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EAST UNION, 2:30PM
Gamma Sigma Delta Seminar - 'Obesity Implications for Agriculture, the Food Industry and Nutrition and Health'
Panelists include Jeff Armitage, Nebraska Dept. of Health; Don Beerman, UNL; Ann Grandjean, UNMC, and Ed O'Neill, UNL
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229 ANDREWS, 3:30PM
Visiting Scholar on Literacy, Imagery and Teaching - 'Three Ways of Looking at a Place: The Writing Scene as Mental, Graphic and Verbal Imagery'
Kristie Fleckenstein.
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208 OLDFATHER, 4PM
Mathematics Colloquium - 'Convergence of Solutions for a Nonlocal Dispersion Model'
Wendy Hines, UNL
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LOVE LIBRARY, 7:30PM
Slater to Talk on
The Search for Life
Tim Slater, associate professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona, will give a general audience talk,
The Search for Life in the Universe, at 7:30pm tonight in the Love Library Auditorium at UNL. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Slater will talk about astrobiology, which can be defined as the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and destiny of life in the universe. It defines itself as an interdisciplinary science existing at the intersection of astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, and physics. Discoveries from this field have dramatically changed our view of the potential for life in the universe.
For example, at least 10 times as many planets have been discovered outside our solar system as there are within it. Perhaps even more impressive is that life has been found to exist under conditions previously thought impossible. This includes organisms that thrive in temperatures above the boiling point and below the freezing point of water, in extreme acidic and basic conditions, thousands of feet below the Earth's surface and on the ocean floor, and in the extreme radiation conditions of outer space. As a result, our understanding of the limits on life has forever been changed. These discoveries are being made simultaneously with discoveries that suggest that liquid water oceans exist under the icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa and that running water was likely present on the surface of Mars in the past.
Slater is the director of the University Science and Mathematics Education Center and the Education and Public Outreach Lead Scientist for the Arizona Astrobiology Institute. In addition to teaching large-enrollment courses in introductory astronomy, he also teaches courses for pre-service and in-service science teachers that focus on the pragmatic aspects of teaching science as inquiry.
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ROSS MEDIA ARTS CENTER, 7PM
Student Documentary on Cuba Premieres Tonight
Since their 11-day trip to Cuba in January, UNL depth reporting students have been busy writing, editing, publishing and producing an 87-page, full-color magazine,
Cuba: An Elusive Truth, and a 60-minute broadcast documentary,
Cuba: Illogical Temple. Both are being presented to the public this month for the first time.
The documentary
Cuba: Illogical Temple, executive-produced by College of Journalism and Mass Communications professors Jerry Renaud and Joe Starita and produced by broadcasting students Lindsey Kealy and Dave Pittock, premieres at a special showing at 7pm tonight at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center. The documentary will be shown on NETV2 Sept. 21 at 11pm and Sept. 23 at 3 and 10pm.
The Cuba fact-finding mission was part of the College of Journalism and Mass Communication's depth reporting class project. Dozens of students competed to be among the seven news-editorial and two broadcasting students selected for the Cuba reporting team. Between August 2002 and January 2003 the class conducted background research and prepared for the trip to Miami and Havana. During the spring semester they put together the magazine and a broadcast documentary on the people, culture, government, economy and everyday life of Cuba, as well as special in-depth topics like the 43-year-old U.S. embargo of Cuba and whether eliminating it would benefit Nebraska farmers and cattle ranchers.
"The documentary is very much a student-driven program and these reporters served as de facto narrators," said Renaud, an associate professor of broadcasting. "These are their experiences."
Starita, associate professor and Pike professor of news-editorial, who oversaw the magazine, said the travel project gave the student journalists the best hands-on learning available in a tough news locale that even professionals would envy. The news magazine highlights the trip with a variety of interesting features, hard news accounts, analysis and photographs. The students interviewed Cuban exiles in Miami, political leaders and dissidents, economic leaders, AIDS victims in Cuba, fellow students and journalists, religious leaders and regular everyday people.
Life in Havana provided our students with insights that will better prepare them for journalistic careers in Nebraska and anywhere else in the world. These young men and women were great representatives of this state and this university. I am proud that I can be associated with students of this caliber and persons of such character and determination," journalism dean Will Norton said.
Magazine reporters were Dakarai Aarons, Sarah Fox, Matthew Hansen, Melissa Lee, Shane Pekny, Cara Pesek and Jill Zeman. Magazine copy editors and designers were Marilyn Hahn, Lindsay Grieser and Quentin Lueninghoener. Copies of the magazine at $10 and the documentary DVD at $15 are available at the journalism office at 147 Andersen Hall.
Tickets for the Ross film premiere Sept. 18 are $7 for general audience and $5 for members of the Ross Media Arts Center, students, seniors and children. The box office opens at 6:30pm.
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Nanomagnets, Information Technology Subject of Sept. 18-19 Workshop
The first review and workshop for the National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center will be Sept. 18 and 19 at the UNL.
The review beginning at 8:30am today will provide a summary of the new work at Nebraska on quantum and spin phenomena in nanomagnetic structures (or QSPINS; nanoscale structures are measured in billionths of a meter). Registration for the workshop begins at 8:30am tomorrow. The workshop will consist of invited talks by leading national experts on advances in nanomagnetics and information technologies, with ample opportunities on future directions in the field.
All sessions will be conducted at the Nebraska Union. The review and workshop are free and open to the public, but those wanting to participate in meals must register in advance with Shelli Krupicka, administrative coordinator for MRSEC, at (402) 472-7886.
MRSEC was created a year ago through a $5.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation. It is one of 27 such elite centers in the nation and is an outgrowth of Nebraska's Center for Materials Research and Analysis. It involves scientists and engineers from the departments of Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering, and the School of Biological Sciences whose research focuses on nanomagnetic structures. Their work has applications in advanced computing and data storage systems, handheld electronic devices, advanced sensors, and possible future medical technologies.
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