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

16 to 22 February 2004

 

MONDAY, 16 FEBRUARY

"How Cells Organize Metabolism: Developing a Three-Dimensional Model of Flavonoid Biosynthesis," Brenda Winkel-Shirley, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 12:20 p.m., 106 Wartik Laboratory, host: Surinder Chopra, Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Physiology (863-3892).

"Models of Sympatric Speciation: Facts and Generalizations," Sergey Gavrilets, University of Tennessee, 12:20 p.m., 104 Rackley Building, Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology (865-5557).

ADDED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Numerical Simulation of Orbiting Black Holes," Bernd Bruegmann, Penn State, 3:00 p.m., 318 Osmond Laboratory, Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry and Center for Gravitational Wave Physics (863-9605).

"Cold Atoms, Warm Surface—Atomic Probes of Fluctuating and Static Fields Near Surfaces," Jeff McGuirk, University of Colorado, 3:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Kurt Gibble, Department of Physics (863-5343).

"Evolution Equations on the Virasoro Group: Geometry and Integrability," Boris Khesin, University of Toronto (Canada), 3:30 p.m., 102 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Screening for Fusarium Dry-Rot Resistance," Christopher R. Burkhart, Penn State, 3:30 p.m., 112 Buckhout Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology (865-3761).

"Topological and Analytic Signatures, Continued," John Roe, Penn State, 3:35 p.m., 105 Willard Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"An Evaluation of Herbicide-Application Techniques Used to Control Ailanthus altissima," Jon Johnson, Penn State, 3:50 p.m., 108 Tyson Building, Department of Horticulture (863-3371).

"Cytochrome c Maturation: Surprises and Puzzles in the Heme-Protein Assembly Pathway," Linda Thöny-Meyer (faculty candidate), Institute for Microbiology (Switzerland), 4:00 p.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Don Bryant, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (863-1851).

TIME CHANGE AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Life on the Edge: The Rules of RNA Virus Evolution," Edward Holmes, University of Oxford (United Kingdom), 4:00 p.m., (refreshments at 3:45 p.m.), 317 Mueller Laboratory, host: Peter Hudson, Department of Biology (865-0522).

DATE CHANGE AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"The Central United States Autumn-Winter Precipitation Deficit: Diagnosis and Attribution of a Climate-Simulation Problem," William Gutowski, Iowa State University, 4:00 p.m., 112 Walker Building, Department of Meteorology (865-0478).

"The Role of Micronutrients in Host-Pathogen Interactions," Christopher Taylor, National Institutes of Health (NIH), 4:00 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, Graduate Program in Nutrition (865-3448).

 

TUESDAY, 17 FEBRUARY

"A Career in Medical/Science Writing," Lisa G. May, 11:15 a.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Robyn Mercer, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (865-3072).

"Canyonlands Graben of Southeast Utah: A Natural Laboratory for Understanding Fault Growth," Bruce Trudgill, Colorado School of Mines, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences (865-2622).

 

WEDNESDAY, 18 FEBRUARY

"Optical Biosensing with Surface Plasmon" by Laura Killingbeck and "Surface and Interfacial Analysis of Epoxy-Reinforced Carbon-Fiber Composite Materials with X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy" by Geoffrey Bowers, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., S-5 Osmond Laboratory, Department of Chemistry (865-6553).

"Public Scholarship at the University" (Research Unplugged), Lakshman Yapa, Penn State, 12:00 noon, Penn State Downtown Theatre Center, Office of the Vice President for Research (865-3477, www.rps.psu.edu/unplugged).

"Functional Dissection of the Arabidopsis RAD51 Gene Family Encoding Recombination and DNA-Repair Enzymes," Hong Ma, Penn State, 12:10 p.m., 317 Mueller Laboratory, host: Masatoshi Nei, Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics (863-7334).

"United States: The Northeast (video)," 12:15 p.m., 105 Deike Building, Earth and Mineral Sciences Library (863-7073).

"Quality-Assurance Strategies for Master of Geographic Information Systems and Oil and Gas Engineering Management Programs," David DiBiase+Annie Luck+Turgay Ertekin, Penn State, 3:30 p.m., 423 Earth and Engineering Sciences Building, John Dutton e-Education Institute (863-1590).

"Hubble Space Telescope Ultraviolet Observations of the Central Nebulae in Clusters of Galaxies," Chris O'Dea, Space Telescope Science Institute, 4:00 p.m., 541 Davey Laboratory, host: Eric Feigelson, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (865-0419).

"The Role of the KSR Gene in Ras Signaling," Deborah Morrison, National Cancer Institute, 4:00 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, host: Robert Paulson, Department of Veterinary Science (863-6306).

"Analysis on Non-Smooth Domains," Victor Nistor, Penn State, 4:40 p.m., 116 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

 

THURSDAY, 19 FEBRUARY

"Cooling and Trapping OH Molecules," Heather Lewandowski, JILA (formerly Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics) and National Institute of Standards and Technology, 11:00 a.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Kurt Gibble, Department of Physics (863-5343).

