Friday, October 30, 2009

“FSU biology professor makes science fun - Tallahassee Democrat” plus 4 more

“FSU biology professor makes science fun - Tallahassee Democrat” plus 4 more

FSU biology professor makes science fun - Tallahassee Democrat

Posted: 29 Oct 2009 11:12 PM PDT

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But Erickson is foremost a researcher, an investigator who is continuing to make discoveries about dinosaurs.

He was the lead author in a paper published earlier this month in the online journal PLoS that concluded that the world's first bird — archaeopteryx — was in fact not a bird but a dinosaur. That paper (his team included colleagues from New York's American Museum and other universities) has resulted in stories in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

"Greg's as deep as anybody we have on campus. He's able to connect things where other people don't often see the connections," says Joseph Travis, dean of FSU's College of Arts and Sciences and a member of the biology department. "It's almost unfair to the rest of us.

"It doesn't hurt that his research is on things that really grab people, but the fact is that no matter what he would be working on it would really grab people."

Erickson and his wife, Kate, have two daughters. He also plays competitive softball and likes to go fishing.

"You've got to prioritize, you have to strike that balance," he says. "Besides your own children, your grad students are your children as well.

"I feel it's my job to take care of my graduate students. Their parents got them this far and it's up to me to take them the rest of the way. We need to make them marketable."

Paul Gignac, who hopes by April to have a Ph.D. in biology with a specialty in evolutionary biomechanics, is one of Erickson's "children." Erickson has even recruited Gignac to play drums during his auditorium lectures for freshmen.

"He (Erickson) is as sharp as he is outgoing when he teaches," Gignac says. "I find it remarkable on top of all this stuff he does, he also has time for a family and a social life. I hope I can strike that balance."

Erickson travels the world to look at dinosaur specimens. In the past decade he's been to Australia; the Gobi dessert; Alberta, Canada; and the north slope of Alaska, not to mention multiple visits to the Museum of Natural History in New York, where he's listed as a research associate. He was a leading scientist with the team that first discovered the age in which Tyrannosaurus Rex lived.

Erickson also takes time at least once a month to visit elementary and middle schools, making the magical world of dinosaurs come alive for youngsters.

"Greg really believes if he can engage kids at an early age in science, they may pursue it as a career," his wife, Kathy, says. "That's really important to him and he's very committed to that."

Erickson speaks in waterfall-like rushes; he moves about an auditorium with non-stop energy. He is a professor who is doing what he loves.

"There's never been a more exciting time to be in my field," Erickson says. "It's boundless what we don't know."

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    Trees Facilitate Wildfires As a Way to Protect Their Habitat - US News and World Report

    Posted: 30 Oct 2009 07:26 AM PDT

    Fire is often thought of as something that trees should be protected from, but a new study suggests that some trees may themselves contribute to the likelihood of wildfires in order to promote their own abundance at the expense of their competitors.

    The study, which appears in the December 2009 issue of the journal The American Naturalist, says that positive feedback loops between fire and trees associated with savannas can make fires more likely in these ecosystems.

    "We used a mathematical model to show that positive feedback loops between fire frequency and savanna trees, alone or together with grasses, can stabilize ecological communities in a savanna state, blocking conversion of savannas to forest," said the study's leading author Brian Beckage, associate professor in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of Vermont. The study's co-authors are William Platt, professor of biology at Louisiana State University, and Louis Gross, director of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and mathematics at the University of Tennessee. Beckage was a short-term visitor conducting research at NIMBioS in 2009 and will be on sabbatical at NIMBioS in 2010.

    The promotion of fire by the savanna trees increases their own abundance by limiting the establishment and growth of tree species that are better competitors for resources and that might ultimately displace the savanna trees. The research results suggest that some trees may modify or "engineer" their environment, including the characteristic fire frequencies in a landscape, to facilitate their own persistence at the expense of their competitors, Beckage said.

    The research proposes a scenario for the development of savannas in landscapes that would otherwise become closed forests. Examples of savanna trees that facilitate frequent low-intensity fires include the longleaf pine and the south Florida slash pine, both of which frequently shed their needles, providing fodder for wildfires. The savanna tree initially invades grassland, but by facilitating frequent fires, it limits its own density and thus prevents conversion to a forest.

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    GREENBioPharma -- Dec. 2-3, 2009 - Genetic Engineering News

    Posted: 30 Oct 2009 08:38 AM PDT

    Oct 30 2009, 11:21 AM EST

    GREENBioPharma -- Dec. 2-3, 2009

    EUREKALERT

    Contact: Harriet I. Matysko
    HMatysko@bioconferences.com
    914-740-2182
    Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

    Sheraton Society Hill Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa.

    New Rochelle, NY, October 30, 2009Sponsored by Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN) and organized by BioConferences International, Inc., GREENBioPharma is the first conference that explores the entire range of possibilities and technologies available for sustainable life science organizations. The conference will focus not only on tools and methods, but also on the economic rationales for implementing them. Presenters from leading pharma/biotech companies will focus on what has worked for them, and how you can apply these strategies as your pharmaceutical or biotechnology facility evolves toward sustainability.

    Biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry professionals, architects, engineers, and waste-management specialists interested in designing and maintaining sustainable operations in facilities, laboratories, and manufacturing processes all will come to learn how to reduce their company's carbon footprint, while lowering costs.

    This two-day event, at the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel, Philadelphia, will commence Wednesday morning December 2 and will conclude Thursday evening. Continental breakfasts, lunches, and networking breaks will be held in the exhibit hall adjacent to the plenary session room.

