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

14 to 20 November 2005

MONDAY, 14 NOVEMBER

"Seismic Tomography with Uncertainty Estimates: Seismic Anisotropy at the Global and Regional Scales," Caroline Beghein, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 12:00 noon, 541 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences and AfricaArray (865-2622).

"Calcium-Ion (Ca2+) Regulation of pH Changes and Reactive-Oxygen Species (ROS) Generation: A Common Mechanism for Tip Growth and Stress Responses in Roots," Gabriele Monshausen, Penn State, 12:20 p.m., 105 Wartik Laboratory, host: Simon Gilroy, Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Physiology (863-3892).

"Integrative Biology of Migration and Dispersal in Butterflies and Agricultural Moth Pests," Howard Fescemyer, Penn State, 1:30 p.m., 118 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology (863-5895).

"Knots and the Jones Index for Subfactors," Adrian Ocneanu, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"The Catalytic Cycle of Discovery in Total Synthesis," Phil S. Baran, Scripps Research Institute, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Raymond Funk, Department of Chemistry (865-2057).

"A Variational Principle (and More!) for Gravity in Asymptotically Flat Spacetimes," Donald Marolf, University of California, 3:00 p.m., 318 Osmond Laboratory, Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (863-9605, http://www.gravity.psu.edu).

"Investigations on the Biology and Population Genetics of the Emerging Plant Pathogen Phytophthora ramorum," Hye-Seon Kim, Penn State, 3:30 p.m., 112 Buckhout Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology (865-6761).

"Measure Rigidity for Nonuniformly Hyperbolic Actions," Boris Kalinin, University of South Alabama, 3:30 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Development and Application of Laser-Microprobe Uranium-Thorium/Helium Chronometry," Jeremy Boyce, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 4:00 p.m., 541 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences and AfricaArray (865-2622).

"How Nitrogen Fixation Works" (Pollard lecture), Dennis Dean, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 4:00 p.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Marty Bollinger, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (865-5497).

"Iron Deficiency and Neuronal Function: An Update!" John Beard, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 209 Henderson South Building, Graduate Program in Nutrition (865-3448).

"Mapping of Early Blight-Resistance Quantitative-Trait Loci (QTLs) and Candidate Resistance Genes in a Recombinant-Inbred-Line (RIL) Population of Tomato," Hamid Ashrafi, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 111 Tyson Building, Department of Horticulture (865-2571).

TUESDAY, 15 NOVEMBER

"Biological Formation of Simple Iron-Sulfur Clusters," Dennis Dean, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 11:15 a.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Marty Bollinger, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (865-5497).

"Molecular Modeling of Tribology and Structure of Nanoconfined Fluids," Peter Cummings, Vanderbilt University, 3:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Jorge Sofo, Department of Physics (777-3450).

"Flows and Effective Properties of Rod and Platelet Nano-Composites," Gregory Forest, University of North Carolina, 4:00 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Intermediary Metabolism and the Functional Causes of Life History Trade-offs," Anthony Zera, University of Nebraska, 4:00 p.m. (refreshments at 3:45 p.m.), 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Jim Marden, Department of Biology (863-1384).

"The Great 2004-2005 Sumatra-Andaman-Island Earthquake Sequence," Chuck Ammon, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences (865-2622).

"The Role of the Selenocysteine Residue on the Activity of Thioredoxin Reductase," Lauren Levine, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Mary Beth Williams, Department of Chemistry (865-8859).

WEDNESDAY, 16 NOVEMBER

"Satellite-Laser-Altimetry Studies of Antarctica: Early Results from NASA's Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) Mission," Christopher Shuman, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 11:45 a.m., 529 Walker Building, Earth System Science Center (865-0478).

"Oceanic Anoxia and Mass Extinctions: Similarities and Contrasts," Paul Wignall, University of Leeds (United Kingdom), 12:00 noon, video conferenced to 541 Deike Building, Office of the Dean of the Graduate School and Worldwide Universities Network (863-1274).

"Lamotek: Heritage of an Island" (video), 12:15 p.m., 105 Deike Building, Fletcher L. Byrom Earth and Mineral Sciences Library (863-7073).

TITLE CHANGED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"The Use of Acoustic Forces in Microfluidics" by Tom Morgan and "Doubly Vibrationally Enhanced Four-Wave Mixing (DOVE-FWM): Probing Key Molecular Interactions" by Meaghan Blake, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, hosts: Mary Beth Williams and Paul Weiss, Department of Chemistry (865-8859 or 865-3693).

