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ARCHIVES
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FALL 2004 Monday, August 23, 2004 Topic: Beginning-of-the-year College of Science & Engineering faculty and staff meeting Sponsor: COSE Thursday September 2, 2004 Topic: Proteomics: a Powerful Tool for Cancer Research Speaker: Dr. Diana Smith-Beckerman, Assistant
Professor, Department of Biology, SFSU Wednesday, September 8, 2004 Topic: The Early Life History and Fishery of the California Market Squid, Loligo opalescens Speaker: Lou Ziedberg, Monterey Bay Aquarium
Research Institute Directions: Click here. Thursday September 9, 2004 Topic: To Flower or not to Flower Speaker: Renee Sung, Department of Plant and
Microbial Biology at UC Berkeley Friday, September 10, 2004 Topic: Biological Phosphoryl Transfer: Chemistry, Catalysis, and Evolution Speaker: Prof. Dan Herschlag, Stanford University Monday September 13, 2004 Topic: Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Activities - Part II Prof. Maarten Golterman: Chirality on
the lattice Sponsor: Physics and Astronomy Department Tuesday, September 14, 2004 Topic: Continental Collision, Crustal Growth, and Crustal Thickness Speaker: Gary Ernst, Professor of Geology , Stanford
University
Friday, September 17, 2004 Topic: Electrokinetic Modeling of Protein Charge Ladders and Silica Sols Speaker: Prof. Stuart Allison, Georgia State
University Department of Chemistry Wednesday, September 22, 2004 Topic: Predicting Ecological Feedbacks to Global Warming: A Daunting Challenge Speaker: John Harte, University of California,
Berkeley Directions: Click here. Wednesday September 22, 2004 Topic: Exploring Mars: The Search for Waterworlds Speaker: Michael H. Carr , Planetary Geologist,
USGS Menlo Park Wednesday September 22, 2004 Topic: Monomial orders, initial ideals
and initial algebras
Speaker: Winfried Bruns, University of Osnabrück,
Germany Wednesday September 22, 2004 Topic: Distributed Hash Tables: The Latest Fad in Distributed Computing Speaker: Scott Shenker, UC Berkeley
Thursday September 23, 2004 Topic: Prediction of Site of Metastasis in Prostate Cancer Speaker: Dr. Christopher Haqq and Dr. Mack Roach,
UCSF Friday, September 24, 2004 Topic: Biological Phosphoryl Transfer: Chemistry, Catalysis, and Evolution Speaker: Dr. Charles Thompson, Univ. of Montana,
Missoula Monday September 27, 2004 Topic: Student Summer Research Talks Radio Physics (Transmitters, Transmission
Lines, Antennas) Finding Supernovae in a Slice of Pi Automated Planet Finder: Optimized Scheduler Spectroscopic Analysis of Volatile Elements
Planet Hunting at Lick Observatory;
Target Selection for SIM/Spitzer Program. Photo-refractive Solitons in Organic
Glass Fascinating Behavior of Solitons in
2D Photonic Lattices of Partially-Coherent Light Assessing the Uncertainties in the Orbital
Parameters of Extrasolar Planets. A search for binary stars in the globular
cluster Omega Centauri Sponsor: Physics and Astronomy Department Friday, October 1, 2004 Topic Faculty Mini-Presentations: Prof. Cliff Berkman:
On Sunday, October 3rd,
children and adults alike can explore the fascinating world of San Francisco
Bay during "Discovery Day" an interactive science exhibition
and open house at San Francisco State University's Romberg Tiburon Center
for Environmental Studies (RTC). The open house is from 11 a.m. to 4
p.m. and will be held at our 34-acre bay-front research facility located
at 3150 Paradise Drive in Tiburon.
