Roberta F. Colman
{{Short description|American biochemist (1938–2019)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Roberta F. Colman
| image = RobertaFColman1964.png
| alt = A smiling white woman with dark hair.
| caption = Roberta F. Colman, from a 1964 newspaper.
| other_names =
| birth_name = Roberta Fishman
| birth_date = 1938
| birth_place = New York, USA
| death_date = August 15, 2019
| death_place = Media, Pennsylvania, USA
| occupation = Biochemist, college professor
| years_active =
| employer = Washington University in St. Louis
University of Delaware
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
Roberta F. Colman (1938 – August 15, 2019), born Roberta Fishman, was an American biochemist.
Early life
Roberta Fishman was from New York City, the daughter of William and Esther Fishman of Brooklyn.{{Cite web|url=http://www.archives.com/1940-census/roberta-fishman-ny-62122603|title=Roberta Fishman from Assembly District 18 Brooklyn|website=1940 Census District 24-2129B|access-date=2020-01-18}} As a student at Forest Hills High School in 1955, she received a Westinghouse Science Talent Search Award,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42492216/junior_geniuses/|title=Junior Geniuses|date=1964-03-08|work=Daily News|access-date=2020-01-18|pages=515|via=Newspapers.com}} and met president Dwight D. Eisenhower.{{Citation|last=Society for Science & the Public|title=STS 1955 Finalists Carol MacKay (Myers) and Roberta Colman (Fishman) with President Dwight D. Eisenhower|date=2010-09-09|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/societyforscience/4974487368/|access-date=2020-01-17}} Colman earned her bachelor's degree at Radcliffe College in 1959,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42492777/215_receive_degrees_at_radcliffe/|title=215 Receive Degrees at Radcliffe Exercise|date=1959-06-11|work=The Boston Globe|access-date=2020-01-18|pages=15|via=Newspapers.com}} and completed doctoral studies at Harvard University in 1962, with Frank Westheimer as her advisor. She held post-doctoral fellowships at the National Institutes of Health and the Washington University School of Medicine.
Career
In 1966, she joined the faculty at the Washington University School of Medicine, where she had carried out postdoctoral research. From 1967 to 1973, Colman was a professor at Harvard Medical School, beginning as an assistant professor and later being promoted to associate professor. She joined the faculty at the University of Delaware in 1973, the first female biochemist to hold a faculty position there. She was the Willis F. Harrington Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and director of the Chemistry-Biology Interface Graduate Program.{{Cite web|url=https://www.asbmb.org:443/asbmb-today/people/roberta-f-colman-1938-2019|title=Roberta F. Colman (1938 – 2019)|last1=White|first1=Harold B.|last2=Voet|first2=Judith G.|date=December 1, 2019|website=ASBMB Today|language=en|access-date=2020-01-17}} She was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1988.{{Cite journal|date=1988|title=AAAS Members Elected as Fellows on 15 February 1988|journal=Science|volume=240|issue=4853|pages=810–811|issn=0036-8075|jstor=1701569|doi=10.1126/science.240.4853.810|bibcode=1988Sci...240..810.|doi-access=free}} In 1988, Colman represented the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), when testified at a Senate budget hearing in support of increased funding for the National Science Foundation.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e0AQAAAAIAAJ&q=Roberta+Colman+Delaware&pg=PA1322|title=Department of Housing and Urban Development and Certain Independent Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1989: Nondepartmental witnesses|date=1988|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=1322–1328|language=en}}
Colman's research involved "the effects of chemical modifications on enzymes".{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4cdpAgAAQBAJ&q=Roberta+Colman%27s+laboratory&pg=PA198|title=Crucible of Science: The Story of the Cori Laboratory|last=Exton|first=John H.|date=2013-03-15|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-986108-8|pages=198–199|language=en}} She held research grants from the National Science Foundation,Roberta F. Colman, principal investigator, [https://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8021572 "Affinity Labeling of Purine Nucleotide Sites in Proteins"] (1981-1983), National Science Foundation Award Abstract #8021572.
the American Cancer Society{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42492636/dr_colman_awarded_cancer_research_grant/|title=Dr. Colman Awarded Cancer Research Grant|date=1976-08-30|work=The News Journal|access-date=2020-01-18|pages=20|via=Newspapers.com}} and the National Institutes of Health,{{Cite journal|last=Colman|first=Roberta|date=1986|title=Glutamate Dehydrogenase: Function of Molecular Topology|url=http://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-DK037000-03|journal=National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)|language=en}}{{Cite journal|last=Colman|first=Roberta|date=2002|title=Adenylosuccinate Lyase: Novel Intersubunit Active Sites|url=http://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-DK060504-03|journal=National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)|language=en}} and wrote or co-wrote over 260 published scholarly articles.{{Cite web|url=https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2019/august/in-memoriam-roberta-colman/|title=In Memoriam: Roberta Colman|last=White|first=Hal|date=August 21, 2019|website=UDaily|language=en|access-date=2020-01-16}} She served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Protein Expression and Purification, and Protein Science, and was editor-in-chief of Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics from 1984 to 2001. She retired from the University of Delaware in 2009.
Among her biochemistry graduate students at Delaware was Siddhartha Roy.{{Cite web|url=http://www.insaindia.res.in/detail/P05-1400|title=Siddhartha Roy|website=Indian National Science Academy: Indian Fellow Detail|access-date=2020-01-18}}
Personal life
During college, Roberta Fishman married Robert W. Colman, a medical student, who had also won a Westinghouse Science Talent Search Award in the 1950s. They had two children. Robert Colman became a professor of medicine at Temple University.{{Cite web|url=https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p245801coll0/id/7030/|title=Dr. Robert W. Colman; Temple History in Photographs|last=Dias|first=Robert E.|date=January 27, 1987|website=Temple Digital Collections|access-date=2020-01-18}} Roberta F. Colman died in 2019, in Media, Pennsylvania, aged 81 years.{{Cite web|url=https://cen.acs.org/people/obituaries/Obituary-Roberta-F-Colman/97/i40|title=Obituary: Roberta F. Colman|last=Wang|first=Linda|website=Chemical & Engineering News|language=en|access-date=2020-01-17}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www1.udel.edu/chem/colman/colman.htm Colman's faculty page] at the University of Delaware.
- [https://academictree.org/chemistry/peopleinfo.php?pid=150733 Roberta F. Colman] at Chemistry Tree.
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Category:American women scientists
Category:Radcliffe College alumni
Category:Harvard College alumni
Category:University of Delaware faculty
Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Category:American women academics
Category:21st-century American women