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

24 to 30 September 2007

MONDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER

ADDED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Biochemical and Functional Studies of S-RNase-Based Self-Incompatibility in Petunia inflata," Zhihua Hua, Penn State, 12:10 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, host: Teh-hui Kao, Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Biology (863-1042).

"History of Forensic Science....and Murder," Michael Baden, New York State Police, 12:20 p.m., 113 Information Sciences and Technology Building, Forensic Science Program and Eberly College of Science (863-6758 or 867-0460).

"The Allure of the Guanidinium Toxins as Targets for Chemical Synthesis," Justin Du Bois, Stanford University, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Raymond Funk, Department of Chemistry (865-2057).

"Insect-Damaged Fossil Leaves Record Food-Web Response to Ancient Climate Change and Extinction," Peter Wilf, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 217 Forest Resources Building, Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology (863-3371).

"New Biology in an Old Pathogen: Research Update on Plant Pathogenic Streptomyces," Leslie Wanner, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 3:30 p.m., 112 Buckhout Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology (865-6761).

"Iron Deficiency and Its Effect on Cathecolamine Neurotransmission in Vivo," Laura Bianco, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 209 South Henderson Building, Graduate Program in Nutrition (865-3448).

ADDED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Using Yeast to Probe Receptor Mechanisms: What Yeast Can Teach Us About Diabetes," Thomas J. Lyons, University of Florida, 4:00 p.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Squire Booker, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (865-8793).

TUESDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER

"Group Discussion on Spin Foams and Loop Quantum Gravity," 10:15 a.m, 320 Whitmore Laboratory, Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos (863-9605 or www.gravity.psu.edu).

"Derived Brackets from Q Structures of Order 2," Melchior Grutzmann, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 315 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Interval-Exchange Transformations, Part One: Rauzy Induction and Gauss Transformation," Dmitry Scheglov, Penn State, 3:30 p.m., 216 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"The Shape Dependence of Fluctuation-Induced Forces," Mehran Kardar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 3:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Milton Cole, Department of Physics (863-9759).

"Representing Partitions by a Two-Line Matrix (Distinct from Frobenius Symbol)," Plinio Santos, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Brazil), 3:35 p.m., 315 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"A Color-Magnitude Diagram of Galactic Double White Dwarfs for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA)," Ravi Kumar Kopparapu, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 320 Whitmore Laboratory, Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos (863-9605 or www.gravity.psu.edu).

WEDNESDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER

"Did Froissart Dream of Ultra-High Energy (UHE) Neutrino-Nucleon Scattering?" Doug McKay, University of Kansas, 2:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Soeb Razzaqu, Department of Physics (863-9759).

"Geodesics Connecting a Pair of Points," Alexander Nabutovsky, Penn State, 3:35 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"First Results from the Burrell Optical Kepler Survey (BOKS): Searching for Extrasolar Planets in the Kepler Field," John Feldmeier, Youngstown State University, 4:00 p.m., 538 Davey Laboratory, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (865-0418).

THURSDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER

"Distance Graphs with Finite Chromatic Number," Hiren Maharaj, Clemson University, 11:15 a.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Internships: How They Work and What They Mean to the Student Participants," Paige Thomas, Jim Sellmer, and Kim Oellerich, Penn State, 12:20 p.m., 108 Tyson Building, Department of Horticulture (865-2571).

"Morse-Bott Homology, Part One," David Hurtubise, Penn State, 1:25 p.m., 315 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Simulation of Nanoparticle Dynamics and Coating in Low-Pressure Plasma Reactor," Farzad Mashayek, University of Illinois, 2:30 p.m., 110 Wartik Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering (863-1375).

(title to be announced), Igor Rivin, Temple University, 2:30 p.m., 113 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

(title to be announced), Murthy N. Guddati, North Carolina State University, 3:35 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"A Moment-Based Method for Estimating the Proportion of True Null Hypotheses and Its Application to Microarray Gene-Expression Data," Yinglei Lai, George Washington University, 4:00 p.m., 201 Thomas Building, Department of Statistics (865-1348).

"Regulation of Emotion and Cognition: Impact of Gamma-Two Subunit of Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid Type A (GABA-A) Receptors," Hanns Mohler, University of Zurich (Switzerland), 4:00 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, host: Berhnhard Luscher, Penn State Neuroscience Institute (865-5549).

"The Secrets of High Tc (Critical Temperature): Spin-Charge Locking and a Hidden Fermi Liquid," Philip Anderson, Princeton University, 4:00 p.m., 117 Osmond Laboratory, host: Moses Chan, Department of Physics (863-9759).

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

FRIDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER

"Entropy Quantization and Other Topics for Black Holes in Loop Quantum Gravity," Hanno Sahlmann, Utrecht University (The Netherlands), 11:00 a.m., 320 Whitmore Laboratory, Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos (863-9605 or www.gravity.psu.edu).

"Exploiting Scents of Distress: Herbivore-Induced Plant Odours and the Prospects of Using Them in the Control of Agricultural Pests," Ted Turlings, University of Neuchatel (Switzerland), 11:10 a.m., 107 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Entomology (865-1895).

"Vascular Consequences of 60-Days Head-Down Bed Rest in Women," Richard Hughson, Waterloo University (Canada), 11:15 a.m., 127 Noll Laboratory, Intercolllege Graduate Program in Physiology (865-8165).

"Ecology of Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaea: Recently Discovered Players in the Nitrogen Cycle," Maina Martir, Penn State, 12:20 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences (865-6541).

"Lafforgue's Strong Property T," Rufus Willett, Penn State, 2:00 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Enhanced Water Splitting Using Titanium-Dioxide (TiO2) Nanotube Arrays Under Solar Light," Weinan Chen, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: John Badding, Department of Chemistry (865-6553).

"Receptor-Ligand Interaction Studied with Fragment Molecular Orbital Calculations," Ran Tu, Penn State, 3:00 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Department of Chemistry (865-6442).

"The Uncertainty Principle: Making of an American Scientist" (video), 3:35 p.m., 211 Davey Laboratory, Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library (865-7617 or www.libraries.psu.edu/pams/filmseries.html).

(title to be announced), Claudio Rebbi, Boston University, 3:35 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

SATURDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER and SUNDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER

(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 Barbara K. Kennedy, Kristen Devlin, and Melissa Arnett.