The UA’s BIO5 Institute combines the efforts of five disciplines – science, agriculture, medicine, pharmacy and engineering – to tackle society’s most complex biological issues. Regents’ Professor Vicki Chandler is Director of BIO5, and at this year’s Governor's Celebration of Innovation Awards gala Chandler was named the Ed Denison Business Leader of the Year for her work to expand Arizona’s national and international influence in the biosciences. Other innovator of the year awards were given to UA freshman Niles Frazier as Young Innovator of the Year, the UA mission to Mars as Academic Innovator of the Year, and a biotech startup company incubated at the UA, MSDx LLC, was named start-up Innovator of the Year.

The largest National Science Foundation grant ever received in Arizona was awarded to the UA – $50 million for a five year project called the iPlant Collaborative. Administered by the BIO5 Institute, it will create a global center and computer infrastructure to unite plant scientists, computer scientists and information scientists from around the world to answer questions of global importance. “This project is collaborative – designed by the scientific community, for the community,” says UA plant sciences professor, BIO5 member and iPlant director Richard Jorgensen, “and will change the way we do science.” All iPlant projects will offer programs for school-aged children, undergraduate and graduate students and interested lay people.

The O’odham girl grew up in a small Arizona farm town and began studying English in first grade. Fascinated by words, Ofelia Zepeda became a linguist, a poet and author of the first grammar textbook book of the Tohono O’odham language. Today the UA Regents’ Professor in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences is acclaimed for her efforts to preserve and revitalize endangered languages around the world. She is co-founder and longtime director of the American Indian Language Development Institute and a MacArthur Fellow. Considered “a powerful role model,” Zepeda encourages students to write poems and songs in their tribal language, developing a new body of Native American literature.

UA alum Todd Pletcher is at the top of his profession. A graduate of the UA Race Track Industry Program (RTIP) and one of the most sought-after horse trainers in the world, he had a banner year in 2007. Pletcher’s horse, Rags to Riches, became the first filly since 1905 to win the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of racing’s Triple Crown, and Pletcher led the nation with earnings of nearly $29 million. Not all RTIP grads choose to train horses as Pletcher did but instead choose from a wide variety of careers associated with racing. Nearly 90 percent of students find jobs in their chosen profession immediately upon graduation and join the list of industry leaders who got their start at The University of Arizona.

UA senior Grace Hsieh was named to the second team in USA Today’s 2008 All-USA College Academic Team program. Hundreds of nominees from universities across the nation were considered and only 20 selected. Hsieh is a triple major in Biochemistry, East Asian studies and Molecular and Cellular Biology and an Honors College student with a 4.0 average. In addition to her academic achievements Hsieh launched the local chapter of InnoWorks (Innovative Workshops), a program to encourage economically disadvantaged students to pursue careers in science and engineering. Hsieh found the program and the funding, recruited UA students to help and middle-school student to attend the summer camps. UA professor Jim Hazzard calls her “Amazing Grace.”

Christopher A. Lewicki’s life revolves around Mars. After graduating from the UA, he started working day and night for two years on the phenomenally successful Mars Rover landings – integrating 46 different motors, overseeing 3 a.m. practice landings and keeping 10,000 wiring connections and miles of cable straight. Now he is NASA’s flight system engineer for the Phoenix Mars Scout Mission, the UA’s largest-ever research endeavor, headed by Peter Smith of the UA Lunar and Planetary Lab. This Mars-obsessed UA aerospace engineering grad is “a force of good on our project,” Smith said.

Insecticides kill pests. Simple, right? Wrong. Even as they kill, insecticides drive evolution, because only toxin-resistant individuals survive and reproduce. This accelerated evolution means that when insecticides are overused they can quickly become useless. Conundrums like this keep Dave Crowder busy. A Ph.D. candidate in the UA's Entomology Program, Crowder uses mathematical models and experiments to study how crop-destroying whitefly populations might dwindle or thrive in various farming scenarios. His research helps determine how best to control these and other pests and is helping to rank UA entomology #2 among all major U.S. research universities in the most recent Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index.

Whitney Myers, a record-setting swimmer and diver at The University of Arizona, was named the NCAA Woman of the Year. The award recognizes outstanding female student-athletes who have excelled in athletics, academics, leadership and service. Myers was selected from 128 nominees representing all three NCAA divisions. Myers is a 14-time record-holder at Arizona, earning her the 2006 Pac-10 Swimmer of the Year award. She was the 2007 NCAA Champion in the 200 individual medley (1:54.89), and tallied a total of six first team All-American honors at the championships. Myers has been on the dean’s list every semester and volunteers with local Girl Scout troops and in elementary schools.

Dance major Lindsey Quigley's life is full. Dance classes. Academics. Rehearsals. Performances. Time with friends, with family. Her life is also silent. Lindsey can't hear. Not music, not the sound of the human voice or hands clapping a choreographed eight-count. Mark Miceli, graduate student, technical theatre, wants to help. His study of sound led him to develop a device that lets Lindsey feel the beat, right through her body. Art and science. New partners in a very old dance.