Recipient of the 2021 Alumni Distinguished Leadership Award

Michael Peil is the founding Vice Dean of Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law, a law school that trains future lawyers in Bhutan. As Bhutan’s first democratic generation comes of age, there is the challenge of defining law in a nation that has been governed for much of its history in semi-theocracy and by monarchs. There is also difficulty in designing a curriculum that strikes a balance between educating students in handling disputes in a formal court system and through a village elder — a long-held custom stemming from a belief that justice based on conciliation maintains social harmony. In a culture where the adversarial nature of Western legal practice is seen by some to oppose Buddhism, which most people of Bhutan follow, the stakes have been high for training lawyers who could defend Bhutanese values as the demands of modernity came rushing in. Michael previously served as Associate Dean for International Programs at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis (USA) and as Executive Director of the International Law Students Association (ILSA). He received his Bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University (USA) and his Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School (USA)

1997 Convocation

Prelude: Mr. Brad Friedman, 1996 IMSA Graduate Welcome: Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall, President; Dr. Gregg Sinner, Principal; Ms. Jennifer Wang, Student Council President Musical Selection: Mr. Brad Friedman Keynote Speaker: Mr. Michael Peil, 1990 IMSA Graduat

Zero-lag long-range synchronization via dynamical relaying

We show that simultaneous synchronization between two delay-coupled oscillators can be achieved by relaying the dynamics via a third mediating element, which surprisingly lags behind the synchronized outer elements. The zero-lag synchronization thus obtained is robust over a considerable parameter range. We substantiate our claims with experimental and numerical evidence of these synchronization solutions in a chain of three coupled semiconductor lasers with long inter-element coupling delays. The generality of the mechanism is validated in a neuronal model with the same coupling architecture. Thus, our results show that synchronized dynamical states can occur over long distances through relaying, without restriction by the amount of delay.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Zero-lag long-range synchronization via dynamical relaying

4 pages.-- PACS numbers: 42.65.Sf, 05.45.Xt, 42.55.Px.-- ArXiv pre-print: http://arxiv.org/abs/nlin/0605036.-- Final full-text version of the paper available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.123902.We show that isochronous synchronization between two delay-coupled oscillators can be achieved by relaying the dynamics via a third mediating element, which surprisingly lags behind the synchronized outer elements. The zero-lag synchronization thus obtained is robust over a considerable parameter range. We substantiate our claims with experimental and numerical evidence of such synchronization solutions in a chain of three coupled semiconductor lasers with long inter-element coupling delays. The generality of the mechanism is validated in a neuronal model with the same coupling architecture. Thus, our results show that zero-lag synchronized chaotic dynamical states can occur over long distances through relaying, without restriction by the amount of delay.Research supported by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain) and FEDER (projects CONOCE2, AUCOFLUC and LASEA) and by the Generalitat de Catalunya. In addition, I. F. acknowledges funding from the FWO under Contract No. GP06704-FWOSL21

Deciphering the Translation Initiation Factor 5A Modification Pathway in Halophilic Archaea

Translation initiation factor 5A (IF5A) is essential and highly conserved in Eukarya (eIF5A) and Archaea (aIF5A). The activity of IF5A requires hypusine, a posttranslational modification synthesized in Eukarya from the polyamine precursor spermidine. Intracellular polyamine analyses revealed that agmatine and cadaverine were the main polyamines produced in Haloferax volcanii in minimal medium, raising the question of how hypusine is synthesized in this halophilic Archaea. Metabolic reconstruction led to a tentative picture of polyamine metabolism and aIF5A modification in Hfx. volcanii that was experimentally tested. Analysis of aIF5A from Hfx. volcanii by LC-MS/MS revealed it was exclusively deoxyhypusinylated. Genetic studies confirmed the role of the predicted arginine decarboxylase gene (HVO 1958) in agmatine synthesis. The agmatinase-like gene (HVO 2299) was found to be essential, consistent with a role in aIF5A modification predicted by physical clustering evidence. Recombinant deoxyhypusine synthase (DHS) fromS. cerevisiae was shown to transfer 4-aminobutyl moiety from spermidine to aIF5A from Hfx. volcanii in vitro. However, at least under conditions tested, this transfer was not observed with the Hfx. volcanii DHS. Furthermore, the growth of Hfx. volcanii was not inhibited by the classical DHS inhibitor GC7. We propose a model of deoxyhypusine synthesis in Hfx. volcanii that differs from the canonical eukaryotic pathway, paving the way for further studies

A dominant negative mutant of the E. coli RNA helicase DbpA blocks assembly of the 50S ribosomal subunit

Escherichia coli DbpA is an ATP-dependent RNA helicase with specificity for hairpin 92 of 23S ribosomal RNA, an important part of the peptidyl transferase center. The R331A active site mutant of DbpA confers a dominant slow growth and cold sensitive phenotype when overexpressed in E. coli containing endogenous DbpA. Ribosome profiles from cells overexpressing DbpA R331A display increased levels of 50S and 30S subunits and decreased levels 70S ribosomes. Profiles run at low Mg2+ exhibit fewer 50S subunits and accumulate a 45S particle that contains incompletely processed and undermodified 23S rRNA in addition to reduced levels of several ribosomal proteins that bind late in the assembly pathway. Unlike mature 50S subunits, these 45S particles can stimulate the ATPase activity of DbpA, indicating that hairpin 92 has not yet been sequestered within the 50S subunit. Overexpression of the inactive DbpA R331A mutant appears to block assembly at a late stage when the peptidyl transferase center is formed, indicating a possible role for DbpA promoting this conformational change