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 April 2005

MONDAY, 11 APRIL

"Area-Specific Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions Inventories," Brent Yarnal, Penn State, 10:00 a.m., 117 Earth-Engineering Sciences Building, Center for Advanced Carbon-Cycle Research and Education (863-7091).

"New Notions of Security," Manoj Prabhakaran, Princeton University, 10:30 a.m., 333 Information Sciences and Technology Building, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (865-9505).

(title to be announced), William Hancock, Penn State, 12:00 noon, S-5 Osmond Laboratory, Center for Nanoscale Science (863-8999).

"Integrated Analysis and Genetic Manipulation of Leaf Senescence: From Bench To Bank," Susheng Gan, Cornell University, 12:20 p.m., 106 Wartik Laboratory, host: Daniel Cosgrove, Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Physiology (863-3892).

"Urbanization of the Desert: Patterns of Change in Biodiversity, Biogeochemistry, and Socio-Ecological Interaction," Nancy Grimm, Arizona State University, 1:25 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology (865-5557).

(title to be announced), Chuck Lane, Drexel University, 2:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Stéphane Coutu, Department of Physics (865-2015).

"Radiation Reaction and the Self-Force in Extreme-Mass-Ratio Binary Systems," Steven Detweiler, University of Florida, 3:00 p.m., 318 Osmond Laboratory, Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (863-9605).

"Pair Correlations," Mark Pollicott , University of Warwick (United Kingdom), 3:30 p.m., 122 Pond Laboratory, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Improvement of Common Beans in Central America and the Caribbean," Juan Carlos Rosas, Zamorano (Honduras), 4:00 p.m., 108 Tyson Building, Department of Horticulture (863-3371).

"The Greatest Cosmic Explosions" (Marker lecture #1 of 3), Shri Kulkarni, California Institute of Technology, 7:00 p.m., 100 Thomas Building, Eberly College of Science + Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (865-0418).

"On the Combinatorial Topology of the Mathematical Models of Physical Space-time" (Marker lecture #1 of 4), Dennis Sullivan, City University of New York and the State University of New York, 8:00 p.m., 109 Osmond Laboratory, host: Yakov Pesin, Eberly College of Science and Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

TUESDAY, 12 APRIL

"Computational Challenges in Multiscale Modeling and Simulation of Biological Systems," Jesus Izagirre, University of Notre Dame, 10:00 a.m., 333 Information Sciences and Technology Building, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (865-9505).

"Sponsored-Research Opportunities in Meteorology," David DiBiase, Penn State, 1:00 p.m., 423 Earth-Engineering Sciences Building, John A. Dutton e-Education Institute (863-1590).

"Locke Nucleic Acid (LNA): High-Affinity Targeting of Complementary RNA and DNA," Uzodinma Uche, Penn State, 4:00 p.m.,102 Chemistry Building, hosts: Craig Cameron and Juliette Lecomte, Department of Chemistry (863-1153).

"Neutron Stars: Extreme Physics, Extreme Matter, and More" (Marker lecture #2 of 3), Shri Kulkarni, California Institute of Technology, 4:00 p.m., 538 Davey Laboratory, Eberly College of Science + Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (865-0418).

(title to be announced), Stephen Pekar, Columbia University, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences (865-2622).

"Stem Cell Therapies: Hype and Hope," Catherine Verfaillie, University of Minnesota, 4:15 p.m., Lecture Room D at College of Medicine (with video conferencing to 108 Wartik Laboratory), Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences (863-3650).

"On Realizing Segal's Algebraic Models of Two-Dimensional Field Theories" (Marker lecture #2 of 4), Dennis Sullivan, City University of New York and the State University of New York, 4:30 p.m., 109 Osmond Laboratory, host: Yakov Pesin, Eberly College of Science and Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

WEDNESDAY, 13 APRIL

"The 275-Million Year Story of Capitol Reef" (video), 12:15 p.m., 105 Deike Building, Earth and Mineral Sciences Library (863-7073).

"Mass Spectrometric Characterization of Phosphorylation Sites Using Boron Reagents," Lander Hill, Penn State, 12:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, hosts: J. Martin Bollinger and Carsten Krebs, Department of Chemistry (863-0484).

