College of Sciences E-Newsletter

July 2009

“Understanding Gamma-Ray Burst Emission Physics with Multiwavelength Data,” National Science Foundation Grant ($339,621)

Bing Zhang, associate professor, Physics and Astronomy Department, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF), to expand his study of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

Abstract: The studyof cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is one of the most active fields in the contemporary astrophysics, especially with the launches of NASA’s GRB multi-wavelength observatories Swift and Fermi. Although great progress has been made in understanding GRBs during the past several years, recent abundant multi-wavelength observations led by the Swift satellite point towards a perplexing picture regarding the nature of GRB emission. A combination of both comprehensive data analyses and innovative theoretical modeling is highly needed to understand the puzzling GRB emission physics.

Inthis proposal, Zhang (Principal Investigator) proposes to carry on the on-going active GRB research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and to perform novel, rigorous and timely investigations on GRBs in the joint Swift/Fermi era. In particular, he proposes to perform a multi-wavelength study of GRB afterglow and prompt emission in the following 4 directions. 1. Systematically analyze GRB afterglow data, try to differentiate the emission components that have distinct physical origins, in particular, those from the external forward shock and those demanding new emission models; 2. Model broadband, multi-component afterglows using both the external forward shock and non-forward-shock theories; 3. Systematically analyze the GRB prompt emission data collected by Swift/BAT and Fermi/GBM, and investigate the validity of various empirical correlations; and 4. Perform detailed modeling of the broad band prompt emission of GRBs, and try to use the data to constrain the unknown physical parameters of the emitter.

Thegroup is well positioned to perform both comprehensive data analyses and innovative theoretical modeling. The outcome of the research would greatly advance the understanding of GRB emission physics.

Broader Impact

Theproposed program will integrate research and education at UNLV. Three UNLV graduate students (including one female, one minority and one international student) in the Zhang’s group will participate in the theoretical modeling and data analysis research projects. The diverse nature of Zhang’s research group meets the NSF goal to promote research/education for different nationalities, genders and ethnic groups. The proposed research has broader impacts to the GRB community at large, and in particular, some other NSF funded programs. Zhang proposes to disseminate the data analysis products promptly over the Internet and the group’s website http://grb.physics.unlv.edu will be shared by other researchers in the field.

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2009 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

The 2008 UNLV Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) will include some 31 undergraduates, with 13 students traveling to southern Nevada from college and universities across the nation to join 18 UNLV undergraduates. Students will work with UNLV and area faculty on twelve-week research projects designed to introduce the participants to the work of science research in the academic setting. Students will also participate in a variety of group events, including visits and tours to many areas science facilities, and weekly presentations from UNLV staff. The UROP experience concludes with a poster session, allowing the students top present their research findings to the UNLV and southern Nevada communities. The students are funded by a variety of federal and state agencies including the IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) – School of Life Sciences (SOLS), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) promote the development, coordination, and sharing of research resources and expertise that will expand the research opportunities and increase the number of competitive investigators in the IDeA-eligible states.

INBRE Students

Lia Africa, UNLV
Advisor: Helen Wing, UNLV

Adam Austin, UNLV
Advisor: Jimmy Tung, NVCI

David Basta, UNLV
Advisor: Helen Wing, UNLV

Mary Girard, UNLV
Advisor: Eduardo Robleto, UNLV

Jenny Lam, UNLV
Advisor: Brian Hedlund, UNLV

Jarod Wolffis, UNLV
Advisor: Sheri Holmen, NVCI

National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) – School of Life Sciences (SOLS)

Turquoise Alexander, Fort Valley State University.
Advisor: Eduardo Robleto, UNLV

Ann-Desdemonia Fowajuh, Univ. of Maryland Eastern Shores
Advisor: Ernesto Abel-Santos, UNLV,

Carrie Glenney, University of Washington
Advisor: Brian Hedlund, UNLV

Monique Gomez. Western New Mexico University
Advisor: Helen Wing, UNLV

Dolores Huang, Nevada State College
Advisor: Brian Hedlund, UNLV

Eric Hughes, Arizona State U.
Advisor: Duane Mosher, DRI

Ali Jamil. Vassar College
Advisor: Henry Sun, DRI

Lauren Johnson, Hampton University
Advisor: Ronald Yasbin, UNLV

Ulysses Pickard, Fort Valley State University
Advisor: Dennis Bazylinski, UNLV

Marian Schmidt, Hampshire University.
Advisor: Dennis Bazylinski, UNLV

Christine Simmons, Villanova U.
Advisor: Kumud Acharya, DRI

Carmen Villin, UNLV
Advisor: Eduardo Robleto, UNLV

Autoro White, Fort Valley State University
Advisor: Henry Sun, DRI

National Science Foundation (NSF) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)

