John M. Grunsfeld
James A. Pawelczyk
|
|
John M. Grunsfeld, astrophysicist and NASA astronaut, will present a lecture titled "A Physicist in Space" at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, in 117 Osmond Laboratory on the University Park campus.
Grunsfeld will be joined by NASA payload specialist James A. Pawelczyk, assistant professor of applied physiology and kinesiology, for a discussion titled "NASA and the Space Program: Personal Views of Two Shuttle Astronauts" from 8 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, in 112 Kern Graduate Building.
The discussion will feature a debate of current issues critical to the U.S. space program, including the fate of the International Space Station. The lecture and the debate are free to the public.
Grunsfeld has been a member of the NASA Astronaut Corps since 1992. He has completed two space flights with the space shuttle and now serves as chief of the computer support branch in the Astronaut Office, supporting programs for the space shuttle, the International Space Station and advanced technology development. He has been assigned to the third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, scheduled for launch in early 2000.
Pawelczyk, who has been a member of the Penn State faculty since 1995, is known for his research program in neurophysiology. In 1998, he took a leave of absence from Penn State to perform life-science experiments as a payload specialist on NASA's STS-90 Neurolab mission on the Space Shuttle Columbia.
For more information, call Stephane Coutu at (814) 865-2015 or visit the Web at http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/astronauts10-98.htm.
Philip Leder, an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
and the John Emory Andrus professor of genetics at the Harvard Medical School,
will give the 1998 Marker Lectures in Genetic Engineering from Nov. 4-5
at the University Park campus.
The two-lecture series, "The Role of Genetics in Developmental and Tumor Biology," is free to the public.
The lectures include: "A Genetic Approach to the Cancer Problem," at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, in 102 Thomas Building; and "Limb Deformity: A Mouse Mutation Modulating Embryonic Pattern Formation," at 11:15 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, in 101 Althouse Laboratory.
Leder, who is an authority on the genetics of the laboratory mouse, has published more than 300 scientific articles on a wide range of topics.
Best known for his pioneering studies in establishing the genetic basis for diversity of the antibody response, he has recently turned his attention to genes involved in control of development and genes altered in the uncontrolled cell growth of cancer.
A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Leder currently serves as director of the Harvard Institute of Human Genetics. He is a member of various boards of directors for hospitals and medical organizations and has won numerous awards for his work.
Douglas Van Houweling, president and CEO of the University
Corp. for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID), will deliver the 1998 James
R. and Barbara R. Palmer Chair Lecture in Telecommunications Studies at
4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, in Carnegie Cinema on the University Park campus.
As president of UCAID, Van Houweling has played a major role in developing the United States' Internet environment. UCAID is a consortium of U.S. research universities, in collaboration with private and public sector partners, managing the Internet2 project. The project is a consortium of more than 130 U.S. universities working with corporate partners to advance networking technology and applications for the research and education communities.
Van Houweling is chairman of the board of Advanced Network and Services Corp., a nonprofit organization that implemented the world's largest Internet backbone network.
He served on EDUCOM's board and was a founder of its Networking and Telecommunications Task Force and the Interuniversity Consortium for Educational Computing.
The lecture is free to the public. For more information, visit the College of Communications' Web site at http://www.psu.edu/dept/comm.
Sam Donaldson, the broadcast journalist known for his hard-hitting
questions at presidential press conferences, will address current political
issues in his speech "America at a Political Crossroads" on Sunday,
Nov. 8, at 8 p.m. in Eisenhower Auditorium on the University Park campus.
He is appearing as part of the Distinguished Speakers Series.
Donaldson is a familiar presence on ABC News. He is co-anchor of "PrimeTime Live," an interviewer and panelist on "This Week with David Brinkley" and a guest host for "Nightline." Immediately before joining "PrimeTime Live," Donaldson covered the White House beat for 12 years.
Since joining ABC News as its Capitol Hill correspondent in 1967, Donaldson has covered everything from the Vietnam War, the Iranian hostage crisis and Watergate.
This year the National Press Foundation gave Donaldson its "Broadcaster of the Year" award and the Washington Journalism Review named Donaldson the "best television White House correspondent in the business" in 1985, and the "best television correspondent in the business" in 1986, 1987 and 1988.
Following incidents like the World Trade Center attack and the Oklahoma City bombing, many have asked whether terrorism has "come to America." Join Philip Jenkins, distinguished professor of history and religious studies, as he presents "American Terrorism: What Can We Do?" at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at The Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus.
A specialist in the history of right-wing extremism in the United States and American social and political history from 1920 to 1960, Jenkins will examine the history of terrorism in 20th-century America; consider the motives of various groups; and suggest why terrorist campaigns have been defeated or have simply faded away.
Jenkins' free presentation is part of this fall's Huddle with the Faculty, a Penn State Alumni Association outreach program that features presentations by top Penn State faculty before every home football game.
For more information on upcoming speakers in this series, call Mary Jane Stout at (814) 865-5466.
Alan Agresti, professor of statistics at the University of Florida, will deliver the third annual Clifford C. Clogg Memorial Lectureship in Sociology and Statistics at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, in 201 Thomas Building on the University Park campus. The public lecture is titled "A 20th Century Tour of Categorical Data Analysis."
Categorical data describes information obtained by counting things in various categories. This important area of statistics has significant impact because its techniques apply to a wide variety of fields, from medicine to astrophysics.