Discovery Day is a free festival of educational fun that includes marine animal touch tanks, scientific exhibits, live music, art, and more. An annual event, Discovery Day offers the offers the public a unique opportunity to spend the day behind the scenes learning about the scientific research activities that take place at the Center. In addition to science and art activities for children, the festival will include exhibits by RTC scientists and students that highlight the Center's contributions to understanding and caring for the San Francisco Bay environment and beyond. A BBQ lunch is available for $5. There is plenty of free parking on-site. For more information about Discovery Day see our website http://www.rtc.sfsu.edu/ or call (415)338-6063. Monday October 4, 2004 Topic: Transitsearch.org -- Using small telescopes to get BIG results Abstract: Over the past ten years, nearly 150 extrasolar planets have been discovered orbiting nearby solar-like stars, and the recent discoveries of transiting "hot Jupiter" type planets such as HD 209458 b, OGLE TR56-b and TrES-1b have added an additional element of excitement to the quest for alien solar systems. The past several years have seen the introduction of highly affordable small telescopes equipped with sensitive and stable CCD (charge coupled device) detectors, and controlled by laptop computers. A large number of amateur astronomer own observatories which, when properly configured, are capable of reliably detecting the periodic dimming which occurs when a close-in giant planet passes in front of its parent star as seen from Earth. This technique has been used by amateurs worldwide to detect the transits of HD 209458 and TrES-1. In this talk, I will describe the strategy and the scientific justification underlying the transitsearch.org cooperative observational effort. I will also describe some very exciting recent results obtained by the network. Speaker: Prof. Gregory Laughlin, OCO/Lick
Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz Friday, October 8, 2004 Topic: Solid Phase Microextraction
(SPME): Speaker: Prof. Pete Palmer, SFSU Monday October 11, 2004 Topic: From Postage Stamps to Chicken
McNuggets:
Speaker: Stan Wagon, Macalester College, St.
Paul, Minnesota Monday October 11, 2004 Topic: The Brown Dwarf Desert Abstract: Brown Dwarfs are gaseous spheres in space which, unlike the Sun, do not undergo Hydrogen fusion as a source of energy. They are smaller than stars, but larger than planets. Sometimes called "failed stars", they are extremely faint and difficult to detect. In principle they should be found orbiting nearby stars, being either akin to binary star systems, or bound planetary systems. However, one of the most sensitive brown dwarf companion searches to date reveals a clear dearth of companions. The reason for this “brown dwarf desert" is still unknown. Speaker: Prof. Gregory Laughlin, OCO/Lick
Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz Wednesday October 13, 2004 Topic: Green Goop and Polygon Soup Speaker: James O'Brien, UC Berkeley
Thursday October 14, 2004 Topic: M.S. Thesis Presentation: Cataloging Dwarf Galaxies in the Cluster MKW2 Abstract: The galaxy luminosity function (LF) provides a fundamental constraint on how the universe evolved from the initial condensations of cold dark matter into the galaxies we observe today. We discuss the LF as well a the fundamental theories of galaxy formation and explain how measurements of the LF are used to constrain cold dark matter theory. We summarize earlier measurements of the galaxy LF derived from field and cluster redshift surveys and present new techniques designed to study the LF in poor clusters and groups of galaxies. Here, we present the first application of these techniques to the poor cluster MKW2. Speaker: Andrew (Andy) Danielson, Physics
& Astronomy Graduate Student Thursday October 14, 2004 Topic: Novel Responses to Osmotic Stress in the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae Speaker: Dr. Robert Ramirez, SFSU Department
of Biology Friday, October 15, 2004 Topic: Molecular Mechanism of Biological Control of Mineralized Nanostructures Speaker: Dr. Siping Qiu, Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory
Monday October 18, 2004 Topic: Unraveling the Mystery of a Peculiar Winking Star Abstract:KH 15D is a pre-main-sequence star residing in the young open cluster NGC 2264, just north of the Cone Nebula. In recent years it has drawn much attention from the astronomical community because of its unusual light curve. Every 48 days, the star "winks out," dropping to only 5% of its bright state. The star remains faint for nearly 24 days, or half of the light cycle, before suddenly returning to its bright state. No other star is known to behave in such a strange manner. What could cause a star to do such a thing? I will tell the story of how archival photographic plates from the 1960's, combined with modern Keck HIRES spectra, led to the unraveling of this very intriguing astronomical mystery. Speaker: John Johnson, Astronomy Department,
UC Berkeley Wednesday, October 20, 2004 Topic: Lightning Strikes, Gap Regeneration, and the Structure of Caribbean Mangrove Forests Speaker: Wayne Sousa, University of California,
Berkeley Directions: Click here. Wednesday October 20, 2004 Topic: Interpolation and Sampling in
Complex Analysis
