Fascination for pond scum thrusts biology explorer into the world limelight
POND SCUM MAY FUEL OUR VEHICLES SOMEDAY, and we’ll have
Dr. Jerry J. Brand ’63 to thank for it.
Brand, professor of molecular cell and developmental biology
at the University of Texas, is in charge of the world’s largest and
most diverse culture collections of algae. The Wall Street Journal featured him in April 2009 after his research caught the attention
of entrepreneurs who believe algae has great potential as an
energy resource. Brand was making scientific discoveries even as
an undergraduate at Manchester College back in 1961. He has
“fond memories” of an introductory course in zoology taught by
Dr. Emerson Niswander and research with Dr. William Eberly ’48 on the oxygen profiles in freshwater lakes and their effects on
lentic biota. “I remember the thrill of being the first person in
(Eberly’s) classes to isolate the unusual microbe, Dictyostelium
discoideum, from a natural source.”
Soon after graduating, Brand took up teaching physics in
Nigeria. “My academic preparation for that was excellent,”
Brand says. “But equally important was the perspective I learned
at Manchester: that service is important and rewarding. I hope
never to forget that lesson.”
While his studies on the light reactions of photosynthesis at
Purdue and Indiana universities and now at Texas have carried
Brand to different disciplines from his Manchester College days
“the excitement of discovery remains the same,” he says.
“Algae are now at the center of my university life.”
BY ADAM KING '10
Longtime friend gives the gift of life, without hesitating a heartbeat
 THE SUM OF MARY HERBSTER '71 HAUPERT’S life is far greater
than even this Manchester math
education major can calculate.
“I never taught a day after my
student teaching,” says Haupert.
Instead, she earned a master’s in
counseling at St. Francis
University, and spent 20 years
with Park Center, leading Fort
Wayne group homes, day care and
case management for clients with
mental illness.
Then, she joined Fort Wayne
Women’s Bureau to direct its new
90-day residential treatment for addicted women and their young
children (now called Transitions). With Haupert’s help, the
Bureau acquired a building, staff, certification and funding.
In 1995, Haupert became CEO of the struggling
Neighborhood Health Clinics for underserved (and uninsured)
residents of Fort Wayne. She persevered through staggering
financial crises, diversifying resources. Her dedication added up:
Last year, the clinic provided almost 50,000 medical and dental
visits to 15,695 individuals – and more than 13,000 women and
children received nutrition counseling and high-nutrition foods.
“What I enjoy the most is the planning, visioning and
management,” Haupert says, “and the feeling that, in the end,
we are making a real difference in the health and well-being of
people who might not have the same opportunities as I have.”
The secret to Haupert’s successes? “Loving God and loving
others are still the most important things in life,” she asserts.
“Do not let your plans, ambition or careers overpower these
relationships.”
BY TIFFANY BERKEBILE ’10
A powerful formula of prayer,
science and excellence
 “AT TIMES, I HAVE VIVIDLY FELT THE EXPERIENCE OF actually
living in a dream world,” says Frederick Balagaddé ’01, who
already is a respected and published pioneering research scientist.
Today, the ever-inquisitive
Balagaddé is principal investigator
of engineering technologies for
Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory in California, the
premier laboratory for solutions
to the most important problems
affecting national and global
security. He came to the position
via two years as a research
scientist at Stanford University
and Ph.D. studies in applied
physics at the California Institute
of Technology.
“My experience (at MC) was
very special, but like compound interest, even after I left, the
memories continued to appreciate,” says the extraordinary
computer science and physics major who conducted NASA
research on carbon fiber composites and interned at Fermi
National Accelerator Laboratory during his Manchester years.
At Cal Tech, Balagaddé invented the micro-chemostat, a
small device that mimics biological cell culture environment in a
highly complex web of tiny pump and hair-sized water hoses, all
controlled by a multi-tasking computer. His research was
published in Science, the world’s leading journal of original
scientific research, and featured on National Public Radio.
When asked about his journey as the premier high school
student of a third-world country to one of the premier science
institutions in the world, Balagaddé humbly replies, “I believe in
the power of prayer. The most amazing things have happened in
my life as answers to prayers.”
BY NATE HODGES ’10 |