Agresti has authored four books and has published more than 75 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He has held visiting professorships at various institutions, has served on editorial boards for numerous journals and is an elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association. At the University of Florida he has been designated a 1997-2000 University of Florida research foundation professor.
The lectureship honors the late Clifford C. Clogg, who was distinguished professor of sociology and professor of statistics at Penn State from 1979 to 1995. For more information, call the Department of Statistics at (814) 865-1348.
Christopher S. Celenza, assistant professor of history at Michigan State University, will present a lecture, "Pythagoras and the Sociology of Renaissance Intellectuals: Marsilio Ficino and his Pupil, Giovanni Nesi," at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, in the Palmer Lipcon Auditorium of the Palmer Museum of Art on the University Park campus.
Wood's lecture is part of the 1998-99 College of Arts and Architecture Department of Art History Lecture Series, "The Presence of the Past in Renaissance Art and Culture." The series is co-sponsored by Penn State's Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies.
The lecture is free to the public, and a reception will follow.
The majesty of humpback whales will be showcased during a video presentation by Feodor Pitcairn at Penn State Abington at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in room 112 of the Woodland Building.
Filmed on the Silver Bank off the Dominican Republic, the video shows as many as 1,000 humpback whales as they meet to sing complex love songs, compete for mates and bring up their young. Pitcairn has devoted his life to the marine world, producing an archive that chronicles his extraordinary ocean experiences.
Admission is $10 per person. Proceeds of this event benefit scholarships for students at Penn State Abington. Pre-registration is requested but not required. For more information and registration, call Sally Reinitz at (215) 881-7368.
John Nieman, vice chairman and worldwide creative director of the advertising agency D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B), will visit the College of Communications at University Park on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 9 and 10, to speak to students and faculty under the auspices of the Ambassador Program of The Advertising Educational Foundation.
In addition to visiting classrooms and participating in informal discussions with students and faculty about advertising as it applies to other disciplines, Nieman will give a free presentation, "If It's Funny, Does It Sell?" at 8 p.m. Nov. 10 in the Carnegie Cinema.
Nieman is responsible for the creative vision that guides the work of all of DMB&B's offices worldwide, and also serves as chief executive creative officer for the company's New York office, where he is based. He joined the company in 1989, and currently serves on its board of directors.
Throughout his career, Nieman has been responsible for creating campaigns for such clients as Coca-Cola, AT&T and Hallmark. He is director and creative chairman of the Ad Council, a member of the American Association of Advertising Agencies' Creative Committee and an active leader in the Partnership for a Drug Free America.
Bernard Wolfman, Fessenden professor of law at Harvard Law School, will deliver the Edward N. Polisher Tax Lecture at The Dickinson School of Law on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Wolfman will speak about "Choice of Form for Doing Business: Tax Law and Tax Policy." The free lecture will be delivered at 8 p.m. in 145 Trickett Hall. The lecture was established by Edward N. Polisher, a distinguished Philadelphia lawyer and member of the law school's class of 1922.
Before joining the Harvard faculty in 1976, Wolfman was the dean and Gemmill professor of tax law and tax policy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
A consultant on tax policy to the U.S. Treasury Department from 1963 to 1968 and from 1977 to 1980, Wolfman served as a member of the Council of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation and as council director of several committees. From 1974 to 1994, he served as a consultant to the American Law Institute and, from mid-1987, he served for two years as special consultant to Iran/Contra Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh.
Wolfman is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and its regent for the First Circuit. He also is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Just 48 hours after the upcoming Nov. 3 general election, the Penn State Downtown Center in Harrisburg will host a group of experts for "Reflections from the Front Line."
The noon discussion on Nov. 5 will feature State Rep. David Argall, a Republican from the 124th Legislative District, and former Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Mark Singel. Also on the panel will be two faculty members from the Penn State Harrisburg School of Public Affairs: Robert Bresler and Michael Young. Moderator for the 90-minute presentation will be Steven Peterson, director of the school.
As part of their presentation, the panelists will put their spin on the election and discuss the implications for 1999 and beyond. A question-and-answer session will follow the discussion.
The WISE Institute, with funding from the Pa. Space Grant Consortium, will again sponsor Voices, an annual networking conference for women graduate students in science and engineering. The conference will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, at The Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus. In addition to women graduate students, the conference is open to students, faculty and professionals to network and interact with peers and colleagues in science and engineering.
This year's conference offers a special interactive theatre presentation by Professor Charles Dumas' LAF Co. on "Culture Crossing."
Although there is no fee for the conference, preregistration is necessary. Registration forms can be picked up in 510 Thomas Building. For more information on Voices '98, call Katie Rung at (814) 865-3342 or e-mail cxg1@psu.edu.
Penn State Abington's first writer-in-residence, Rachel Simon, will lead a free writing workshop, "Getting Started in Your Writing," at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5.
A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Simon earned a master of fine arts in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She has received several grants and awards, including three fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
For information on the location, call (215) 881-7368.
John Todd, distinguished lecturer in engineering and society, will present "Ecological Design and Living Machines" at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, in 110 Wartik on the University Park campus.
Todd is president of Ocean Arks International, co-founder and director of Living Technologies Inc. and principal of John Todd Research and Design Inc. He will talk about wastewater treatment and how to incorporate principles of ecology into treating wastes and purifying water.