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October 3, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Description: Each election cycle we are told to support the candidate with the most "common sense." It's only common sense that more choices lead to better choices, right? This talk presents a simple yet rigorous model from transportation network theory that challenges this bit of folk wisdom.
Professor McKelvey received in BA degree in mathematics from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. He went to Brown University in Providence, RI, where he received his masters and PhD degrees in applied mathematics, specializing in operations research and writing his dissertation on the subject of network equilibrium. After graduate school he went to Saint Olaf College in Minnesota.
His interest in operations reseach continues as his mathematical work has expanded to include mathematical modeling of natural resources. He has done work with the Leach Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota and several projects with the US Forest Service in Minnesota and South Carolina.
While in graduate school he was the president of the Rhode Island Chapter of the Sierra Club and also served as a Sierra Club lobbyist on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. His lobbying specialty was public lands legislation.
He is living in California while on a year-long sabbatical leave from Saint Olaf.
Home Institution: Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, Saint Olaf College, Northfield, MN
Local Affiliation: Visiting Professor, Mathematics Department, Humboldt State University
October 17, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Description: A direct quote from the speaker: "Everything you don't know about relativity but were afraid to ask."
Dr. David Kornreich did his undergraduate work at Cal Tech, earning a B.S. in Astronomy in 1995. From there, he went to Cornell, where he earned his Ph.D. in Physics in the year 2000, with a thesis that studied the Dynamics of Stars and Galaxies.
David has been a professor of physics at Humboldt State University since 2001. His current interests lie in the creation of computer models of Black Holes. His investigations use ray tracing to create computer images that pay special attention to gravitational lensing. He also is doing work creating computer simulations that model the dynamics of galaxies.
October 19, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Description: Human understanding of nature's fundamental rules underwent two revolutions at the start of the twentieth century.
These revolutions ultimately resulted in the theory of quantum physics, and of relativity. By authoring a series of papers, over a period of a few months in 1905, Albert Einstein played key roles in both of these revolutions.
Einstein is now widely known as the father of the theory of relativity. However, it is his lesser known role in the development of quantum physics (his explanation of the photoelectric effect) which was explicitly cited in the justification for his 1921 Nobel Prize in physics. This presentation will give an overview of the historical significance and content of Einstein's 1905 paper, "On a Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light," which lead to his Nobel Prize.
Steve Drasco began his education here at the College of the Redwoods, where he was a student from 1994 to 1997. He later earned a B.S. from the University of California, Irvine, and both a masters and Ph.D. from Cornell University (all in physics).
Steve is currently a postdoctoral associate at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and a visitor in theoretical astrophysics at the California Institute of Technology. Steve's research interests include comparisons of Einstein's theory of gravity to observations and experiments, sources of gravitational waves and algorithms for detecting their weak signals in the presence of noise, massive black holes in the centers of galaxies, and gravitational wave detectors as probes for exotic physics. Steve's most recent work describes radiation produced by the orbiting of a small star around a giant black hole. He showed that the radiation is made up of a trio of voices, each of which can be tuned somewhat independently by varying the geometry of the small star's orbit.
November 7, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Description: The reprocessing of Spent Nuclear fuel, (or the recycling of used nuclear fuel) was first introduced to US industry through the Atoms for Peace program in 1953.ð ð
"The United States knows that peaceful power from atomic energy is no dream of the future. That capability, already proved, is here--now--today. Who can doubt, if the entire body of the world's scientists and engineers had adequate amounts of fissionable material with which to test and develop their ideas, that this capability would rapidly be transformed into universal, efficient, and economic usage." ðPresident Dwight D. Eisenhower, New York City, December 8, 1953. ð
"...(Senator) Domenici may now feel that storage at reactor sites followed by reprocessing is the most effective way to show progress on the spent fuel issue, according to sources."ð..."Reprocessing advocates say that the process can wring more energy out nuclear materials, and that newer, mostly experimental types of reprocessing can significantly reduce the amount of high-level waste that would need to be disposed of...." ðThe Energy Daily, Friday, October 7, 2005.ð ð
And the reprocessing discussion is squeeking its way back on the table.
