She has devoted her life to discovering new ways to combat infectious diseases in developing countries. Now, microbiology professor Rita Colwell has been called upon by the White House to take her research abroad.
Colwell is one of three new “science envoys” named by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month to travel to countries such as Bangladesh, Malaysia and Vietnam in the coming months to foster scientific collaboration between these countries and the U.S. to address various public health issues.
Colwell is out of the country and did not return e-mails yesterday, and her colleagues said they did not know when she would be leaving or her itinerary. Colwell said in a university press release that her main focuses as science envoy will be on water safety and education for girls and women.
“It is an opportunity to be able to serve my country and to provide a positive face for the United States in addressing problems that affect people, friends and colleagues who live in other countries and could be benefited by science, technology and engineering,” she said in the press release.
Colwell, who served as the first female director of the National Science Foundation from 1998 to 2004, comes to the table with extensive experience researching in the Muslim world.
She spent more than 35 years in Bangladesh researching water safety and cholera pandemics, where she discovered that by simply straining contaminated water through cloth saris, the people of Bangladesh could filter out the microorganisms that carry water-borne cholera virus — a discovery that reduced cholera cases by 50 percent, Colwell told The Diamondback in 2008, saving hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives.
Since 2006 Colwell has taken her cholera research even further by collaborating with oceanic researchers at the university, where she serves on faculty with the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies. By studying satellite images, Colwell and her colleagues discovered a correlation among cholera outbreaks, climate changes and levels of zooplankton in the Indian Ocean; they are now trying to use satellites to predict cholera outbreaks. Colwell was awarded the international Stockholm Water Prize for her cholera research earlier this year.
Atmospheric and oceanic science professor Antonio Busalacci, who works with Colwell on this research, said he does not expect Colwell’s term as science envoy to delay or interfere with their work for the university. On the contrary, he said, what she does overseas can only build tremendously on the work they have already done.
“Our studies involve people not just here, but people in the local provinces of the countries that are affected,” he said. “So in her role as science envoy, she will be developing and nurturing further collaboration.”
In the press release, Colwell echoed that sentiment.
“I am sure that with our very strong international program … there will be connections that can be enriched or enhanced,” she said.
UMIACS Director Amitabh Varshney said he definitely hopes Colwell will continue to work closely with the university but he added her new post will allow her to apply her research on a greater scale than she would have by working on-campus.
“This is a unique opportunity to exercise a leadership on the international stage now that goes above and beyond her role as a faculty member,” he said.
villanueva at umdbk dot com
