KGI Professor Jim Sterling Elected President of Assn. for Laboratory Automation

CLAREMONT, Calif., Feb. 27, 2008 – Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) today announced that Jim Sterling, Ph.D., associate professor and director of KGI’s Team Masters Program (TMP), has been elected president of the Association for Laboratory Automation (ALA).

As the only international organization devoted exclusively to laboratory automation, ALA serves academic, commercial and government researchers, scientists and engineers who conduct research and develop new technologies to increase productivity, elevate experimental data quality, reduce lab process cycle times or enable experimentation that otherwise would be impossible in labs.

“ALA will benefit greatly from Jim’s engineering expertise and his tireless commitment to improving the performance of research laboratories,” said Sheldon Schuster, Ph.D., KGI’s president. “Jim has been instrumental in creating KGI’s distinctive, hybrid educational model, blending science and business. He played a key role crafting our bioengineering curriculum, directs our Team Masters Project program, and co-directs KGI’s microfluidics research laboratory. This breadth of experience will serve the ALA well.”

Sterling said he was honored to be chosen as ALA’s next president

“We will be working to broaden our constituency by expanding ALA's global influence while cultivating involvement of laboratory automation scientists and engineers from food, agriculture, energy, forensics, and biopharmaceutical industries,” said Sterling. “Every KGI student has attended the ALA annual meeting during the first year of their MBS study. We look forward to continuing this tradition which gives our students exposure to industry-relevant short courses, scientific program presentations and the exhibition where over 250 companies present their products.”

Sterling has been involved with ALA since 2003. He has held numerous positions including inaugural chair of the education committee and serving as director, secretary and vice president.

Primary industries served by ALA include drug discovery and development, clinical molecular diagnostics, food and agriculture, forensics and security and energy, commodity chemicals and polymers. For more information about ALA, visit http://www.labautomation.org/LA09/video/.

KGI Background
Educating the future leaders of the bioscience industry, Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) offers an interdisciplinary graduate education through its Master of Bioscience (MBS) degree program and its Ph.D. program in Applied Life Sciences. Using team-based learning and real-world projects, KGI's innovative curriculum seamlessly combines applied life sciences, bioengineering, bioethics and business management. KGI also has a robust research program concentrating on the translation of basic discoveries in the life sciences into applications that can benefit society. KGI is a member of The Claremont Colleges, located in Claremont, California.

Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences is dedicated to education and research aimed at translating into practice, for the benefit of society, the power and potential of the life sciences.