Science Seminars 26 January to 1 February 2004

MONDAY, 26 JANUARY

"Mechanism of Heat-Induced Loss of Photosystem II Activity," David Becker, Pomona College and Penn State, 12:20 p.m., 106 Wartik Laboratory, Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Physiology (863-3892).

"Phenotypic Plasticity and the Evolution of Phenotypic Novelty," Carl Schlichting, University of Connecticut, 12:20 p.m., 104 Rackley Building, Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology (865-5557).

"Gravity as a Sum Over Histories of Quantum Gravity," Alejandro Perez, Penn State, 3:00 p.m., 318 Osmond Laboratory, Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry and Center for Gravitational Wave Physics (863-9605).

"Decomposition in Northeastern Forests: A Study of Decay Dynamics in Red Oak and Sugar Maple Leaf-Litter Mixtures," Tracy Gartner, Penn State, 3:50 p.m., 108 Tyson Building, Department of Horticulture (863-3371).

"Hepatitis C Virus: Subverting the Host Secretory Apparatus for Successful Replication," Kouacou Konan (faculty candidate), Stanford University, 4:00 p.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, hosts: Robert Schlegel and Craig Cameron, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Department of Biology (863-1851).

TUESDAY, 27 JANUARY

"Getting to the Bottom of Granular Materials," Matthew Stone, Penn State, 3:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Peter Schiffer, Department of Physics (865-5982).

"Degradation of Colaine by Naturally Occuring Enzymes: Human Carboxylestetrase 1 and Bacterial Esterase, Cole," Jennifer Overberg, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., S-5 Osmond Laboratory, host: Christine Keating, Department of Chemistry (863-7832).

"Insulin and Steroid Signaling in C. elegans ," Weiqing Li (faculty candidate), Harvard Medical School, 4:00 p.m. (refreshments at 3:45 p.m.), 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Douglas Cavener, Department of Biology (865-4562).

"Multilevel Augmentation Methods for Solving Operator Equations," Yuesheng Xu, Syracuse University, 4:00 p.m., 115 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Neuron Firing Patterns and Bayesian Curve Fitting," Robert Kass, Carnegie Mellon University, 4:00 p.m., 102 Thomas Building, Department of Statistics (865-1348).

WEDNESDAY, 28 JANUARY

"The Implementation of Gas Miscrostrip Detectors for X-ray Absorption Septroscopy" by Tony Carado and "Magnetic Cell Seperations" by Edward Phillip, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., S-5 Osmond Laboratory, Department of Chemistry (865-6553).

"Pennsylvania Crude (video)," 12:15 p.m., 105 Deike Building, Earth and Mineral Sciences Library (863-7073).

"New Motifs and Strategies in Gene-Specific Transcriptional Regulation with Designed DNA-Binding Molecules," Bogdan Olenyuk (faculty candidate), California Institute of Technology, 2:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, Department of Chemistry (865-6553).

(title to be announced), Sergei Ivanov, Steklov Institute, 3:30 p.m., 102 MacAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Nitrogenase - An Intriguing Paradigm for Metallocluster Assembly," Markus Ribbe (faculty candidate), University of California, 4:00 p.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Don Bryant, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (863-1851).

THURSDAY, 29 JANUARY

"Impact of Cytosolic Deoxyribonucleotide Pools on the Evolution of the RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase," Victoria Korneeva, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Craig Cameron, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (865-3072).

"Modularity of a Calabi-Yau Variety," You-Chiang Yi, University of Illinois, 11:15 a.m., 115 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Evolutionary Genomics of Drosophila Rearrangement Breakpoints," Stephen Schaeffer, Penn State, 11:45 a.m. (refreshments at 11:30 a.m.), 317 Mueller Laboratory, Intercollege Graduate Program in Genetics (865-6903, lee11@psu.edu).

(title to be announced), Sally Assmann, Penn State, 12:15 p.m., S-5 Osmond Laboratory, host: Erin Sheets, Department of Chemistry (863-0044).

"Quantized Vortices in Superfluids, Superconductors, and Dilute Atomic Clusters" (Whitfield Lecture), David J. Thouless, University of Washington, 3:50 p.m. (refreshments at 3:20 p.m. in the Davey/Osmond overpass), 117 Osmond Laboratory, host: Ari Mizel, Department of Physics (863-3342).

FRIDAY, 30 JANUARY

"Functional Genomics and Plant-Insect Interactions," Jack Schultz, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 118 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, host: Gary Felton, Department of Entomology (865-1895).

"Structure Analysis of Langmuir-Blodgett Films by Time-of-Flight Seconday Ion Mass Spectrometry," Audra Sostarecz, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., S-5 Osmond Laboratory, Department of Chemistry (865-6553).

"Reactions of Group V Metal Oxide Clusters with Various Hydrocarbons," Dina Justes, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., S-5 Osmond Laboratory, host: A. Welford Castleman, Department of Chemistry (865-7242).

"A New Model of Forest Dynamics in Southwestern Amazonia," Bronson Griscom, Canaan Valley Institute, 3:30 p.m., 301 Steidle Building, Department of Geography (863-1806).

SATURDAY, 31 JANUARY

"Unwinding the Biological Clock" (Frontiers lecture #1 of 5), Gene D. Block, University of Virginia, 11:00 a.m., 100 Thomas Building, Eberly College of Science (863-8453).

SUNDAY, 1 FEBRUARY

(none)

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Additions or cancellations will be noted on weekly Science Seminar listings on this Web page and on the Penn State Web Events calendar at:
< http://www.events.psu.edu/cgi-bin/cal/webevent.cgi?cmd=opencal&cal=cal250& >

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