Roy Willis, Director and Plant Manager at PG&E Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant, has been working in the Nuclear Power Industry since 1980. He has worked at Both the Humboldt Bay PP and at theðDiablo Canyon PowerðPlantðnear San Luis Obispo, California.ðRoy has a BS in Mechanical Engineering and is a Certified Fuel Handler through the Humboldt Bay PP, Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved program.
If you missed this presentation, or if you would like to just revisit some of Roy's remarks, please see:
November 14, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Description: Eelgrass beds are critically important habitats in the
coastal zone, and over 50% of the eelgrass in the state is located in
Humboldt Bay. Management of these beds has, for good reasons,
traditionally had a bottom-up perspective. That is, biomass regulation
is due to the availability of light and nutrients. However, top-down
effects of grazing in other terrestrial and aquatic systems can enhance
levels of primary productivity, and since grazing also changes
vegetation structure, the amount and type of animals in the community
may also be affected. Since the diet of the Pacific Black Brant is
almost 100% eelgrass, and there over 15,000 birds in the bay during
mid-spring, CA Sea Grant has funded Dr. Jeff Black (Wildlife, HSU),
myself, our graduate students Susannah Ferson and Adam Frimodig, along
with over 70 students (some from CR!) to experimentally examine the
hypotheses that intermediate levels of Brant grazing on eelgrass result
in maximum eelgrass growth rates, and that grazing will result in a
change in the abundance and size of juvenile Dungeness crab, shrimp, and
smaller fish. My presentation will describe our experimental design and
present some of our data on eelgrass and animal responses to the
treatments.
Dr. Frank Shaughnessy received his doctorate in Botany at the University of
British Columbia where he specialized in seaweed evolutionary ecology.
After a short post-doctoral fellowship he joined the team of botanists in
the Department of Biological Sciences at HSU in 1996 where he now teaches
General Botany, Phycology, an advanced marine ecology class, and a
freshmen seminar. The undergraduate and graduate students learning with
Dr. Shaughnessy have worked on a range of scholarship including seaweed flora
projects, intertidal ecology, and seagrass community ecology. Dr. Shaughness is also
part of a collaborative group of seven CSU campuses called CICORE
(Center for Integrative Coastal Observation, Research, and Education)
that freely provides water quality and habitat map information focused
on our nearshore marine environments. His wife, two children, one German
foreign exchange student, a large black dog, four lizards and a bunch of
fish are happy members of the Humboldt community.
or contact Frank Shaughnessy for further information.
November 28, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Description: We will explore some mathematical models in ecology with particular interest in the probability
of extinction. We will look at measures of vulnerability, risky management strategies and how
reliably models can predict the viability of a species. Species of interest will include blue and fin whales, northern spotted owls, and Pacific salmon.
Rollie Lamberson is an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Humboldt State University where he also coordinated the Environmental Systems Graduate Program. He is founder of the international Resource Modeling Association and was its first president, in addition he was the first person to be named as a Resource Modeling Association Fellow. Rollie edited the international journal Natural Resource Modeling for several years and has been on the editorial boards of a number of other journals.
Rollie's research has been primarily directed at problems involving endangered species and natural resource management. He has been involved in viability studies for the black footed ferret, the Menzies wallflower, and the southwestern willow flycatcher. He built the models for the "Conservation Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl" (the "Thomas Report"). Currently he has a half million dollar grant from the EPA to develop individual-based models for the study of stress on fish populations.
January 30, 2006, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Genetic data have suggested that these 4 chipmunks all diversified from a common ancestor very recently, but how and why these separate species came to be remains unclear. A clearer picture of historical diversification (i.e., the formation of species) can result from fine-scaled genetic analyses. By comparing DNA sequences of many individuals from many populations within each species we can:
These data enable us to test hypotheses regarding the historical and geographic pattern of speciation, e.g., did widening rivers divide formerly intermixing individuals into distinct populations that subsequently became separate species? Also, comparing genetic, anatomical, and behavioral characteristics of the populations provides insight regarding which sorts of features are involved in speciation, at least in this group of animals.
