College of Sciences E-newsletter

April 2006

In this issue:

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Dr. George Rhee Appointed Associate Director of NASA EPSCoR

The Nevada System of Higher Education has appointed Dr. George Rhee as associate director for the statewide NASA EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) program. Rhee is an associate professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, department of physics with an interest in observational cosmology. He has been with UNLV for 13 years and works on clusters of galaxies imaged at optical, radio and X-ray wavelengths.

A Native of Geneva, Switzerland, he earned his degrees at Cambridge University in England and Leiden University in the Netherlands. Rhee has been an adjunct professor at New Mexico State in the Astronomy Department. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society, Netherlands Astronomical Society, and the Royal Astronomical Society.

Rhee has been involved with both NASA EPSCoR and the Nevada Space Grant Consortium and has received funding for his research in astronomy. His new position as associate director will aid the system in identifying research opportunities for NSHE faculty and assist in the preparation of the upcoming statewide proposal competition for the national NASA EPSCoR program later this year.

Nevada NASA EPSCoR receives an award of $700K and is matched 1:1 with the special projects allocation from the state for a total of $1.4 million per year. These research projects closely relate to one of NASA's four strategic enterprises: Aeronautics, Human Exploration and Development of Space, Mission to Planet Earth and Space Science. NASA EPSCoR emphasizes building research infrastructure and capacity.

For more information regarding the Nevada NASA EPSCoR program, go to http://www.unr.edu/spacegrant.

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Arthur C. Clarke Lecture, April 6, 2006, 7:30 p.m., Barrick Museum Auditorium

Professor Michael S. Turner of the University of Chicago will deliver the 2006 Clarke lecture at 7:30 p.m.on Thursday, April 6, 2006 in the Barrick Museum Auditorium. His talk is entitled, "The Dark Side of the Universe: Beyond Stars and the Starstuff We Are Made Of."

About the speaker: Michael S. Turner recently completed a term as Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation for Mathematical and Physical Sciences. He is the Rauner Distinguished Service Professor at The University of Chicago. His honors include the Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society, the Warner Prize of the American Astronomical Society, and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. He is one of the pioneers of the interdisciplinary field that has brought together cosmologists and elementary particle physicists to study the earliest moments of creation, and his current research focuses on the mystery of cosmic acceleration, which he believes is the most profound mystery in all of science.

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UNLV Receives $1.78 Million Grant For Breast Cancer Research: Study Will Help Predict Best Treatment Options for Patients

UNLV has received a two-year, $1.78 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to conduct research that could help doctors save valuable time in the fight against breast cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death among women. Stephen Carper, UNLV biochemistry professor and cancer researcher, will serve as principal investigator for the project. During his research, Carper will study whether the presence or absence of specific proteins in breast cancer cells can predict how tumors will respond to various chemotherapeutic treatments. If successful, he says the research could ultimately help doctors more accurately select the most effective forms of treatment for their patients.

View the full text of press release.

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FEEL THE FORCE: Rated G. Which local roller coaster packs the hardest punch? Las Vegas Review Journal , March 12, 2006

This article explores the scientific principles at play as one enjoys (or not) a ride on a rollercoaster. "Acceleration is not velocity, but the rate at which velocity changes," explains University of Nevada, Las Vegas physics professor John W. Farley..., "Acceleration forward is what you feel if you stomp on the accelerator. If you step on the brakes, you feel acceleration backward." View the full article.

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Brett Riddle Appears on "Face to Face," KLAS-TV, March 1, 2006

Professor Brett Riddle appeared on television recently, as one of several panelists on "Face to Face," to discuss the issue of intelligent design.

A proposed constitutional amendment would require Nevada school teachers to instruct students that there are many questions about evolution — a method viewed by critics as an opening to teach intelligent design. Las Vegas masonry contractor Steve Brown filed his initiative petition with the secretary of state's office, and must collect 83,184 signatures by June 20 to get the plan on the November ballot. To amend the Nevada Constitution, a measure must win voter approval this year and again in the 2008 elections.

