To celebrate his 1st anniversary at the University of Illinois, Animal Biology faculty member, Professor Mark Hauber, has received good news from the USA-Israel Binational Science Foundation. Together with colleague Dr. Roi Dor, of Tel Aviv University, Hauber will be pursuing a new project on "The mechanisms of biological invasions: behavioral and genomic aspects of the Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) as a successful invasive species."

The study will compare behavioral and neurogenomic processes that enable the invasion success by mynas in Israel, USA, and New Zealand, with baseline studies also conducted in the myna's native home of India. State-of-the-art resources available at the University of Illinois, including facilities and services of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, made the grant application a natural project for Hauber, the endowed Harley Jones Van Cleave Professor of Host-Parasite Interactions.