Lenhart Awarded UT’s Highest Faculty Honor

Posted on April 26, 2011 by admin

NIMBioS Associate Director for Education, Outreach & Diversity Suzanne Lenhart has been named a Chancellor’s Professor at the University of Tennessee (UT), where she is professor of mathematics. This is the highest lifetime honor that can be awarded to UT faculty. Lenhart was recognized for her work in mathematical biology, her long history of NSF support, her contributions to NIMBioS, and also her service as director of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program in the Mathematics Department for 15 years (now she directs the summer REU program at NIMBioS). The Chancellor’s Professor honor began in 2008, and the five from this year now bring the number selected to 11 total. Those selected are nominated by their college dean, screened by previous Chancellor’s Professors, and recommended by the provost. The honor comes with a one-time research stipend of $20,000. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Lenhart!

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Murray State, UTK Students Tour NIMBioS

Posted on April 21, 2011 by admin

A group from Murray State University including undergraduate students, a graduate student and a faculty member, traveled to UT-Knoxville over the weekend to attend the Fifth Annual Undergraduate Research Conference hosted by UT’s Department of Mathematics. While here, they stopped by to visit NIMBioS to learn about our institute. UT math majors were also invited, and one did come along. While here they had the chance to meet several of our postdoctoral fellows, some faculty and staff. If you are planning a visit to Knoxville, feel free to contact Kelly Moran, Education and Outreach Coordinator, to schedule a tour. Her email is kmoran@nimbios.org.

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Moran Talks Global Change Modeling at Fisk

Posted on April 21, 2011 by admin

Dr. Emily Moran, NIMBioS postdoctoral fellow (center-right, tan jacket), traveled to Nashville last week to give a seminar on modeling global change at NIMBioS partner Fisk University. Moran presented “Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling and Ecology: two global-change case studies” to Fisk faculty and students. Moran studies species’ responses to rapid environmental change, which may include both ecological processes (changes in abundance, shifts in geographic range) and evolutionary processes (local adaptation).

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NIMBioS Puts the M in Girls Scouts’ STEM Day

Posted on April 15, 2011 by admin

In STEM education, ‘M’ is for mathematics! NIMBioS helped host 150 middle school girls and 50 chaperones recently for the day-long “Gadget Girls: Adventures in STEM.” Organized by the Southern Appalachians Girl Scout Council and the Office of Arts and Sciences Office of Public Engagement at UT, the girls participated in activities on various STEM disciplines all across the University of Tennessee campus. NIMBioS played a major role by hosting all of the math-related activities.

Dr. Emily Moran, NIMBioS postdoctoral fellow, and Kelly Moran, NIMBioS Education and Outreach Coordinator, led a session on “Measuring a Forest,” where students learned why it’s important to measure and monitor forests and how pi relates to measuring the thickness of tree trunks. Students created their own DBH (Diameter at Breast Height) tapes for measuring tree diameter using circumference, then tried them out on tree rounds on loan from Biology in a Box and the UT Forestry Department (and sometimes on their own heads!).

NIMBioS postdoctoral fellow Dr. Folashade Agusto led an activity on “Calculating Biodiversity” using Simpson’s Index. The girls learned about how probability can apply to this biological application. They then created hypotheses and tested out whether insect biodiversity was higher in a hypothetical forest or a field.

Dr. Suzanne Lenhart, NIMBioS Associate Director for Education, Outreach & Diversity and Professor of Mathematics at UT-Knoxville, and Dr. Joan Lind, also a Professor of Mathematics at UT-Knoxville, led “Fun with Triangles,” in which the girls built colorful three-dimensional solids using plastic triangles while learning the math behind the variety of shapes that are possible.

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NIMBioS On the Trail

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Catherine Crawley

NIMBioS took to the trail on Saturday in search of spring wildflowers, and the hikers were well-rewarded. Along Porter’s Creek, these intrepid explorers found white-fringed phacelia, trout lily, rue anemone, wild geranium, wild ginger, spring beauty, many varieties of violets and trilliums, and other springtime gems. The three-mile hike featured several creek crossings along narrow footbridges and a 40-foot waterfall. The main spectacle though were the wildflowers, particularly the hundreds of white phacelia carpeting the forest floor. Another wildflower hike is planned for April 22 to White Oak Sinks to see the fields of purple phlox.

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Postdoc Talks Proteins at University of Texas-El Paso

Posted on April 5, 2011 by admin

Dr. Yi Mao (center front in white shirt), NIMBioS postdoctoral fellow, recently visited students and faculty at the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP) to present a seminar on her work with proteins. Her talk was titled: “Dynamic Simulation of Proteins: Exploring the Relationship Between Protein Structure and Function.”  UTEP is located in one of the largest binational communities in the world, according to the UTEP website. With more than 22,000 students, the university is home to a majority Hispanic student population, many of whom are among the first in their families to attend college. NIMBioS has partnered with UTEP to promote collaborations between scientific and educational programs. Click here for more information about Mao’s work with proteins. Click here to view a NIMBioS video interview with Dr. Mao: The Evolution of Proteins.

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A Niche at Howard University

Posted on April 5, 2011 by admin

Dr. William Godsoe, NIMBioS postdoctoral fellow, visited Howard University in Washington, DC, to present a seminar titled “I Can’t Define the Niche But I’ll Know It When I See It: Why We Need Mathematics to Understand Species Distribution.” The talk was well received by Department of Mathematics faculty and undergraduate students in attendance. The seminar was a result of NIMBioS’ partnership with Howard University, one of the nation’s premier Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), to foster collaborations in research, science and education. Click here for more information about Dr. Godsoe’s work. Click here to view a NIMBioS video interview with Dr. Godsoe: Niche and Distribution.

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Lenhart Named SIAM Fellow

Posted on April 5, 2011 by admin

Dr. Suzanne Lenhart, professor of mathematics at the Univ. of Tennessee and NIMBioS Associate Director for Education, Outreach and Diversity, has been selected as a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). The fellowship honors SIAM members who have made outstanding contributions to the fields served by the organization. Fellows are selected from nominations by their peers, and Lenhart will be honored in the 2011 Class of Fellows. Congratulations to Dr. Lenhart!

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To meet, greet or retreat during influenza outbreaks?

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Catherine Crawley

When influenza pandemics arrive, the specter of disease spread through person-to-person contact can mean that schools close, hand sanitizer sales rise, and travellers stay home. But is severing social and business interactions with our neighbors really better than taking a chance on getting sick?

“Infectious disease can mean making trade-offs between the risks and rewards of meeting others,” says Eli Fenichel, Arizona State University assistant professor and lead author of the study. “It’s critical that we more clearly understand the role that human decisions play in transmitting disease.”

Fenichel is co-organizer of the SPIDER (Synthesizing and Predicting Infectious Disease While Accounting for Endogenous Risk) Working Group at NIMBioS. SPIDER has developed a better model for understanding the role of adaptive human behavior in the spread of disease. The group’s work appears in this week’s online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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The virtues of waiting, procrastinating and avoiding conflict

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Catherine Crawley

NIMBioS postdocs and staff enjoy a day of birding with Dr. Fred Adler (far right).

So was the advice from Dr. Fred Adler, NIMBioS Postdoctoral Fellows Invited Distinguished Visitor, who spoke on this topic at Tuesday’s NIMBioS Interdisciplinary Seminar. Adler, a professor in the mathematics and biology departments at the Univ. of Utah, was referring to ants who appear to avoid stressful situations by procrastinating difficult decisions. A handy skill for graduate students, perhaps? An avid birder, Dr. Adler graciously offered to lead a birding outing on Sunday for NIMBioS folks.

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