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

7 to 13 November 2005

MONDAY, 7 NOVEMBER

CANCELLED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"A Novel and Practical Organic Non-Volatile Memory," Charles R. Szmanda, Rohm and Haas Company, 12:00 noon, S-5 Osmond Laboratory, host: Gary Taylor, Department of Physics (863-5346).

"Towards More Digestible Grasses: Manipulating Cell-Wall Phenolic-Acid Composition by Targeted Expression of Fungal Enzymes," Marcia Buanafina, Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (United Kingdom), 12:20 p.m., 105 Wartik Laboratory, host: Daniel Cosgrove, Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Physiology (863-3892).

"Will Ecologists or Geochemists Make the Next Big Discoveries in the Nitrogen Cycle?" Jason Kaye, Penn State, 1:30 p.m., 118 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology (863-5895).

"Polymer-Compatibilizers: Uses and Benefits in Polymer Blends," Rong Luo, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Ayusman Sen, Department of Chemistry (865-9348).

"The Invariant-Subspace Problem Relative to a Type II_1 Factor," Hanne Schutz, Penn State, 2:30 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Principles of Reactive Worm Defense," Nicholas Weaver, International Computer Science Institute and University of California, 3:00 p.m., 333 Information Sciences and Technology Building, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (865-9505).

(title to be announced), Gabriela Gonzalez, Louisiana State University, 3:00 p.m., 318 Osmond Laboratory, Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (863-9605, http://www.gravity.psu.edu).

"Doubly Periodic Chaos: The Dynamics of Iterated Elliptic Functions," Jane Hawkins, University of North Carolina, 3:30 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"The Biology of Phytophthora infestans at the Center of Origin," Niklaus Grünwald, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Oregon State University, 3:30 p.m., 112 Buckhout Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology (865-6761).

"On Cooperation, Good Neighbors, and Playing Games: A Plant's Perspective," Claus Holzapfel, Rutgers University, 4:00 p.m., 111 Tyson Building, Department of Horticulture (865-2571).

"Modern Biology as the Biotechnology Business" (Marker lecture #1 of 2), Paul Schimmel, Scripps Research Institute, 6:00 p.m., 100 Life Sciences Building, host: Kenneth Keiler, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (865-5497).

TUESDAY, 8 NOVEMBER

"Roots of Modern Biology: Development of Genetic Code and Connection to Disease" (Marker lecture #2 of 2), Paul Schimmel, Scripps Research Institute, 11:15 a.m., 100 Life Sciences Building, host: Kenneth Keiler, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (865-5497).

"Superfluid-Insulator Transition in a Moving System of Interacting Bosons," Anatoli Polkovnikov, Harvard University, 3:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Jinwu Ye, Department of Physics (863-5345).

"A Model for Handling Approximate, Noisy, or Incomplete Labeling in Text Classification," Raghuram Krishnapuram, IBM India Research Laboratory, 4:00 p.m., 333 Information Sciences and Technology Building, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (865-9505).

"Biomarkers of Marine-to-Hypersaline Transitions: Modern Tests, Ancient Analogues," Courtney Turich, Penn State, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences (865-2622).

"Genome-Wide Computational Prediction of Cis-Regulatory Modules Reveals New Insights into Human-Gene-Expression Regulation," Mathieu Blanchette, McGill University (Canada), 4:00 p.m. (refreshments at 3:45 p.m.), 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Valer Gotea, Department of Biology (865-9365).

"Programmed Cell Death: It's All About Survival," Craig B. Thompson, University of Pennsylvania, 4:00 p.m., Lecture Room D at College of Medicine (with video conferencing to 100 Life Sciences Building), Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences (863-3650).

CANCELLED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Total Internal-Reflection-Fluorescence-Correlation Spectroscopy and Submicroscopic Cluster Sizes Determined by Quantum-Dot Blinking," Nancy Thompson, University of North Carolina, 4:00 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Erin Sheets, Department of Chemistry (863-0044).

WEDNESDAY, 9 NOVEMBER

"Space Investigators: Is There Life on Other Planets?" (Research Unplugged lecture), James Kasting, Penn State, 12:00 noon, Penn State Downtown Theatre Center, 127 S. Allen Street, Office of Research Publications (865-3477).

"Aurora Explained" (video), 12:15 p.m., 105 Deike Building, Fletcher L. Byrom Earth and Mineral Sciences Library (863-7073).

