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 February 2004

 

MONDAY, 2 FEBRUARY

"Butterfly Diet Evolution at Three Spatial Scales: Population, Metapopulation, and Species," Mike Singer, University of Texas, 12:20 p.m., 104 Rackley Building, Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology (865-5557).

"Global Expression Profiling in Arabidopsis: Gene Activities in Early Flower Development," Xiaohong Zhang, Penn State, 12:20 p.m., 106 Wartik Laboratory, Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Physiology (863-3892).

"Modern Challenges for Lattice Field Theory," Herbert Neuberger, Rutgers University, 2:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: John Collins, Department of Physics (863-0783).

"Testing Gravity Theory Using Binary Pulsars," Ian Jones, Penn State, 3:00 p.m., 318 Osmond Laboratory, Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry and Center for Gravitational Wave Physics (863-9605).

"Some New Applications of the Approximation-by-Conjugation Method in Dynamics," Anatole Katok, Penn State, 3:30 p.m., 102 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Physiological Consequences of Precision Irrigation and Its Impact on Crop Water-Use Efficiency," David Bryla, United States Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service, 3:50 p.m., 108 Tyson Building, Department of Horticulture (863-3371).

"Early Childhood Nutrition, Adult Human Capital, and Economic Productivity," Reynaldo Martorell, Emory University, 4:00 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, Graduate Program in Nutrition (865-3448).

"Molecular and Genetic Studies of Nociceptive Sensory Neurons," Xinzhong Dong (faculty candidate), California Institute of Technology, 4:00 p.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, hosts: Robert Schlegel and Douglas Cavener, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Department of Biology (863-1851).

"Nanocrystals as a New Class of Macromolecule" (Marker Lecture #1 of 3), Paul Alivisatos, University of California, 8:00 p.m., 102 Thomas Building, Department of Chemistry (865-6553).

TUESDAY, 3 FEBRUARY

"Overpartitions and Generating Functions for Generalized Frobenius Partitions," Ae Ja Yee, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 115 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"The Atomic-Scale Origin of Friction," Jackie Krim, North Carolina State University, 3:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Milton Cole, Department of Physics (863-0165).

"Photoreceptor Differentiation: Genetic Analysis of Rhabdomere Biogenesis," Andrew Zelhof (faculty candidate), University of California, 4:00 p.m. (refreshments at 3:45 p.m.), 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Douglas Cavener, Department of Biology (865-4562). 

"Shape Control and Structural Properties of Nanocrystals" (Marker lecture #2 of 3), Paul Alivisatos, University of California, 4:00 p.m., S-5 Osmond Laboratory, Department of Chemistry (865-6553).

"Teaching in an Intensive Interdisciplinary Program: What I've Learned (So Far) at Sea Education Association," Sara Harris, Sea Education Association, 022 Deike Building, 4:00 p.m., Department of Geosciences (865-2622).

"Explaining the Elegant Universe," Brian Greene, Columbia University, 7:30 p.m., Adler Athletic Complex, Penn State Altoona (949-5064), free tickets required (949-5121 for availability).

WEDNESDAY, 4 FEBRUARY

"Abrupt Changes in the Earth's Climate Recorded in Air Bubbles in Polar Ice" (Worldwide Universities Network seminar), Jeff Severinghaus, University of California, 12:00 p.m., 541 Deike Building (videoconference), Department of Geosciences (863-1274).

"A Genomic Timescale of Prokaryote Evolution," Fabia Battistuzzi, Penn State, 12:10 p.m., 317 Mueller Laboratory, host: Masatoshi Nei, Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics (863-7334).

"Optical and Electrical Properties of Nanocrystal-Based Materials" (Marker lecture #3 of 3), Paul Alivisatos, University of California, 12:15 p.m., S-5 Osmond Laboratory, Department of Chemistry (865-6553).

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

"Functional Diversity and Molecular Properties of Microbial Molybdenum-Containing Enzymes," Alastair McEwan (faculty candidate), University of Queensland (Australia), 4:00 p.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Donald Bryant, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (863-1851).

"Gas and Dust in Nearby Spirals: Recent Results from Surveys," Michele Thornley, Bucknell University/Space Telescope Science Institute, 4:00 p.m., 541 Davey Laboratory, host: Patrick Durrell, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (865-0419).

"Novel Signaling Functions of Nuclear Factor Kappa B and Inhibitor of Kappa-B Kinase," Shao-Cong Sun, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, host: Robert Paulson, Department of Veterinary Science (863-6306).


THURSDAY, 5 FEBRUARY

(title to be announced), Shiva Tyagarajan, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Richard Frisque, Department of Biochemestry and Molecular Biology (865-3072).

"Ramanujan and Partial Fractions," George Andrews, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 115 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Transcription Factor AP-2 in Drosophila Leg Development," Pamela Mitchell, 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).

"The Non-Equilibrium Physics Underlying Biological Pattern Formation—The Case of the Dictyostelium Amoeba," Herbert Levine, University of California, 3:50 p.m., 117 OsmondLaboratory, host: Samuel Finn, Department of Physics (863-9598).

FRIDAY, 6 FEBRUARY

(title and speaker to be announced), 10:30 a.m., 110 Wartik Laboratory, host: Antonios Armaou, Department of Chemical Engineering (865-5316).

"Discrete Quantum Gravity: Recent Developments and Applications," Rodolfo Gambini, Institute de Fisica (Uruguay), 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 am, Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Host: Jack Schultz, Department of Entomology (865-1895).

"Arginase and the Aging Cardiovascular System," Dan Berkowitz, Johns Hopkins University, 3:30 p.m., 127 Noll Lab, Noll Physiological Research Center (865-3453).

"Constituency Size and Interest Representation: The Politics of Crime Control in a Federal Political System," Lisa Miller, Penn State, 3:30 p.m., 301 Steidle Building, Department of Geography (863-1806).

"Cortical Circuits That Implement Finite-State Automata for Decoding Spatiotemporal Sequences of Spikes," Dezhe Jin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 3:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: John Collins, Department of Physics (863-0783).

SATURDAY, 7 FEBRUARY

"Time in the Physical Universe: From Antiquity to Einstein and Beyond" (Frontiers lecture #2 of 5), Abhay Ashtekar, Penn State, 11:00 a.m., 101 Thomas Building, Eberly College of Science (863-8453).

SUNDAY, 8 FEBRUARY

(none)

 

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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& >

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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 and Kristen Devlin.