Contact:
Lauren Ward
412-268-7761

For immediate release:
March 3, 2005

Carnegie Mellon University Computational Biologist Selected To Chair Prestigious National Institutes of Health Committee

Robert Murphy, professor of biological sciences, has been selected to chair the Biodata Management and Analysis Study Section of the Center for Scientific Review at the NIH.

PITTSBURGH—Robert Murphy, professor of biological sciences at the Mellon College of Science (MCS), Carnegie Mellon University, has been selected to chair the Biodata Management and Analysis (BDMA) Study Section of the Center for Scientific Review at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The BDMA committee has an important role in reviewing federal grant applications to manage, analyze and visualize biological data.

According to the invitation letter, "members are selected on the basis of their demonstrated competence and achievement in their scientific discipline as evidenced by the quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and other significant scientific activities, achievements and honors."

"We are very pleased to see Bob appointed to lead this committee. He is a proven innovator in computational biology and an indisputable leader in developing research and educational programs in this field," said Richard McCullough, dean of MCS.

"I am honored to have been chosen as the chair of this new study section. Its formation is the result of the commitment NIH has made over the last few years to provide improved review of interdisciplinary proposals, such as those in computational biology," said Murphy, who also is a professor of biomedical engineering, a member of the Center for Automated Learning and Discovery in the School of Computer Science and director of the Merck Computational Biology and Chemistry Program.

The scope of the BDMA committee is considerable, according to the NIH, which states that it oversees grants that "aim to develop technologies for... bioinformatics, computational biology and computer science. This includes the review of data management technology in support of large-scale data collection and integration efforts."

MCS maintains innovative research and educational programs in biological sciences, chemistry, physics, mathematics and several interdisciplinary areas. For more information, visit www.cmu.edu/mcs.