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

3 to 9 December 2007

MONDAY, 3 DECEMBER

(title to be announced), Steinn Sigurdsson, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Development of Novel Visible-Light-Responsive Photocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting," Kazuhiko Maeda, University of Tokyo (Japan), 12:00 noon, S-5 Osmond Laboratory, Center for Nanoscale Science (MRSEC) (863-0007).

"The Barren Inflorescence1 Gene Plays a Key Role in Axillary-Meristem Development in the Maize Inflorescence," Solmaz Barazesh, Penn State, 12:10 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, host: Paula McSteen, Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Biology (863-1112).

"Understanding Cyclic Outbreaks of Leptospirosis in California Sea Lions," James Lloyd-Smith, Penn State, 1:00 p.m., 118 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology (863-3371).

"Aflatoxins in Kenya, Leaf Spots in Pennsylvania, and the Search for a Pattern," Henry Ngugi, Penn State, 3:30 p.m., 112 Buckhout Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology (865-6761).

"Numerical Methods for Stochastic Biochemical Reacting Networks with Multiple Timescales and Concentration Scales," Di Liu, Michigan State University, 3:35 p.m., 216 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"The Chicken-and-Egg Question of Climate Change: Which Comes First -- Mitigation or Adaptation?" William Easterling, Penn State, 112 Walker Building, 4:00 p.m., Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (863-7091).

"Cocoa and Chocolate: Ancient Remedy to Modern Medicine," Debra L. Miller, The Hershey Company, 4:00 p.m., S-209 Henderson Building, Graduate Program in Nutrition (865-3448).

"Temporal and Spatial Regulation of Proteins and RNA in Bacterial Cell Biology," Kenneth Keiler, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Richard Frisque, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (863-1851).

"Three Lessons on Astrophysics by Numerical Relativity," Deirdre Shoemaker, Penn Sate, 4:00 p.m., 320 Whitmore Laboratory, Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos (863-9605 or www.gravity.psu.edu).

TUESDAY, 4 DECEMBER

"Bertrand Competition in Networks," Shuchi Chawla, University of Wisconsin, 10:00 a.m., 333 Information Sciences and Technology Building, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (865-9505).

(title to be announced), Perumal Ramasamy, State University of New York, 10:00 a.m., 301 Steidle Building, Department of Materials Science and Engineering (865-4992).

(title to be announced), Camilo Arias Abad, Utrecht University (Netherlands), 2:30 p.m., 315 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Introduction to KAM-Theory, Part Three: Moser Twist-Map Theorem," Andrey Gogolev, Penn?State, 3:30 p.m., 216 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"The Evolution from Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) to Bose-Einstein Condensation," Carlos A.R. Sa de Melo, Georgia Institute of Technology, 3:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Ying Liu, Department of Physics (863-9759).

(title to be announced), James Sellers, Penn?State, 3:35 p.m., 315 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Genomics of System-Specific Model Species," Matthew E. Hudson, University of Illinois, 4:00 p.m. (refreshments at 3:45 p.m.), 101 Althouse Laboratory, hosts: James Marden and Claude dePamphilis, Department of Biology (863-0278).

"Helicobacter pylori: The Origins of a Nobel Prize," Barry J. Marshall, Penn State and University of Western Australia, 4:00 p.m., 100 Life Sciences Building, host: Stephan Schuster, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (863-9278).

CANCELLED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Massive Black-Hole Binaries: Dynamics and Gravitational Waves," Alberto Sesana, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 320 Whitmore Laboratory, Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos (863-9605 or www.gravity.psu.edu).

"Ribosomal Switches Modulated by tRNAs and Release Factors," Rachel Green, Johns Hopkins University, 4:00 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Philip Bevilacqua, Department of Chemistry (863-3812).

"The Ubiquitous Nature of Dynamic Triggering," Aaron Velasco, University of Texas, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences (865-2622).

WEDNESDAY, 5 DECEMBER

"The Paradox of Ice Sheets and Black Shales During the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum" (videoconference), Richard Norris, University of California, 12:00 noon, 541 Deike Building, Office of the Dean of the Graduate School and Worldwide Universities Network (865-6718).

"A Tour of the Cryosphere: Earth's Frozen Assets" and "Sister Storms: A Louisiana-Sea-Grant Response" (videos), 105 Deike Building, 12:15 p.m., Earth and Mineral Sciences Library (863-7073).

