997) Development of genetic methods for Methanococcus maripaludis
  • Jae-Pil Yu (1997) Investigation of autotrophy in Methanococcus maripaludis
  • Warren Gardner (2000) Expression vectors for the methane-producing archaeon Methanococcus maripaludis.
  • Michelle Furlong (2000) Bacterial communities in natural ecosystems: groundwater, soil, and earthworm casts and burrows
  • David Singleton (2002) Prokaryotic communities associated with the earthworm Lumbricus rubellus and the agricultural soil it inhabits
  • Winston Lin (2002) Investigation of the anabolic pyruvate oxidoreductase and the function of PorEF in Methanococcus maripaludis
  • Kamyar Farahi (2002) Investigation of the evolution of the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases by the ratios of evolutionary distance method
  • Wonduck Kim (2003) Genetic studies of carbon dioxide fixation in the methane-producing archaeon Methanococcus maripaludis
  • Tiffany Major (2006) The role of the energy conserving hydrogenase B in autotrophy and the characterization of sulfur metabolism in Methanococcus maripaludis
  • James Henriksen (2008) Physiology of DMSP metabolism in a model marine roseobacter, Silicibacter pomeroyi
  • Yuchen Liu (2010) Adaptations of Methanococcus maripaludis to its unique lifestyle
  • Chris Reisch (2011) Metabolism of DMSP by Ruegeria pomeroyi
  • Felipe Andres Sarmiento Boban (2013) Genome-wide survey of gene functionality for the methanogenic archaeon Methanococcus maripaludis

Theses Directed

  • See Hyang Sohn (1985) The regulation of the incorporation of isoleucine, leucine and acetate in Methanococcus voltae
  • RuYe Xing (1988) Sulfometuron methyl sensitive and resistant acetolactate synthase of the archaebacterium Methanococcus
  • Yu-Ling Yang (1989) Pyruvate oxidation in Methanococcus species
  • Brian Waters (2002) Investigation of 2-oxoacid oxidoreductases in Methanococcus maripaludis and large scale growth of M. maripaludis.
  • Rima Upchurch (2006) Analyses and comparison of bacterial communities with different land managements
  • Shiyao Wang (2009) The diverse microbial community in Sapelo Island and study on the pathway of DMSP degradation in marine bacteria
  • Warren Crabb (2013) Metabolism of organosulfur compounds in Ruegeria pomeroyi DSS-3

Postdoctoral Research Associates

  • Usha Premachandran (1985-1986) Indian Agricultural Institute, New Delhi
  • Neil Schauer (1985-1986) Virginia Polytechnical Institute
  • Mostafa Mesbah (1986-1988) University of Bradsford, England
  • Sang Ho Park (1992-1994) Montana State University
  • Iain Anderson (1998-2000) University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • Iris Porat (2002-2009) Ben-Gurion University, Israel
  • Boguslaw Lupa (2005-2010) Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
  • Kamlesh Jangid (2006-2011) University of Pune
  • Laura Beer (2011-2012 University of Arizona
  • Yixuan Zhu (2012-2013) University of Gerogia
  • Zhe Lv (2012- present) China Agricultural University
  • Qiuyuan Huang (2014-present) Miami University (Ohio)

Visiting Colleagues

  • Mostafa Mesbah (1989-1990) University of Assiut, Egypt
  • Vigdis Torsvik (1990-1991) University of Bergen, Norway
  • Terje Torsvik (1990-1991) University of Bergen, Norway
  • Karin Everett (2002)The World
  • Chih-Yu Chiu (2002) Academica Sinica, Taiwan
  • Suresh Korpole (2007-2008) Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, India
  • Siti Chaerun (2008-2009) Institute Technologi Bandung, Indonesia
  • Soon Dong Lee (2009-2010) Cheju National University, Jeju, Republic of Korea
  • Murali Gopal (2010) Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod , India
  • Alka Gupta (2010) Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod , India
  • Sanjib Manna (2011) Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR), Barrackpore, India
  • Mingguo Jiang (2011-2012) Guangxi University for Nationalities, China
  • Masood Siddiqui (2012) University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan
  • Xun Li (2013) Nanjing Forestry University
  • JinHua Wang (2014) Southwest Forestry University, Kumming