NIU faculty member Arnold Hampel was chosen to direct NIU’s new Plant Molecular Biology Center after an extensive nationwide search.

In addition, Arthur Hooker, a former executive of Dekalb-Pfizer Genetics, 3100 Sycamore Road, a company involved in agricultural research, was named as scientific adviser.

ampel is an NIU Presidential Research Professor who also won the university’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching award in 1985. Hampel holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from NIU and a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Wisconson, Madison.

Jerrold Zar, associate provost for graduate studies and research, expressed approval on Hampel’s selection. Zar said, “Hampel is an enthusiastic teacher in the biology department for both the undergraduate and graduate students. He taught a great variety of courses and even developed some new courses in cell biology and molecular biology.

“Hampel has organized teams of faculty members to teach courses and has been able to entice scientists from the Argonne National Laboratory to do likewise,” Zar said.

Zar said, “Hampel has been outstanding in research as well as teaching and was seen as the logical choice for director.” The fact that Hampel has been successful in securing outside funding is underscored by the six major research grants he received from the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation, he said.

The content of the research “centered on the first steps in protein synthesis,” Hampel said. On his sabbatical last year at the University of California at Davis, Hampel studied related problems of plant viruses.

As for his plans for the center, Hampel said, “I hope to use the center to promote interactions between area industry and the university. Also of equal importance is the strengthening of university expertise in molecular biology.”

ampel added, “My research is more from a theoretical perspective and Arthur Hooker was chosen to provide a more applied aspect of research. Hooker, a former University of Illinois faculty member, will be of great assistance in fulfilling the center’s role as a liaison between area industry and university research.”