Lindsey Clark, UNLV
Advisor: Adam Simon, UNLV

Bradley Davey, UNLV
Advisor: Duane Mosher, DRI

Jessica Newburn, UNLV
Advisor: Duane Mosher, DRI

Marsha Kristel (Maki) Bernardo, UNLV
Advisor: Allen Gibbs, UNLV

David Hannasch, UNLV
Advisor: Monica Neda, UNLV

National Science Foundation (NSF) Supplemental Students

Azuzena Benito, UNLV
Advisor: Michelle Elekonich, UNLV

Marsha Kristel (Maki) Bernardo
Advisor: Allen Gibbs, UNLV

Loann Kllarsen, UNLV
Advisor: Michelle Elekonich, UNLV

Goergia Mancinelli, UNLV
Advisor: Michelle Elekonich, UNLV

Joyce Peng, UC Berkeley
Advisor: Michelle Elekonich, UNLV

Andrew Scheiber, UNLV
Advisor: Michelle Elekonich, UNLV

David Vardukyan, CSN
Advisor: Michelle Elekonich, UNLV

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2009 National Science Foundation (NSF) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research ( EPSCoR) Climate Change Seed Award ($30,000)

“Water Source Partitioning for Shrubland Transpiration Using Innovative Field Methods,” M.H. Young, D.A. Devitt and M.S. Lachniet

Abstract: Some climate models predict a reduction in annual precipitation over the next 20-30 years throughout much of the western United States (Barnett and Pierce, 2007). Such change has the potential to shift water uptake dynamics of phreatophytes, leading to a stronger coupling with groundwater sources. If a regional reduction in recharge in the Great Basin region coincides with groundwater pumping, the impact of climate change on phreatophytes could be exacerbated. A better understanding of the forces that drive the coupling and decoupling of phreatophytes to groundwater is essential, before climate change and significant groundwater pumping occurs. This proposal describes an approach to estimate groundwater evapotranspiration (ET) based on groundwater oscillations in phreatophytedominated vegetation zones (cf. White, 1932; Loheide et al., 2005; Steinwand et al., 2006; Butler et al., 2007). Unlike these studies, we propose to include plant-specific and ET measurements (using eddy covariance; EC) to refine the timing and extent of the shift of water use from vadose zone to groundwater sources. The study will also address a significant disadvantage of the EC system, which integrates evapotranspiration from an entire plant community that may have a wide range in species composition, when only a percentage of plants are using groundwater. In Spring Valley, Nevada, the plant communities are dominated by greasewood, big sage and rabbit brush. Devitt et al. (2008) showed that groundwater depths (~5-m) precluded groundwater access by both big sage and rabbitbrush. Thus, the correlation between canopy level ET and groundwater oscillations can not be tightly linked to a specific growth form, requiring that groundwater ET by greasewood be estimated independently of the entire mixed species plant community.

Description of Research Tasks

The study will take place in Spring Valley, NV, the general location of the elevational transect installed as part of the NSF EPSCoR project. Two sites will be chosen based on differences in soil water storage, which is strongly affected by soil texture. Sites will be selected based on canopy type, depth to groundwater, and existence of usable datasets on either ET or groundwater levels. The overall research approach will be to link groundwater response in water wells screened across the water table, to sap flux measurements made on greasewood plants. A vertical water budget will be linked to ET measurements made with an eddy covariance tower. Daily ET totals, linked to the soil water budget, will be evaluated based on a weighting function that considers the total area of each species, the total ET and the transpiration estimate on a per shrub basis. Groundwater oscillations will then be assessed with the fraction of ET directly attributed to greasewood. Differences in the variation of daily groundwater oscillations can then be linked to the percent greasewood cover, depth to groundwater, reference ET, and vadose zone soil water in storage.

Field Methods

Existing eddy covariance towers with monitoring wells exist in Spring Valley and are currently being monitored. Hourly ET estimates will be made based on a pre and post data processing approach reported on by Devitt et al. (2008). Reference ET will be acquired from an automated weather station located at the site. The number of shrubs of each of the three main species will be counted and surface area estimated within a 200 m by 200 m area surrounding the EC towers and monitoring wells. Three mature greasewood, big sage and rabbit brush plants will be selected each for stem flow gage measurements (Dynamax, Houston, TX), addressing Hypothesis #1. Data will be downloaded on a bimonthly basis, corresponding to the other soil-based measurements. Leaf area index for the shrubs (Li- Cor leaf area analyzer, Lincoln NE) and leaf area of stems with gages will be assessed (Delta T area meter system, Cambridge UK), so that transpiration estimates can be scaled to the shrub level.

Transpirational capture, stem exudation, soil moisture, rainfall and groundwater samples will be collected during spring prior to the onset of summer stress (late June [Devitt et al. 2008] and during the late summer stress period (before episodic rainfall events typically taking place during early August) for hydrogen (dD) and oxygen (d18O) isotopic analysis (UNLV Las Vegas Isotope Science Laboratory [LVIS]), addressing Hypothesis #2. The soil water profile will be monitored near the EC tower during the 1-year study period for each site. Boreholes will be advanced using a hollow-stem auger, from which soil samples will be collected to assess soil moisture, soil salinity, soil texture and soil hydraulic properties. Water levels will be monitored at least every 15 minutes using a pressure transducer. Water content reflectometry (WCR) probes (CS- 616, Campbell Scientific, Inc.) will be vertically installed with depth, with probe termination at 30, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 cm , and measured periodically for periods of 1-2 weeks to assess daily changes in water content with time. Hydraulic gradients will be measured across the same depths using heat dissipation sensors (HDU, model 229, Campbell Scientific, Inc.), helping to identify when and if snow melt recharges deep soil and percolates to the water table. A distributed temperature sensing fiber optical cable (model to be determined) will be placed into the borehole using a PVC pipe, around which the cable is wrapped, providing improved vertical resolution of temperature (i.e., 1 temperature measurement per ~1.5 cm depth). The DTS logger (model N4386A, AP Sensing, Boeblingen, Germany) will be operated for periods that correspond to WCR and HDU measurements.