"Mobility and Communication in Sensor Networks," Qun Li, Dartmouth College, 11:00 a.m., 333 Information Sciences and Technology Building, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (865-9505).

"Biochemical and Physical Characterization of Lipoyl Synthase from Escherichia coli," Robert Cicchillo, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Squire Booker, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (865-3072).

"Very Simple Representations and Doubly Transitive Permutation Groups: Applications to Abelian Varieties," Yuri Zarhin, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 115 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Amino Terminus-Deleted Constitutive Androstane-Receptor Variants Are Expressed from Downstream AUG and CUG Start Codons," Matthew Stoner, 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).

"Patterning Organic and Inorganic Reactions on Semiconductor Surface," Jillian Buriak, University of Alberta (Canada), 12:15 p.m., S-5 Osmond Laboratory, host: Thomas Mallouk, Department of Chemistry (863-9637).

"Pentaquarks: A New Kind of Elementary Particles," Dmitri Diakonov, Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, 3:50 p.m., 117 Osmond Laboratory, host: Mark Strikman, Department of Physics (865-7382).

"Function Estimation via Asymptotic Equivalence," Harrison Zhou, Cornell University, 4:00 p.m., 102 Thomas Building, Department of Statistics (865-1348).

"Holomorphic Linking Numbers," Boris Khesin, University of Toronto (Canada), 4:00 p.m., 102 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Life at High Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC): Carbon-Cycle Linkages and the Marine Carbon Cycle," Julie Bartley, State University of West Georgia, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences (865-2622).

 

FRIDAY, 20 FEBRUARY

"Field-Based Colloidal Manipulation for Microfluidics and Photonics," David Marr, Colorado School of Mines, 10:30 a.m., 110 Wartik Laboratory, host: Antonios Armaou, Department of Chemical Engineering (865-5316).

ADDED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Light Cones and Gravitational Lensing," Juergen Ehlers, Albert Einstein Institute (Germany), 11:00 a.m., 318 Osmond Laboratory, Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry and Center for Gravitational Wave Physics (863-9605).

"Plant and Insect Response to Extraterrestrial Impact and Global Warming (65 and 55 million years ago)," Peter Wilf, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 118 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, host: Jack Schultz, Department of Entomology (865-1895).

"The Effects of Palygorskite on Chemical and Physico-Chemical Properties of Soils," Alexander Neaman, Penn State, 12:20 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences (863-1615).

"Novel Aluminum-Cluster Chemistry," Dennis Bergeron, Penn State, 2:15 p.m., S-5 Osmond Laboratory, host: Albert W. Castleman, Department of Chemistry (865-7242).

"Brain Iron Metabolism and Neural Functioning," John Beard, Penn State, 3:30 p.m., 127 Noll Lab, Noll Physiological Research Center (865-3453).

"A Poteomic Approach to Understanding Neurodegeneration and Psychiatric Disease in Mouse Models," Matthew Szapacs, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., S-5 Osmond Laboratory, Department of Chemistry (865-6553).

 

SATURDAY, 21 FEBRUARY

"Time, Human Aging, and Longevity: How Long Can a Person Live?" (Frontiers lecture #4 of 5), Robert B. Mitchell, Penn State, 11:00 a.m., 100 Thomas Building, Eberly College of Science (863-8453 and <http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/frontiers>).

 

SUNDAY, 22 FEBRUARY

(none)

 

**********

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& >

**********

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.

Reporters for Science Seminars and the areas they cover are as follows: [agriculture: Kay Moore] [agronomy: Madeline Laubach] [anthropology: Alan Walker] [astrobiology: Linda Decker] [astronomy and astrophysics: Lisa Bechtol and Laura Sproat] [biochemistry and molecular biology: Tamara Housel] [biology: Paula Farwell] [gravitational physics and geometry: Karen Brewster] [ceramic science and engineering: April Benson] [chemical engineering: Sandra Brown] [chemistry: Clare Eckley] [computer science and engineering: Nancy Clark and Karen Alise Corl] [earth and mineral sciences: Debra Lambert] [ecology: Rosemarie Hibbler] [energy: Kelly Jo Rhoades] [entomology: Thelma Brodzina] [genetics: Lauren Esposito] [life sciences: Janice Kennedy] [mathematics: Flossie Dunlop] [nutrition: Judy Jones] [physics: Amy Long] [physiology: Rosemarie Hibbler] [plant physiology: Janice Kennedy] [poultry science: Linda Houtz] [Vice President for Research: Lila Naydan] [science, technology, and society: Karen Snare] [statistics: Bonnie Cain] [veterinary science: Loretta Muchinsky].

NOTICE: PRESS RELEASES AVAILABLE
Press releases occasionally are written for some of the lectures sponsored by the Eberly College of Science. If you would like to receive copies of these press releases in the future, send a note to Barbara K. Kennedy at SCIENCE@PSU.EDU. Your e-mail address will be added to a distribution list.

This publication is available in alternative media on request.

Penn State is an affirmative action, equal opportunity university. Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the office in charge of the seminar in advance of your attendance. U.Ed. SCI 04-85

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