Dear ASM Maryland Branch Members,

 

​As the current President of the Maryland Branch, I would like to welcome all of you to an exciting new year with the 2024-2025 series of ASM Maryland Branch meetings. It is my honor to serve as President for the coming year.

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Maryland is the home of many esteemed universities, hospitals, state and federal governmental agencies, and biotechnological corporations, which employ, educate and train many of our members. We are a diverse group representing various backgrounds including microbiology, virology, immunology, medicine, public health, environmental science and engineering, biotechnology, bioinformatics, and science policy. To serve our members’ interests, build community and provide current scientific information on emerging topics, we host a series of dinner meetings each year as well as events dedicated to student experiences. The dinner meetings start with a social hour, where we encourage all attendees to arrive early to engage and network.

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Dinner meetings and student conferences

For last year’s 2023-24 season, we hosted four dinner meetings with an average of 76 attendees, which was a 33% increase in attendance over an already strong year in 2022-23!   Almost 44% of our attendees last year were students, and we’re excited about the energy that students continue to bring to our Branch events. Last year, we also co-hosted the Inaugural ‘Falling for Research’ Student Conference in addition to the four traditional meetings, and we hope to bring that student conference back in Fall of 2025.

 

We have another engaging meeting line-up for the 2024-25 season.

 

The first dinner meeting took place at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Skylight Room of The Commons Building on October 15, 2024 and featured the current ASM President Dr. Theresa M. Koehler, PhD, Chair Emerita of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at McGovern Medical School, University of Texas-Houston. She presented the seminar: “Bacillus anthracis: of Mice, Men and Tall Fescue”. This first meeting boasted an attendance of 89, with 33 students attending. We were happy to see so many of our colleagues, including many new faces at this first dinner meeting of the season. As a part of this meeting, it has become a tradition that the Center for the History of Microbiology/ASM Achieves presents an exhibition, since they are located at UMBC (https://lib.guides.umbc.edu/choma). We are thankful for the ASM Archivist Colleen Puterbaugh’s help in organizing the meeting and for preparing the wonderful exhibition. We also are thankful for the meeting sponsors, Qiagen and Symcel.

 

The second dinner meeting is planned for Thursday, February 20, 2024 at the University of Maryland Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET) in Baltimore. Dust off your swimwear as Dr. Eric Schott, PhD, Associate Professor at IMET, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences will present the seminar: “Microbial source tracking and collaborations tell us where we can safely swim in Baltimore Harbor.”

 

The third dinner meeting will take place Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at the Sheraton Baltimore North Hotel, Towson. ASM Distinguished Lecturer Dr. Joanne Engel, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Infectious Disease and Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Immunology, UCSF, will present the seminar: “Pathogenesis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections with a special emphasis on bacterial signal transduction, virulence programs and secreted effectors”.

 

The fourth and final dinner meeting is the Annual ASM Maryland Branch Poster Session that will take place on Monday, June 16, 2025 prior to ASM Microbe 2025 (June 19-23 2025, in Los Angeles, CA). Undergraduate and graduate students will be encouraged to submit abstracts to be considered for the J. Howard Brown Outstanding Undergraduate and Graduate Student Awards. The 1st and 2nd Place Graduate and Undergraduate Winners will present their research at the meeting. The poster session will again take place at the Health Sciences Facility III (HSF III), University of Maryland School of Medicine, 670 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201.

 

Awards for ASM Maryland Branch members

The ASM Maryland Branch each year honors several microbiologists by issuing the following awards:

 

Barnett Cohen Award. This award is presented to a professional microbiologist in recognition of their contributions, devotion, and interest in promoting the science of microbiology. This award was established in memory of Dr. Cohen in 1954. Dr. Cohen was president of the Branch in 1942, and president of the national society in 1950. In 2024 the Cohen Award went to Richard Pfeltz.

 

Richard S. Schwalbe Award. This award is presented to an outstanding bench microbiologist, who possesses those professional qualities embodied by Rick Schwalbe: superior performance in clinical microbiology, willingness to train and share knowledge, scientific curiosity, and a constant striving for excellence. This award was established in 2000 to honor the memory of Dr. Richard S. Schwalbe, former president of the Maryland Branch of ASM. In 2023 the Schwalbe Award went to Patricia Simner.

 

J. Howard Brown Awards. These awards are presented to outstanding graduate and undergraduate students who are making a contributions worthy of recognition in the field of microbiology. This award was established in memory of J. Howard Brown in 1954. These 

awards are issued at the annual student symposium in May/June prior to the ASM Microbe meeting. In 2024 the J. Howard Brown Award Graduate winners were: Katherine Cotton (1st), Ian O’Keefe (2nd) and Laine Feller (3rd). The 2024 Undergraduate winners were: Glory Omodia (1st), Eber Guzman-Cruz (2nd) and Myanna Brooks (3rd).

