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Monday, July 10, 2006
"A Day in the Life of an Astronomer"
Presented by Dr. Judith Provencial
An astronomer studies the stars with the
hope of understanding the origin of the sun, the solar system,
the Milky Way, and the Universe. What does this grandiose
statement really mean? What does it take to become an astronomer?
Are astronomers only awake at night? Do all astronomers live
out in remote places? I will highlight some of the answers
to these questions.
Dr. Judith L. Provencial
Ph.D. University of Texas 1994
Topic: Interacting Binary White Dwarf Stars
Undergraduate: Smith College, 1983, Physics
and Astronomy
Current Position: Resident Astronomer, Mt.
Cuba Observatory, Adjunct Professor, University of Delaware,
recently appointed Director of the Delaware Asteroseismology
Research Center.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
"Women in Physics and Science"
Presented by Dean Beverly Hartline
Dr. Beverly Karplus Hartline was recently hired as the new dean of the College of Mathematics,
Natural Sciences, and Technology. She arrives at DSU after
serving two years as a special assistant to the president
of Heritage University in Toppenish, Washington, as well as
a visiting professor of science. Prior to that she served
from 2001-2003 as a deputy laboratory director at the University
of Chicago. During that same period she also was the associate
laboratory director at-large for the U.S. Department of Energy's
Argonne National Laboratory, which the university oversees.
In addition, from 1998 to 2001, she was the acting deputy
associate lab director in the Strategic Research Directorate
and the director of the Spallation Neutron Source Linac Project,
both at the University of California. From 1996 to 1998, she
served as the assistant director for Physical Science and
Engineering in the White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy. From 1985 to 1996, she served as an associate director,
education program director, and project manager for the Southeastern
Research Association in Virginia. She also served as a staff
scientist at the University of California and as a Physical
Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Hartline
is a science and research writer who has written numerous
articles and papers, and she also has given many presentations
across the United States over the last 25 years. She earned
a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and Physics from Reed College
in Portland, Oregon, and received a Ph.D. in Geophysics from
the University of Washington in Seattle.
Monday, July 17, 2006
"The Obesity Epidemic-What Are The Causes? Is There
A Solution?"
Presented by Dr. Karen Walker
Abstract
Obesity is an epidemic in the U.S. Many experts
take a more global view and consider the problem to be pandemic.
For the first time in history, more people worldwide are suffering
from disorders related to over nutrition than from those related
to under nutrition. Why is there such a great availability
of inexpensive, calorically-dense food of poor nutritional
quality? How has the "westernized" culture promoted
a sedentary lifestyle? These, and other questions, will be
discussed as the root causes of obesity are explored.
Dr. Karen Walker is an Assistant Professor
at Temple University in the Department of Nursing. She recieved
a B.S. in nursing from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill in 1981. After some years of clinical practice
as an emergency room staff nurse, she returned to school to
study human physiology. She earned her doctorate in that discipline
at the Temple School of Medicine in 1991. For the last six
years, Dr. Walker has been teaching pathophysiology and pharmacology
to undergraduate and graduate nursing students. She is also
involoved with community based clinical research related to
obesity and physical activity funded by the NIH.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
" Life as a Researcher in Antartica"
Presented by Lindsay Kendall
Lindsay Kendall grew up
in the Bay Area in San Francisco. She graduated from Cedar
Crest College in Allentown, PA with a BS in Biology in 2002.
She is a Ph. D candidate in the Adam's lab. Her degree
will be a doctorate in marine studies with a concentration
in marine biology/biochemestry. She is working on epigenetic
information systems in temperate and polar marine invertebrates
focusing on DNA methylation patterns in a marine polychaete Streblospio benedicti and the Antartic sea urchin Strechinus
neumayen. Ms. Kendall was stationed in the Antartica
for two seasons and has been on station in McMurdo for a total
of 7 months.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
"Attack of The Killer Snailis!"