This is a big project Ð very much Òwork-in-progressÓ and owing to the efforts of several students. Extensive field work (lots of camping and chipmunk trapping!) supplemented by museum loans has generated specimens. Analyses include geometric morphometric analysis of genital bones (multivariate statistics!), mitochondrial genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis (playing with real DNA!); and sound analysis of alarm call vocalizations (trying to make chipmunks talk!).
In this talk, I'll be introducing the chipmunks and the evolutionary problem, discussing my approach and methods, and presenting preliminary results.
Karen Reiss is a second year faculty member in the Biology Department at College of the Redwoods. She was born in New York City in 1962, and lived in Marin County, Hong Kong, New Jersey, and New York, before (finally!) settling down in Half Moon Bay, California. After graduating from Half Moon Bay High School she attended UC Santa Cruz, where she received a B.A. with a major in Biology and a minor in Chemistry (1984).
After college she worked for an Emeritus physiologist at Harvard Medical School named John Pappenheimer, a man known for his brilliance as well as his exuberant joy in life and science. Working for Dr. Papp confirmed for Karen that one should always work at what one loves, and so she entered graduate school at Cornell University to study embryology and evolution of vertebrates. A brief stint with quail embryos, developing blood vessels, and a scanning electron microscope was followed by dedication to the anatomy and ecology of ant-eating mammals (anteaters, pangolins, echidnas, aardvarks and armadillos). The time at Cornell resulted in a Ph.D. in Zoology (1997).
Following graduation she taught at Cornell (briefly), College of the Redwoods( briefly), and Humboldt State University (for 8 years). The years in Humboldt County, far from her anteaters, convinced her to find a new project, and so began her work on the evolution of Pacific Northwestern chipmunks, a project that involves gnarly evolutionary questions, tons of field work, and great opportunities for camping with the family and training students.
Around the same time, she was hired as full-time permanent faculty at College of the Redwoods. She now spends virtually all her time doing things she loves -- teaching organismal biology, studying cool stuff, and playing with family and friends.
February 6, 2006, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
The opening page goes on to describe the program as follows:
An applied branch of physics concerned with the application of the concepts and methods of physics to the diagnosis, management, and treatment of human disease. It is allied with medical electronics, bioengineering, and health physics. The main areas of application are treatment of cancer by ionizing radiation (radiation oncology), imaging with x-rays, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance (diagnostic radiology), imaging and treatment with radioisotopes (nuclear medicine), and protection of occupational workers in radiation related industries (health physics). Other areas of study include electroencephalography, electrocardiography, thermography, hyperthermia, optical imaging, and RF and laser surgery.
Dr. Amir Huda in collaboration with UCLA is working on one-dimensional and two-dimensional magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the human brain. The research involves investigating the levels of cerebral metabolites within certain parts of the brain in psychiatric abnormalities and metabolic encephalopathies.
February 13, 2006, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Description: The Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of California constitute the California Desert Floristic Province. Within this region reside some of the most interesting plants and animals found within Californiaºs border. When we think of deserts the image most often conjured is a dry, parched, barren landscape characterized by very little water and too much sunshine. It is true that deserts are arid places, but within the California Desert Floristic Province there are mountains, canyons, and valleys that vary widely in terms of elevation and moisture level. The Mojave Desert is generally higher in elevation and receives rainfall and snow during the cooler winter months. The warmer Sonoran Desert region of California, also called the Colorado Desert, is lower in elevation and receives both winter precipitation and occasional summer rainfall from tropical monsoon storms coming from the south. Because of these differences in climate the two regions are more or less distinct in their flora.
There has been a long term shift in the climate of western North America towards a warmer and drier weather pattern. The plants in this region have evolved special adaptations to deal with the lack of moisture by becoming more water efficient. There are a large percentage of desert plants that have evolved as annuals, growing and flowering during the cool, wet, winter season and spending the summer lying dormant as seeds. Our desert annuals offer some of the most spectacular and showy displays of color found anywhere in the world. Other plants, such as cacti, have evolved special adaptations to store water and minimize water loss. Some desert plants tap into permanent sources of water along washes and desert oasis and grow in a luxuriant manner. The multitude of strategies that plants employ to survive in this hostile environment is truly incredible.