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Assistant Professor Patrick Drohan Speaks on Proposed Soils Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC, March 27th

Assistant Professor Patrick Drohan was an invited speaker, urging establishment of the House Soils Caucus by the U.S. House of Representatives, at a meeting, in Washington, DC on Monday, March 27th. The proposed House Soils Caucus will serve both as an educational forum and legislative vehicle for soils and the soil sciences. Greater knowledge of and support for the soil sciences brought about by the House Soils Caucus will lead to the enhancement of the agricultural (food, feed and fiber) economy, protect air and water quality, and conserve the natural resource base of our district. The House Soils Caucus can and will address, in a timely manner, topics including soil salinization, nutrient transport, water quality, water quantity, forest soils, land use, rural lands, crop production, carbon sequestration, etc. Soil, the foundation of all life on planet Earth, is in crises worldwide: erosion, contamination, depletion of organic matter and nutrients and loss of biodiversity have degraded the world’s land resources, which are the basis for sustained food security. At the same time, the knowledge of the importance of soil science is increasingly absent among policymakers and the public, which has resulted in steadily declining state and federal support for soils research. The mission of the House Soils Caucus is to heighten the awareness of and appreciation for the importance and role of soils and soil science among policymakers and the public to promote proper soil management and conservation to ensure the continued production of high-quality and abundant food, feed and fiber, while protecting and enhancing the environment and natural resource base across the nation.

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Graduate & Professional Student Research Forum

College of Sciences graduate students who participated in the recent Graduate and Professional Student Research Forum include:

Biological Sciences: Jerrel Aguila, Stephanie Gayvert, Markus Mika, Zhen Xie, Xavier Glaudas, Janis Hansberry, Derek Houston, Xiaolu Zou, John Brinda, Robert Bryson Jr., Rebecca Carson, Jeffrey DaCosta, Connie Herr, Amy Hubley, Tereza Jezkova, Stacy J. Mantooth, Sean Neiswenter; Geoscience: Joseph Kula, Peter Druschke, April Azouz, Joshua Boxell, Amy Brock, Ernesto Moran, Penelope Padmore, Colin Robins and Michael Howell, Alex Roy, Nathan Suurmeyer, Lael Vetter, Jun Yin, Liqiong Zhang; Chemistry: Laxmi Yeruva.

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Rebel Yell, "Rebel Science: Woman of Science Celebrated," by Lora Griffin, 03/20/2006

"I should say that women have on the whole less brain power than men, less initiative and courage, and more highly strung nervous development and weaker sex emotions. That is fairly obvious …" by: Miss Rose Macaulay on a nuisance, Guardian Newspapers, Friday, November 13, 1925.

The win for a woman's right to vote (1920), a decision that forced men to treat their wives, mothers and sisters as equals for the first time in history, had only been in place six years when one of UNLV's most prominent women of science and education graduated from Agnes Scott College (1926). Juanita Greer White (then Juanita Greer) went on to receive a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1929, an act that was considered frivolous in her day. A woman was expected to marry young and devote her life exclusively to her husband and children, housekeeping, laundry, cooking and proper church affairs--not wasting time on such indulgences as higher education. In honor of Women's History Month, this week and next, Rebel Science will be profiling UNLV historic women of science. These are dedicated University of Nevada, Las Vegas women who broke down the barriers and forged a path for the future generations of women scientists to follow. White, for whom the Juanita Greer White Hall Life Sciences Building (WHI) was named, was one of the most instrumental players in shaping the face of UNLV today. She was a respected research chemist and professor at several of the country's colleges and an enthusiastic supporter of higher education in Nevada. She and her husband, Thomas Sherman White, whom she married in 1935, moved to Boulder City to open a medical practice in 1955. When they arrived, Nevada Southern University (NSU), now known as University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was a new southern extension of The University of Nevada, Reno (UNR).

