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

13 to 19 November 2006

MONDAY, 13 NOVEMBER

"Controlling the Solid-State Microwave-Irradiation Method to Prepare Inorganic Materials," Jennifer Aitken, Duquesne University, 12:00 noon, S-5 Osmond Laboratory, host: Thomas Mallouk, Center for Nanoscale Science (MRSEC) and Department of Chemistry (863-9637).

“Using Recombinant Inbred Lines of Arabidopsis to Study the Ecology of Plastic Traits,” Hillary Callahan, Columbia University, 12:10 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, host: Louise Comas, Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Biology (863-3892).

“Quaking Aspen in the Western United States: From Local Stories to Regional Patterns,” Margot Kaye, Penn State, 1:25 p.m., 118 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology (865-5557).

“Factors Leading to Asymptomatic Wheat Kernels with Significant Deoxynivalenol Levels During Fusarium Head Blight Epidemics,”Katelyn Tilley, Penn State, 3:30 p.m., 112 Buckout Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology (865-3761).

“Arnold Diffusion for the Restricted-Planar-Three-Body Problem,” Vadim Kaloshin, Penn State, 3:35 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

ADDED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
“Exploring and Experiencing Horticulture Abroad: Dutch Horticulture Course and Tour 2006 Review,” Karlee Curatola + Matt Lamberski + Jim Sellmer, Penn State, 4:00 p.m. Tyson Building, Department of Horticulture (865-2571).

“Illumination of Protein Folding and Dynamics by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR),” Jane Dyson, Scripps Research Institute, 4:00 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Steven Benkovic, Department of Chemistry (865-2882).

“Model for the Protein-Protein Interactions of Di-iron Desaturase with Acyl-ACP and Ferredoxin,” Brian G. Fox, University of Wisconsin, 4:00 p.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: J.Martin Bollinger Jr, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (863-5707).

“Overwhelming Odds Against the Less Fit: Evidence for Positive Selection in Protein Evolution” (Marker lecture series #1 of 2), Daniel L. Hartl, Harvard University, 8:00 p.m. (reception to follow), 104 Keller Building, host: Masatoshi Nei, Department of Biology (865-4562).

TUESDAY, 14 NOVEMBER

“Quantization of Gowdy II,” Alejandro Corichi, Independent National University (Mexico), 10:00 a.m., 320 Whitmore Laboratory, Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (863-9605 or www.gravity.psu.edu).

“Transcriptional Variation and Plasticity in the Yeast Genome” (Marker lecture series #2 of 2), Daniel L. Hartl, Harvard University, 12:00 noon, 117 HUB Auditorium, host: Masatoshi Nei, Department of Biology (865-4562).

“A Numerical Study of the Quasinormal-Mode Excitation of Kerr Black Holes,” Nils Dorband, Louisiana State University, 3:00 p.m., 320 Whitmore Laboratory, Center for Gravitational Wave Physics (863-9605 or www.gravity.psu.edu).

“Grandmother Cells and Information Storage in the Human Brain,” John Collins, Penn State, 3:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, Department of Physics (863-5343).

“Genetics and Evolution of Drug Resistance in Malaria,” Daniel L. Hartl, Harvard University, 4:00 p.m., Berg Auditorium - 100 Life Sciences Building (and video conferencing to Lecture Room D at the College of Medicine), Huck Institutes of Life Sciences (865-1626).

(title to be announced), Donna Blackman, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences (865-2622).

WEDNESDAY, 15 NOVEMBER

“Neural Engineering 2006: Voltage-Sensitive Dye Imaging of Neuronal-Population Activity, “ Jian-young Wu, Georgetown University, 10:00 a.m., S-5 Osmond Laboratory, host: Steven Schiff, Department of Neurosurgery and Department of Engineering Sciences and Mechanics (863-4210 or 321-4884).

(title to be announced), Steven Feldstein, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 529 Walker Building, Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (865-0478).

“Nigeria: A Tale of Two Families” and “French Fries..to Go” (videos), 12:15 p.m., 105 Deike Building, Fletcher L. Byrom Earth & Mineral Sciences Library (863-7073).

“On-Chip Optofluidic Devices” by Ajeet Kumar and “Detection of Toxic Gases Using Mesoporous Metal Oxide” by Stacey Lynn Dean, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, hosts: Paul Weiss and Chris Keating, Department of Chemistry (865-3693 or 865-7832).

“Vista and Sleuth: Searching for New Physics at the Tevatron,” Conor Henderson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 2:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: John Collins, Department of Physics (865-2015).

