faculty/staff NEWS

Gloria DeFilipps Brush, professor, Department of Art and Design, has her work in the invitational on-line catalog gallery for the national benefit auction for The Photo Review from September to November, 2007. Stephen Perloff, editor and photography critic, invited her submission.

Julie Etterson, assistant professor, Department of Biology, was recently published in the prestigious journal Science. This paper was also selected for inclusion in another journal Nature’s “Faculty of 1000 Biology” that highlights major scientific advances.

Dalibor Froncek, professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, presented a talk “Group products and graph decompositions” at the Combinatorics, Graphs and Network Topology Group Seminar at University of Ballarat, Australia.

Karen Gran, adjunct assistant professor, Department of Geological Sciences, along with Stephanie Day, Carrie Jennings, Andrea Johnson, Wes Lauer, Gary Parker, Lesley Perg, and Peter Wilcock, gave a presentation at the national Geological Society of America meeting in Denver, CO, in October: “Evaluating sediment sources, storage, and policy implications in the agricultural Le Sueur River watershed, central Minnesota.”

Vicki Hansen, professor, Department of Geological Sciences, 2007, “Subduction origin on early Earth: A hypothesis” Geology, v. 35, no. 12, p. 1059-1062.
Hansen, and Richard Maclin, professor, Department of Computer Science, along with UMD student E. Bjonnes, and John B. Swenson, associate professor, Department of Geological Sciences., presented a conference abstract and talk entitled “Equilibrium resurfacing of Venus: Results of Monte Carlo modeling” in Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 39, No. 6, p. 589.

Randall Hicks, professor, Department of Biology, Dennis Hansen (Biology Graduate Student), John Clark (past Biology graduate and UROP recipient), and colleagues from the UM-Twin Cities campus (Satoshi Ishii, Michael Sadowsky) recently had a paper on the “Sources and Sinks of Escherichia coli in Benthic and Pelagic Fish” accepted for publication in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. The results of this study demonstrated that E. coli bacteria are found in benthic fish in the Duluth-Superior harbor, but it may be more appropriate to consider them vectors of E. coli strains from other sources, rather than a new source of E. coli contamination in aquatic environments.

Tom Johnson, professor, Department of Geological Sciences, spent the past two weeks in Germany, first serving on the Safety Panel of the DOSECC (Deep Observations and Sampling of the Earth’s Continental Crust) at a meeting in Cologne (Nov 5-6), where he reviewed plans for drilling projects on lakes in Siberia, Patagonia, Turkey and Israel. Johnson then presented seminars on “D-O Events and Megadroughts in the African Tropics: Results from the Lake Malawi Drilling Project” to the Department of Geography at the Free University of Berlin (Nov. 8) and then to the Institute of Eco-Geology at the University of Braunschweig (Nov. 12). Johnson also attended a Workshop on “Response of North African Ecosystems to Abrupt Climate Change” at the University of Bremen (Nov. 14-16), where he presented more results on the Malawi Drilling Program.

Keith B. Lodge, associate professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, presented a poster entitled “A new method for the measurement of fugacity and the Henry’s law constant for volatile organic compounds containing chromophores” at the SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) North America 28th Annual Meeting, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 11-15.

Daniel Pope, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, presented two papers at the 2007 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Conference and Exposition (IMECE) in Seattle, WA, November 11-15, 2007: Paper IMECE2007-41049, written with Pedersen, W. E.: “Modeling of an Integrated Wind Energy Building”. Paper IMECE2007-43425, written with Raghavan, V. and Gogos, G., “Combined Non-Luminous Flame Radiation and Surface Tension Effects during Methanol Droplet Combustion.”

Professor Emeritus Fred E. Schroeder was named an Alumnus of Notable Achievement of the College of Liberal Arts UM Twin Cities campus at a recognition dinner in Minneapolis on September 25.

Mariana Waisman, assistant professor in Art and Design, had her paper “The effective design of computer based-aids for the teaching and learning of music in elementary education” selected for presentation at the third “IASTED (International Association of Science and Technology for Development) International Conference on Human Computer Interaction (HCI)” to be held in Insbruck, Austria, from March 17 - 19, 2008.

NRRI NEWS

See the next issue of Currents.

MINNESOTA SEA GRANT NEWS

Dale Bergeron, maritime extension educator, gave the presentation, “Ballast Water: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” at a meeting for policy makers about aquatic invasive species in the Great Lakes by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in Duluth during November.