In the early years, it was commonly known as "Tumbleweed Tech" because of its small population and its location in such a sleepy desert town. NSU students attended classes in a building the size of small ranch house when they arrived. Throughout her life, White was devoted to improving health and higher education in the state of Nevada. She was a prominent member of such important organizations as the American Red Cross, 1940-1944; the White House Conference on Aging, 1961; the Nevada Governor's Committee on Medical Education, 1963; the Nevada Tuberculosis and Health Association, 1963-1965; and the American Association of University Women, 1957-1963. More recently, she was on the Nevada Board of Regents, commissioner of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education and State Assemblyman (1971-1973). As a Regent, she fought for degree granting status for the small university, and by 1964, it became a reality. The university received its independence from UNR in 1968 and Nevada Southern University was renamed University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She continued to actively pursue improvements to the system that would provide competitive salary and benefit packages for faculty and new, cutting edge programs for students.

Carl Reiber, Chair of the UNLV Biological Sciences Department, had an opportunity to meet White. "Even in her 90s, you could see her enthusiasm for Nevada and UNLV sciences," he said. In 1976, UNLV honored White's many contributions by naming the new Life Sciences Building Juanita Greer White Hall. White continued to find creative ways in which to help the university grow and prosper. A few years before she died, she founded the Juanita Greer White Distinguished Lecturer Series. The series is designed to bring high-profile researchers in the field of Biological Sciences to speak at UNLV. These free seminars provide the visiting speakers with a forum in which to share their latest research findings and explore what UNLV has to offer, while students benefit by being exposed to cutting-edge research and having an opportunity to meet scientists from around the globe. White is no longer with us, but her support of the sciences at UNLV will never be forgotten. She has left behind a legacy that continues on today through an endowment to the Department of Biological Sciences. The revenues from this fund were designed to ensure the perpetuation of the Distinguished Lecturer Series, but it also provides limited funding for graduate student travel to an annual conference, and program expenses that promote student education. "Almost every student that has come out of this department since she passed away has received some benefit from the revenues of this endowment," Reiber said. White's legacy is one of perseverance, persistence and focus. Her contributions to UNLV were born first out of a love for science and a personal fortitude that would not submit to social stereotyping and prevent her from achieving her dreams. Those dreams were reflected onto the face of UNLV by her unswerving drive to make the university the best it could be. She continually looked for new and innovative ways to bring UNLV to the forefront of science, and as a result of her efforts and the efforts of others like her, UNLV is becoming recognized in both national and international scientific communities. More information on White's voluminous accomplishments can be found in the UNLV Library's Special Collections, #85-125.

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UNLV Undergraduate Receives Research Experience for Undergraduates Award

Timothy Struve, an UNLV undergraduate student majoring in the Biosciences Pre-professional concentration, has been awarded a position in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's (UW-M) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Microbiology program this summer. The UW-M program is one of the nation's finest and receives a large number of applications. Struve has recently worked in the laboratory of assistant professor Helen Wing. For more information on this program, please visit: http://www.bact.wisc.edu/REU/.

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Physics Forum

On Monday, March 20th in BPB 217 astronomy faculty candidate, Dr. Milos Milosavljevic (Caltech) delivered a presentation entitled, "Massive Black Holes, Galaxy Formation, and Cosmology." The talk noted that we have grown accustomed to finding black holes at the centers of most galaxies in the observable universe. However, the epoch and circumstances of their formation remain unknown. The gravitational binding energy in black holes exceeds that in virialized baryonic structures, which suggests a profound influence of black holes on galaxy formation. Our understanding of the formation galaxies, which are the building blocks of structure in the universe, is severely incomplete, in spite of the recent successes in the modeling of groups and clusters. He argued that research into the origin of massive black holes will shift to petite objects in small galaxies, and identify urgent observational and theoretical problems at the interface of massive black hole formation and galaxy formation.

On Thursday, March 23rd, Koichiro Umemoto of the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute and Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota spoke on "Phase Transformation in CaIrO3-type MgSiO3 at Ultra-high PTs: Consequences for the Solar Giants and Terrestrial Exoplanets."

