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

2 to 8 April 2007

MONDAY, 2 APRIL

"Theory of Differential Equations," Ismael Herrera Revilla, National University of Mexico, 11:00 a.m., 216 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Characterization and Cloning of Tie-Dyed1, a Novel Gene-Regulating Carbohydrate Partitioning in Maize Leaves," Yi Ma, Penn State, 12:10 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, host David Braun, Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Biology (863-1108).

"Nickel-Catalyzed Intramolecular [4+4]-Cycloadditions," Praveen Kumar, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Steve Weinreb, Department of Chemistry (863-0189).

"A Myb-Transcription Factor is Required for the Expression of Phytoalexins in Sorghum," Surinder Chopra, Penn State, 3:30 p.m., 112 Buckhout Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology (865-3761).

"Modeling Liquid-Crystal Materials and Processes in Biological Systems," Alejandro Rey, McGill University (Canada), 3:30 p.m., 216 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Polymerization in Super-Critical Carbon Dioxide (CO2)," Ying Chen, Penn State, 3:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Michael Green, Department of Chemistry (863-0925).

"Ecological and Evolutionary Implications of Past and Future Amazonian Climate Change," Mark Bush, Florida Institute of Technology, 3:35 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology (865-5557).

ADDED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Monte-Carlo Methods for a Class of Spatial Models," Murali Haran, Penn State, 3:35 p.m., 203 Sackett Building, host: Lyle N. Long, Department of Aerospace Engineering (865-1172 or www.csci.psu.edu/springsem.html).

RESCHEDULED FOR 23 APRIL:
"Effective Closure in Multi-Scale Modeling and Simulations," Qiang Du, Penn State, 3:35 p.m., 203 Sackett Building, host: Lyle N. Long, Department of Aerospace Engineering (865-1172 or www.csci.psu.edu/springsem.html).

"Topological Existence Proofs for Symmetric Periodic Orbits of the Three-Body Problem," Rick Moeckel, University of Minnesota, 3:35 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Polarity and Developmental Regulators in an Asymmetric Bacterium," Patrick Viollier, Case Western Reserve University, 4:00 p.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Kenneth Keiler, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (863-0787).

"Whole-Plant Physiological Responses of Vaccinium to Heterogeneous Soil-Water Conditions," Luis Rene Valenzuela Estrada, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 111 Tyson Building, Department of Horticulture (865-2571).

TUESDAY, 3 APRIL

(title to be announced), Lee Smolin, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (Canada), 10:00 a.m, 320 Whitmore Laboratory, Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (863-9605 or www.gravity.psu.edu).

"Effective Field Theory and the Problem of Motion in General Relativity," Rafael Porto, Carnegie Mellon University, 4:00 p.m., 320 Whitmore Laboratory, Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (863-9605 or www.gravity.psu.edu).

ADDED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Exploring and Exploiting the Units of Microbial Diversity and their Ecological Adaptations with (Meta-) Genomics," Kostas T. Konstantinidis (faculty candidate), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 4:00 p.m. (refreshments at 3:45 p.m.), 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: James Marden, Department of Biology (865-4562).

"High Pressure: A New Dimension in Physical Science," Dave Mao, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences (865-2622).

(title to be announced), Megan Matthews, 4:00 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: J. Martin Bollinger, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (863-5707).

WEDNESDAY, 4 APRIL

"Dimming the Sun" (video), 12:15 p.m., 105 Deike Building, Earth and Mineral Sciences Library (863-7073).

"A Walk on the Wild Side: Physics at the Energy Frontier With the ATLAS Experiment," Brigitte Vachon, McGill University (Canada), 2:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Stephane Coutu, Department of Physics (865-7533).

"Seidel's Long-Exact Sequence of Symplectic Floer Cohomology on Calabi-Yau Manifolds," Yong-Geun Oh, University of Wisconsin, 2:30 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Neuroscience/Neural Engineering 2007: A Distributed Spike-Timing Code in the Primary Somatosensory Cortex and Its Enhancement by Neuromodulators," Karen Moxon, Drexel University, 4:00 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, host: Steven Schiff, Department of Neurosurgery + Department of Engineering Sciences and Mechanics + Department of Physics (863-4210 or 321-4884).

"The Active-Galactic-Nuclei (AGN) Torus: A Paradigm Shift?" Moshe Elitzur, University of Kentucky, 4:00 p.m., 538 Davey Laboratory, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (865-0418).

"Bose-Einstein Condensates: The Coldest Matter in the Universe" (Marker lecture #1 of 2), Wolfgang Ketterle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 8:00 p.m., 112 Forest Resources Building, host: Ken O'Hara, Eberly College of Science and Department of Physics (865-7533).

THURSDAY, 5 APRIL

"Practical Implications of Bifurcation and Chaos in Chemical-Reaction and Biological-Reaction Engineering," Said S. Elnashaie, Penn State, 10:00 a.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering (863-1375).

"Baker Theory on Group Varieties," Sinnou David, Institut de Mathematiques de Jussieu (France) and Institute for Advanced Study, 11:15 a.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Content, Context, and Cognition as Three Structural Pillars for Teaching, Learning, and Research in Chemistry," Nicholas J. Turro, Columbia University, 12:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Joseph Keiser, Department of Chemistry (863-3209).

"Scales, Scaling, and Scaleup," Larry W. Lake, University of Texas, 1:00 p.m., 157 Hosler Building, Department of Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering (863-2273).

"Computing the Maximum-Likelihood Estimator of a Multidimensional Log-Concave Density," Richard Samworth, University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), 4:00 p.m., 201 Thomas Building, Department of Statistics (865-1348).

"New Forms of Quantum Matter Near Absolute-Zero Temperature" (Marker lecture #2 of 2), Wolfgang Ketterle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 4:00 p.m., 117 Osmond Laboratory, host: Ken O'Hara, Eberly College of Science and Department of Physics (865-7533).

"Spatiotemporal Organization and Control of Cortical Dynamics," Steven Schiff, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 114 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

FRIDAY, 6 APRIL

"Ecological and Molecular Analysis of Costs and Benefits of Protease-Inhibitor (PI) Expression," Jorge Zavala, University of Illinois, 11:00 a.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Entomology (865-1895).

"Mach's Holographic Principle," Maulik Parikh, Columbia University, 11:00 a.m., 320 Whitmore Laboratory, Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (863-9605 or www.gravity.psu.edu).

"Cardiovascular Mechanisms of Exercise Intolerance: From Bedside to Bench," Geoffrey E. Moore, Syracuse University, 11:15 a.m., 127 Noll Laboratory, Noll Physiological Research Center (865-3453).

"Tailoring Functionality of Clusters and Their Complexes with Biomolecules by Size, Structures, and Lasers," Vlasta Bonacic-Koutecky, Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany), 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Will Castelman, Department of Chemistry (865-7242).

"The Elegant Universe: String’s the Thing" (video), 3:30 p.m., 211 Davey Laboratory, Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library (865-7617 or www.libraries.psu.edu/pams/filmseries.html).

(title to be announced), Junping Wang, National Science Foundation, 3:35 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Changes in the Arctic Ice Cover: Greenland Ice Sheet and Surrounding Oceans," Konrad Steffen, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences + University of Colorado, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geography (865-3433).

(title to be announced), Andre Niemeijer, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences (865-7965).

SATURDAY, 7 APRIL to SUNDAY, 8 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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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.

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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 07-111

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