Name: Dr. Maria Alvarez
Email: mariaa@epcc.edu
Dr. Maria Alvarez, a native of El Paso, TX., received her B.S. degree in Biology with a Chemistry minor from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and an M.S. degree in Biology (Microbiology) also from UTEP. She received her Ph.D. in Biology from New Mexico State University (NMSU) when she was 25 years old. She continued conducting post-doctoral work at NMSU in the Biology and Chemistry Departments. She has published several papers on her research on environmental microbiology. She has taken students to present research papers every year at various meetings including branch and national meetings of the American Society for Microbiology, National Minority Research Symposium and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. Dr. Alvarez has taught lower and upper-division Biology and Microbiology courses at El Paso Community College (EPCC), UTEP and NMSU. She has been honored by Who’s Who Among American Teachers, by Minority Access, Inc.in Washington, D.C. and by SACNAS.
Dr. Alvarez has been a teacher and mentor of hundreds of minority students since 1984. When she started teaching at El Paso Community College, she was determined to encourage students to become excited about science by participating in research projects. At the time, no equipment was available for these special projects but yet she managed to get students to learn about the investigative nature of science by conducting small research projects in a small storage room. After participating in a grant proposal workshop sponsored by the Quality Education for Minorities Network in 1996, she led an effort to submit proposals to the National Science Foundation (NSF) to acquire equipment and supplies to enhance the teaching of science at EPCC. Two proposals were funded by NSF totaling $360,000. These funds were used to renovate a laboratory at EPCC’s Transmountain campus and to transform it into a state-of-the-art research facility to be used to expose students to research. At the time, EPCC was the only community college to receive funding from these NSF programs. Having the laboratory facilities to conduct research opened up a world of opportunities for EPCC students. At the time, she also received a $170,000-grant from the U.S. EPA for her research project on Reversible Inactivation of Viruses in Groundwater. Under her guidance, EPCC students were selected twice to participate in NASA’s Reduced Gravity programs where students conduct research under reduced gravity on board the KC-135-A plane at the Johnson Space Center.
Once again, EPCC was the only community college participating in these projects. In 1998, she was nominated and selected to participate in an internship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD. The Extramural Associates Program exposed her to a variety of funding opportunities. Dr. Alvarez, returned to EPCC with a $90,000 EARDA grant from NIH-NICHD to promote Biomedical Research Activities. One of the main products of her training at NIH was the successful submission of a proposal to NIH’s MBRS-RISE program. This proposal was funded, on the first trial, at the level of $2,000,000 for a four-year period. This was unheard of for a Community College. The RISE program is aimed at providing minority and disadvantaged students with all the necessary tools to succeed in college, transfer to a four-year university and pursue a biomedical research career and a Ph.D. Even though EPCC’s RISE Program is only four years old, the impact the program is having on student potential for biomedical research careers is already evident. On November 2002, EPCC-RISE students competed against students from universities across the nation at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students Meeting in New Orleans, LA and took two of the seven awards for sophomore research projects. EPCC-RISE students continue to receive awards for their research projects and are being accepted to participate in summer research internships at NIH and Baylor. EPCC-RISE students are transferring to four-year universities and being accepted into MARC and Ph.D. programs.
Dr. Alvarez has also received two grants from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation’s Center for Border Health Research and NSF to study the Chemical Toxicity and Microbial Contamination of the Rio Grande. This project exposes students to a problem very important in our border community and is generating future scientists with expertise in local environmental problems. She has also conducted research on the molecular mechanisms of viral inactivation and reactivation. In nine years as a full-time, now tenured, faculty member at EPCC, Dr. Alvarez has managed to attract funding to motivate and provide support for minority students to pursue a biomedical research career at a level not seen at any other community college.
PUBLICATIONS:
Alvarez, M.E. and R.T. O'Brien. 1982. Effects of chlorine concentration on the structure of poliovirus. Appl. Environ.Microbiol. 43:237-239.
Alvarez, M.E. and R.T. O'Brien. 1982. Mechanisms of inactivation of poliovirus by chlorine dioxide and iodine. Appl.Environ.Microbiol. 44:1064-1071.
Alvarez, M.E. and R.T. O'Brien. 1982. The mechanisms of inactivation of poliovirus by chlorine dioxide and iodine and the effects of cations on inactivation.
New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute. Report No. 152, June 1982.
Alvarez, M.E. and C.M. McCarthy. 1983. Glutamine synthetase from Mycobacterium avium. Can.J.Microbiol. 30:353-359.
Alvarez, M.E. and C.M. McCarthy. 1984. Variation of Glutamine synthetase and glutamate synthase from Mycobacterium avium. Can.J.Microbiol. 31:211-213
Alvarez, Maria and Karen McCort. 1997. ScienTIST Fair: Not your ordinary Science Fair.
Association for Biology Laboratory Education, Vol. 18(2), p.7
Alvarez, M.E. and S.D. Pillai. Mechanisms of Inactivation of viruses in groundwater., p.13-14.
Drinking Water progress review for the 1995/1998 science to achieve results, (STAR) grants. EPA 600/R-98/162
Alvarez, Maria, Miguel Aguilar, Alexis Fountain, Neyda Gonzalez, Osvaldo Rascon, and David Saenz. 2000. Inactivation of MS-2 phage and poliovirus in groundwater. Can. J. Microbiol. 46:159-165
Mendoza, J. Botsford, A. Vazquez, R. Saenz, A. Valles, J. Hernandez, A. Montoya, and M. Alvarez. 2004. Microbial Contamination and Chemical Toxicity of the Rio Grande River. BMC Microbiology. 4:17
Ryou, H, H. Alum, M. Alvarez, J. Mendoza, and M. Abbaszadegan. 2005. Microbial Quality and Risk Assessment of the Rio Grande Basin in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region. Journal of Water and Health, accepted for publication
Alvarez, Maria E. Visualization Techniques in the New Biology. 2005. In. Lynn Arthur Steen (Ed.) Math & Bio 2010. Linking Undergraduate Disciplines, p. 35-43.
The Mathematical Association of America, Washington