US biology prof returns to Duffryn (From South Wales Argus)

US biology prof returns to Duffryn

9:16am Friday 10th July 2009

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A PROFESSOR from a top American university has returned to Newport to “give something back” to the area that inspired his career.

Tim Sparks, 42, is associate professor of biology at DePaul University, Chicago, but was born and brought up in Gwent.

While he studies biodiversity in the USA and Canada, he fell in love with nature while walking along the Fourteen Locks Canal in Rogerstone.

Mr Sparks was fascinated with the creatures he discovered while dipping a net into the water and the interest has seen him become a world authority on small fish such as stickleback and isopods.

He has been at the Fourteen Locks Canal Centre for the past two weeks, pond dipping with local schoolchildren.

Mr Sparks has been teaching the youngsters - mainly from Duffryn High School - about damselflies, snails and fish, explaining their anatomies, how they feed and camouflage themselves.

He hopes to set up video conferencing links between his university and the centre and send his own students over to mentor youngsters.

“I have been lucky enough to visit beautiful places like Alaska which has thousands of types of fish, bears and amazing landscapes,” said Mr Sparks.

“That was inspired through walking along the canal as a child. I want schoolchildren here to have the opportunity to connect beyond their local environment as well.”

Mr Sparks grew up on Pontymason Lane with parents Peter, 73 and Margaret, 68, and attended St Woolos Primary and Duffryn High School.

He then studied marine and freshwater biology at the University of London and gained a PhD in Ecology of Freshwater Animals from Kentucky University.

While he has lived in the USA for 20 years and is married with a child, Mr Sparks visits Wales every year for two weeks.

He added: “I miss my family, the beautiful coast lines and the rugby. But through the link with the canal centre, maybe I’ll be able to come back more often.”

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