[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 161 (Friday, November 7, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2280]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO EVELYN M. WITKIN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, November 7, 2003

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, today at the White House, Evelyn M. Witkin was 
awarded the National Medal of Science Award, the nation's highest 
science and engineering honor.
  ``The ideas and breakthroughs in fundamental science and engineering 
by these extraordinary pioneers have influenced thousands of other 
researchers,'' said Rita Colwell, director of the National Science 
Foundation (NSF). ``We now see the daily evidence of the tremendous 
advancements in technological capabilities, human health and vast new 
knowledge within our physical world due to these heroes of science we 
celebrate today,'' Colwell said.
  The National Medal of Science, established by the 86th Congress in 
1959 and administered by the NSF, honors the impact of individuals on 
the present state of knowledge in the physical, biological, 
mathematical, engineering, social and behavioral sciences. Not 
including the 2002 recipients, the medal has been awarded to 409 
distinguished scientists and engineers, including three previous 
Rutgers winners.
  Witkin was largely responsible for creating the field of DNA 
mutagenesis and DNA repair, which focuses on how mutations, most of 
which are unhealthy, occur in DNA and how they may be corrected. Her 
work, which furthered our understanding of the genetic response to 
harmful environmental factors such as radiation, has played an 
important role in the biochemical sciences and in clinical radiation 
therapy for cancer.
  ``I had no idea that anything like this was possible. I am very 
gratified by the award,'' said Witkin. ``That I was nominated by 
colleagues means a lot to me, having been in the field of genetics 
since the mid-1940's.''
  Witkin's investigations into DNA repair led to her discovery of genes 
that can heighten bacterial resistance to DNA-damaging agents. In 1973, 
while on the faculty of Rutgers' Douglass College, she defined the E. 
coli ``SOS Response,'' a system that is triggered by DNA damage. This 
system activates at least 40 genes that promote DNA repair and enhances 
individual and population survival. We now know that humans and many 
other organisms use the same kinds of DNA repair mechanisms.
  Witkin came to Douglass College in 1971 and taught in the department 
of biology for 12 years. She then spent eight years on the faculty of 
the Waksman Institute of Microbiology until her retirement in 1991.
  I congratulate Evelyn Witkin on her award, and I thank her for the 
contribution she has made to improve our society.

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