College of Sciences E-newsletter
February 2006
In this issue:
- Fast Track Program with UNLV Dental School
- National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program Grant
- Science Bowl, 2006
- Students Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity
- SET Building Update
- Andrew Hanson, Assistant Professor, Geoscience Department - Rebel Yell Profile
- Life in Extreme Environments (LExEn) Workshop
- Chemistry Department Welcomes New NMR System
- Applied Geophysics Center (APG) Approved by Board of Regents
- Physics Professor in the News
- Geoscience Department Colloquium hosts alumnus Dr. George Morgan IV, (class of 1984)
- Physics Department Forum
- Special Seminar in Neuroscience
- Submit Your News Items
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Fast Track Program with UNLV Dental School
The Fast-Track Program with the UNLV Dental School has received approval from the President's Office and Chancellor Rogers. Qualified students participate in an accelerated program for earning the baccalaureate and D.M.D. degrees. The program can reduce the time required to earn the undergraduate and professional degree from 8 years to 7 years.
- Complete 3 years of required coursework and service experience
- Take the DAT following completion of the sophomore year
- Apply to dental school during the junior year
- Matriculate following completion of the junior year
- Maintain a 3.4 science and cumulative GPA
- Earn an 18 on the DAT with no subset scores lower than 15
National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program Grant
Professor John Farley and associate professor Andrew Cornelius are recipients of a three-year $258,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program grant. The grant supports ten undergraduates, recruited nationally, to participate in advanced physics research projects at UNLV during summer sessions in 2006 - 2008. The undergraduate students will contribute to UNLV physics research initiatives as members of research teams in a single laboratory, and also receive an introduction to "Big Science," through exposure to Department of Energy (DOE) facilities during their ten-week program. Each summer session will conclude with a research poster session, attended by UNLV faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduate student researchers, supported by the REU grant and other grants, from a variety of different science departments. In August 2005, two dozen undergraduate students participated in the poster session, supported by NSF, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Department of Defense (DOD). This grant recognizes our ongoing commitment to undergraduate teaching and research and offers outstanding undergraduates a substantive and exciting introduction to UNLV's cutting edge research in physics.
Science Bowl, 2006
The 2006 Science Bowl will be held on February 10, 2006 from 2:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. in the Bigelow Physics Building (BPB), and on February 11, 2006 from 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. in the Classroom Building Complex(CBC) , Buildings A and C. A luncheon on Saturday, February 11, is scheduled for the Moyer Student Union Ballroom at 11:30 a.m.
Participating high schools include: Reno (2); Clark (2); Green Valley; Big Pine; Sparks (2); Bonanza; A-Tech; Meadows; Shadow Ridge; Wooster; Cheyenne (2); Wendover; Laughlin; Durango (2); Spanish Springs; Del Sol; Boulder City (2); Procter Hug; Cedar City; Bishop Manogue; Las Vegas (2); Valley (2); Whittell; and Douglas.
Students Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity
On Friday, January 13, the Nevada-Beta Chapter of Alpha Epsilon Delta (AED) participated in a Habitat for Humanity project. Twenty-two members of this UNLV Pre-Health Science Professional Honor Society participated in this charity event. The students and Pre-Health Advisor Joseph "Nik" Nika, worked much of the day to remove the roof tiles from a derelict house, located on Monte Cristo Way in Las Vegas, and transported these materials for use in the construction of a new house located on Hassel Avenue, also in Las Vegas. The students were able to remove all the useful tiles from the derelict house and transport approximately half of the materials to the second site, approximately 12 miles away. The Nevada-Beta Chapter of AED plans to participate in additional events during the summer and fall semesters, if you are interested in helping, please call 895-3170 or email (joseph.nika@unlv.edu).
SET Building Update
The SET Building construction project is certainly making its presence felt across campus (literally). Since breaking ground on August 15, 2005, Sletten Construction has completed the building pad for the facility and is currently placing building footings. The electrical, plumbing, and sewer lines are now being installed under the building. Electrical ductbank equipment from the Satellite Energy Plant (SEP) to the SET Building is complete and work continues on the hydronic piping installation in that same area. The telecommunications ductbank will be completed in January 2006.
Future work will focus on completing the hydronic piping from the SEP to the SET Building, completing the building footings, and the erection of the structural steel. Sletten Construction anticipates beginning the installation of steel in early February 2006.
Andrew Hanson, Assistant Professor, Geoscience Department - Rebel Yell Profile, January 19, 2006
In a series of ongoing profiles of UNLV Faculty members, the Rebel Yell recently conducted an interview with Andrew Hanson, Assistant Professor in the Geoscience Department.
Full Text: The man at the helm of innovative research into tracking down reserves of the earth's crude oil supplies doesn't think he is in a position to change the world. However, assistant professor of geology Dr. Andrew Hanson is researching a new tactic to find crude oil that may change the way oil companies find their product. Hanson's research looks at halite seals, or salt seals, that form over deposits of crude oil in the ocean — the type we need to make the fuels we use in our everyday lives — and more importantly, how and where oil travels when these salt layers move.