“The Cosmological Constant Problem: Dark Energy in Disguise,” Stephon Alexander, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 538 Davey Laboratory, Department of Astonomy and Astrophysics (865-0418).

“The Yin and Yang of Coronavirus Infection in Central Nervous System Cells,” Xuming Zhang, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4:00 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, host: Na Xiong, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences (863-2933 or email: nux1@psu.edu).

THURSDAY, 16 NOVEMBER

Mechanical Behavior of Stable Nanostructured Materials and the Role of Molecular Dynamics in Their Design,” Ashok Saxena, University of Arkansas, 10:10 a.m., 26 Hosler Building, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, (865-4992).

“Oxygen Activation by the Iron-II- and Alpha-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenases,” Lee Hoffart, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Carsten Krebs, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (865-6089).

“Towards Functional Architectures on the Microscale and Nanoscale,” Christine Keating, Penn State, 12:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: James Anderson, Department of Chemistry (865-3933).

"Permian-Triassic Boundary (P-T) Extinction: Extraterrestrial vs. Terrestrial,” Lev Horodyskyj and Anthony Riccardi, Penn State, 2:00 p.m., 240 Deike Building, Penn State Astrobiology Research Center (865-4074).

“The Integral Octonions: That Funny Number System,” Derek Smith, Lafayette College, 2:30 p.m., 113 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

“Creation Stories versus Scientific Cosmologie,” Panel discussion: T.Englelder + D.Fox + G.Harbaugh + J.Kurland + A.Rose, 3:00 p.m., 301 Steidle Building, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (863-2599).

“Neural Coding in Birdsong Learning,” Daniel Margoliash, University of Chicago, 4:00 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, host: Dezhe Jin, Huck Institutes of Life Sciences (865-7533).

“Observing Dark Matter and Its Heavy Partners at the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) Large Hadron Collider,” Michael Peskin, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, 4:00 p.m., 117 Osmond Laboratory, host: Stephon Alexander, Department of Physics (865-3721).

“Optimal Filtering of Jump-Diffusions: Extracting Latent States from Asset Prices,” Jonathon Stroud, University of Pennsylvania, 4:00 p.m., 201 Thomas Building, Department of Statistics (865-1348).

“Three-Phase Stability in Methane Hydrates: Understanding the Hydrate Capacitor,” Peter Flemings, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 202 Research West Building, Department of Geosciences (865-7965).

FRIDAY, 17 NOVEMBER

“Gauge Theory, Gravity, and Integrability: A Review and Some Recent Developments,” Tristan McLoughlin, Penn State, 9:45 a.m., 320 Whitmore Laboratory, Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (863-9605 or www.gravity.psu.edu).

“Multiple Roads to Recognition of Attack: Armyworm Digestive Fragments of Chloroplastic Adenosinetriphosphate (ATP) Synthase Act as Potent Elicitors of Plant Defense,” Eric Schmelz, U.S. Department of Agriculture Research Service, 11:15 a.m., 107 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Entomology (865-1895).

“The Role of Supressor of Cytokine-Signaling Proteins in Skeletal Muscle,”Espen Spangenburg, University of Maryland, 11:15 a.m., 127 Noll Laboratory, Noll Physiological Research Center (865-3453).

“Sorghum Antifungal Compounds: Site Specific Synthesis and Genetics,” Farag Ibraheem, Penn State, 12:20 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences (863-1601).

“The Cuntz Semigroup, Part III” by Nate Brown, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

“Ultraviolet Raman Spectroscopy of Biological Systems” by Evan Leibner and “Hydrogren Storage in Metal Organic Frameworks” by Michelle Ludlow, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: John Badding and Sharon Hammers-Schiffer, Department of Chemistry (777-3054 or 865-6442 ).

(title to be announced) by Peter Monk, University of Delaware, 3:30 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

“Who Found the Missing Link?” and “The History of Computation: Wood, Brass, and Baboon Bones” (videos), 3:30 p.m., 211 Davey Laboratory, Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library (865-7617 or www.libraries.psu.edu/pams/filmseries.html).

“Applying Natural-Language-Processing Analysis of Programs to Aid in Software Maintenance and Evolution,” Lori Pollock, University of Delaware, 4:00 p.m., 333 Information Science and Technology Building, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (865-9505).

“Turning Data in to Knowledge Through GeoVisual Analytics,” Alan MacEachren, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 112 Walker Building, Department of Geography (865-3433).

SATURDAY, 18 NOVEMBER and SUNDAY, 19 NOVEMBER

(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 Melissa Arnett.