Science Seminars is a weekly list of science-related seminars sponsored by colleges, research institutes, and other organizations throughout Penn State. Science Seminars is published by the Penn State Eberly College of Science as a service to Penn State and its surrounding communities

Science Seminars

11 to 17 February 2008

MONDAY, 11 FEBRUARY

"Visual Object-Recognition Categorization and Taxonomy Learning," Evgeniy Bart, California Institute of Technology, 10:00 a.m., 113 Information Science and Technology Building, Department of Computer Sciences and Engineering (865-9505).

"Parasitic Castration by a Stinking Smut", David Huff, Penn State, 12:10 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, host: Daniel Cosgrove, Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Biology (863-3892).

"Farmland Conservation in Pennsylvania: The Role of State Agencies," Barry Isaacs and Mike Pruss, Natural Resources Conservation Services and Pennsylvania Game Commission, 1:30 p.m., 101 Agricultural, Sciences, and Industries Building, Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology (867-0371).

"New Research Opportunities at the Interface of Bioorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry," Eric Meggers, University of Pennsylvania, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Mary Elizabeth Williams, Department of Chemistry (865-8859).

"Regularity of Conjugacy for Actions of Large Groups," Alexander Gorodnik, University of Bristol (United Kingdom), 3:35 p.m.,106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Rec-ing the DNA Repair Shop: A Strategy for Confronting Antibiotic Resistance," Scott Singleton, University of North Carolina, 4:00 p.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Craig Cameron, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (863-8705).

(title to be announced), Clayton Webster, Sandia National Laboratories, 4:00 p.m., 114 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

TUESDAY, 12 FEBRUARY

“Elucidation of Nanoscale Phenomena in Heterogeneous Catalysis Using a Novel Catalyst Synthetic Method and In-situ Synchrotron Techniques: NO Oxidation on Platinum” Robert Rioux, Harvard University, 10:00 a.m., 102 Chemistry Building, Department of Chemistry (863-1375).

(title to be announced), Louis Madsen, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 10:00 a.m., 301 Steidle Building, Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering (865-4992).

"Separating Notions of Randomness," Bart Kastermans, University of Wisconsin, 2:30 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Predicting Complex Metal-Hydride Thermodynamics with Density-Functional Theory," Karl Johnson, University of Pittsburgh, 3:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Milton Cole, Department of Physics (863-9759).

"Recent Advances in Algorithms for Lattice Simulations of Low-Energy Quantum Chromodynamics," James Brannick, Penn State, 3:55 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Staphylococcus aureus: Iron Thievery," Courtney Krest, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Michael Green, Department of Chemistry (863-0925).

"The TSC-mTOR Pathway in Regulation of Energy Metabolism, Cell Size, and Tumor Growth," Kun-Liang Guan, University of Michigan, 4:00 p.m., 100 Life Sciences Building (Berg Auditorium), Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences (863-3650).

WEDNESDAY, 13 FEBRUARY

CANCELED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Environmental Impacts of Oil Development on the Mississippi and Niger Delta Regions," Thaddeus Ityokumbul, Penn State, 12:00 noon, 216 Willard Building, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (863-7598).

"N is for Nanotechnology" (video), 12:15 p.m., 105 Deike Building, Earth and Mineral Sciences Library (863-7073).

"Anti-de-Sitter Space (ADS) Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and Hadronic Phenomena," Stanley J. Brodsky, Stanford University, 2:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Mark Strikman, Department of Physics (863-9759).

"Athabasca Oil Sands: Understanding the Oil Sands from the Regional to the Project Scale, Kearl -- a Case History," Mike Peacock, Imperial Oil, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences (865-2622).

“Immunity to Respiratory Syncytial Virus,” Joan Durbin, Nationwide Children's Hospital, 4:00 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, host: Biao He, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences (863-8533).

"Living with a Red Dwarf Star -- Possibilities for Life on Hosted Planets," Edward Guinan, Villanova University, 4:00 p.m., 538 Davey Laboratory, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (865-0418).

