James D. Tucker was named chair of Wayne State University's department of biological sciences. Tucker, a senior staff scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., will start at Wayne State in August.

Tucker succeeds Interim Chair Allen W. Nicholson, who is also a professor in the department. Nicholson has been working as interim chair for the past two years.

Tucker, 49, brings to the biological sciences department his background in genetics and biotechnology. At the Livermore lab, Tucker most recently worked in the biology and biotechnology research program. He spent 18 years at Livermore, including two years as a postdoctoral research fellow.

Prior to working at Livermore, Tucker was an assistant professor at West Virginia University specializing in genetics and biology concurrently from1981-1984.

Tucker served as a research assistant professor/geneticist in the department of pediatrics at West Virginia's Genetics Evaluation and Counseling Center. He also was an assistant professor for West Virginia's interdepartmental genetics faculty and adjunct assistant professor in the department of biology.

Following his teaching career at West Virginia, Tucker worked as a cytogeneticist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Morgantown, W.Va. from 1982 to 1984.

Tucker earned a bachelor's in genetics from the University of California Davis in 1976. He earned his Ph.D. from the Oregon Health Sciences University in human genetics. Following his doctorial studies, Tucker was a research fellow at Oregon Health Sciences University in the division of medical genetics.