 

Peggy Cotter Awards. These  awards are presented to Early Career Branch Members (defined as up to 15 years beyond terminal degree) and must be used for participation in the annual ASM Microbe meeting. In 2024 the Cotter Awards went to: Anjali Anil, Nicole Putnam and Richard Smith.

 

Upcoming deadlines for nominations:

We strongly encourage you to nominate your colleagues for these awards. Self-nominations are also welcome. Please submit the nominations for the 2025 awards via this link: https://www.asmmdbranch.com/awards-and-nominations

●      Peggy Cotter Award applications: Open now – will close February 1, 2025.

●      Barnett Cohen Award: nominate by February 7, 2025

●      Richard S. Schwalbe Award: nominate by April 11, 2025

 

Board of Directors

ASM Maryland Branch meetings are largely possible due to the efforts of our Board of Directors, who are all volunteering their time for the branch activities. I would like to thank the 2023-24 Board and particularly President Dr. Birthe Kjellerup, University of Maryland at College Park for her leadership and initiatives the past year (she will serve as past-President) as well as Silvia Pineiro, our outgoing Councilor.  We welcome President-Elect Dr. Muyideen Haruna, Morgan State University and thank Dr. James Kaper for agreeing to serve as our new Councilor. We are also fortunate to have Monica Smith (Treasurer) and Richard Pfeltz (Secretary) continuing to serve in their roles – Thank you. We would also like to thank Bob Ernst, Paul Luethy, Nick Carbonetti, Jenn Kerr and Paulette Hammond for continuing to serve the ASM Maryland Branch as members of the Board of Directors. The Board would like to encourage all members to reach out to us with suggestions, ideas, questions, and feedback.

 

ASM Membership

We invite both members and non-members of the ASM Maryland Branch and National ASM organization to visit the Branch website (https://www.asmmdbranch.com/), which contains information about the three Maryland Branch awards (Barnett Cohen, Richard S. Schwalbe, and J. Howard Brown Awards) and information about the four upcoming meetings. Branches of ASM are the foundation of the National organization and play an important role in ASM’s functionality. 

 

As such, the ASM Maryland Branch membership is open to the general public with the only requirement being an interest in microbiology. 

 

Branch memberships are only $20 for Full, $5 for Student, and free for Emeritus memberships. We encourage those who would become members locally to also become members of the 

National ASM organization. Through National ASM (www.asm.org), you may choose to be a Supporting, Contributing, or Premium member, with Contributing and Premium members eligible for discounts to national conferences and meetings as well as discounts on journals and educational materials. For current students and post-doctoral scholars, the National ASM organization continues to offer a discounted membership.

 

ASM Maryland Branch Sponsorships

The activities in the Maryland Branch are based on volunteers and we are grateful for the members who contribute. We also rely on sponsors to make the events possible during the year and for making it possible for offering reduced registration fees to students, so they are able to attend the meetings, present research, expand their networks and contribute to the branch and field of microbiology.

 

The Maryland Branch offers four levels of sponsorships ranging from $500 to $2000. Sponsorship info can be found here: https://www.asmmdbranch.com/sponsorship. If you or somebody you know might be interested in sponsoring one or more meetings, please feel free to contact me (msnyder@towson.edu). 

 

ASM Maryland Branch T-shirts 

We are continuing the successful T-shirt sale and expanding to offer additional colors (white, oatmeal and grey) this year. The logo was commissioned a few years ago by Grace Deitzler, currently a postdoctoral fellow, artist, and microbiologist at Harvard University (sites.google.com/oregonstate.edu/gracedeitzler/home). 

 

The cost for a T-shirt will be only $15 and will include a free “crabby” sticker. Please contact Bob Ernst (rkernst@gmail.com) if you are interested in purchasing t-shirts. They will be delivered at the next branch meeting. 

 

Together with the rest of the Board of Directors, I’m looking forward to the many exciting activities that we have planned for the ASM Maryland Branch in the coming year. We can’t wait to see you at our next meeting—whether you’ve been attending for years or are planning to attend for your first time. Please feel free to bring a colleague and/or a friend to the meetings this year – we are excited to welcome everybody.

 

All my best,

 

Michelle Snyder, PhD

2024-2025 President

American Society for Microbiology, Maryland Branch

Email: msnyder@towson.edu