THURSDAY, 14 FEBRUARY

"Linear Programming, Matrix Games, and Linear Approximation," Leonid Vaserstein, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"We made 100 Gigabytes!  Now What?  Galaxy for the Analysis of Multiple-Species Whole-Genome Alignments," Daniel Blankenberg, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host:  Anton Nekrutenko, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (865-4752).

"Experimental Constraints on Frictional Heat Generation and the Earthquake Energy Budget," Patrick Fulton and Andy Rathbun, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 202 Research West Building, Department of Geosciences (865-7965).

"Feedforward and Recurrent Processing in Cat Primary Visual Cortex," Ken Miller, Columbia University, 4:00 p.m., 117 Osmond Laboratory, host: Dezhe Jin, Department of Physics (863-9759).

"Gravity Currents in a Deep Anelastic Atmosphere," George Bryan, National Center for Atmospheric Research, 4:00 p.m. (reception at 3:30 p.m. in 529 Walker Building), 112 Walker Building, Department of Meteorology (863-8566).

"Models for Real-World Investors, and the Abyss Between Value Investing and Financial Engineering," Donald Richards, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 201 Thomas Building, Department of Statistics (865-1348).

(title to be announced) , Aissa Wade, Penn State, 5:00 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

FRIDAY, 15 FEBRUARY

ADDED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Visual Recognition in the Three-Deminensional World," Silvio Savarese, University of Illinois, 10:00 a.m., 113 Information Sciences and Technology Building (Cybertorium), Department of Computer Science and Engineering (865-9505).

"Sex-Based Vascular Physiology: Translating Basic Science into Clinical Trials," Virginia M. Miller, Mayo Clinic, 11:15 a.m., 127 Noll Laboratory, Noll Physiological Research Center (865-3453).

"The Basic Inelastic Neutron Scattering (INS) System and Its Characteristics for Nondestructive Carbon Analysis in Soil," Lucian Wielopolski, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 12:20 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences (865-6541).

"The Hecke Algebra of a Semisimple Lie Group II," Nigel Higson, Penn State, 2:00 p.m., 106 McCallister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Development of Linear-Scaling Ab-Initio Methods Based on Electron Density Matrices," Joerg Kussman, Universitat Tubingen (Germany) and Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Dr. James B. Anderson, Department of Chemistry (865-3933).

"Life-Changing infections: Harnessing Microbes to Manipulate Mosquitoes," Jason Rasgon, Johns Hopkins University, 2:30 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Entomology (865-1895).

"Modeling Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin Range Proton-Nucleus Cascades," Hans-Joachim Drescher, University of Frankfurt (Germany), 2:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Mark Strikman, Department of Physics (863-9759).

"Random Knotting and Viral DNA Packing: Theory and Experiments,” DeWitt Sumners, Florida State University, 3:35 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Nanotechnology: Views from Both Sides of the Valley," Carlo Pantano, Penn State, 4:00 p.m. (reception at 3:30 p.m. in 319 Walker Building), 112 Walker Building, Department of Geography (865-3433).

SATURDAY, 16 FEBRUARY

“Biofuels: Tapping Nature's Abundance,” Tom Richard, Penn State, 11:00 a.m., 100 Thomas Building, Eberly College of Science (863-0901 or www.science.psu.edu/alert/frontiers).

SUNDAY, 17 FEBRUARY

(none)

 

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Cancellations and additions will be noted on weekly Science Seminar listings on the Web at
< www.science.psu.edu/scisem/scisem.htm > or
< www.events.psu.edu/cgi-bin/cal/webevent.cgi?cmd=opencal&cal=cal250& >.

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Science Seminars is a weekly list of science-related seminars sponsored by colleges, research institutes, and other organizations throughout Penn State. Science Seminars is published by the Penn State Eberly College of Science as a service to Penn State and its surrounding communities.

For more information about Science Seminars, or for instructions on how to SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE, visit the links at http://www.science.psu.edu/scisem/scisemData.htm

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This issue of SCIENCE SEMINARS was produced by Barbara K. Kennedy and Kristen Devlin.