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