March
23-24, 2000
ITEM 106-2002-R0300 RETIREMENT of
Gordon A. McFeters, Department of Microbiology; Montana State
University-Bozeman
THAT: Upon the occasion of the
retirement of Gordon A. McFeters from the faculty of Montana State
University-Bozeman, the Board of Regents wishes to express its appreciation for
his service to the University, the Montana University System, and the people of
the State of Montana.
EXPLANATION: Dr. McFeters has been a distinguished researcher and
teacher >of microbiology at Montana State University for the past 33 years.
He received his degree in Microbiology from Oregon State University in 1967 and
joined the Montana State University faculty as an Assistant Professor in the
Microbiology Department that same year. He has been on the faculty here since
that time. During that time he has received numerous teaching and research
awards including The Charles and Nora Wiley Faculty Award from Montana State
University, the Sigma Xi Faculty Reserach Award from the Montana State University
Chapter of Sigma Xi, Election as a Fellow of the American Academy of
Microbiology, and the Anatartica Service Medal from the National Science
Foundation. He has also served as the Chairman of the Aquatic and Terrestial
Division of the American Society of Microbiology and has been on the Editorial
Board of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Dr. McFeters' research has been on bacterial
growth in aqueous environments, including natural aquarian systems and in
drinking water. He is credited with the discovery of viable, but
non-cultivatable bacteria that are present in water. He was also one of the
discoverers of environmental biofilms. His work had a profound impact on
assessments of the quality of drinking water and necessary treatment. This was
recognized by NASA for whom he worked with the water recirculation systems on
the space shuttle and by NSF, for whom he assessed microbial contamination of
the waters of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. His research was funded by a series
of grants from NSF, NASA, EPA, NIH, the American Water Works Association, and
industrial sources. Over the years he has published more than 100 research
papers, review articles, and textbook chapters.
For these and other contributions, the Board
of Regents of Higher Education is pleased to confer upon Gordon A. McFeters the
rank of Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at Montana State University and
wishes him well for many pleasant years in the future.