Roles of Project Participants

Michael Young (co-PI, DRI) will be responsible for measuring and analyzing below ground processes (e.g., instrumenting the boreholes and analyzing groundwater fluctuations). DTS system will be run by Mr. Jeremy Koonce (PhD student and EPSCoR GRA in Water Resources Component)

Dale Devitt (co-PI, UNLV) will be responsible for above ground processes (e.g., installing and maintaining the sap flow gages, plant biometrics). A MS student (TBD) will handle data analysis and development of a MS thesis.

Matt Lachniet (UNLV) will be responsible for isotopic analysis of soil, plant and water samples and the integration of the isotopic data into the interpretation of groundwater oscillations, depletion of soil moisture in the vadose zone and transpirational loss. The samples will be analyzed for dD and d18O on a high-temperature conversion elemental analyzer (TC/EA) coupled to a ThermoElectron Delta V gassource mass spectrometer, and calibrated to internal and international water standards.

Summary of Major Deliverables
1. Peer-reviewed manuscript – water source partitioning of Great Basin shrublands
2. Presentations at national scholarly meetings (AGU, SSSA, ESA, etc.)
3. NSF proposal addressing the impact of soil texture and assesses interannual variability.
4. Dissertation and thesis material for Young and Devitt students. \

How project will use the infrastructure created by the NSF EPSCOR project:

At this time, specific locations of the monitoring stations have not been determined, though the valley floor in Spring Valley will be part of the transect. Also, many of the instruments being proposed for use here will be purchased on this grant, or were purchased as part of RING TRUE III. The study makes direct use of two graduate students who are funded through the EPSCoR project, thereby using the project’s intellectual infrastructure. Also, the study leverages several other efforts that have created a baseline of information and data that will help get our new project off the ground.

Intellectual merit and broader impacts

Intellectual merit - This research will bridge the knowledge gap of water source partitioning in a mixed shrubland in the Great Basin Desert, NV, the location of intense interest as a potential potable water source for southern Nevada. The study combines new and innovative field methods including the use of a potentially transformative method for measuring soil water content profiles and recharge events; along with groundwater fluctuations as a proxy for groundwater ET, which has been shown to be effective in (mostly) riparian systems. The study combines ecophysiology, soil and atmospheric physics, and groundwater hydrology in a way that provides a more complete picture of ecosystem functioning and the direct linkage to water sources, in the face of climate change and groundwater pumping.

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“For UNLV professor, groundbreaking work in soil, waterfield,” by Brendan Buhler, Las Vegas Sun, June 30, 2009


Dale Devitt, professor of soil and water science at UNLV, is the director of the Center for Urban Water Conservation in Las Vegas. He catalogs water use of different trees, shrubs andturfs.

Dale Devitt is, as the joke goes, out standing in his field.

This particular field (Devitt has several) is riddled with buried experiments in the form of tubes of soil, some with grass on top, some without. This is a sort of demonstration farm and outdoor laboratory on the far north side of town.
Devitt, who runs UNLV’s Center for Urban Water Conservation, is trying to determine whether turf can filter pharmaceuticals out of reclaimed water (read: processed sewage), trapping it before it can enter the ground water.

(The answer, so far, appears to be yes, but Devitt cautions that the experiment still has two years to run.)

Devitt can look around and point to past projects. There’s a stand of trees, for instance — desert willows, mesquites, oaks and so on — most of the popular landscaping choices around Las Vegas. This was one of the first experiments Devitt ran out here. It compares the water usage of tree species. Mesquites, for instance, use more water than oaks, which use more water than willows. It sounds simple enough, comparing trees not only with one another but also with turf and shrubs, but it was groundbreaking work for a simple reason: The money has always been in agricultural research — not landscaping.

This is why, when Devitt was in school at the University of California, Riverside, getting his undergraduate degree, his master’s degree and eventually his Ph.D. in soil science, he studied the uses of waste water in agricultural irrigation. But then the day came when “they finally said, ‘Dale, we have no more degrees to offer you. You have to leave.’ ”
And the job that was available was in Las Vegas, where there was no wheat or sorghum. So he switched to urban landscaping, which had been largely ignored by researchers.
It was an ideal situation.

Devitt entered a clear field. Being out by yourself might be a little lonely, but in science it means it’s easy to do fundamental and important work. Want to know how much water a mature oak tree uses compared with Bermuda grass? You can’t look it up, so you plant some. Then, when the next guy wants to find out, he has to look up your work.

