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

30 January to 5 February 2006

MONDAY, 30 JANUARY

"Stable-Stationary Harmonic Maps to Spheres," Changyou Wang, University of Kentucky, 11:15 a.m., 216 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Education Outreach Showcase," Joanna Skluzacek, Penn State, 12:00 noon, S-5 Osmond Laboratory, Center for Nanoscale Science/MRSEC and Department of Physics (863-8999).

"Synthesis and Applications of Conducting-Polymer Nanofibers," Ric Kaner, University of California, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Tom Mallouk, Department of Chemistry (863-9637).

"On Singularities in String Theory," Radu Roiban, Penn State, 3:00 p.m., 318 Osmond Laboratory, Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (863-9605 or www.gravity.psu.edu).

"The Teichmueller Geodesic Flow: Part One," Jayadev Athreya, University of Chicago, 3:35 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Analysis of Covariance as an Alternative to Blocked Experimental Designs," Rich Marini, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 108 Tyson Building, Department of Horticulture (865-2571).

"RNA-Silencing Pathways in Plants," Yijun Qi (faculty candidate), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 4:00 p.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Teh-hui Kao, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (863-1851).

TUESDAY, 31 JANUARY

"A Crystal Structure of a Group-I Ribozyme-Product Complex: The Story of an Intron Named Twort," Barbara Golden, Purdue University, 4:00 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Philip Bevilacqua, Department of Chemistry (863-3812).

"Tambora 1815: The Eruption That Caused the Last Great Subsistence Crisis of the Western World," Haraldur Sigurdsson, University of Rhode Island, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences (865-2622).

WEDNESDAY, 1 FEBRUARY

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

"Differentially Functionalized Nanotubes for Bioanalytical Separations" by Rong Zhang and "Opto-Chemical Sensing of Specific Transducer Interactions Using Fiber Bragg Gratings" by David Willingham, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, hosts: Paul Weiss and Nick Winograd, Department of Chemistry (865-3693 or 863-0001).

"Structure of Kac-Moody Groups from a Geometric Viewpoint," Pierre-Emmanuel Caprace, Universite Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), 2:30 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"The Electromagnetic Current is Renormalized Nontrivially," John Collins, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Radu Roiban, Department of Physics (863-5811).

ADDED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Visualizing Four Dimensions: A Sculpture," Adrian Ocneanu, Penn State, 2:45 p.m., Lipcon Auditorium, Palmer Museum of Art (865-4061 or 234-4608).

"The Teichmueller Geodesic Flow: Part Two," Jayadev Athreya, University of Chicago, 3:35 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Pertussis: The Re-Emergence of an Old Disease," Michael Flanagan, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, host: Art Hattel, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences (863-2024 or alh6@psu.edu).

ADDED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Understanding Diabetes and Its Complications Using Transgenic Mouse Models," Jason K. Kim, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory (video conferencing from College of Medicine), Intercollege Graduate Program in Cell and Molecular Biology (717-531-4819 or www.hmc.psu.edu/cellbiology/seminars/facultyseminars.htm).

THURSDAY, 2 FEBRUARY

"Homogeneous Catalysis in High-Temperature Water," Phillip Savage, University of Michigan, 10:00 a.m., 111 Wartik Laboratory, host: Costas Maranas, Department of Chemical Engineering (863-9958).

"A Penetrating View of Unusual Superconductors," Myron Salamon, University of Illinois, 4:00 p.m., 117 Osmond Laboratory, host: Ying Liu, Department of Physics (863-0090).

FRIDAY, 3 FEBRUARY

"Control of Pythium Blight and Anthracnose Basal Rot, and Improved Turfgrass Quality with Phosphonate Fungicides," Philip Cook, Penn State, 8:30 a.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, host: Sjoerd Duiker, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences (863-7637).

"Detecting Negative-Cost Cycles in Zero Space," V. Subramani, West Virginia University, 10:00 a.m., 333 Information Sciences and Technology Building, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (865-9505).

"Autonomic Nervous-System Modulation of the Pressor Response to Free Fatty Acids,"John Florian, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 127 Noll Lab, Noll Physiological Research Center (865-3453).

"Entomopathogenic Nematodes in Urban-Landscape Ecology: From Molecule to Ecosystem," Parwinder Grewal, Ohio State University, 11:15 a.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Entomology (865-1895).

"Coarsely Embeddable Spaces Without Property A," Piotr Nowak, Vanderbilt University, 2:25 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

(Applied and Computational Mathematics seminar title to be announced), Pierre Gremaud, North Carolina State University, 3:30 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Representing the Semantic and Pragmatic Aspects of Geoscience Ontologies," Boyan Brodaric, Geological Survey of Canada, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geography (865-3433).

SATURDAY, 4 FEBRUARY

"How Genes Evolve: Toward a Unified Theory of Biology" (Frontiers lecture #3 of 5), Kenneth M. Weiss, Penn State, 11:00 a.m., 100 Thomas Building, Eberly College of Science (863-0901 or www.science.psu.edu/alert/frontiers).

SUNDAY, 5 FEBRUARY

(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 06-77

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