University Park

Faculty/Staff Lectures: Feb. 12, 2004

Topic is agricultural systems challenges

John Schmidt of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Unit will speak from 12:20 to 1:10 p.m. Feb. 13 in 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, University Park. The topic is "Research challenges for N management in agricultural systems." The event is being held by the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. For information, call (814) 863-1615.

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Time lecture to look at workings of atomic clocks

Kurt Gibble, associate professor of physics, will give a free public lecture from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Feb. 14 in 100 Thomas Building, University Park.

The title of his lecture is "Atomic Clocks on Earth and in Space: Why We Need Them, How They Work and What They Can Tell Us." This event is the third weekly lecture in the 2004 Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science, an annual series designed as a free minicourse for the enjoyment and education of residents in Central Pennsylvania communities. The theme is "It's About Time."

Gibble will explain how an atom in an atomic clock can tell time. "Atomic clocks, which lose or gain only a second in a million years, make possible a number of prolific technologies ranging from navigation systems such as the Global Position System to high-speed fiber-optic networks," he said. He also will reveal how Penn State research is leading the way to even more precise atomic clocks.

The world's best clocks use lasers to cool atoms to within a millionth of a degree of absolute zero. At such low temperatures, Gibble explained, quantum mechanics dictates that the atoms interact like waves in a way that limits the accuracy of the current clocks that use cesium atoms.

"The Penn State atomic clock has shown a way to solve this quantum problem by using rubidium atoms, which perform far better than cesium," he said. As a result, the U.S. Naval Observatory is now building a number of rubidium clocks, several of which will synchronize the Global Position System.

For information about the Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science, check the Web link at http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/frontiers

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Lesotho professor to discuss colonial policies

The Comparative Literature Luncheon, a weekly, informal lunchtime gathering of students, faculty and other members of the University community, has announced the next speaker in this semester's series.

Chris Dunton, professor of English and dean of the College of the Humanities at the National University of Lesotho, will speak on "Making Waves?: Colonial Policies and Shifting Structures of Feeling in Early Independent Press in Southern Africa" on Monday, Feb. 16.

The events begin with lunch from 12:15 to 12:40 p.m. in 102 Kern Building on the University Park campus. Participants may bring their own lunch or buy something in Kern Cafeteria. Coffee and tea are provided. The speaker will begin at about 12:40 p.m. The events are free to the public.

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Lecturer to speak on 'Designing Roads that Heal'

Grant Jones, landscape architect and 2003-04 Bracken Lecturer, will speak on "The Role of the Landscape Architect in Designing Roads that Heal" at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, in 101 Thomas Building, University Park.

The lecture, part of the John R. Bracken Lecture Series sponsored by the College of Arts and Architecture's Department of Landscape Architecture, is free to the public.

Jones, founding principal of Jones & Jones Architects and Landscape Architects Ltd. in Seattle, has been a leader in ecological river and greenway planning, scenic highway design, zoo design and landscape aesthetics for the past 30 years. His recent design work on the Paris Pike Historic Highway in Kentucky and America's first wildlife highway, U.S. Highway 93 through the Flathead Reservation in western Montana, has pioneered the new design movement called "Context-Sensitive Design" in transportation projects across America.

For information, call (814) 865-9511.

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Finding cancer-causing genes topic of program

Discovering cancer-causing genes is the topic for this week's seminar in Penn State York's second annual Science and Technology Seminar Series which continues at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, in the Community Room of the Joe and Rosie Ruhl Student Community Center. The nine-week series is free to the public.

Michael Nickerson from the National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Immunobiology in Frederick, Md., will share his work in discovering cancer-causing genes in his presentation "Studying Families with Inherited Cancer to Discover Cancer-Causing Genes." He will discuss details about families with inherited cancer, discovery of cancer-causing genes and benefits to cancer patients and their families. The lead author on a recent publication describing the discovery of a new kidney cancer-causing gene (Birt-Hogg-Dube), Nickerson will share the research of this gene and protein to determine how it works in healthy cells and tissues, and why mutations in the gene lead to cancer. He will be available following the program to answer questions.