"The Nanoscience of Macroscale Systems: Materials Fabrication for Power, Sensing, and Information Technology," Ralph Nuzzo, University of Illinois, 2:30 p.m., 102 Chemistry Building, host: Paul Weiss, Department of Chemistry (865-3693).

"Maximizing Measures, Subactions, and Large Deviations," Arturo Lopes, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), 3:30 p.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

ADDED AFTER EMAIL DISTRIBUTION:
"Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Niche Regulation," Linheng Li, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 4:00 p.m., 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, host: Andrew Henderson (863-0340).

"The Atacama Cosmology Telescope Project," Arthur Kosowsky, University of Pittsburgh, 4:00 p.m., 538 Davey Laboratory, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (865-0418).

THURSDAY, 10 NOVEMBER

"New Approaches to Enumeration of Lecture-Hall-Type Sequences," Carla Savage, North Carolina State University, 11:15 a.m., 106 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Reconciling Scanning-Transmission-Electron-Microscopy (STEM) Data and Small-Angle-X-Ray-Scattering (SAXS) Data: Gold Nanoparticles and Lonomers," Karen Winey, University of Pennsylvania, 11:15 a.m., 135 Reber Building, Department of Materials Science and Engineering (865-4992).

"Hierarchical Modeling of Nanoporous-Metal-Organic Materials for Catalysis and Separation," Randall Snurr, Northwestern University, 11:30 a.m. (refreshments at 11:15 a.m.), 111 Wartik Laboratory, host: Seong Kim, Department of Chemical Engineering (863-4809).

"Good Golly Miss Molly: Geobiology of Seawater Oxyanions in the Precambrian," Lev Horodyskyj and Lee Kump, Penn State, 2:00 p.m., 240 Deike Building, Penn State Astrobiology Research Center (865-4074).

"Venn Diagrams and Symmetric Chain Decompositions," Carla Savage, North Carolina State University, 2:30 p.m., 113 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"High-Performance, Power-Aware Computing," Vince Freeh, North Carolina State University, 4:00 p.m., 113 Information Sciences and Technology Building, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (865-9505).

"Incompressible Flows of an Ideal Fluid: Existence, Uniqueness, Stability," Mikhail Vishik, University of Texas, 4:00 p.m., 114 McAllister Building, Department of Mathematics (865-7527).

"Networks in Physics," Maya Paczuski, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (Canada), 4:00 p.m., 117 Osmond Laboratory, hosts: Jayanth Banavar and Reka Albert, Department of Physics (865-6123).

"The Occurrence, Transport, and Fate of Viruses and Pharmaceuticals in Groundwater Impacted by Septic-System Effluent: The Hydrogeologists and Human Health" (Birdsall-Dreiss lecture), William Woessner, University of Montana, 4:00 p.m., 22 Deike Building, Department of Geosciences (865-2622).

(title to be announced), Andy Jacobson, Princeton University, 4:00 p.m., 112 Walker Building, Department of Meteorology (863-8566).

FRIDAY, 11 NOVEMBER

"Cardiovascular Function Before, During, and After Pregnancy in Women and Their Offspring," James F. Clapp III, Case Western Reserve University, 11:00 a.m., 127 Noll Lab, Noll Physiological Research Center (865-3453).

"Free Vacuum for Loop Quantum Gravity: Part Two," Florian Conrady, Penn State, 11:00 a.m., 318 Osmond Laboratory, Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (863-9605, http://www.gravity.psu.edu).

"Top Production at D-Zero," Jean-Roch Vlimant, University of Paris (France), 2:30 p.m., 339 Davey Laboratory, host: Tyce DeYoung, Department of Physics (863-9594).

"JC-Virus Early Proteins Regulate Retinoblastoma-E2F Complexes and Promote Progression of Cells into Synthesis Phase," Shiva Tyagarajan, Penn State, 3:00 p.m., 101 Althouse Laboratory, host: Richard Frisque, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (865-3072).

"Design for 281,421,906 Patrons: Developing the Census Atlas of the United States," Trudy Suchan, U.S. Census Bureau, 4:00 p.m., 112 Walker Building, Department of Geography (865-3433).

SATURDAY, 12 NOVEMBER and SUNDAY, 13 NOVEMBER

(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 Leta A. Krumrine and Kristen Devlin.