Think of it like being a test pilot. If you want to set a record today, you’ll have to train for years and years and persuade a company to spend billions of dollars developing a prototype to send you hurtling toward the mesosphere. Wilbur and Orville just had to go skipping across Kitty Hawk’s sands.

When Devitt started at the center in 1993, it was so remote from the city that he could come to work in the morning and see coyotes trotting through, back to their dens. And of course, Devitt’s field of turf grass attracted lots of jackrabbits (still does, in fact). And with the jackrabbits came extra visitors. Many mornings, Devitt would find a pile of beer cans near the road and a field full of gunshot bunnies, “enough to fill a wheelbarrow.”

Although Devitt misses the coyotes, on balance he says he’s quite happy that North Las Vegas’ civilizing suburbs have expanded to the center’s doorstep.

There’s less bunny blood on his field.

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The Revolution in Geology from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, Geological Society of America, Memoir 203

“Thomas Jefferson, extinction, and the evolving view of Earth history in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries,” by Stephen M. Rowland, Department of Geoscience, pp. 225-246.

Abstract: In the eighteenth century, many Europeans and Americans embraced a world-view in which the natural world was seen as complete, full, and perfect, as created by God. Within this worldview, no species ever became extinct because such an event would destroy the perfection of nature. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, the concept that no species had ever become extinct was increasingly challenged by evidence from the fossil record. By the early nineteenth century, a new paradigm, the “former-worlds” view of Earth history, began to emerge.

Buffon had argued that New World quadrupeds were degenerate varieties of Old World species, and that at least one of them had gone extinct. The idea of New World degeneracy thus became connected with the concept of extinction. Thomas Jefferson conducted a long, personal campaign to discredit these ideas of Buffon's, arguing against them in the early 1780s in Notes on the State of Virginia and also in his 1797 Megalonyx memoir.

Jefferson resisted the concept of extinction for a very long time, and he was never able to let go of his “completeness-of-nature” worldview. I suggest that several factors contributed to Jefferson's inability to relinquish his worldview, in spite of the fact that there was considerable empirical evidence showing that it was not valid. The most influential factors were (1) Jefferson's emotional and public commitment to the completeness-of-nature worldview, and (2) Jefferson's personality traits, which were acquired in part through his experiences as an eldest son.

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“Nuclear fallout: What the death of Yucca Mountain means for Nevada scientists,”
by Amy Kingsley, Las Vegas City Life, June 11, 2009

This article quotes Ken Czerwinski, associate professor of chemistry and director of the radiation chemistry program at UNLV.

http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2009/06/11/news/local_news/iq_29295731.txt

The entrance to Yucca Mountain: It's increasingly unlikely the depository will ever store the nation's spent nuclear waste.

THINK of it as the ultimate science project: an uninhabited peak in an empty stretch of federal land, 90 miles from a major city, the proposed site of a one-of-a-kind nuclear waste storehouse.

Yucca Mountain is one of the most studied places on the planet. For 30 years, the federal government funded research into its suitability as a vessel for the nation's spent nuclear fuel. Scientists published hundreds of reports on everything from the impact of climate change to the force of area earthquakes and the depth of the water table.

All that research cost money -- cash that's been vanishing alongside Yucca's viability as a geologic repository, the technical term for a nuclear waste dump. Funding cuts to the Yucca project, advocated by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and other members of the Nevada Congressional delegation, have cost the state university system $22 million over the last three years. An additional $50 million in anticipated funding for the next five years has also evaporated.

Much of the funding was administered through the Yucca Mountain Cooperative Agreement, which was designed to provide independent research and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. That program churned out hundreds of projects to evaluate Yucca's suitability as a nuclear waste storage site. The cooperative agreement, which was housed at the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies, encompassed about a dozen institutions, including UNLV and UNR and supported about 85 graduate student researchers.

"Our funding was totally cut off about a year ago," said Raymond Keeler, project director for the cooperative agreement. "Over the last fiscal year, the tasks that were already going on have just been limping along."

The Department of Energy established the cooperative agreement because it saw the need for independent research into Yucca Mountain. The controversial project had inspired biased research on both sides -- studies from the federal government that supported Yucca and others from the state that questioned the suitability of the site.

The program, which supported about 100 staff members and researchers at its peak, has dwindled to a single employee. The rest have had to scramble to find new jobs or other sources of research funding. Keeler himself is leaving the university to work for an independent contractor at the Nevada Test Site.

In a typical year, researchers that had been funded through the cooperative agreement might have been able to turn to the state to make up the lost income. But this year's budget crisis eliminated that option.

One of the victims is the earthquake monitoring program at Yucca Mountain. The program lost $1.5 million of its $2.1 million budget in the latest round of budget cuts. John Anderson, director of the Seismological Laboratory at UNR, says the cuts have impaired the laboratory's ability to study tectonic activity in Southern Nevada. The money from the cooperative agreement funded a state-of-the-art network of sensors -- the best in the bottom half of the state.

"To the people who would roll their eyes at the idea of earthquakes in Southern Nevada, I would tell them that the risk is comparable to the risk in Wells, which is where they had that six-magnitude earthquake a couple of years ago," Anderson said. "The hazard in Las Vegas is not negligible."