Right now, the main form of tapping deposits of crude oil is drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which is one area full of these halite seals. The goal of Hanson's research is to be predictive in that if the companies know where the oil is, they can explore and find oil more efficiently. Not that Hanson's goal is to get the oil companies rich. When Mobil offered Hanson an internship in graduate school, he was hesitant to take it.
"I thought all oil companies were bad," Hanson said. "I swore never to work for them." But he did take it. Through working for the oil company, Hanson found a love for organic geochemistry and bonded with his co-workers through their mutual love of the outdoors.
Since 2002, Hanson has been researching halite seals with faculty from UNLV, New Mexico State University and a scientist in the area of Mexico that has halite sheets on dry land. When it comes to research and fossil fuels, Hanson doesn't necessarily believe that he has the power to change the world. He does, however, believe that he has and is changing the world through his position as graduate coordinator of the UNLV Geoscience department. "My experience in graduate school was awesome," Hanson said. "I want the experiences of UNLV students to be great too."
Hanson cares, first and foremost, about his students and about helping them through graduate school. His advice for all students — no matter what major—comes from a lesson he learned after working nine years as an operating room nurse. "Money is not that important," Hanson said. "Don't find a career based on its salary. Choose it based on curiosity. The money will follow."
Life in Extreme Environments (LExEn) Workshop
On January 13, 2005 the UNLV College of Sciences hosted a Regional Research Partnership Assessment (RRPA) Workshop designed to explore the strengths, strategies, and potential partnerships in the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) community related to research and educational opportunities for those studying life adapting to extreme environments (LExEn). A major goal of this workshop was to build a base that could lead to successful center-level NSF support. Researchers from a number of EPSCoR states shared their areas of interest and received advice from scientists/administrators who have managed to successfully integrate multi-institutional research projects in areas related to LExEn.
LExEn activities involve scientific collaboration across a wide spectrum of disciplines and include the development of technologies to enable remote sampling and sensing of life forms and their metabolites. LExEn also focuses on diversity, ecology, and physiological capabilities of organisms in order to increase our knowledge about how they evolved within seemingly hostile environments on Earth.
Research topics explored included studies of physiology and structure, group and species interaction, stress responses, dispersal, indicators of biological processes, and evolutionary adaptation to extreme environments.
Chemistry Department Welcomes New NMR System
The Chemistry Department will be home to a new Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) system. The system was acquired as part of a recent grant to Ken Czerwinski (Radiochemistry Education Award). The new instrument will replace an older magnet and console (Bruker AMX 400) which provided data for solution samples only.
The new system features state-of-the-art acquisition architecture and software affording observed spectral baselines free of noise associated with quadrature detection. Further the instrument affords new experimental capabilities that include observation of extremely low frequency nuclei (programmatic emphasis: actinide elements), and observation of solids in the same frequency range (CPMAS experiments). In particular the solid sample capability will be an important part of the UNLV research infrastructure as multiple departments will find applications for this mode of observation (Geoscience, Biology, Chemistry, Health Physics, etc).
In general NMR experimentation (directly related to medical application as MRI) provides atomic connectivity information for discrete molecules through observation of individual spin active nuclei (1 not equal to 0). The same apparatus can provide qualitative structural information for bulk materials as well.
Applied Geophysics Center (APG) Approved by Board of Regents
The Applied Geophysics Center (AGC) was approved at the January 2006 NSHE Board of Regents meeting. The mission of the UNLV AGC is to conduct research in applied geophysics for southern Nevada and beyond. Applications span from the near-surface geotechnical/ geoenvironmental to the lithospheric-scale (200 km depth in the Earth). In addition, the Center will promote awareness of natural hazards issues to the community. The center will be housed in Department of Geoscience in the College of Sciences. For information, please contact Dr. Catherine Snelson at 702-895-2916 or at csnelson@unlv.nevada.edu.
Physics Professor in the News
John Farley, Physics Department is quoted in a Delaware newspaper article on cancer rates and power lines and the controversy between epidemiologists and the physicists.
Geoscience Department Colloquium hosts alumnus Dr. George Morgan IV, (class of 1984)
Research scientist George Morgan spoke on the topic,"Granite Pegmatites: Rapid Formation in Undercooled Systems," on Wednesday, January 25th at 4 pm in the Lily Fong Geoscience building, Room 102. Morgan earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Oklahoma and is now a Research Scientist in charge of their Electron Microprobe Laboratory.
Physics Department Forum
On January 30th Dr. Asaf Pe'er of the Astronomical Institute in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, presented a talk entitled, "The Observable Effect of a Photospheric Component on GRB's Prompt Emission Spectrum: Peak Energy Clustering and Flat Spectra Above the Thermal Peak," in BPB 217 at 3:45 pm.
Special Seminar in Neuroscience
Dr. Erich Buchner. Department of Genetics and Neurobiology, University of Würzburg, Germany led a seminar on "Synapses and circuits in olfactory conditioning: novel proteins and new techniques," at the Barrick Museum Auditorium, 3:00 pm, Monday, January 30th.
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).