The Science and Technology series is sponsored by the Penn State York Student Activity fee and the York Newspaper Co. Details on the upcoming programs can be found at http://www.yk.psu.edu/~mph13/STSS04.htm

Upcoming lectures will be at 7 p.m. in the Community Room of the Joe and Rosie Ruhl Student Community Center. The schedule follows:

-- Feb. 25: "Neutron Scattering: Fabric Softener, Mud and You," Steven Kline, from the NIST, Center for Neutron Research;

-- March 3: "Science and the Conservation of Paintings," Patricia S. Hill, from the Department of Chemistry, Millersville University;

-- March 17: "Springtime Allergies," Michelle Klinek, from the Family Center for Allergy and Asthma;

-- March 24: "Picophytoplankton: The Smallest 'Plants' in the Sea," Jessica Nolan, from the Biology Department, York College of Pennsylvania;

-- March 31: "From Brown to Green: Sustainable Retrofitting of Buildings," Charles Cole and Adam Szczepanski, from Environmental Engineering, Penn State Harrisburg;

-- April 7: "The Codorus River: No Longer 'The Inkie Stinkie'?," Tim Hall, aquatic biology program manager, NCASI;

-- April 14: "An Inclusive History of Environmental Movements," George Middendorf, from the Department of Biology, Howard University.

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Academic Advising brown-bag lunches scheduled

The Division of Undergraduate Studies has scheduled two lunches that focus on the practice of academic advising.

The first lunch, "The Race Relations Project Meets Penn State Advisers," will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, in 111 Wartik Lab, University Park. Following last semester's session on cross-cultural advising, a panel of undergraduate students from the Race Relations Project will lead a discussion of cross-cultural issues that impact the adviser-advisee relationship.

The second lunch, "Advising International Students," will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Monday, March 15, in 251 Willard Building, University Park. James Lynch, director of the Office of International Students, will discuss practical considerations for advisers working with international students, whose academic and personal decisions are impacted by their new environment and the emotional aftermath of Sept. 11.

The brown-bag lunches are open to all Penn State faculty and staff. For information, call Laura Brown at (814) 865-7576 or e-mail lsb7@psu.edu.

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Technology forum to discuss the use of tablet PCs

This month's Technologies for Learning Forum, "Tablet PC Applications in Landscape Architecture," will take place from noon to 1 p.m. Feb. 27 in 141 Computer Building, University Park.

Timothy Johnson, associate professor of landscape architecture, will present a variety of methods for using pen-based computing to enhance student learning, student/teacher interaction, collaboration, communication and grading. The forum series is offered by Information Technology Services to enable University faculty to learn about the ways that their colleagues are using technology in the classroom. Forums are held once a month throughout the semester, and participants are welcome to bring a lunch and a beverage. Visit http://tlt.its.psu.edu/fmc/teach/ for information.

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Stanford professor to be speaker at symposium

Gordon Brown, Dorrell William Kirby professor of surface and aqueous geochemistry at Stanford University, will present two keynote addresses Friday and Saturday, March 19 and 20, in the ASI Building Lecture Hall on the University Park campus.

Brown's addresses are part of the seventh annual Environmental Chemistry Symposium.

Brown will provide an address to a general audience at 3:30 p.m. Friday, titled "From Subduction to Mercury in Tuna: Mercury Mining and Contamination in the California Coast Range, USA."

Saturday's presentation will be a specialized talk at 2:30 p.m. about recent applications by his group and others of synchrotron radiation-based methods to environmental processes and problems, titled "Environmental Interfaces, Heavy Metals, Microbes and Plants: Applications of Synchrotron Radiation Methods to Environmental Science at the Molecular Level."

For more information about the symposium, go to http://www.essc.psu.edu/CECG_symposium/

Last Updated March 20, 2009

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