The earthquake risk may be higher in Northwest Nevada, but the potential for damage in the south is much greater, which makes it an area of concern according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Anderson's program, which was established 35 years ago, also receives funding from the U.S. Geological Survey, and the laboratory may be eligible for stimulus money distributed through the office.

Not all news is bad news for researchers in Nevada. UNLV's radiochemistry department, which was started in 2003 with federal earmarks, has become increasingly independent. The program, which looks into a broad range of nuclear issues, including some that could provide alternatives to Yucca Mountain, recently received a $1.5 million competitive grant to study advanced fuel cycles. The program is now also receiving guaranteed funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct nuclear research, money that increases the university's budget.

"It's moved pretty fast, especially considering that when I came here I had half a lab," said Ken Czerwinski, director of the radiochemistry program.

The demise of Yucca may become a boon to programs such as Czerwinski's that investigate alternatives to long-term storage. The Harry Reid Center also houses a program that conducts research into transmutation, the recycling of nuclear material. According to Reid spokesman Jon Summers, the senator secured the initial funding for the radiochemistry program in 2003 because its research (sic) could make Yucca unnecessary.

Despite the demise of Yucca, radiochemistry at UNLV is thriving. The six-year-old program is already at capacity, with about two dozen graduate students who conduct research into everything from the medical applications of nuclear technology to waste issues.

But while the university advances theoretical knowledge, some scientists still worry about the absence of Yucca-related research.

"I suspect that seismic monitoring is definitely going to be an unintended casualty of Yucca's demise," Anderson said.

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Spring 2009, Graduates: Master’s and Doctoral Degrees

Becky M. Hess, Biochemistry, M.S.
Thesis: IDENTIFYING BIOMARKERS FOR RESISTANCE TO NOVEL CISPLANTIN ANALOGUES IN HUMAN CANCERS
Advisor: Dr. Bryan Spangelo

John M Kinyanjui, Chemistry, Ph.D.
Dissertation: THE SYNTHESIS AND SYSTEMATIC EVALUATION OF MODIFIED POLYMERIC FOAMS AND ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE
POLYIMIDE/CARBON/METAL FILMS
Advisor: Dr. David Hatchett

Feng Pan, Geosciences, Ph.D.
Dissertation: UNCERTAINTY, SENSITIVITY AND GEOSTATISTICAL STUDIES OF FLOW AND CONTAMINANT TRANSPORT IN HETEROGENEOUS UNSATURATED ZONE
Advisor: Dr. Zhongbo Yu

Peter Druschke, Geosciences, Ph.D.
Dissertation: THE SHEEP PASS FORMATION, A RECORD OF LATE CRETACEOUS AND PALEOGENE EXTENSION WITHIN THE SEVIER HINTERLAND, EAST-CENTRAL NEVADA
Advisor: Dr. Andrew Hanson

Martin B. Erwin, Master of Arts in Science, M.S.
Coursework Option
Advisor: Dr. John Farley

Denrick G. Bayot, Mathematics, M.S.
Mathematics Final Examination
Advisor: Dr. Zhonghai Ding

Timothy B. Waters, Mathematics, M.S.
Mathematics Final Examination:
Advisor: Dr. Hongtao Yang

Gununda Waduge C. Silva, Radiochemistry, Ph.D.
Dissertation: EVALUATION OF LOW-TEMPERATURE FLUORIDE ROUTES TO
SYNTHESIZE ACTINIDE NITRIDES AND OXIDE SOLID SOLUTIONS
Advisor: Dr. Kenneth R. Czerwinski

Jerell R. Aguila. School of Life Sciences, Ph.D.
Dissertation: THE ROLE OF LARVAL FAT CELLS IN STARVATION RESISTANCE AND REPRODUCTION IN ADULT DROSPHILA MELANOGASTER
Advisor: Dr. Deborah Hoshizaki

Benjamin Conrad, School of Life Sciences, Ph.D.
Dissertation: INVESTIGATION OF PLANT WATER USE IN THE GREAT BASIN, NV
Advisor: Dr. Dale Devitt

Dawn M. Fletcher, School of Life Sciences, M.S.
Thesis: DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT SELECTION OF THE LECONTE'S AND CRISSAL THEASHERS IN MOHAVE DESERT: A MILTIMODEL APPROACH
Advisor: Dr. Brett Riddle

Katila Pipitone, School of Life Sciences, M.S.
Thesis: IDENTIFICATION OF ARID SOIL INDUCIBLE GENES IN PSEUDOMONAS FLUORESCENS STRAIN PFO-1
Advisor: Dr. Eduardo Robleto

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Radiation Chemistry Program

Recent activities of faculty and students include:

  1. Submission of a proposal on uranium oxide microscopy with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program at LLNL.
  2. Professor Ralf Sudowe presented at the Radiochemistry summer school in San Jose.
  3. Professor Ralf Sudowe invited to present on radiochemistry program at Asia-Pacific Symposium on Radiochemistry (APSORC-09) in December 2009.
  4. Graduate student Nick Smith presented his optical spectroscopy research at Safeguards working group.
  5. Completed XAFS experiment at APS, Tc and U solution and solids, BM-12
  6. Full IGERT proposal on radiochemistry education with Hunter and Sloan Kettering requested. The project will educate radiochemists and develop collaborations in radiopharmaceuticals
  7. Inorganic chemistry article on web: Synthesis and Nanoscale Characterization of (NH4)4ThF8 and ThNF: G. W. Chinthaka Silva, Charles B. Yeamans, Gary S. Cerefice, Alfred P. Sattelberger, and Kenneth R. Czerwinski]
  8. Inorganic Chemistry article galley proof corrected. The article is entitled “Technetium(IV) Halides Predicted from First-Principles” by Philippe F. Weck, Eunja Kim, Frederic, Poineau, Efrain E. Rodriguez, Alfred P. Sattelberger, and Kenneth R. Czerwinski. This work is collaboration with UNLV, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory.
  9. Concept paper on high burnup fuels and materials re-submitted to ARPA-E
  10. Program researchers performing XAFS experiment on radioelement compounds at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory. The synchrotron beam time was awarded from competitive proposals submitted to the Advanced Photon Source.
  11. The galley proof of the paper “Synthesis and Nanoscale Characterization of (NH4)4ThF8 and ThNF” by G. W. Chinthaka Silva, Charles B. Yeamans, Gary S. Cerefice, Alfred P. Sattelberger, and Kenneth R. Czerwinski was corrected. The article will be published in the journal Inorganic Chemistry and is a joint effort between UNLV, UC-Berkeley, and Argonne National Laboratory.
  12. Narek Gharibyan, a 2nd year graduate student in the program, passed his oral exam for advancement to candidacy on 29 May 09.
  13. A manuscript with Kiel Holliday, a program graduate student, as first author, was accepted into Journal of Nuclear Materials. The manuscript is entitled “Synthesis and characterization of zirconia-magnesia inert matrix fuel: uranium homolog studies.”
  14. Concept paper on high burnup fuels and materials submitted to ARPA-E. The project will evaluate high burnup fuels and materials for advanced fast reactors. The project partners include Los Alamos National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory and TerraPower.
  15. Television news interested in discussion recent accepted proposals
  16. UNLV radiochemistry program will receive $1.5 M from DOE-NE. The funds will support program infrastructure and research e related to DOE-NE grand challenges.
  17. Program members developing ARPA-E proposal on fast reactor fuel and materials. The project will evaluate high burnup fuels and materials for advanced fast reactors. The project partners include Los Alamos National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory and TerraPower
  18. Program students interning at National Laboratories in the summer of 2009. Jamie Warburton is examining actinide separations at INL; Megan Bennett, , Ashlee Crable, and Sherry Faye performing studies on rapid radioanalysis at LLNL, and Narek Gharibyan will be at LANL examining separations of higher actinides.
  19. Television news interested in discussion recent accepted proposals.
  20. Professor Ken Czerwinski is participating in FBI workshop on nuclear forensics 2 -4 June 2009. He is a member of a scientific working for FBI and focuses on radiochemistry uses for nuclear forensics.
  21. Presentations from the group accepted at Electrochemical Society Meeting, Vienna, Oct. 4-9 2009. The presentations are Electrochemical Characterization of Technetium Containing Wasteforms in Acidic Media" by E. Mausolf, F. Poineau, K. Czerwinski, T. Hartmann and G. Jarvinen and the Electrochemical behavior of Tc-AHA and Tc-FHA as precursors for the recovery of Tc metal as related to nuclear reprocessing" by P. SERRANO, E. Mausolf, F. Poineau, D. Hatchett, K. Czerwinski and P. Hartmann. This work is collaboration between UNLV and LANL students as the main authors.
  22. Research from the group accepted for a presentation CORROSION 2010, San Antonio, TX 14-18 March, Corrosion Behavior Of Technetium Waste Forms.
  23. Paper from program selected for Dalton Transactions hot topic (http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/DT/article.asp?doi=b902106j). The publication “Crystal structure of octabromoditechnetate(III) and a multi- configurational quantum chemical study of the transition in quadruply bonded [M2X8]2- dimers (M = Tc, Re; X = Cl, Br” was a collaborative publication amongst UNLV, the University of Geneva, and Argonne National Laboratory.
  24. Three presentations from group members were made at the 33rd annual actinide separations conference in Lake Tahoe, 18-21 May 2009. The topics from the radiochemistry group included determination of uranyl nitrate complexation constants, extraction of technetium as a cation, and formohydroxamic synthesis and complexation with technetium. Presentations were made by graduate students (Nick Smith, Amber Wright), an undergraduate (Carrie Campbell) and Professor Patricia Paviet-Hartmann.
  25. Program members participated on proposal examining novel 99Tc production methods. The researchers in the radiochemistry program contributed methods for rapid and specific separations for the production of radiopharmaceuticals.

