ELEMENTS The Citadel School of Science and Mathematics Newsletter Vol. 3 No. 1 Fall 2010 DEAN’S MESSAGE Dear Friends of the School of Science and Mathematics: The faculty and staff of the School of Science and Mathematics have had a very active and productive AY’09-’10. Despite tight budget constraints and the challenges they presented, the faculty has not wavered in its efforts to deliver top quality education, out-of-classroom enrichment experiences, and dedicated mentoring to our students. Our professors continue to advance in scholarship and in the disciplines as they actively seek opportunities for professional growth. The Citadel launched several initiatives in ’09-’10 that involve the School of Science and Mathematics in significant ways. STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) education has been named a strategic priority in the Citadel BLUEPRINT and a STEM Center of Excellence has been inaugurated as a new collaborative entity among the Schools of Education, Engineering, and Science and Mathematics. Carolyn Kelly has come on board as the director of the STEM Center. The Citadel has become a participating institution in the Piedmont Southeast Atlantic Cooperative Ecosystem Study Units (see the news from Biology below), and the Department of Health Exercise and Sport Science has established, with funding from BiteTech, Inc. the Dr. Hank Cross Human Performance Laboratory under the directorship of Dr. Dena Garner. The School of Science and Mathematics said farewell to two veteran faculty members (see below) and welcomes three new faculty members in 2010 - all in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. Doctors Upasana Kashyap and Antara Mukherjee join the department as tenure track assistant professors in mathematics and Stephen Cotter will be a mathematics instructor. Dr. Kashyap is a specialist in operator theory (operator algebras) with a Ph.D. from the University of Houston and Dr. Mukherjee, Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, is a geometer specializing in geometric group theory. Mr. Cotter (Col USAF, ret.; Citadel ’70) holds an MAT degree in mathematics from The Citadel and has taught high school mathematics in Charleston and Summerville. More information on activities and events in the School may be found in the pages that follow. We always strive to keep lines of communication open. Please phone (843-953-5300) or email ( [email protected] ) me with your thoughts, suggestions or concerns relating to science and mathematics education or the workings of The Citadel School of Science and Mathematics. Chuck Groetsch, Dean 2010 Distinguished Alumnus Award Tom Trotter William T. (Tom) Trotter was the First Honor Graduate (B.S., Mathematics) of the class of 1965. Tom was a member of F Company, serving as Guidon Corporal, First Sergeant and then Battalion Executive Officer. Also, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Guidon, a member of the Roundtable and the Junior Sword Drill, and co-captain of the swimming team. After summer employment with NASA in Huntsville, Tom was awarded a NASA Fellowship at the University of Alabama, completing his Ph.D. in topology in 1969 and returning to The Citadel as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 1969. In 1971, Tom made a substantial change in research directions and began to tackle problems in combinatorial mathematics. On the basis of research advances made at an NSF summer conference in 1971, Tom was invited to Dartmouth College as a Visiting Assistant Professor for the 1972-73 academic year. In the fall of 1973, he moved to the University of South Carolina, where he advanced through the ranks and was named a Carolina Research Professor in 1985. He also served as Assistant Dean of the College of Sciences (1979- 85) and played a major role in the establishment of the Departments of Computer Science and Statistics. In 1987, Tom was recruited to Arizona State University, where he served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Mathematics (1987-91 and 1995-97), Vice Provost for Academic Affairs (2000-02), and was named Regents Professor in 1992. From 1991-94, he served as Director of Combinatorics and Optimization at Bellcore in Morristown, New Jersey. In 2002, Tom was recruited to the Georgia Institute of Technology as Professor and Chair of the School of Mathematics. His term as Chair ended in the summer of 2009 and he continues to serve as Professor of Mathematics. Throughout his career, Tom has maintained a very active research profile with more then 120 refereed journal publications and a very successful research monograph on partially ordered sets which is still a top seller after nearly two decades in print. Tom’s work has been consistently funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense. He has served on numerous grant panels and review teams, and he has held several editorial positions, including eight years as Editor-in-Chief of Order. He has given about 150 invited lectures at international conferences, and at leading universities and national meetings in the US