The Dr. Arlen Johnson Biology seminar on Tuesday 11/13 has been moved from the Jones Auditorium to Mabee Ballroom C (RAGS 326C). Pizza will still be served at 4:30 PM. Our apologies for this inconvenience.
We invite you to attend the last Biology Seminar of the term, Dr. Arlen Johnson of UT-Austin. Please note the change of venue to Jones Auditorium.
The Biology Department is pleased to announce its first Biology Seminar Speaker of the year, Dr. Jonathan Pierce of University of Texas, Austin. His talk will be “Drunk Worms and Sober Mutants: Using a Tiny Worm to Discover How We Get Drunk.” There will be pizza served in the Carter Lobby at 4:30 PM but no food is allowed in the auditorium itself.
Dear colleagues and students,
A reminder to students that if you did research ANYWHERE this past summer and would like to present a poster on that work as part of the student poster session following this year’s Lucian Symposium (Friday, 28 September), here are the deadlines:
Students who would like to present a poster will need to submit their abstract and title by 5 pm, Monday, 10 September. To submit your abstract, visit https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/LUCIAN2018. If you do not yet have an account on this website (i.e., you did not submit a Lucian poster last year), click the “Registration” tab or “Create Account” link. Once registered, you will receive an activation link and can then access the “2018 Lucian Symposium” conference. To enter your research information, from the home page click the “Create new submission” link. Note: if the conference is not visible from your home page when you log in, click the “All Conferences” tab then enter “2018 Lucian Symposium” in the filter search field and click the title once it is visible.
Submit your poster print request in PPT or PDF format as soon as you are able but absolutely no later than 12 noon on Wednesday, 12 September. Submit your requests to NSCI Poster Print Request.
Each student may have one poster printed by the School of Natural Sciences each academic year. Additional poster printing should be paid for by research grant accounts as appropriate. Students should use the poster they print for all appropriate conference presentations during the 2018 – 2019 academic year. The poster template can be accessed through Box: NSCI Poster Template.
NOTE: posters submitted after 12 noon on Wednesday, 12 September will not be printed by the School of Natural Sciences. I recommend that if you need to print your poster after that date, please look for poster printing services at local area businesses (e.g., FedEx print).
We are asking students to hang their posters by 3:00 pm on Thursday, 27 September. That afternoon, the School of Natural Sciences Advisory Board will meet. Members of the board often enjoy reading through student posters. They will have time to do so after their meeting concludes around 4:30 pm that afternoon.
We ask students to take their posters down by 5 pm on Friday, 28 September.
We ask students to plan to be at their posters for some portion of the time period 1:00-3:00pm on Friday, 28 September. It is not necessary to stand at your poster for the entire period of time, but do commit to spending some portion of that period of time at your poster if at all possible.
Each year I have been at St. Edward’s as Dean of Natural Sciences, this event has been a big success, and recognized as such by our prestigious Lucian Symposium guests. We have a great opportunity to share what our students have been doing in the area of research and the successes you all are having in advancing the frontiers of science.
Remember, it is not essential that the research occurred at St. Edward’s— any REU or other university research program at which you did research this summer is eligible for a printing of one poster.
Finally – if you were a recipient of a Brother Romard research grant this past summer, the expectation is that you will print out and present a poster at this event.
If you have any questions, please contact NSCIdean@stedwards.edu.
Looking forward to another great student research poster session.
GM
The Biology Department is pleased to host Dr. Anne Foundas, Professor of Neurology and Psychology at the LSU School of Medicine for the last seminar of the year. 
The Department of Biological Sciences is pleased to host Dr. Kirk Jensen, Assistant Professor from the University of California, Merced. His talk is entitled: “Hacking the immune system: a parasite’s perspective”. Dr. Jensen‘s work further extends into the role of pathogens in auto-immune gut disorders such as Crohn’s Disease. Carter Auditorium. Friday 3/2 at 5 PM (pizza at 4:30 PM)
The Department of Biological Sciences is pleased to host Dr. Michael Reiser, a Senior Group Leader from the HHMI Janelia Research Campus for an upcoming seminar. His talk is entitled “Why are flies so hard to swat? The circuits and computations for motion vision in fruit flies”. Dr. Reiser is a pre-eminent scientist combining neurobiological, computer science, and engineering approaches to understand neurological control of animal behavior.
Fleck 305. Monday, 2/26 at 5 PM (pizza at 4:45 PM)
Dr. Mandana Sassanfar (mandana@mit.edu) will be at St. Edward’s on Friday 3/16 at 3 PM in JBWS 267 to answer questions and establish connections with students interested in applying to the MIT Summer Research Program (MSRP) in Cambridge, MA. There is a Biology-specific MSRP and a general MSRP for other scientific disciplines. Information about both programs can be found here:
https://odge.mit.edu/undergraduate/msrp/
https://biology.mit.edu/outreach/msrp/
Please note that we are past the deadline for applying for this summer; this info session’s benefit is to lay the groundwork for future summer research. This is an excellent opportunity and experience for any student interested or curious about going to graduate school.
NSCI Chemistry Department hosts Dr. James D. Batteas, professor of chemistry at Texas A&M University, on Friday, 16 February at 3:00 p.m. in JBWN 206. An expert in surface chemistry and nanoscience, Dr. Batteas’ research focuses on the exploration and control of the surfaces and interfaces of materials, including the use of scanning probe microscopies to examine material properties on the atomic scale. His research group specializes in using nanomaterials and devices to develop custom-engineered surfaces and interfaces. They have developed a model platform to investigate the adhesive and fricational interactions at nanoscaled asperity-asperity contacts by using silica nanoparticles to for substrates with asperities of controlled radius of curvature (ca. 5-20nm), matching those found in many machined interfaces. In addition to the science of tribology, research activities and opportunities for REU experiences at TAMU will also be described.