Doug Jensen, aquatic invasive species program coordinator, gave a guest lecture, “It’s Not Just About Zebra Mussels, It’s About Stopping Aquatic Hitchhikers!” to an environmental topics class at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth during October. Jensen also gave a guest presentation, “It’s Not Just About Zebra Mussels, It’s About Stopping Aquatic Hitchhikers!” to 65 eighth grade students at Washburn-Edison School in Duluth during November.

Jesse Schomberg, coastal communities educator, presented “Protecting Duluth’s Streams: New Tools for the Community,” to the Skyline Planning and Preservation Alliance in Duluth during November. He also gave the presentation, “Re-establishing Connections to our Waterways” with Melissa Graftaas (AIA) at the American Institute of Architects Minnesota’s annual convention in Minneapolis during November.

Minnesota Sea Grant staff members organized the Making a Great Lake Superior Conference 2007 held in Duluth at the DECC during October. Staff activities include:

Dale Bergeron, maritime extension educator, co-authored the poster, “Great Lakes Maritime Transportation Education Outreach: A Model for Engaging Students, Teachers, and Communities.”

Steve Bortone, director, presented “Recent Trends in Great Lakes Research: How Does Lake Superior Stack Up?”

Sharon Moen, editor, was a co-author. Bortone also moderated the research workgroup and the closing plenary session, “What Have We Learned and Next Steps.”

Jeff Gunderson, associate director, gave the presentation, “Impacts of Aquatic Invasive Species on the Lake Superior Fishery.”

Cindy Hagley, environmental quality educator, gave two presentations: “Greatest of the Great Lakes: A Medley of Model Lessons,” and “Vessel-Based Climate Change Education: An Example Program. Schomberg co-authored the second presentation. Hagley moderated the K-12 workgroup and organized a teacher/scientist luncheon for the COSEE Project.

Hagley and Schomberg co-authored “Interactive Web-Based Data Visualization for Discovery and Decision-Making: LakeSuperiorStreams.org. They also co-authored “A View From the Lake: Providing Coastal Communities with a New Perspective on Natural Resource Issues.”

Jensen co-chaired the Aquatic Invasive Species: Partners in Action Session and gave two presentations: “Overview of Non-Native Species Introductions into Lake Superior Basin, 1883-2006,” and “Successes in Public Education to Prevent the Spread of AIS: Partnerships That Work!” He also presented a poster, “Get Habitattitude: Prevent the Release of Aquatic Invasive Species from Classrooms.”

Barb Liukkonen, water resources educator, co-authored “Assessing the Impacts of Field Days for Youth.”

Schomberg organized the conference and gave the presentation, “Assessing Beach User’s Knowledge of Rip Currents in Lake Superior.” He also presented the poster, “Hands-On Activities Help Communities Understand Role of Individuals and Local Governments in Protecting Lake Superior,” with Hagley as a co-author.

Marie Zhuikov, communications coordinator, organized two media briefings, including one featuring Governor Tim Pawlenty and polar explorer Will Steger. Coverage of the conference appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Associated Press, Duluth News Tribune, KUMD Radio and other regional radio stations, and local television stations.

Minnesota Sea Grant staff participated in the 2007 Minnesota Water Resources Conference held in Minneapolis during October:
Liukkonen moderated the “Understanding Impacts on Groundwater” session and co-moderated the “Quality of Groundwater, and Important Source of Drinking Water for Minnesotans” session. She gave the presentation, “Social Dimensions of Private Well Testing: Why Don’t People Test Their Well Water?” along with Eleonore Wesserle of the Twin Cities Campus.

Hagley and Schomberg co-authored. “LakeSuperiorStreams.org: Making Stormwater and Stream Data Come Alive for Citizens, Students, Teachers, Contractors, Resource Agencies, Decision-Makers, and Scientists,” by Rich Axler (NRRI); Marion Lonsdale and Todd Carlson, City of Duluth; George Host, Norm Will, Jerry Henneck, Jane Reed, Elaine Ruzycki, and Gerry Sjerven of NRRI.

UM MEDICAL SCHOOL-DULUTH NEWS

On November 7 in Duluth, Jenna M. Mollison was awarded the Annette Boman Women’s Fellowship for Cancer Research. The Fellowship which is awarded to a woman candidate involved with cancer research and honors the memory of Annette Boman, a gifted UMD medical researcher.

Janet Fitzakerley, associate professor in the Physiology and Pharmacology department, has been asked to lead a national subcommittee in charge of promoting National Brain Awareness Week scheduled for March 10-16, 2008.

PHARMACY NEWS

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