Abstract: CaIrO3-type MgSiO3 is the abundant planet-forming silicate, stable at pressures and temperatures (PTs) at and beyond those of Earth's core-mantle boundary (CMB). We have found using first principles quasiharmonic free energy computations that this mineral should undergo a phase transformation at PTs expected to occur in the cores of the gas giants. The transformation should also affect the thermal-chemical structure of the massive dense core of the Saturn-like exoplanet HD149026 and perhaps the mantle of Earth-like GJ876. At ~10 Mbar and ~ 10,000 K the resulting aggregate should have thermally activated carriers, causing electrical conductivity close to metallic values, and a correspondingly large electronic contribution to thermal conductivity, while simultaneously shutting down radiative heat transport because of electronic damping. In addition, we propose another dissociation in CaIrO3-type NaMgF3 at ~40 GPa, suggesting it is a good low-pressure analog of MgSiO3.

On March 24th, Renata M. Wentzcovitch, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Minnesota Supercomputing Institute for Digital Technology and Advanced Computation, delivered a talk.

Abstract: The post-perovskite transition in MgSiO3 at conditions similar to those expected at the D" discontinuity of Earth's lower mantle offers a new paradigm for interpreting the properties of this region. Despite consistent experimental and theoretical predictions of this phase transformation the complexity of the D" region raises questions about its geophysical significance. Here we report the thermoelastic properties of Cmcm post-perovskite at appropriate conditions and evidences of its presence in the lowermost mantle. These are: a) the jumps in shear and longitudinal velocities similar to those observed in certain places of the D" discontinuity and b) the anti-correlation between shear and bulk velocity anomalies as detected within the D" region. In addition, the increase in shear modulus across the phase transition provides a possible explanation for the reported discrepancy between the calculated shear modulus of post-perovskite free aggregates and the seismological counterpart in the lowermost mantle.

On March 24th Dr. Sangwook Park, Dept of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, spoke on "Chandra X-Ray Imaging Spectroscopy of Supernova Remnants."

Abstract: Supernovae are the energetic explosion of stars.They provide enormous amount of energy and heavy elements into the interstellar space, which is critical for the star-formation and galactic evolution. Supernova remnants are the astrophysical laboratory to probe the aftermath of such stellar explosions. High resolution imaging spectroscopy with Chandra X-Ray Observatory opened up a new era for the study of supernova remnants. We discuss several cases of spatially-resolved spectroscopic study of supernova remnants with the Chandra observations.

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Chemistry Seminar

On Friday March 24th at 3:45 p.m., Robert M. Brosh, Jr., Ph.D., Investigator, Unit on DNA Helicases, Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health spoke in CHE 101 on the topic, " Unraveling the Functions of DNA Helicases in Chromosomal Instability Disorders." Dr. Brosh is an internationally-recognized expert in the molecular enzymology of DNA helicases. These enzymes unwind conventional as well as unusual DNA structures, and are essential for preventing a variety of errors during DNA replication. The rare human genetic disorders Werner's Syndrome and Bloom's Syndrome are each caused by mutations in specific DNA helicase genes. Mutation of the Werner Syndrome helicase causes progeria, a profound acceleration of the normal aging process.

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Geoscience Seminar

Dick Sylwester of Golder Associates delivered a talk entitled, "A Geophysical Investigation of Boulder Basin in the Lake Mead NRA, Nevada," in LFG 102 on March 29, 2006.

"Sooner or Later...There's Gonna be a Whole Lotta Shakin" Goin" on in Southern Nevada," What's On, Vol. 3, Issue 4, April 2006.

Associate professor Catherine Snelson is one of several local experts quoted in an article on earthquake preparedness that appears in this month's issue of a Henderson magazine.

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Submit Your News Stories

The College of Sciences E-Newsletter is published on or about the first of each month. Please submit news items via email by the fifteenth of each month, for consideration. You may send your submissions to: Bill Brown, Director of Development (william.brown@unlv.edu).

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