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Wind River Conference on Prokaryotic Biology

Assistant professor, Helen Wing, school of life sciences, now serves as a member of the executive board of the Wind River Conference on Prokaryotic Biology. Many UNLV faculty and students whose teaching and research focuses on microbiology attend this annual meeting. This conference focuses on the biology of diverse prokaryotic and lower eukaryotic systems. It is the major annually-occurring international meeting devoted to this subject area and is often a conference where "emerging" genetic systems as well as "novel model systems" are first described. The meeting has always been open to all researchers working in the field of genetic exchange, prokaryotic biology and related areas, including DNA repair, restriction-modification systems, recombination pathways, thermophilic biology and Archaeal biology. A major strength of the meeting has always been the diversity of systems represented. This diversity has provided a fertile environment for new ideas and for applying well-established concepts to newly emerging systems

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UNLV Impacts: UNLV Among Select Group Researching Nuclear Energy

http://impacts.unlv.edu/

UNLV Among Select Group Researching Nuclear Energy

A small UNLV program just got tasked with a big job: improving technologies that could help bolster the country's nuclear power portfolio.

Researchers in the university's radiochemistry program and the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies were awarded more than $2.1 million to lead four new research projects. The effort is part of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Nuclear Energy University Program. UNLV is one of 31 institutions asked to conduct research addressing the global climate and energy crisis and ways to move the nation toward better use of nuclear technology.

The funding will support studies related to two of the DOE's major initiatives — the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative and the Next Generation Nuclear Plant. The UNLV research will focus on:

"As a zero-carbon energy source, nuclear power must be part of our energy mix as we work toward energy independence and meeting the challenge of global warming," said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "The next generation of nuclear power plants — with the highest standards of safety, efficiency and environmental protection — will require the latest advancements in nuclear science and technology. These research and development university awards will ensure that the United States continues to lead the world in the nuclear field for years to come."

Rebuilding the Ranks
UNLV's radiochemistry program, which focuses on the chemical and physical properties of radioactive elements, is just one of a handful of academic programs currently producing new graduates and faculty with advanced degrees in the field.

Since the last nuclear power plant was commissioned in the United States more than 30 years ago, the annual number of new Ph.D.s in nuclear and radiochemistry has fallen to fewer than 10, leaving the U.S. far behind other countries in terms of the human infrastructure needed to help lead a renaissance of the nation's nuclear power industry. But with 20 students enrolled in the program, UNLV's doctoral program will produce an additional six to 10 graduates in the next few years.

Areas of Focus
Only five years old, the radiochemistry program has quickly made an international name for itself, developing important ties to national and international laboratories, all of which provide unique opportunities for students and faculty to conduct their work.

Ken Czerwinski, professor of chemistry and director of the radiochemistry program; Frederic Poineau, research professor in chemistry; and Dan Rego, a post-doctoral researcher in the radiochemistry program, developed three of the DOE-funded projects. Longzhou Ma, a research scientist at the Harry Reid Center, is the principal investigator on the fourth project.

Their collaborators include fellow UNLV scientists and students, as well as colleagues from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Argonne, Idaho, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, and Pacific Northwest national laboratories.

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On Being a Physicist,” By Michael Pravica, The Comment Factory, June 3, 2009

 

In many ways, it seems as if it was just yesterday that I was getting on a Greyhound bus in Chicago just about 25 years ago during the late summer of 1984. My mom was in tears, as I was departing my hometown to attend Caltech in Pasadena, Ca. at age 17. Traveling across the country on the road was for me a fascinating and novel experience that I would repeat many times. I wanted to be a physicist – to unlock Nature’s most fundamental mysteries, to find meaning in my life, and to contribute positively to humanity. Though the university I chose to further my studies was quite challenging – so was my chosen path. I persevered and graduated with a double major in physics and applied math four years later. I then drove across the country in a 1968 Mustang to attend graduate school in Cambridge (US), breaking down once in Las Vegas (NV). In graduate school, I struggled with a “Holy Grail” thesis studying hydrogen (the most abundant element in the Universe) under high pressures using nuclear magnetic resonance (similar technology to MRI). I received my Ph.D. degree in experimental high pressure physics ten years later (including two years spent for the Masters).

After getting married and moving to New York City to work for a biophysics company for a year, I found an irresistible draw to return to the Southwest and academia. I drove from NYC to Las Vegas, NM in my 1985 Oldsmobile Royale Brougham with a hitched trailer to accept an appointment (with my wife) as an assistant professor. After four years in Las Vegas, NM (which included a stint as Chair of four former departments), my wife and I decided to relocate to Las Vegas NV and accept an appointment again as an assistant professor of physics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) with two children in tow. However, before moving to Nevada, I was offered a Summer Faculty Fellowship with the Office of Naval Research in Washington where I drove from Las Vegas NM to Washington DC (and back) in a 1995 Plymouth Neon, and then driving from Las Vegas NM to Las Vegas NV back and forth a number of times until we were more or less settled in the Silver State.
At UNLV, I developed a research program to study matter at extreme conditions of pressure, temperature and radiation. As a member of the High Pressure Science and Engineering Center (HiPSEC) at UNLV, I have made over 100 trips to our facilities at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) in Chicago (the nation’s brightest x-ray source) and other x-ray synchrotron facilities such as the National Synchrotron Light Source in New York, the European Synchrotron Research Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, and the Pohang Light Source (PAL) in Pohang, South Korea to do many of my experiments. Five years later (and blessed with one more wonderful child), I finally achieved a status that many physicists prepare for and seek for many years: I received tenure and promotion to Associate professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
***
Few people understand the level of sacrifices required to become a scientist – especially one with a stable job. Though my chosen path was a very difficult one which will never really end, it is one that will give me a lifetime sense of accomplishment and confidence to continue to push back the frontiers of knowledge even more. Just as my many journeys across this enormous nation were not easy, so has my journey of discovery to become a physicist been arduous beginning from asking my chemist father as a little boy about the nature of matter, atoms and photons, to getting tenure at a major University. Along the way, I have contributed fundamental knowledge in the way that our strange and fascinating world works. I have taught hundreds of students about physics, how to view the world and how to solve problems all from a physicist’s point of view. I have also helped dozens of students to perform scientific research – encouraging their natural inborn curiosity –by guiding them to ask good questions and steadfastly preparing to receive answers by performing and analyzing experiments. Some of my students are now training (and have completed training) to be pharmacists, medical doctors, biologists, chemists, mathematicians, engineers, and physicists.

