UBC Botany and Computer Science welcome new heads

Lacey Samuels--a cell biologist studying the biosynthesis of plant cell walls who played a key role in designing UBC's first-year science small class seminars--has been appointed head of the Department of Botany.

Samuels, a longstanding member of the department, will begin her five-year term on July 1, 2011.


“Lacey played a leading role in our efforts to create First-Year Science Seminars for undergraduate students and a graduate biology course in life sciences pedagogy,” says Simon Peacock, Dean of the Faculty of Science. “I look forward to working with Lacey, and also want to thank Fred Sack for his leadership of the department over the past five years.”


UBC Botany offers a wide range of research and educational programs, with specializations covering topics ranging from the organismal to the molecular level. The department consists of 40 full-time faculty members, about 85 graduate students, and numerous post-doctoral fellows and research associates.

The UBC Department of Botany head search committee consisted of Carl Douglas, Ljerka Kunst, Celeste Leander, Patrick Martone, Bill Milsom, Sean Shang, Chris Lee, Natalie Liu, and Jonathan Griffiths.

On July 1, Anne Condon--internationally recognized for her research in complexity theory and bioinformatics, and a leading Canadian proponent for women in science and technology--will take on the leadership of UBC's Department of Computer Science.

Condon--whose appointment was announced last June--was recently awarded the University of Washington Computer Science and Engineering Alumni Achievement Award.