MONTEVALLO—University of Montevallo Assistant Professor of Biology Brett D. Noerager has been named the 2012 University Scholar. He was recognized at UM’s Founders’ Day convocation, held Oct. 11 in Palmer Hall.
A member of the faculty since 2007, Noerager is an active member of the UM community. Noerager currently chairs the Health Professions Advisory committee and serves on the Faculty Senate, the Teacher Education Committee, Montevallo Connection and the Run for Research committee. In addition, he advises Golden Key International Honour Society, the Biology Club and Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society.
He received a bachelor’s degree in animal physiology and neuroscience from the University of California in 1993 and the Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2002.
Prior to joining the UM faculty, Noerager completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UAB in the department of physiology and biophysics where he also served as a graduate research assistant. He has received a number of grants to fund research since receiving the Ph.D.
A prolific researcher, Noerager has published five national peer-reviewed papers since his arrival at UM. In 2010, he and his colleagues published a paper, “A Critical Role for LTA4H in Limiting Chronic Pulmonary Neutrophilic Inflammation,” in the journal Science. This journal is foremost in the fields of both biology and chemistry and publishes only “cutting edge” research. In a letter nominating Noerager as University Scholar, one colleague wrote, “What I think is important is that he has been able to accomplish this while teaching three laboratory courses each semester (12 credit hours), which equates to 17 contact hours per week. To publish such a large volume of research of such high quality is truly worthy of being designated University Scholar.”