(Dynamics and Geometry title and speaker to be announced), 3:30 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Methane on Mars: Geochemistry, Biology, Both, or Neither?" Michael J. Mumma, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 4:00 p.m., 538 Davey Laboratory, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (865-0418).

"New Insights Into T-Cell Activation: Relevance to Autoimmunity and Immune Privilege," Edward Medof, Case Western Reserve University, 4:00 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, host: Eric Harvill, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences (863-8522).

"System-Level Design in Practice," Reinaldo Bergamaschi, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, 4:00 p.m., 333 Information Sciences and Technology Building, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (865-9505).

THURSDAY, 17 NOVEMBER

"Carbon Nanotubes: Hype or Hypermaterials," Ramanan Krishnamoorti, University of Houston, 11:15 a.m., 135 Reber Building, Department of Materials Science and Engineering (865-4992).

"Elliptic Curves as the Natural Representation of the Absolute Galois Group and the Rank Over Large Fields," Bo-Hae Im, University of Utah, 11:15 a.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Transformation of Pharmaceutical Process Development," Paul F. McKenzie, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, 11:30 a.m. (refreshments at 11:15 a.m.), 111 Wartik Laboratory, host: Darrell Velegol, Department of Chemical Engineering (865-8739).

"Cytochrome-C and the Suicide Hotline," George McLendon, Duke University, 12:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Mary Beth Williams, Department of Chemistry (865-8853).

"Fighting Against the Tides: Construction of a Tidally Perturbed Kerr Metric," Nicolas Yunes, Penn State, 12:30 p.m., 318 Osmond Laboratory, Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (863-9605, http://www.gravity.psu.edu).

(titles to be announced), David Bevacuqua + Tsubasa Otake + Yumiko Watanabe, Penn State, 2:00 p.m., 240 Deike Building, host: Hiroshi Ohmoto, Penn State Astrobiology Research Center (865-4074).

"Knots, Tangles, DNA, and Quantum Physics," Louis Kauffman, University of Illinois, 2:30 p.m., 113 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Clouds as Seen from a Ground-Based-Longwave-Radiance Interferometer: What Can We Learn?" Dave Turner, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 4:00 p.m., 112 Walker Building, Department of Meteorology (863-8566).

"Exploring Neutrino Oscillations with Continuous Sources," Josh R. Klein, University of Texas, 4:00 p.m., 117 Osmond Laboratory, host: Doug Cowen, Department of Physics (863-5943).

"Fast Power-Grid Analysis Using Random Walks," Sachin Sapatnekar, University of Minnesota, 4:00 p.m., 113 Information Sciences and Technology Building, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (865-9505).

"From Skein Relations and Spin Networks to the Jones Polynomial and Khovanov Homology," Louis Kauffman, University of Illinois, 4:00 p.m., 114 McAllister Building, Mathematics Department (865-7527).

"Optical Monitoring of Synaptic Vesicle Recycling in Living Nerve Terminals," William Betz, University of Colorado, 4:00 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, host: Andrew Ewing, Eberly College of Science + Department of Biology + Department of Biobehavioral Health + The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences + College of Health and Human Development + Department of Chemistry (863-4653).

(title to be announced), Don Reicosky, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 4:00 p.m., 324 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Dairy and Animal Science + Environment and Natural Resources Institute (865-4185).

FRIDAY, 18 NOVEMBER

"Cutaneous Vasodilation in Humans: New Insights and Rampant Speculations," Christopher T. Minson, University of Oregon, 11:00 a.m., 127 Noll Lab, Noll Physiological Research Center (865-3453).

"Revisiting Self-Dual Loop Quantum Gravity," Jon Engle, Penn State, 11:00 a.m., 318 Osmond Lab, Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (863-9605, http://www.gravity.psu.edu).

"Computational Study of the Low-Frequency Terahertz Spectrum for Large Clusters," Sue Gregurick, University of Maryland, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Karl Mueller, Department of Chemistry (863-8674).

"Improvisational Geovisualization," Chris Weaver, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 112 Walker Building, Department of Geography (865-3433).

SATURDAY, 19 NOVEMBER

(none)

SUNDAY, 20 NOVEMBER

DATE CORRECTED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Penn State in Space: The Swift Experience" (Friedman lecture), John Nousek + David Burrows + Margaret Chester, Penn State, 3:00 p.m. (refreshments to follow), 100 Thomas Building, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (865-0162 or 865-0418).

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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.