and abroad. Tom has supervised eight Ph.D. students and currently has three students working toward their degree under his supervision. Two will finish in spring of 2010, and one of them (Mitch Keller) has just received a Marshall Sherfield Fellowship for post-doctoral study in England. Mitch is the first mathematics Ph.D. to receive this fellowship. Tom and his wife Millie have three children, Laura, Russ and Matt. In his spare time, he loves to hit golf balls, continuing a life-time love affair with all things athletic. DR. HANK CROSS HUMAN PERFORMANCE LABORATORY In May 2010, construction of the Dr. Hank Cross Human Performance Laboratory began. This new lab is located on the first floor of Deas Hall and includes a conference room and a 12-person computer lab. The project will be completed in August 2010, and has been made possible through a very generous gift from Bite Tech, Incorporated, which has supported research in the Department of Health, Exercise, and Sport Science for several years. The Dr. Hank Cross Human Performance Laboratory will be a state-of-the-art, high-technology learning laboratory used for: Continuing research on use of the Bite Tech mouthpiece during exercise as it relates to changes in levels of the stress hormone cortisol, airway openings, lactate levels, and changes in oxygen and carbon dioxide kinetics in various populations such as college-aged, middle-aged, and older populations. This research will help move this beneficial product to market, and also increase the profile of The Citadel as the research center for the product, which is being promoted and marketed by Under Armour and Patterson Dental. Assessing other hormonal and stress markers related to athletes and their performance. Understanding effects of exercise and nutrition on cancer survivors. Conducting a multitude of other research and studies related to human performance and physical fitness including height/weight assessments for on- campus students and others off-campus who want an understanding of their physical fitness levels related to body composition. A center for cooperative research with other universities and The Department of Defense with the goal of improving performance of military personnel. HESS alumni have been asked to consider sending a monetary gift to the Citadel Foundation for one or more of the equipment needs for the lab. All donors will be invited to the grand opening and dedication of the Dr. Hank Cross Human Performance Laboratory in fall 2010, possibly to coincide with Homecoming November 5-6, 2010. Donors will also be recognized with a plaque in the new lab. The Citadel at the iGEM Competition A new research team has formed at The Citadel. Two Biology majors, Hunter Matthews and Brian Burnley, and one Electrical Engineering major, Patrick Sullivan are participating in the international competition for synthetic biology, known as iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machines). This competition was organized by MIT in 2004, and is recognized as a premiere venue for genetic engineering at the undergraduate level. The main purpose of the competition is to promote the use of standard and interchangeable parts (known as “BioBricks”) in designing new genetic systems in microbial species. The organizers provide each team with a kit of “Bookracks”, and include instructions for the students to make their own. By the end of the summer, the genetic systems built by the teams should be able to operate in living cells and introduce a new and interesting function. The competition has received acclaim for fostering scientific skills like team-work, self-organization, independent learning and biosafety. Several members of the team recently attended the annual iGEM national meeting held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne. The students and their mentors learned about projects at other participating institutions and were able to take some of what they learned back to The Citadel to apply to their project. The students also set up a booth at the Charleston Farmer’s Market to provide information about synthetic biology to the general public. During this summer the Citadel-Charleston team has been working on “Appetite Regulation Proteins in E.coli ”, and will be presenting its work at the iGEM Jamboree in Boston this November. Their project has had the financial support of the Office of the Provost and the Department of Biology. Scientific support has been provided by Dr. David Donnell and Dr. Claudia Rocha from the Department of Biology. The Citadel iGEM team at the iGEM national conference held at the University of Illinois. Pictured are (l to r) Patrick Sullivan, Dr. David Donnell, Dr. Claudia Rocha, and Brian Burnley Brian Burnley explains the concept and use of synthetic biology at the Charleston Farmer’s Market. Citadel Community Bids Farewell to Comer and Greim Steve Comer and Peter Greim This year the School of Science and Mathematics bids a fond farewell to two long-time stalwarts in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science: Steve Comer and Peter Greim.