Though too few students nationwide pursue physics as a career, I always tell those who dare to that they will be forever challenged by the infinite mysteries surrounding the interactions between energy and matter (via four fundamental forces) that somehow formed and govern our Universe. I also explain to my nonphysics majors (many of whom initially don’t understand why they need physics) that we are all doing physics every moment of our existence, whether walking, driving a car, operating a cell phone, using their eyes and ears to see, or just plain thinking by electrically firing the neurons – it is my task to make them aware of it. In performing research, more often than not, more questions are raised than answered but that’s precisely what makes it so fascinating.

Beyond the intellectually-edifying benefits of pure research, much of our economy, well-being, and national security are based upon the contributions made by physicists. Transistors/IC chips, LCDs, LEDs, lasers, CD players, AC current, radio, microwaves, x-ray machines, MRI/NMR, solar, hydroelectic, and nuclear power, HTML, and many other related technologies all came from the efforts of physicists. Today, more than ever, the United States needs to resurrect support for physics and other scientific research as we are woefully slipping in our preeminence in technology and are coasting on great discoverie made by physicists and other scientists in the past. Much of our economy depends on science and the innovation that scientific inquiry enables.

Sadly, however, when the entire yearly budget of the National Science Foundation is less than what we squander in one month in Iraq, our leaders have the nation’s priorities wrongly set. We need to encourage those rare individuals who won’t take no for an answer, who incessantly question the strange world around them, going as deep (and traveling as far) as necessary to find answers. We also need to encourage more Americans to study the sciences (starting with the foundation of science: physics) as we literally live in a world that exists because of science.
Many people feel that being awarded tenure is akin to having a permanent summer vacation. This is not so. As my own worst critic, I will always seek to better myself as a person, father, husband, researcher, colleague, and professor. As a tenured professor, I have a unique and increasingly rare opportunity to be an intellectual entrepreneur and, perhaps with some help from serendipity and hard work, aid humankind in unimaginable ways. At the very least, I see myself continuing the flame of knowledge and inspiration in physics and hoping to spread this flame as long as I am able just as my professors at Caltech did for me over 20 years ago.

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School of Life Sciences Graduate Student Receives Elmer C. Birney Award

Sean A. Neiswenter, a doctoral student in the laboratory of professor Brett R. Riddle has received the Elmer C. Birney Award from the American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) for his paper, “Diversification of Silky Pocket Mice in the Perognathus Flavus Species-Group: Implications for the Biogeography of North American Arid Grasslands.” Guidelines for the award stipulate that “Honoraria will be awarded based on originality, quality, and written presentation of the research.” As the recipient of the Birney Award,. Neiswenter presented his research at the Plenary Session of the 2009 ASM meeting, held at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks from June 24-28th.

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“Cold Atoms and Molecules: Collisions, Field Effects, and Applications,” Kyoto University, Yukawa Institute of Theoretical Physics, June 23-26, 2009

Balakrishnan Naduvalath, associate professor of chemistry presented his research findings at the Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (DAMOP) Meeting at University of Virginia in May. He is also an invited speaker at a symposium organized jointly by Kyoto University and National Science Foundation.

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Alpha Epsilon Delta Blood Drives, 2008-2009

Alpha Epsilon Delta, the Pre-Health Honor Society, coordinates such student activities as: the Physician Shadowing Program; Dentist Shadowing Program; Humanitarian Service Program; Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive; Organ Donor Registration Drive; annual presentations from nationally ranked medical schools; annual presentations from pharmacy programs; and the annual tour of the UNLV School of Dental Medicine. In recent months, AED has participated in a number of blood drives n the UNLV Campus. As a result of these efforts, AED has contributed significantly to the available blood supply in our region.

09/09/08: 31 units
09/10/08: 49 units

1/27/09: 38 units
1/28/09 53 units

3/16/09 12 units
3/17/09 13 units

Total units 196 units

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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 Planning and Communication (william.brown@unlv.edu).

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If you wish to be added to the email distribution list for the College of Sciences E-newsletter, please send a request to: william.brown@unlv.edu.

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