Dr. John Trant, a former MSI graduate student from 1982-1987, has been appointed the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI).  Dr. Trant earned his PhD in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Thomas and has the distinction of being Thomas’ first graduate student.  The most significant finding of Trant’s research was the discovery of a novel steroid that induces full grown oocytes in Atlantic croaker and spotted seatrout to develop into mature eggs prior to ovulation.  This work has been significantly expanded by Thomas’ lab and by many others.  During Trant’s stay in Port Aransas, he served as the MSI GSA president, the head of the Port Aransas Volleyball Association, and played on many MSI softball and dart teams.  Since leaving Port Aransas, he served as an NIH post-doctorate fellow at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.  He was hired by Louisiana State University as an Assistant Professor (1990-1995) and then moved to the Center of Marine Biotechnology, UMBI as an Associate Professor of Molecular Endocrinology.  As an interesting note, Dr Scott Nunez, Assistant Professor at MSI, was Trant’s first graduate student at LSU, thus completing the full cycle.