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Fri, Apr 16, 2004

APRIL 16-18, 2004

FRIDAY & SATURDAY
Conference to Focus on Insect Biodiversity

For 79 years, professional and amateur insect enthusiasts from the Great Plains have gathered for an annual conference. Chartered as the Kansas Entomological Society, the group now known as the Central States Entomological Society will convene its 80th annual conference Friday and Saturday (April 16 and 17) in Lincoln.

Conference director Mary Liz Jameson, research associate professor and curator in the division of entomology at the University of Nebraska State Museum, said this year's conference topic is Insect Biodiversity on the Prairies. Session topics include conservation of insects on the prairies, insect-plant interactions, effects of introduced species on biodiversity, endangered species, and effects of pesticides on insect biodiversity.

"This conference attracts a wide variety of people interested in insects," Jameson said. General entomologists, amateur entomologists, conservationists, agriculturalists and evolutionary biologists will find topics of interest at the conference, she said.

The keynote lecture is free and open to the public. Steve Buchmann, of The Bee Works in Tucson, Ariz., will speak from 7-10pm Friday (April 16) in the Great Plains Art Collection, 1155 Q St. His topic is Pollinators in Peril: Protecting the Birds and the Bees. Buchmann is the author of The Forgotten Pollinators, a best-selling work on the importance of bees and other 'buzz pollinators' to the ecosystem. Buchmann stresses the importance of recognizing, protecting, and conserving native bees and native plants around the world.

For additional information contact Jameson mjameson1@unl.edu or follow this link.

STATE MUSEUM

SHELDON, FRI 12:15PM
'Art Sandwiched In'
Gail Kendall, UNL

327 KEIM, FRI 2PM
Agronomy/Horticulture Seminar - 'Hybrid-Maize: A Corn Simulation Model for Many Folks'
Haishun Yang

112 HAMILTON, FRI 3:30PM
Chemistry Colloquium - 'Drugs from Life: Engineering Microbial Enzymes to Make New and Better Compounds'
Dr. C. Richard Hutchinson, Kosan Biosciences

117 BESSEY, FRI 3:30PM
Geosciences - T. Mylan Stout Lecture Series - 'Reconciling Model Simulations and Proxy Reconstructions of the Last Glacial Maximum's Summer Climate for the Nebraska Region'
David Bromwich, Ohio State University

EAST UNION, FRI 3:30PM
Entomology Seminar - 'Foraging Strategies, Territory, and Population Regulation'
Eliseu Pereira, graduate student, UNL

15 RICHARDS HALL, FRI 4PM
Architecture/INFORM Lecture
Charles Linn, editor of Architectural Record

GPAC, 1155 Q ST., FRI 7PM
Keynote address and reception for the 80th annual conference of the Central States Entomological Society - 'Pollinators in Peril: Protecting the Birds and the Bees'
Steve Buchmann, Bee Works, Tucson, Ariz.

NEBRASKA UNION, SUN 2:30PM
'Nanking Massacre (1937-38): Observed by Two University of Nebraska Alumni'

5 PERFORMANCES
Grease Slides into Lied

Turn back the hands of time to 1959 as the musical Grease comes to town in a new production at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. Grease will take the stage at 7:30pm Friday (April 16), 2 and 7:30pm Saturday (April 17), and 2 and 7pm Sunday (April 18).

Grease, one of Broadway's longest running musicals, takes a funny and musical look at growing up in the '50s with a gang of boys in black-leather jackets and girls in white bobby socks and pedal pushers. It features the classic rock 'n roll sounds of the '50s with songs including We Go Together, Beauty School Dropout and It's Raining on Prom Night, as well as three songs from the movie: Hopelessly Devoted to You, You're The One That I Want and Grease.

Laurie Lessman of the Lincoln Community Playhouse and Matt Landis, a local actor and musician featured in several Playhouse productions, will give a talk 30 minutes before each performance in the Lied's Steinhart Room.

Tickets for these performances are $45, $39 and $35; tickets are half-price for college students and those 18 and under. Call the Lied box office at 472-4747 or (800) 432-3231 for tickets.

LIED

3 CAMPUS LOCATIONS
Sunday is Astronomy Day

The University of Nebraska State Museum will host Astronomy Day 2004 on Sunday (April 18). With activities at three venues, the event includes fun educational physics and astronomy activities, a presentation by a Mars Rover engineer, and a glimpse at the stars.

The keynote event of the day will be a 7pm special presentation by Nagin Cox, deputy team chief for the Mars Exploration Rovers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Cox will discuss the results and anecdotes from the exploration missions to Mars. The presentation is free and open to the public and will take place in the auditorium of the Nebraska Union, 1400 R St.

Morrill Hall, 12th and U streets on City Campus, will have activities from 1:30-4:30pm, including Air Force flight simulators and bomb disposal robot, physics demonstrations, astrophotography, robotics, Mars soil and rocks, Hubble video clips from ViewSpace, telescope demonstrations, Red Rover Goes to Mars (drive a rover simulator), meteorites, space geology and astronomy research.

Activities in Morrill Hall are included with paid museum admission: $4 adults, $2 child, or $8 families. UNL faculty, staff and students are free. Separate admission will be charged for planetarium shows presented in Ralph Mueller Planetarium. Free visitor parking is available in front of Morrill Hall.

From 9:30-11pm, the UNL Student Observatory (on top of the Stadium Parking Garage, 10th and T streets) will have free public viewing (weather permitting).

For more information regarding Astronomy Day, follow this link.

MUELLER PLANETARIUM | STATE MUSEUM | PHYS & ASTRON

NEBRASKA UNION, SAT 10AM-2PM
High Schoolers to take Economic Challenge

Students from five Nebraska high schools will come to the UNL campus Saturday (April 17) to compete in the fourth annual Nebraska Economics Challenge at the Nebraska Union, 1400 R St.

The event will test teams of high school economics students on their knowledge of the economy. Participating high schools include Aurora, Lincoln Northeast, Norris, Omaha Central and Waverly. Heartland Community School and Omaha Central are the defending champions.

Students divided into two divisions will compete in four rounds. Each division will crown a state champion team and a runner-up. The two state champion teams will advance to the regional competition and receive an all-expense-paid trip to Minneapolis April 25-26. The winning team from the Regional Economics Challenge competition will receive individual savings bonds and an all-expense-paid trip to the National Economics Challenge in New York City May 22-24.

NATIONAL ECONOMIC CHALLENGE

LOVE HALL LAWN, SAT 10AM-2PM
Burr to Host Eighth Annual Bull Fry

The eighth annual Burr Hall Bull Fry will be from 10am to 2pm Saturday (April 17) on the Love Memorial Hall Lawn on UNL's East Campus.

The meal includes hamburgers, hot dogs, bull fries and more. The cost is $6 adults, $5 students and $4 children. The event will also feature the Bull Fry Carnival with games, booths and a charity car show, where all makes and models are welcome.

Registration for the car show is from 9-10am. The $15 registration fee includes the meal. Trophies will be awarded for class winners.

All proceeds will benefit Schuyler Peterson, 7, who has spina bifida and has been diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor.

A Bowl-a-Thon will also be held on Friday (April 16) in the Nebraska East Union bowling alley. The cost is $50 per five-person team. Prizes will be awarded to top finishers.

For more information, call Jennifer Aerni, Burr/Fedde residence director, at 472-1027 or Craig Marsh, Bull Fry committee chairman, at 436-0844.