It turns out that complex analysis can say much about the interpolation and sampling problem. Especially in the last decade there has been much activity. In this talk, I will take up this point of view. I will begin by explaining the main ideas, and then discuss recent results in the subject. Speaker: Dror Varolin, University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign Wednesday October 20, 2004 Topic: A Timbre-Aware Interactive Computer Music System ABSTRACT: Interactive computer music systems analyze the performance of a human musician in real-time, and generate material adaptively to accompany or improvise with the human musician. Most existing systems work with high-level performance events, such as note on and off, pitch, and loudness. Timbral information, which may be a crucial component of an improviser's musical language, is generally ignored. We are developing a system that is able to parse both timbral and gestural information from a real-time performance. It extracts features that may be important to a human improviser when guiding a response or developing a dialogue. In addition to pitch or loudness, we also use timbral characteristics such as brightness, pitch/noise content, roughness, inharmonicity, etc. This information will be used to guide real-time audio processing and/or material generation. (This is a collaborative project with British saxophonist John Butcher.). Speaker: Bill Hsu, SFSU Department of Computer
Science
Thursday October 21, 2004 Topic: Gene Therapy for Genetic Disorders and Hepatitis Infection Speaker: Dr. Mark A. Kay, Professor in the Departments
of Pediatrics and Genetics Friday, October 22, 2004 Topic: Nanometer-Scale Metallic Iron
Particles: Speaker: Prof. Bruce Manning, SFSU Monday October 25, 2004 Topic: MEMS Devices for Force Measurements in Biology Abstract: In recent years, there has
been a growing interest in the use of micromachined cantilevers for
measurements of very small forces. The main advantage to this approach
is that the force detection capability of MEMS cantilevers is a very
sensitive function of the dimensions of the cantilevers, and these dimensions
can be adjusted over a wide range. Our Speaker: Prof. Thomas Kenny, Mechanical
Engineering Dept., Stanford University
Topic: SAP Research: Next generation enterprise software platforms Speaker: Samir Raiyan, SAP Research Wednesday, November 3, 2004 Topic: Primary Producer Responses to
Nutrient Availability Speaker: Krista Kamer, Moss Landing Marine Laboratory Directions: Click here. Wednesday November 3, 2004 Topic: The Maximum Likelihood Degree
and the Likelihood Equations
Speaker: Serkan Hosten, SFSU
Topic: Science and Art of the Computer Performance Benchmarking ABSTRACT:Science and Art of the Computer Performance BenchmarkingAs computer architecture is making tremendous progress in complexity and performance the task of comparison of computer performance moves to the frontier between Science and Art. A number of existing benchmarks quantify some computer performance characteristics. However, the choice of the right benchmark cannot be formalized and depends on the individual set of applications. In this talk we will cover some collections of existing benchmarks such as HPC Challenge, the NAS Parallel Benchmarks (NPB), and the NAS Grid Benchmarks (NGB). We also describe recent additions to the NPB. We assume familiarity with computer performance and architecture, and with basic numerical algorithms. Speaker: Michael Frumkin, NASA Ames Research
Center
Topic: Immunology In Silico: Discovery
through Bioinformatics Approaches Speaker: Dr. Hilary Clark, Department of Bioinformatics,
Genentech. Wednesday November 10, 2004 Topic: Nets in the complex projective
plane
Our most general result is the restriction on k - it can be only 3,4, or 5. An interesting class of nets is formed by 3-nets that can be considered as geometric realizations of latin squares and loops. All known examples of 3-nets in the complex projective plane realize finite Abelian groups. We study the problem what groups can be so realized. Our main result is that, except for groups with orders of all elements under 10, realizable groups are isomorphic to subgroups of a 2-torus. This follows from the `algebraization' result asserting that the lines of a net are dual to points lying on a plane cubic. Speaker: Sergey Yuzvinsky, Univ. of Oregon and
MSRI Wednesday November 10, 2004 Topic: XML11 - An Abstract Windowing Protocol Abstract: XML11 is an abstract windowing protocol inspired by the X11-protocol devleoped by MIT. XML11 is an XML-based protocol supporting common user interface widgets. To overcome high-latency connections, XML11 allows migration of application logic to the end device. Implicit middleware allows transparent interaction between the migration portion of the application. The middleware is implicit because it is transparently inserted into our framework. The prototype implementation of XML11 requires any standard web browser without Java capabilities on the clilent side and it replaces AWT/Swing on the server side. This also allows us to expose legacy AWT/Swing applications as web applications. Speaker: Arno Puder, SFSU Department of Computer
Science Thursday November 11, 2004 Topic: Centromeric Chromatin in Flies and Humans Speaker: Dr. Gary Karpen, Lawrence Berkeley