    Sponsors - Corporate - Waters Media Sponsors: GEN, ASSAY and Drug Development Technologies, BioPharm, Environmental Engineering Science, Human Gene Therapy, IJEST, Industrial Biotechnology, OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology, PharmaVoice, Stem Cells and Development, Sustainability: The Journal of Record, and Tissue Engineering

    For registration or sponsorship visit: www.bioconferences.com/greenbiopharma

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    St. Joseph-Ogden, UI graduate dies in Baghdad - News-Gazette

    Posted: 30 Oct 2009 04:27 AM PDT

    St. Joseph-Ogden, UI graduate dies in Baghdad

    ST. JOSEPH – A coach and teacher remembered Army Maj. David L. Audo, a University of Illinois graduate from St. Joseph who died Tuesday in Baghdad, as a great athlete and a better student.

    Jim Acklin said that in his 31 years in education, he met more than 5,000 students, and Maj. Audo stood out, both on the St. Joseph-Ogden High School track team and in honors biology.

    "His sense of humor sticks out, and he was ornery in a good way," Acklin said Wednesday.

    The Defense Department reported that the highly decorated military police officer, 35, died Tuesday in Baghdad of injuries sustained in a non-combat-related incident.

    The cause remains under investigation, and no other details were available from a Defense Department spokeswoman.

    According to the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune, he was assigned in July to Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment of the 22nd Military Police Battalion at Fort Lewis, Wash., and at the time of his death was serving as executive officer for the battalion's forward element in Iraq.

    Audo

    Audo's military career began after receiving his officer commission in 1997. He took his first military police assignment in Schweinfurt, Germany, served two deployments in Kosovo between 1999 and 2001, did a tour of Iraq in 2003, deployed to Afghanistan in 2005, and in 2006 started a three-year stint as a provost marshal in Southport, N.C.

    He was a 1992 graduate of St. Joseph-Ogden High School who went to the UI on a ROTC scholarship, according to News-Gazette files. His civilian education included a bachelor's degree in architecture from the UI in 1998 and a master's degree in business from Webster University in St. Louis in 2002.

    He married Rebecca K. Johnson in 1998 in Danville. According to her Web site, they have a son, Austin David, born in 1999, and a daughter, Ashley Marie Elizebeth, born in 2002.

    Funeral arrangements have not yet been made.

    Acklin said Maj. Audo was on the track team as a sprinter, running dashes and relays.

    "The team he was on in the spring of 1992 was arguably the strongest dual-meet team we ever had," Acklin said.

    Acklin also saw the future major in advanced biology class.

    "He was a good student. In senior honors biology, you have to be pretty motivated. He always had a smile on his face, and was excited to be in class. He was part of a group of fun yet challenging students to teach; you had to bring your A game," he said.

    Acklin said Maj. Audo was also in the drama club.

    On Tuesday, roadside bombings in Afghanistan also killed at least seven soldiers from Fort Lewis, bringing the total U.S. troops killed there in October to at least 55.

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    Science teachers from Italy visit Medford High School - Abington Mariner

    Posted: 30 Oct 2009 06:58 AM PDT

    Nine high school science teachers and a principal from the Milano area, Italy recently visited Medford High School, accompanied by Dr. Carlo Cipollone, education officer of the Italian consulate in Boston.

    These educators are here thanks to a partnership program with MIT, which facilitates collaborations between educators in Italy and the USA. In addition to participating in MIT programs, this particular group of Italian educators visited three local high schools: Medford High School, Newton North High School and Everett High School.

    They had very positive comments about their visit to Medford High School from its beautiful location, to the structure of the school and the well-behaved students.

    Their day at Medford High School started with espresso and biscotti and then concurrently observed three classes each: Mr. Contrada's AP chemistry class, Mrs. Carnabucci biology I standard class, Ms. Carmosino's Earth science class, Mr. Cieri's honors biology class, Mr. Lazzaro's standard chemistry class, Mr. Wilsons' anatomy and physiology class and Mr. Wadness' honors physics class.

    After attending classes, our visitors enjoyed an Italian luncheon with the above named Medford science teachers, Headmaster Paul Krueger, Superintendent of Schools Roy Belson, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Beverly Nelson, Director of Science and Mathematics Carolyn Joy, Secretary of the Math and Science Department Maria Arcieri, Director of Elementary Education Diane Caldwell, School Committee member Lina DiGiantommaso and Foreign Language Coordinator Rita DiCarlo.

    After lunch, the visiting team shared some observations and comments. They expressed that the scope of their visit was to research the best methodologies for student success and motivation. They hope that they can develop a future exchange where they could host some teachers from Medford High in Italy and share some common effective methodologies. 

    They found their experience at Medford High School to be very valuable to them. The main difference that they noticed from their observations in comparison to their respective schools is that the lessons at Medford High School were more hands on and that students were more involved. They observed a lot of cooperative learning. 

    They added that the teachers had a very good rapport with their students and that they used a lot of positive reinforcement. In Italy classes are more teacher-centered. 

    This group of teachers reflected on the effectiveness of the American way of teaching and said that they should seriously consider changing their perspective and become more student-centered which appears to be a more effective method. 

    Another main difference that they noticed between the two systems is that our students only take five major subjects that meet close to one hour per day for a total of five hours per week. In Italy high school students take about 10 subjects which only meet two or three hours per week.

    Medford High School science teacher were very happy to have the Italian teachers observe their classes. Their only regret is that they didn't have enough time to talk with them not only about pedagogy, but also about cooperating. 

    The accompanying principal suggested that we could explore setting up problem solving through technology where Medford students could work with their counterparts in Italy. 

    Overall it was a positive experience for everyone involved. 

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