University News
Vinod Vows $1m for IPR Law School
INFOUSA CEO and IIT (Kharagpur) alumnus Vinod Gupta announced at the IIT convocation that he would provide $1 million seed capital for the establishment of an intellectual law school on the Kharagpur campus.
Named after late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, the law school — the first of its kind in the country —- will accommodate 30 to 50 students a year. The first batch will start in July 2006.
Gupta’s announcement is not the first time the alumnus has made a major impact on IIT – the school diversified into business management 12 years ago with the Vinod Gupta School of Management.
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Wachovia Donates $200,000 To Fund Leadership Speakers Series at UTD
The Leadership Center at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) has received a $200,000 grant from Wachovia Bank to fund the center’s 2005-2006 Excellence in Leadership Speakers Series. The center is part of UTD’s School of Management.
The Excellence in Leadership Speakers Series features prominent leaders, scholars, government officials, business executives and others who share their experiences with UTD students, faculty, staff and others from the Dallas community.
As part of this year’s series, four-star Gen. Tommy Franks will speak on the UTD campus on Thursday, Oct. 27, and later that evening deliver a dinner address, titled “Leadership, Management… and the Difference,” at 7 p.m. at the Westin Galleria in Dallas. The second speaker in the Wachovia-sponsored series, well-known business leader and author Jim Collins, is scheduled to give a lecture on April 4.
Gerald Hoag, director of The Leadership Center at UTD, applauded Wachovia’s donation and stressed that it would give a significant boost to the center in achieving its goals of promoting ethical, moral leadership. Hoag noted that the appearance of speakers of the quality of Franks and Collins directly relates to the center’s mission.
“The vision behind The Leadership Center at UTD is the premise that leadership qualities and skills can be learned and improved through a systematic program of classical teaching combined with real-life experiences, imparted by people who are recognized as outstanding leaders. Wachovia’s generosity is making it possible for UTD and Dallas area residents to have an opportunity to learn from the experiences of these two highly respected known leaders, Gen. Tommy Franks and Jim Collins,” Hoag said.
Pete Jones, president of Wachovia’s Dallas-Fort Worth region, said the UTD center’s Excellence in Leadership Speakers Series provides an excellent opportunity for the company to achieve its goal of helping every community where it does business become a “vibrant, safe, economically thriving place for people to live, work and play.
One of the nation’s largest providers of financial services to retail, brokerage and corporate customers, Charlotte, N.C., -based Wachovia established its first six locations in Texas, including one in Dallas, before the end of 2004. Through 2008, Wachovia plans to open 200 branches in Texas – in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston and San Antonio.
“We consider The Leadership Center at UTD an excellent place to invest our time, energy and resources because leadership is a subject very close to our company's core,” Jones said. "Wachovia is committed to developing its current and future leaders as fully as possible.
UTD School of Management Dean Hasan Pirkul, Ph.D. noted that it is through gestures such as Wachovia’s donation that business schools are enabled to better serve the needs of the corporate world.
“By supporting efforts to build better business leaders, Wachovia is making a positive impact that will have results far into the future. The events of the last several years have shown that there is a clear need for leadership. Some leaders in business have failed spectacularly. Many corporations have changed CEO's, some multiple times. That points to the importance of the issue of leadership and the need for its further study. Through this donation, Wachovia is demonstrating its desire to be part of the solution for this important issue in American business today,” Pirkul said.
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UCLA Mathematician Awarded Major DOE Grant to Apply Sophisticated Mathematics to Plasma Physics
UCLA mathematics professor Russel Caflisch has been awarded US$630,000 by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science to apply sophisticated mathematics to complex problems in plasma physics.
Caflisch is also a professor of materials science and engineering, and serves as a trustee of UCLA's Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics.
An applied mathematician who has conducted research on nanotechnology and computational finance, Caflisch and his research team will develop algorithms to solve plasma physics problems. The research is funded under the Office of Science's "Multiscale Mathematics" program. This program addresses those science problems that span many time scales — from femtoseconds to years — and many length scales — from the atomic level to the macroscopic.