Presented by Dr. Melissa Harrington
Abstract
The Neurobiology and Behavior of a Ferocious Predator
The wolfsnail (Euglandina Rosea) is a predatory snail native
to the Southeastern US. The wolf Snail eats slugas and other
snails that it catches by following the slime trails that
prey snails leave behind. I am a neurobiologist using these
wonderful creatures as a model system to study how the brain
processes sensory inputs and makes decisions that control
behavioral outputs.
Dr. Melissa A. Harrington grew up in Indiana
where she got a BS degree in Molecular Biology from Purdue
University in West Lafayette. She then went to graduate school
at Stanford University in California where she got her PhD
in Neuroscience in 1993. Dr. Harrington worked as a post-doctoral
fellow at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center,
the Hopkins Marine Station and at Standford University before
taking a faculty position in the Biology Department of Morehouse
College in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Harrington taught for 4 years
at Morehouse before moving to Delaware in 2001 to become an
Assitant Professor of Biotechnology at DSU. Dr. Harrington
was promoted to Associate Professor in 2005 and was also made
the Director of Biomedical Research. Her research focuses
on using invertebrate model systems to understand the neurophysiology
of behavior. At DSU Dr. Harrington teaches courses in neurobiology,
anatomy and physiology and biotechnology.
Monday, July 24, 2006
"The Path of a Soon-to-Be Veterinary Scientist"
Presented by LaTasha Crawford
Abstract
How I came to decide on my career path and the challenges
I met along the way.
Ms. LaTasha Crawford growing up was always
interested in science and especially enjoyed learning about
animals. She left the Washington DC area to attend college
at Yale University where she took a range of courses, some
of her favorites being in the field of Biology. The summer
after her freshman year she took part in a program designed
to expose under-represented ethnic minority students to biomedical
research. After that introduction to scientific research,
she decided to declare a major in Molecular Biophysics and
Biochemistry so she could learn as much as she could about
a broad range of biological sciences. In the following years
she worked in labs at Yale and at the National Institutes
of Health (NIH) and also held an internship at the lab animal
care facility at Yale. Her other experiences included a semester
in Sydney, Australia where she took courses and held an intership
at the Taronga Zoo. By the time she finished college, she
found that she was really interested in biomedical research
but also had an undying drive to pursue veterinary medicine
as well. She found it very hard to decide which path to take
and at the time, she had never met someone who both practiced
veterinary medicine and conducted neuroscience research. In
the end she decided to hold on to both of her interests and
is now a graduate student in pursuit of 2 doctorate degrees
at the University of Pennsylvania: a VMD and a PhD in Neuroscience.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
"Improving One's Health with Mathematics"
Presented by Dr. Dawn Lott
Do you watch CSI? CSI Miami? CSI New York?
NUMB3RS? Crossing Jordan? The ol re-runs of QUINCY? Do you
find yourself intrigued by Mathematics? Well, combine the
two. In this presentation, you will learn how researchers
use advanced mathematics and biomechanics to improve the health
of others through the art of solving partial differential
equations. Techniques for creating healthier healed wounds
and treating aneurysms will be explored.
Dr. Dawn A. Lott is an Associate
Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Department of MAthematics
at Delaware State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Engineering
Sciences and Applied Mathematics from Northwestern University
in June 1994. She is the author of several articles in the
field of solid mechanics and biomedical engineering. Professor
Lott"s field of research is the numerical approximation
of partial differential equations that model physical phenomena
in solid and fluid mechanics. Her work emphasizes the development
and implementation of numerical schemes for solving problems
in nonlinear elasticity with applications to the medical field.
Professor Lott's current projects include a) the determination
of optimal patterns of wound closure through non-invasive,
numerical techniques, and b) the theoretical prediction of
optimal methods for treating cerebral saccula aneurysms. Currently,
Lott is a member of the Association for Women in Mathematics
(AWM), the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), the
Society for industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), the
American Mathematical Sociey (AMS), the Biomedical Engineering
Society, and she is Vice President of the NAtional Association
of Mathematics (NAM).
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