Upcoming Events

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Edward Larson To Speak on Evolution Teaching Controversy (Oct. 24)

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dr. Edward J. Larson will speak on the longstanding controversy over the teaching of evolution in an address at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) on Monday, Oct. 24.

The talk, titled “The Evolution Teaching Controversy: From the Scopes Trial to Today,” will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in Karl Hoblitzelle Hall, Room 2.402. It will be free and open to the public.

Larson is the Russell Professor of History and Talmadge Professor of Law at the University of Georgia. He writes about issues of law, science and medicine from an historical perspective and is the author or co-author of nine books and more than 100 articles. Among his books is Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Creation and Religion, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1998.

Larson’s appearance at UTD is part of the Legal Studies Lecture Series, which was begun last year to bring to campus top scholars and others in the legal field as an enrichment experience for pre-law students, the broader university community and the public. For additional information about the event, please call Dr. Pamela Brandwein, associate professor of sociology and government and politics, at 972-883-2934.

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The Brain: An Owner's Guide – Insights into Senior Moments (Oct. 25)

Dr. John Hart, Jr. is giving the third in the The Brain: An Owner’s Guide series at 7:00pm on October 25 at the Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas’ Fogelson Auditorium located at 8200 Walnut Hill Lane, in Dallas. There is $25 charge to attend. Do you wonder why you forget the name of something at a critical time and hope that it will "pop" into your mind before embarrassment arises? These "senior moments" occur due to asynchrony in the brain cells that retrieve the stored information for objects such as features, categories, emotions and labels. When the brain synchronizes the stored information, you feel the name of what you were trying to remember "pop back in", hopefully just in the nick of time. For further information or to reserve a seat, contact Jennifer Zientz at 214-905-3007 or online at www.centerforbrainhealth.org. The presentation is sponsored by Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas & the Neuroscience Center at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas.

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Department of Energy to Discuss 20 Year Plan and Receiving Grants (Oct. 26)

A delegation from the Department of Energy (DOE), which includes representation from three national laboratories and the Office of Science, will be giving a presentation on what projects the DOE is planning to fund, how to work with national labs and best practices for getting grant proposals funded.

The day-long conference, which begins at 9am, on October 26, will be held in the Davidson Auditorium in the School of Management Building on The University of Texas at Dallas campus.

The Office of Science in the DOE is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, providing more than 40 percent of total funding. Assistant Director for Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists, Peter Faletra will discuss the DOE’s recently completed “20 Year Plan on Research Emphases” and how researchers can get projects funded.

Lee L Riedinger, Associate Lab Director of the Oak Ridge National Lab, Ken White, Education Director of the Brookhaven National Lab and Harold Myron, director of the Division of Educational Programs of Argonne National Lab will be part of a panel discussion on working with the national laboratories for research.

The presentation is sponsored by The University of Texas at Dallas and The University of Texas at Arlington. There is a $25 charge to attend which includes lunch and handouts. The fee is waived for faculty, staff and students at UTD and UTA. For more information or to register, contact keithly@utdallas.edu or see http://www.utdallas.edu/research/events/doe.html.

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Materials and Processes for Flexible Electronics (Oct. 26)

The next lecture in The University of Texas at Dallas Physics Colloquium will take place  at 4pm Wednesday, October 26 in Kusch Auditorium FN 2.102 on the UTD campus. Professor Bruce Gnade of UTD Depts. of Electrical Engineering and Chemistry will discuss “Materials and Processes for Flexible Electronics.” This event is free and open to the public. High speed, high performance computation will continue to be dominated by silicon-based microelectronics for the foreseeable future. However, there are many applications that would benefit from the development of large area, distributed electronic systems, especially is the systems were rugged, flexible and inexpensive per square foot, even if individual decide performance was relatively low. Dr. Gnade will present results on substrates, materials and devices that are compatible at low temperature, flexible substrates with specific applications for electronic textiles and flexible displays.

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The Father of BioInformatics To Give Lecture at UTD (Nov. 2)

Dr. Hwa Lim, recognized as having coined the word "bioinformatics”, will give a lecture on the future of bioinformatics at The University of Texas at Dallas on November 2. The presentation, which will begin with a reception at 3:30pm in the TI Auditorium (ECSS 2.102), is free and open to the public.

Bioinformatics is a rapidly developing branch of biology and is highly interdisciplinary, using techniques and concepts from informatics, statistics, mathematics, chemistry, biochemistry, physics, and linguistics. The word describes the use of computers to handle biological information. In genome projects, for example, this includes the development of methods to search databases quickly, to analyze DNA sequence information, and to predict protein sequence and structure from DNA sequence data. Bioinformatics is anticipated to impact the health sciences, medicine, and biotech industrial applications.

Dr. Lim is a world-class expert and pioneer in the fields of bioinformatics & computational biology. Currently, he is president & CEO of D'Trends, Inc., a San Ramon, California biotech consultancy. Lim is an author and editor of numerous publications, reviews and books in the field of bioinformatics. He is also an organizer of several key meetings in bioinformatics and computational biology.

This event is sponsored by the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Sigma Xi and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development

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UTD NanoTech Director Ray Baughman Gives Presentation On Innovative Carbon Nanotubes (Nov. 9)

Ray Baughman, Director of the NanoTech Institute at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) will be giving a presentation on the ground-breaking carbon nanotubes that he and fellow NanoTech scientists, along with Australian collaborator Dr. Ken Atkinson from Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), a national laboratory in Australia, developed. It will be held at UTD in the TI Auditorium (ECSS 2.102) on November 9, 2005 at 6:30-7:30pm. The title of the presentation will be “Manufacture and Application of Multifunctional Nanotube Yarns and Textiles.”