Dr Hogue received his B.A. in botany from Pomona College in 1976. His M.A. in botany follwed in 1981, awarded from the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens/Claremont Graduate School. He received his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Cornell University in 1992.
March 6, 2006, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Description: The Uinta Mountains region for a time was a focus for geological exploration by the great post-Civil War western surveys conducted, by Clarence King (the Fortieth Parallel Survey), Ferdinand Hayden, and John Wesley Powell. The King survey pioneered the practice of constructing topographic maps to serve as the basis for geologic mapping. Powell used KingÕs topographic base map [1876] for his geologic map of the eastern Uinta Mountains [1876]. Hayden hired KingÕs topographer, James Gardiner, to prepare base maps for his Atlas of Colorado [1877].
The core rocks of the range [Uinta Mountain Group] were interpreted by King to be Carboniferous, by Hayden to be Silurian and older, and by Powell to be Devonian. All three recognized a post-Cretaceous upheaval of the range resulting in a generally asymmetric antiformal structure.
King (1878) noted that ÒThe effect of post-Cretaceous action ... was ... the formation of distinct folds, of which the Wahsatch [sic] and Uinta are the most powerful examples, ... [and] ... the relative upheaval of old Archean ranges.ÉÓ
Powell (1876) felt that ÒThe Uinta Mountains have been produced by the degradation of a great upheaved block having its axis in an east and west direction. ... From the axis on either side the beds are flexed in a gentle curve to the north and south for many miles until the flanks of the range are reached, where the beds are seen to drop down by abrupt flexures or faults, and the lines of maximum displacement are parallel with the axis. [which] ... suggests the application of vertical pressure from below.Ó
Hayden (1872) felt that ÒA narrow belt, comprising the highest peaks and ridges, with the curves, pyramids, and cones, seems to have been lifted up by forces acting nearly vertical.ÉÓ
All three thus appreciated the onset of Laramide tectonics, and also noted a termination of marine sedimentation and contemporaneous onset of accumulation of fluvial and lacustrine sediments in basins flanking the Uinta Mountains. ÒOver a considerable portion of this enclosed area, the then latest rocks, the Laramie, were left either horizontal or in gentle folds. ... Littoral and estuarial fauna, together with the Dinosaurians, perished with the revolution which created this basin.Ó (King, 1878).
K. R. Aalto is a Professor Emeritus of Geology at Humboldt State University. He received his PhD in Geology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1970. His research interests are in sedimentary tectonics, stratigraphy, igneous petrology and structural geology of the Franciscan Complex and Neogene rocks of northern California, volcanic geology of the Modoc Plateau, Pleistocene geology of the Bahamas Platform, and the history of science. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.
March 13, 2006, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Description:
Come to the colloquium on March 13th to find out the answers to these
questions and for more general information about the bird flu.
Some URLs.
Read about the Avian Influenza at the World Health Organiztion.
Read about the Avian Influenza at the Center for Disease Control.
March 27, 2006, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Description: Using some simple physical demonstrations, I will explore the ideas of bifurcation and stability. Some of the equipment I'll use includes a tennis racket, a hairdryer, and a glass of water (though not all at the same time). After this talk you will be able to identify three types of bifurcations, the turning point, the pitchfork, and the Hopf, both by physical example and from their basic equations.
Beth Burroughs is a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics at HSU, specializing in mathematics education. She has a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of New Mexico, where her research focused on the stability and bifurcation analysis of a fluid flow problem. Her professional experience includes two years as a high school mathematics teacher in the Atlanta, GA area. A new experience for her is helping students with their math homework on live TV (Homework Hotline on KEET 13). She has two sons, Owen and Hugh.
April 10, 2006, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Decription: The fungi were among the oldest living organisms on the earth. They have retained many biosynthetic pathways that have been lost in more highly evolved plants and animals. Many of these unusual chemical reactions are like reactions normally carried out by modern synthetic organic chemists. This lecture will highlight some of the "unusual chemistry" of mushrooms and review the chemistry of mushroom toxins including psychotropic compounds. The author's research on mushroom chemistry, will be included in this lecture.