In experiments that last but a hundred-millionth of a second, physicists are learning the secrets of plasma — the turbulent, hot, ionized, gas-like matter that may help us destroy toxic waste and chemical and biological weapons, and perhaps help generate clean and virtually unlimited energy through fusion.
In nuclear fusion, atoms collide inside a reactor at extremely high temperature and pressure, releasing energy that can be harnessed to produce electricity. The sun is powered by fusion reactions taking place in its hot dense core. Fusion is a nearly limitless energy source, which may be how electricity will be produced in the future.
A viable fusion power plant requires an understanding of how plasma behaves. Plasma is a turbulent, hot, ionized, gas-like matter that is believed to make up more than 99 percent of the visible universe, including the sun, the stars, galaxies and the vast majority of the solar system. Plasma is a fourth state of matter, distinct from solids, liquids and gases, in which electrons have been stripped away to leave positively charged atoms or molecules. The Earth is too cold for plasmas to exist here naturally.
Plasmas could have many practical uses, including plasma torches that cut through steel like butter, weigh no more than a pencil and may eventually be used to destroy toxic waste; devices that instantly destroy chemical and biological weapons; and devices into which garbage can be thrown and recycled.
Much about plasmas and how they behave remain very poorly understood.
Plasmas are very odd. Remarkably, the temperature in a plasma within a magnetic field can differ tremendously in different directions.
Caflisch's plasma research is interdisciplinary, involving physics and engineering, as well as mathematics. The funds will enable him to hire postdoctoral scholars, as well as graduate students and undergraduates, who will collaborate on the research.He will work with researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, as well as UCLA.
UCLA runs a DOE-funded Fusion Science Center, called the Center for Multiscale Plasma Dynamics, along with the University of Maryland. The center is contributing to our understanding of plasma physics, and the quest for fusion.
Under the Department of Energy's Office of Science "Multiscale Mathematics"program, researchers will use mathematics to help solve problems such as the production of clean energy, pollution cleanup, manufacturing ever smaller computer chips, and making new nanomaterials.
DOE announced 13 major research awards to 17 universities and eight DOE national laboratories.
The multiscale mathematics program seeks to help break through the current barriers in understanding complex physical processes that occur on a wide range of interacting length and time scales. The current state-of-the-science in the theory and modeling of complex physical systems generally requires that the physical phenomena being modeled either occur at a single scale, or widely separated scales with little or no interaction.
Complex physical systems frequently involve interactions among many phenomena at many different scales. Increases in computational power over the last decade have enabled scientists to begin creating sophisticated models with fewer simplifying assumptions. For these new models to succeed, researchers will need a deeper understanding of the mathematics of phenomena at multiple scales and how they interact.
DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the nation.
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Physicist Receives National Award from U.S. Department of Energy
Owen Long, an assistant professor of physics at the University of California, Riverside, has received the 2005 U.S. Department of Energy's Outstanding Junior Investigator award. The award is one of only seven issued nationally this year.
Long, who joined the UCR faculty in 2004 from UC Santa Barbara, is an authority in the experimental study of particle-antiparticle symmetry, which is related to the dominance of matter over antimatter in our universe. His award-winning proposal is titled A Program to Study CP Asymmetries in Penguin-dominated B Decays at BaBar.
Long is spending the summer at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) where he is one of about 600 physicists from 10 countries taking part in the BaBar experiment. The experiment collides electrons with their anti-particle counterparts to produce pairs of subatomic particles called b quarks.
With his BaBar colleagues, Long is studying a line of physics called CP violation, which concerns itself with the subtle ways in which matter and antimatter behave differently. The current theory of CP Violations says that shortly after the big bang -- thought to be the seminal event at the beginning of the universe -- there were equal amounts of matter and antimatter, but somehow matter now populates the universe.
The Outstanding Junior Investigator Award will support Long's research with about $80,000 annually for three years. His is one of only two accelerator-based research proposals awarded from a field of seven submissions in this area.
Long's fellow award recipients include colleagues from the University of Connecticut, the University of Wisconsin, Kansas State University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania. He joins fellow UCR recipients John Ellison in 1993 and John William Gary in 1992.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy's Web site, the Outstanding Junior Investigator program in high-energy physics began in 1978 to identify exceptionally talented new high-energy physicists early in their careers and to support the development of their research programs.