"Research Challenges in Process-Systems Engineering: Product Discovery and Design, Enterprise and Supply-Chain Optimization, and Global-Life-Cycle Assessment," Ignacio Grossmann, Carnegie Mellon University, 2:30 p.m. (refreshments at 2:15 p.m.), 108 Tyson Building, host: Antonios Armaou, Department of Chemical Engineering (865-5316).

"Regulation of Cell Death and Host Antiviral Responses by Vesicular-Stomatitis-Virus-Matrix Protein," Douglas Lyles, Wake Forest University, 4:00 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, host: Biao He, Department of Veterinary Science (863-8533).

"The Space Interferometry Mission: Planets, Parallaxes, and More," (Marker lecture #3 of 3), Shri Kulkarni, California Institute of Technology, 4:00 p.m., 538 Davey Laboratory, Eberly College of Science + Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (865-0418).

"String Topology and Spaces of Paths with Boundary Conditions," (Marker lecture #3 of 4), Dennis Sullivan, City University of New York and the State University of New York, 4:30 p.m., 109 Osmond Laboratory, host: Yakov Pesin, Eberly College of Science and Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

THURSDAY, 14 APRIL

"Functional Analysis of the Heterotrimeric-G Protein in the Oxidative Response of Arabidopsis to Ozone," Shiyu Wang, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Nina Fedoroff, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (865-3072).

(title to be announced), David Terhune, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 320 Whitmore Laboratory, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Synergy Between Organometallic Synthesis and Organic Methods," John Hartwig, Yale University, 12:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Xumu Zhang, Department of Chemistry (865-4221).

"Monitoring Chemical Climate Change in the United States: Results from the National Atmospheric Deposition Program," Van Bowersox, Illinois Department of Natural Resources and University of Illinois, 4:00 p.m., 112 Walker Building, Department of Meteorology (863-8566).

TITLE ADDED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Bidirectional AMPA Receptor mRNA Trafficking in Dendrites," Suzanne Zukin, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 4:00 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, host: June Liu, Eberly College of Science + Department of Biology + Department of Biobehavioral Health + Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences + Department of Chemistry (863-8749).

"Backgrounds for Symplectic Field Theories with Solutions of the Basic Equation Delta-X = [X,X}" (Marker lecture #4 of 4), Dennis Sullivan, City University of New York and the State University of New York, 5:30 p.m., 109 Osmond Laboratory, host: Yakov Pesin, Eberly College of Science and Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

FRIDAY, 15 APRIL

"Host Specificity of Entomopathogenic Nematodes: Effect of Surface-Coat Proteins from Nematodes on the Insect Immune System," Xinyi Li, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 118 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Entomology (865-1895).

"Identification and Characterization of Unstable Intermediates in Metalloproteins and Model Systems through a Combination of Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemistry," Frank Neese, Max Planck Institute for Bioinorganic Chemistry (Germany), 11:15 a.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: J. Martin Bollinger, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (863-1851 or 865-3072).

"Quantifying Sprawl and Its Impact on Farmland in Pennsylvania at a Local Level," Maaike Broos, Penn State, 12:20 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences (863-1601).

"Wave Propagation in Patterned Materials," Pat Conforti, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Barbara Garrison, Department of Chemistry (863-2103).

(title to be announced), Susan Friedlander, University of Illinois, 3:30 p.m., 320 Whitmore Laboratory, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"A New Rust Belt: The Attack on North American Soybeans," Scott Isard, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 301 Steidle Building, Department of Geography (863-1806).

"Sustainability: The Human Component of Natural Resource Development" (Shoemaker lecture) Barbara Filas, Knight Piésold Consulting, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering (865-3437).

SATURDAY, 16 APRIL and SUNDAY, 17 APRIL

(none)

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Additions or cancellations will be noted on weekly Science Seminar listings on the Web.

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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. Click here for additional information about Science Seminars, or for instruction on how to SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE.

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This issue of SCIENCE SEMINARS was produced by Leta A. Krumrine and Kristen Devlin.