April 17, 2006, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Description: Many harbor entrances on the West Coast are very dangerous for vessels to transit because they are frequently plagued by hazardous wave conditions. The more notable of these dangerous harbor entrances have telling nick names, such as the "Graveyard of the Pacific" located at the Columbia River harbor entrance. Others have light hearted names that reflect an attitude of denial or defiance towards the hazard. "Potato Patch Shoal," for example, lies just outside the entrance to San Francisco Bay and was named for the potato barges that capsized there more than a century ago. Both of these large harbor entrances, along with many smaller ones throughout Washington, Oregon, and California have a history of taking lives that continues today in spite of improvements in marine safety technology.
The goal of this project was to develop a system of computer models that would predict hazardous wave conditions at the entrance to Humboldt Bay. It was envisioned that the resulting predictions would serve as a planning tool for mariners to decide when it was safe to enter or exit Humboldt Bay. The system of models addresses the characteristics of the physical system that lead to hazardous waves. These include the wave climate, sea floor topography, local winds, and tidal current. The solution employed was heavily influenced by the human psychology associated with hazardous harbor entrances. For example, the model does not just predict waves for the official channels that transit the harbor entrance because mariners often take short cuts that go outside of the channels.
This project served as a pilot study and the resulting technology is currently being applied in three other harbor entrances, including the "Graveyard of the Pacific" and the "Potato Patch Shoal." Greg Crawford of the HSU Oceanography Department is co-principal investigator.
Troy Nicolini started at El Camino Community College before going on to UC Davis for a B.S in Computer Science and an M.S. in Civil Engineering. Troy's graduate studies focused on river and coastal hydraulics. He spent his first ten years of professional experience working at a research lab of the US Army Corps of Engineers, where he developed computer models for river hydraulics. Since 1998, Troy has been with NOAA's National Weather Service in Eureka where he currently serves on the management team. His research work at the NWS has focused on ocean wave forecasting, both in the near shore as well as offshore regions.
April 24, 2006, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Bio: Paul Burgess earned a B.S. in Computer Information Systems with a minor in Applied Mathematics from Humboldt State University in 1999. After spending three years working as an application developer in San Francisco, he returned to HSU to pursue an M.S. in Environmental SystemsÐ Mathematical Modeling, a degree which he received in December 2004. Paul's graduate research focused on developing and implementing a model of the ground covered by the clearance apparatus of a landmine clearance vehicle. His scholarship was recognized when he received the 2005 Humboldt State University Patricia O. McConkey Outstanding Thesis Award, and the 2006 Western Association of Graduate Schools and University Microfilms International Distinguished Master's Thesis Award. PaulÕs collaboration with Dr. Ken Owens of the Humboldt State University Mathematics Department resulted in the two of them being named 2004 Tech Museum Awards Laureates and the 2004 Tech Museum Awards Intel Environment Award Winner. Since graduating, Paul has co-founded Cognisense Labs with Dr. Ken Owens in an effort to continue their fruitful partnership.
May 8 2006, Room PS113, 11:30-12:30
Continuous, accurate determination of the spacecraft's orbit was critical for the success of this mission. Navigating this spacecraft provided many challenges: three orbits about the sun, an Earth gravity assist swingby, an encounter with a small body, a very active attitude control system, and a soft-landing on Earth. Through the process of orbit determination, we calculated where the spacecraft was, the possible errors in that calculation, and where the spacecraft would be in the future. Using Stardust to illustrate examples, I will discuss the fundamentals of orbit determination for interplanetary missions and how they were applied to safely return Stardust back to Earth.
Bio: Paul Thompson spent most of his childhood in Eureka--from attending Freshwater Elementary to graduating from Eureka High School in 1987. He received a B.S. in physics and an M.S. in geophysics from UCLA before working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as a sequence integration engineer for Galileo. JPL is a federally funded research and development facility managed by the California Institute of Technology for NASA. He later completed a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in 2004, having conducted research into data processing challenges for the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) mission and comparing the GRACE time-variable gravity products to models of global hydrology. In March 2005, Paul returned to JPL and is currently an Orbit Determination Analyst for the Outer Planets Navigation group. His most recent work has supported Stardust's return to Earth, GRACE data processing, and studies for future orbiter missions to Europa.