"Desorption Electrospray-Ionization Mass Spectrometry: Ambient, Non-Proximate, and In-Situ Applications," William Woodward, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: A. Welford Castleman, Department of Chemistry (865-7242).

"Multiparton Interactions in High-Energy Hadronic Collisions," Daniele Treleani, University of Trieste (Italy), 2:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Mark Strikman, Department of Physics (863-9759).

"Vanishing of the Fundamental Class of Displaceable Lagrangian Submanifolds," Peter Albers, New York University, 3:35 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Blue Tumors and the Origins of Skin Tumors in Mice," Rebecca Morris, Columbia University, 4:00 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, host: Adam Glick, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences (865-7170). 

"State-Dependent cAMP Sensitivity of Feed-Forward Inhibition of the Hippocampal Mossy-Fiber Pathway," Chris McBain, National Institutes of Health, 4:00 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, host: June Liu, Penn State Neuroscience Institute (863-8749).

THURSDAY, 6 DECEMBER

"Micromechanical and Nanomechanical Behavior of Materials," Christopher Muhlstein, Penn State, 10:10 a.m., 26 Hosler Building, Department of Materials Science and Engineering (865-4992).

"A Novel Heterobinuclear Manganese/Iron Cofactor in Chlamydia trachomatis Ribonucleotide Reductase," Wei Jiang, Penn State, 11:15 a.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Marty Bollinger, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (863-5707).

(title to be announced), Peter Albers, New York University, 12:00 noon, 114 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

CANCELLED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Postharvest Tree-Fruit Research Update," Jim Schupp, Penn State, 12:20 p.m., 108 Tyson Building, Department of Horticulture (865-2571).

(title to be announced), Michael Green, Penn State, 12:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Department of Chemistry (865-6442).

"Throwing the Baby Out With the Bath Water: Lycopene Cyclase, Myxoxanthophyll, and Surprising Aromatic Carotenoids in the Cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002," Joel Graham, Penn State, 1:00 p.m., 108 Wartik Laboratory, host: Don Bryant, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (865-1992).

"Interfacial Engineering of Functional Electronic and Biomedical Devices," David Gracias, Johns Hopkins University, 2:30 p.m., 110 Wartik Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering (863-1375).

"The Economic Potential of On-Farm Processing of Canola into Oil and Meal in Pennsylvania," Mary Carol Frier, Penn State, 3:00 p.m., 118 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences (865-6541).

"Quantum Networks of Atoms," Christopher Monroe, University of Maryland, 4:00 p.m., 117 Osmond Laboratory, host: David Weiss, Department of Physics (863-9759).

"Statistical Analysis of Diffusion Tensors in Diffusion-Weighted Imaging Data," Hongtu Zhu, University of North Carolina, 4:00 p.m., 201 Thomas Building, Department of Statistics (865-1348).

FRIDAY, 7 DECEMBER

"On the Trust of Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VoIP)," Xinyuan Wang, George Mason University, 10:00 a.m., 113 Information Sciences and Technology Building (Cybertorium), Department of Computer Science and Engineering (865-9505).

TITLE ADDED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Maggots, Murder, and Weather, Oh My!" Trish Hunt, Penn State, 11:10 a.m., 107 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Entomology (865-1895).

"Introduction to Fluid-Structure Interaction in Blood Flow," Suncica Canic, University of Houston, 12:15 p.m., 114 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Fat-Soluble Vitamins in Beef from Cattle Fed a Pasture-Based Diet or Stored Feeds," Amy Lassen, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Penn State, 12:20 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences (865-6541).

"Old Dog, New Tricks: Cosmic-Ray Physics with Cerenkov Radiation," Scott Wakely, University of Chicago, 2:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Stephane Coutu, Department of Physics (863-9759).

"Fluid-Structure Interaction in Blood Flow," Suncica Canic, University of Houston, 3:35 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Super Materials" (video), 3:35 p.m., 211 Davey Laboratory, Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library (865-7617 or www.libraries.psu.edu/pams/filmseries.html).

"Design of Conjugated Polymers for Solar Cells," Barry Thompson (faculty candidate), University of California, 4:00 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Steven Weinreb, Department of Chemistry (863-0189).

SATURDAY, 8 DECEMBER and SUNDAY, 9 DECEMBER

(none)

 

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Cancellations and additions will be noted on weekly Science Seminar listings on the Web at
< www.science.psu.edu/scisem/scisem.htm > or
< 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.

For more information about Science Seminars, or for instructions on how to SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE, visit the links at http://www.science.psu.edu/scisem/scisemData.htm

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