National Lab and UC Berkeley. Friday, November 12, 2004 Topic: The Mirror Image of Life: L-DNA Speaker: Dr. Stefan Matysiak, Applied Biosystems Monday November 15, 2004 Topic: Interferometry Observations of Disks Around Young Stars Abstract: Observations of disk material surrounding young stars determine the early environmental conditions that influence the development of planetary systems and provide constraints on theoretical models of star and planet formation. With millimeter interferometry it is possible to image the cool outer disk, while infrared interferometry provides information about the hot inner disk. Our recent Owens Valley Millimeter Array study concentrates on young binaries and detects massive dust disks with evidence for grain growth around the primary stars, but indicates a reduced lifetime for the outer disk material around secondary stars. These results are compared with numerical simulations of binary evolution and with theoretical predictions for giant planet formation timescales. Our Keck Interferometer program targets young stars to estimate sizes of the inner disks. These observations are compared with theoretical models of circumstellar disk structure and planet migration. Speaker: Dr. Jennifer Patience, Astronomy
Deptartment, California Institute of Technology Monday November 22, 2004 Topic: Tracking Electrons With Attosecond Temporal Resolution: New Light Sources For New Science Abstract: Third generation synchrotron light sources were first introduced over 10 years ago and have quickly become oversubscribed as user facilities. The enormous scientific output from these facilities covers disciplines from condensed matter physics and materials science to structural biology and protein crystallography, from atomic physics and nonlinear optics to chemical dynamics to environmental and earth sciences. Even as the first of these facilities were commissioning, however, the ideas, concepts, and techniques for the next generation of synchrotron light sources were developing. X-ray free electron lasers will present intense sources of spatially and temporally coherent light with photon energies from eV to keV (UV to hard x-ray). Manipulation of high energy electron beams with short pulse lasers will allow us to produce attosecond and femtosecond length x-ray pulses. These techniques together will give us an unprecedented dynamical view of ordinary and exotic matter. I will discuss the advances in accelerator physics and beam handling techniques that enable such exquisite control over light, and describe current efforts underway at SLAC and LBNL to develop these novel tools. Speaker: Dr. Steven Lidia, Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory
Monday November 29, 2004 Topic: The Development of Multianalyte, Fiber-Based Imaging Biosensors for Medical Applications Abstract: Multianalyte, in-vivo biosensors are being developed using a unique platform called MidAS (microdot array sensors). MidAS utilizes inkjet printing technologies to "print" arrays of indicator chemistries on the polished surface of optical fiber image guides. These printed chemistries contain a fluorophore or a FRET-based (fluorescence resonance energy transfer) polypeptide substrate, specific to a target analyte, in a photopolymerizable monomer matrix. Simple spectroscopy techniques are used to image the "printed" microdot arrays and to detect fluorescence changes resulting from the fluorescence emission or from the cleavage of the FRET-based polypeptide substrate. I will describe the development of a pH sensor, the solution-based aspects of enzyme biosensor development, the inkjet printing process for creating biosensors, and preliminary data describing our first generation fiber-based enzyme biosensor. Speaker: Rosa Alvis, Center for Biophotonics
Science and Technology, University of California, Davis
Thursday, December 2, 2004 Topic: Viral Infection and the Pathogenesis of Kaposi's Sarcoma Speaker: Dr. Don Ganem, Microbiology and Immunology,
UCSF Friday, December 3, 2004 Topic: Development of Asymmetric Catalysis for the Intramolecular Acylnitroso Diels-Alder Reaction Speaker: Dr. Chun Chow, University of California,
San Francisco Monday December 6, 2004 Topic: Algebraic Structure of Physical
Quantities
Speaker: Sergio Aragon, SFSU Monday December 6, 2004 Topic: A Deep Infrared Survey for Pleiades Brown Dwarfs toward the Deuterium Burning Limit Abstract: I present the results of a deep infrared survey for low mass brown dwarfs in the Pleiades cluster. By comparing J-band and I-band photometry of a ~450 square arcmin area with theoretical models, twenty-five preliminary candidates were identified. Brown dwarfs were detectable down to masses of ~ 20 Mjupiter and temperatures near 1500K at which Pleiads begin making a transition from late L spectral types to methane-dominated T-type spectra. The preliminary candidates were subsequently classified as likely field stars, extended galaxies, a previously known Pleiades brown dwarf and new substellar candidates. Follow-up infrared photometry and higher resolution image profile analysis with the Keck telescopes have revealed ~5 new substellar Pleiades candidates as likely cluster members. If confirmed by dynamical association, they would be the lowest mass brown dwarfs discovered in the Pleiades by any survey to date. Speaker: Dr. Michael Schwartz, UCLA
and Santa Monica Community College
Friday, December 10, 2004 Topic: How are Introns with Noncanonical Splice Sites Recognized? Speaker: Prof. Andy Berglund, University of
Oregon, Dept. of Chemistry
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