In recent years, about one in six proposals have been successful. The Department of Energy received 65 proposals for its OJI Award this year. Since its inception, 185 scientists have received OJI Awards.
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Two New Degree Programs Approved by Board of Regents
Two new graduate degrees at institutions in The University of Texas System were approved by the Board of Regents on Thursday (August 11). The programs will go to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for final approval.
The programs include:
A Ph.D. in anthropology at UT San Antonio. The program – to be offered by the Department of Anthropology in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts – is designed to prepare leading professionals in the field of ecological anthropology, which directs anthropological knowledge toward the resolution of real-world problems.
A doctor of physical therapy (DPT) degree at UT Southwestern Medical Center – Dallas. This clinical/professional degree will replace the current master of physical therapy (MPT) degree which is being discontinued. The objectives of the DPT program support graduating students who are competent generalist practitioners.
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Biologists Crack Genetic Code for Specialized Spider Silk
Two biologists at the University of California, Riverside, have uncovered the molecular structure of the gene for the protein that female spiders use to make their silken egg cases. The discovery will help biotechnologists develop applications for spider silk and will shed light on spider evolution.
Assistant Professor of Biology Cheryl Hayashi and postdoctoral researcher Jessica Garb characterized the variants of the protein (TuSp1) used by 12 species of spiders to make egg-case silk. They found strong similarities in the lengthy amino acid sequences of the proteins among species that diverged at least 125 million years ago.
Garb and Hayashi published their findings in the Aug. 1 Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science. Their paper is titled Modular Evolution of Egg Case Silk Genes Across Orb-Weaving Spider Superfamilies.
The findings are important, in part, because the mechanical properties of the various types of spider silk ? their elasticity, tensile and breaking strength ? are dependent on the sequence of amino acids that form the silk proteins.
Spider silks have just begun to be considered in the improvement of a wide variety of products such as super-strong body armor, specialty rope, and surgical microsutures.
Spiders use silk to move, trap and store food, and to reproduce. Different proteins are made and mixed in silk glands, creating a silk suited to each task. For instance, web-weaving spiders use dragline silk, which is very strong, as a frame for their wagon-wheel-like webs and a different type of silk, known as capture silk, to fill in the web. Capture silk is more elastic than the dragline variety, and is sticky to entrap prey. Of the seven types of silk spiders produce, the fibers used to encase spider eggs are of exceptional strength and durability.
"The protein of the egg-case fibers has a different function altogether from that of the other silks such as dragline or capture silks," Garb said. "Egg-case silk has to last a long time and therefore must be durable under a wide variety of conditions, from freezing to very high temperatures. It needs to be strong enough to protect the eggs from threats such as predators, parasites and molds."
Despite all this, the molecular sequences of the genes that encode spider silks are only partially known. Garb and Hayashi suggest there are many more spider silk genes waiting to be found.
Spider silk genes are composed of long repeating sequences, or modules, and a mutation in one repeat can be spread to adjacent repeats, an example of concerted evolution. Cracking the molecular structure for silk is important not only for the development of products but for those like Hayashi and Garb who study the evolutionary biology of spiders.
Comparison with 25 other spider silk genes showed few similarities, implying that the protein TuSp1 arose by gene duplication followed by substantial sequence evolution.
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U-M Team Momentum wins North American Solar Challenge
The University of Michigan solar car Team Momentum finished first in the North American Solar Challenge that began 10 days ago and ended last week at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
The U-M team earned its fourth national championship—the most of any university—since competition began in 1990. This is the eighth-generation solar car. About 20 other university teams participated in the race this year.
Momentum’s final time was 53 hours and 59 minutes. Second place was University of Minnesota with a time of 54 hours and 11 minutes. Two decisive moments in the close race led to the victory.
Another moment came Tuesday evening when, at the 11th hour, the team compiled an emergency 55-page appeal to dispute 40 minutes of penalties for alleged speeding violations. The brief included in-car data, graphs, charts and maps to prove that the car at no time exceeded the speed limit. Momentum submitted the brief at 7 p.m. and three hours later the judges announced they had retracted all but four minutes in penalties. Momentum started the last leg with a crucial 11 minute, 49 second lead over its closest competitor, the University of Minnesota—a lead they were able to keep.