The presentation is free and open to the public.

The discovery and production was first published in August 19 issue of the prestigious journal Science. The collaboration between UTD Nanotechnologists and their Australian colleague produced a unique creation of transparent carbon nanotube sheets that are stronger than the same-weight steel sheets and have demonstrated applicability for organic light-emitting displays, low-noise electronic sensors, artificial muscles, conducting appliqués and broad-band polarized light sources that can be switched in one ten-thousandths of a second.

Numerous applications possibilities exist and are being explored at UTD. Baughman and his colleagues have many hopes and ideas for the endless applications of this new discovery, among which they may have it applied to textiles by incorporating it into the fibers of the fabric, in energy as hydrogen storage media, super-capacitors, distributed sensors, fuel cells, in consumer products such as flat screen televisions, camcorders and in medicine as artificial muscles .

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Building A Medical Product Development Services Company In North Texas (Nov. 9)

The Dallas Forum for BioMedical Technology is presenting a talk by Courtland Imel, the founder of Ceutical Laboratories, Inc on November 9. Ceutical Laboratories (CL) specializes in clinical good manufacturing practice (cGMP) compliance.  CL is a full service company offering both regulatory and laboratory testing capabilities for its clients.  The industries CL serves include Pharmaceuticals (including OTC), Medical Devices, Nutraceuticals, Pet Products, Recruiting, and Cosmetics.  Their focus is quality--that's why CL launched the Ceutical Labs Certification Program for manufacturers and suppliers.   Details to follow.

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Seminar Series for Life-long Learners: Teachers – Inquiry in the Science Classroom (Nov. 14)

The Center for Science Education Research at The University of Texas at Dallas is hosting the next in its seminar series for life-long learners with a presentation by Barbara Curry at 6pm on Monday, November 14 at Conference Center Room 1.112 at The University of Texas at Dallas. The 1996 National Science Education Standards define scientific inquiry as a set of interrelated processes by which scientists and students pose questions about the natural world and investigate phenomena. Since publication of the standards, implementation of inquiry-based science instruction has been emphasized. Teacher has struggled, in part due to the difficulty of finding a good teaching model, but also as a result of test-driven curricula. This presentation will help hive teachers a better idea of what inquiry-based science instruction looks like and how it can work in their classroom. This event is free and open to all. For more information, call 972-883-2496.

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Society of Women Engineering Meeting: Combining Work and Family (Nov. 15)

Jolynn Perkins of Perkins and Associates is the guest speaker for the November 15 meeting of the Society of Women Engineers at 6:15pm on Tuesday, November 15 at Nedley’s Restaurant at 1801 North Plano Road. She will be discussing “Combining Work and Family.” For more information contact Jennifer Ray at jray@ppoinc.net or 214-226-6967.

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MIT Forum: The Power of Revolutionary Thinking (Nov. 17)

The MIT Enterprise Forum is presenting a program on “The Power Of Revolutionary Thinking:What Today's Scientists Can Teach You About Driving Innovation In Your Organization” beginning with a reception at 5pm on November 17 in the School of Management Building on The University of Texas at Dallas campus. There is a $25 charge unless you are an MIT Alumnus or student.

The MIT Enterprise Forum, Inc. and the MIT Enterprise Forum of Dallas / Fort Worth present a unique program that looks at how cutting-edge technologies are invented and how these technologies move from laboratory curiosity to real commercial adoption.

Featured panelists include:

• Dr. Robert Cassanova, Director of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts;
• Dr. Penelope J. Boston, Director and Professor, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and Director of Research for Complex Systems Research, Inc.;
• Dr. Bradley Carl Edwards, President and Founder of Carbon Designs, and development leader for the Space Elevator project ;
• Dr. Dava Newman AA '89, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT and a MacVicar Fellow;
• Atlanta program moderator Alf Nucifora, Chairman, Nucifora Consulting Group, and a syndicated columnist on marketing
• and several local panelists

For more details: http://www.mitforum.com/Power.htm

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Information Session on Professional Certificate Programs in Supply Chain Management, Product Lifecycle Management, Lean Six Sigma and Sourcing Management (Nov. 22)

The Center for Intelligent Supply Networks in the School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas is hosting an information session on the Supply Chain Management Master of Science and Professional Certificate Program Opportunities at 6pm on November 22 in the School of Management Room 1.502 on the UTD campus. For more information, call 972-883-4843.

• To register for the Professional Certificate in Supply Chain Management, see https://mgmt.utdallas.edu/reg_forms/c4isn/c4isn_cert_scm_reg.php.
• To register for the Professional Certificate in Product Lifecycle Management, see http://som.utdallas.edu/c4isn/c4isn_programs_plm_cert.htm 
• To register for the Lean Six Sigma – Green Belt Training, , see https://mgmt.utdallas.edu/reg_forms/c4isn/c4isn_cert_sgb_reg.php
• To register for the Online Professional Certificate in Sourcing Management, see https://mgmt.utdallas.edu/reg_forms/c4isn/c4isn_cert_src_reg.php

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5th Annual State of Technology Luncheon (Dec. 1)

The Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce is hosting the 5th Annual State of Technology Luncheon at 11:30am on December 1 at The Fairmont Hotel at 1717 N. Akard St. in Dallas. The event will feature a fireside chat focused on the DFW’s impact on the future of wireless technology. Angel Ruiz from Ericsson, Kris Rinne of Cingular Wireless and Gilles Delfassey of Texas Instruments are scheduled to speak. For more information, contact Charlene Dizon at cdizon@dallaschamber.org or 214-712-1922.