San Jose State University SJSU ScholarWorks The Scientist (College of Science) College of Science Spring 1-1-2008 The Scientist, Spring 2008 San Jose State University, College of Science Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/scientist Recommended Citation San Jose State University, College of Science, "The Scientist, Spring 2008" (2008). The Scientist (College of Science). 2. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/scientist/2 This Newsletter is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Science at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Scientist (College of Science) by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Volume 12, Number 1 Spring 2008 College of Science San José State University The Scientist Message from the Dean Inside this issue: It’s been a busy I am also very pleased to an- Message from the 1 year here at the College of nounce that Dr. Singmaster Dean Science. Building on the has been designated the Geology: 2 great work of a planning SJSU Professor of the Year, a The Millers We are very pleased team made up of faculty, well deserved honor recog- to welcome our new Develop- Michael Graham: staff, and students that met nizing her years of selfless ment officer, Carol Beattie, 2 Kelp Discovery at a retreat at Asilomar a dedication to our students, who joined the university ad- year ago, we have nearly as well as her remarkable vancement staff in January. Physics and finalized plans for a College- teaching abilities. Carol has extensive experi- Astronomy 3 wide advising center, which We are continuing to ence in industry, consulting 2007 Highlights we hope will turn into a one- develop Professional Science and working with non-profits stop-shop for students in all Master’s programs that are such as the Children’s Health Mathematics News 4 departments of the college. designed to allow students to Council. Young Audiences of and updates This project, along with move into exciting and grow- Northern California, and the other initiatives promoting ing technical fields following San José Art Museum. Carol Physics of 5 and tracking student suc- a two year program offered will be working with our ad- Animation cess in the College of Sci- principally during evenings vancement council and fo- ence, will be supported by a and weekends. In addition to cusing on establishing con- Physics and 6 five year, $2 Million STEP the Department of Biological nections with individuals in- Astronomy Cont’d. (Science Technology Engi- Science’s successful Mas- terested in supporting the Chemistry: John neering and Mathematics ter’s in Biotechnology Pro- college. 7 Logan & Polymers Talent Pool Expansion) grant gram, we have submitted a Finally, I would like from the National Science proposal for a new program to invite all of you to attend Bob Bornstein wins Foundation that was in Medical Device Project our annual Student Research 8 Helmut Lang Award awarded to Associate Deans Management that represents Day, which will be held this Maureen Scharberg and a partnership between the year on Friday May 2 starting Biodiversity Center 9 Dan Walker. colleges of Science and Busi- at 10 AM. This is an out- Another grant pro- ness. We hope to admit the standing opportunity to see Late Breaking News 10 moting student success, a first class for this program in what kind of research is be- National Institute of Health the fall of 2008. ing conducted by COS under- COS Advising RISE (Research Initiative for Several searches are graduate and graduate stu- 10 Center Scientific Advancement) ongoing, but we have already dents. This year the COS stu- that was awarded to Drs. hired some world-class fac- dent advisory council, in as- New Faculty 11 Karen Singmaster and Herb ulty in the departments of sociation with the COS stu- Silber in the Department of Meteorology (Drs. Menglin Jin dent clubs, will be hosting a Provost’s Chemistry. This grant, which and John Abatzoglou) and barbeque lunch in the grill pit Outstanding 11 is aimed at bringing more Mathematics (Dr. Plamen next to Duncan Hall. Atten- Assesment minority students into sci- Koev). We are excited to dance is free to those that ence Ph.D. programs, con- have these additions to our attend the poster session. If Professor of the tinues the excellent pro- faculty and look forward to you haven’t been on campus 12 Year grams these two dedicated their contributions to our for awhile, this would be a scholars have already estab- teaching and research pro- great opportunity to pay us a $2M STEP Grant 12 lished for minority students. grams. visit. Volume 12, Number 1 Spring 2008 Page 2 GEOLOGY department: : “THE MILLERS” Evolution of tectonics and magma systems Professor Bob Miller and two undergraduate students made Jonathan Miller (no relation) in the presentations in March at a Geologi- Department of Geology have collabo- cal Society of America Meeting in rated for 10 years on numerous re- Las Vegas. search projects that have integrated The students and profes- field