The 2,500-mile race, which began July 17 in Austin, Texas, and ended in Calgary, is the longest NASC to date, traveling through six states, three provinces and two countries.
The students on Team Momentum have been designing, fine-tuning and promoting the car for two years.
Following this win, the team expects to compete in the World Solar Challenge in September in Australia, which includes industry and university teams. U-M teams have twice placed third in the World Solar Challenge.
The contest is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Natural Resources Canada, DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, TransAlta, University of Calgary, CSI Wireless, AMD and Manitoba Transportation and Government Services.
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Alteration of Brain Protein Regulates Learning
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a biochemical switch that affects how neurons fire in a part of the brain associated with learning, findings that may aid in understanding schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease.
The research sheds new light on the action of reelin, a protein known to be important in the nervous system. During development, reelin sends cues to migrating neurons, telling them where they're supposed to go. In adult mice, reelin has recently been implicated in the formation of memories, and reduced production of reelin has been associated with schizophrenia in humans.
In a report published in the Aug.18 issue of the journal Neuron, Dr. Joachim Herz , professor of molecular genetics and a member of the Center for Basic Neuroscience at UT Southwestern and the paper's senior author, studied an area of the brain called the hippocampus, which is important for learning. He and his colleagues focused on the interaction of reelin and two other molecules, Apoer2 and the NMDA receptor.
In the nervous system the NMDA receptor is embedded in the membrane of synapses - gaps between nerve cells - where it is involved in receiving signals from other nerve cells. Apoer2 is another receptor which is associated with the NMDA receptor. When reelin encounters the cell, it attaches to Apoer2, which then boosts the activity of the NMDA receptor by promoting a chemical modification of the part of the NMDA receptor inside the cell. The result of this modification is that signals being received by the nerve cell are amplified - and better reception means better learning.
This transition in the primary function of Apoer2, from guiding neurons in the embryonic brain to regulating synaptic signaling, occurs around the time of birth. A small string of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, gets added near one end of Apoer2 and is essential for this new function. Adding the new amino acids is similar to cutting a rope, splicing in a short portion, and lashing the ends in place.
This longer form of Apoer2 is necessary for reelin to act upon the NMDA receptor, Dr. Herz and his colleagues found. When reelin binds to the longer Apoer2, the NMDA receptor alters its structure and actions, resulting in the strengthening of the signals the nerve cells receive.
When the researchers created mutant mice in which Apoer2 was missing the spliced portion, they found that the mice had difficulties with learning and memory. They were slow to learn where a hidden platform was in murky water, among other tasks, and when the electrical activity of neurons was measured in the hippocampus of these mice there was no longer any detectable reaction to reelin.
Thus, the extra string of amino acids in Apoer2 seems to work like a switch that patches the reelin signal through to the NMDA receptor and, thereby, plays a central role for learning and memory in the whole animal.
In addition to reelin, Apoer2 binds to a protein called ApoE. One form of this molecule, called ApoE4, has been shown to substantially increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease in older people. Understanding how ApoE4 functions in the brain and interacts with ApoE receptors, such as Apoer2, is critical for gaining further insight into the mysterious mechanisms that cause this debilitating neurodegenerative disease, Dr. Herz said. The loss of synapses that occurs in Alzheimer's disease is the primary cause for the dementia in the afflicted patients.
Other UT Southwestern researchers involved in the study were Dr. Uwe Beffert, postdoctoral researcher in biophysics and molecular genetics and lead author of the study; Dr. Robert Hammer , professor of biochemistry; Dr. Wei-Ping Li , assistant professor of cell biology; Andre Durudas, student research assistant in internal medicine; and Irene Masiulis, student research assistant in biophysics and molecular genetics. Researchers from Vanderbilt University, Baylor College of Medicine and the Center for Neuroscience in Freiburg, Germany, also participated.
The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Alzheimer's Association, the Wolfgang Paul Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the American Health Assistance Foundation, the Human Frontier Science Program, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