and laboratory studies focusing sors have enjoyed conducting field on the tectonic evolution of mountain research in scenic mountain and belts and the genesis and evolution desert country, most of which is in of magma (molten rock) systems. national parks, national forests, and This research has utilized natural other federal government lands. field laboratories in a variety of loca- The field work routinely involves tions, including the Washington Cas- camping and in many cases back- cades, Sierra Nevada Mountains (in packing, and one of the students “the millers” Yosemite National Park), southern accessed rock outcrops via kayak Jonathan miller (left) Nevada, and the Mojave Desert. on a large wilderness lake. Robert miller (right) A critical aspect of these The “Millers” (as they are studies has been the involvement of sometimes referred to by their de- dents by hosting potluck dinners more than 20 students conducting partment colleagues) and their stu- each semester and by having a their M.S. thesis research and 5 un- dents have been supported by more weekly brown-bag lunch where a dergraduate students carrying out than a million dollars in grants from recent journal article related to the National Science Foundation research being conducted by and the U.S. Geological Survey. This someone in the group is dis- funding has enabled the hiring of cussed. Bob and Jonathan have many other undergraduate and found great satisfaction in seeing graduate students to assist in the their students develop as scien- laboratory and field, and given tists. Some of the students have these students valuable research continued on to Ph.D. programs at experience beyond that received in MIT, University of Wisconsin, Uni- the classroom. The work of the pro- versity of Southern California, and fessors over the last 10 years has the University of California-Santa resulted in more than 25 publica- Cruz. Many of the students have senior research projects. These stu- tions in refereed journals and guide- taken jobs in local geological con- dents have all presented the results books, some with students as co- sulting companies and five of of their research at national or re- authors or first authors. Bob’s and Jonathan’s students gional meetings of the Geological Jonathan and Bob have are currently professors or in- Society of America and American attempted to create a “research structors at universities and com- Geophysical Union, and two M.S. and family” atmosphere for their stu- munity colleges. role in offshore biology as founda- Moss landing marine labs tion species that support a unique Michael Graham : ecosystem—the kelp forest. Kelp discovery of new kelp environment forests can be the home of hun- dreds of different species, including invertebrates, fish, mammals, and Dr. Michael Graham, profes- oceanic regions previously thought to other algae. They are considered to sor of Phycology at the California be incapable of supporting kelps, mak- be one of the most productive and State University’s Moss Landing Ma- ing national news in late 2007. Kelp is biodiverse of the ocean’s communi- rine Labs, and colleagues have the term given to canopy-forming ties. found kelp ( Eisenia galapagensis ) in brown algae, which play an essential CONTINUED ON PAGE 8... Volume 12, Number 1 Spring 2008 Page 3 2007 updates Departments of Physics and Astronomy Associate Professor Michael Kaufman is the Director of the Physics Department’s NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates pro- gram. The program annually supports participation by 10 students in faculty research projects. SJSU students par- ticipate year round, while 5 students from national search participate in a 10-week intensive summer program. This year’s projects included analysis of Spitzer Space Telescope data, detection of pre-earthquake signals, calculation of can bring that experience back to tional efficiency, hydrodynamic meteorite trajectories, complex classi- their classrooms and assist in the fluctuations, transient flow, flow cal mechanics, and analysis of cuprate development of curriculum related instability, and algorithm develop- superconductors. Kaufman’s student to human exploration of remote and ment. Talks on applications of the Mark Cordier presented results of their extreme environments. This year, DSMC method are also welcomed research on star formation at the Ameri- Spaceward Bound was held at Cal- in topic areas such as aerospace, can Astronomical Society summer State’s Zzyzx Desert Studies Center micro-scale flows, nano-scale meeting in Honolulu. In April, Kaufman in the Mojave Desert. Kress took 6 flows, plasmas, gas-phase reac- was a lecturer at the Centre de Phy- students from her Astrobiology tions, phonon transport, dense sique in Les Houches, France, at a class to this event, for a total of 9 gases, liquids, granular flow, workshop for astrophysics graduate participants from San Jose State agent modeling, traffic, and students and postdocs who will use the University.