| Center Faculty |
| Bob Gawley |
Bob Gawley, a member of the space center and a faculty member in the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was honored with the distinction of Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was selected in the chemistry section for distinguished contributions to the methods and principles of asymmetric synthesis, the biochemistry and analysis of marine toxins, and the mentoring of women and minorities. Dr. Gawley’s body of work spans the fields of synthetic and physical organic chemistry.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society and publishes the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org). AAAS in-cludes 262 affiliated societies and academies of science.
| Upcoming Meetings |
| Arkansas Academy Meeting |
The 91st Annual Meeting of the Arkansas Academy of Science will be hosted at Lake Point Conference Center on Lake Dardanelle by Arkansas Tech University on April 13-14, 2007, which is located in Russellville, Arkansas.
Preliminary details can be found at a Web site created for the meeting: http://pls.atu.edu/aas/. Information including final program and “active” links to finalized registration documents will be forthcoming in February 2007 with the publication of the annual AAS Newsletter. The deadline for abstracts is March 19 (April 6 for posters).
This preliminary announcement is intended to provide advanced notice about attending the April 13-14 meeting in Russellville. The AAS meeting represents a valuable opportunity to meet with colleagues and potential collaborators, present research, offer meaningful presentation experiences and monetary awards for both undergraduate and graduate students, and publish in the peer reviewed journal (JAAS) if so desired.
| REU Alumni |
| Jason Slinker |
Jason Slinker, a former REU student in the Cosmochemistry Group, recently wrote to give us an update. He is finishing his Ph.D. in Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University in June. After he finishes, he will move into a post doctoral position at the California Institute of Technology with Professor Jackie Barton.
| Center News |
| New Web Cam |
The space center has recently installed a Web cam in the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Space Simulation. It is contained in the room that holds the Andromeda chamber, which is the largest planetary environmental chamber in the Keck Laboratory. The view shows the top of the chamber and the surrounding platform. Visit the site at http://www.uark.edu/ua/kecklab/ and click on Web Cam.
| Public Outreach |
| Julia Kennefick |
Julia Kennefick, a member of the space center and a faculty member in the department of Physics, recently gave us the following details about her outreach trip to an elementary school.
On December 5th and 6th, I spent the days with two 5th grade classes of Ms. Georgia Faldon at Central Middle School in Van Buren, Arkansas. Ms. Faldon and I led the classes in four Project Astro activities. Project Astro
is a program developed by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) to bring professional astronomers and classroom teachers together to improve science education and encourage enthusiasm for astronomy among K-12 students. The four activities covered phases of the Moon: the students made model moons from styrofoam balls; the students pretended to be stars in the night sky to show stellar properties; the students built a scale model of our solar system on their playground using common objects to show solar system scale; and, the students determined how high a jumping up and down would be on another planetary body by measuring jumps on Earth. The students really seemed to learn a lot and enjoy the activities, and I did too. My favorite part was fielding their many questions about our solar system and the Universe. It was wonderful to witness their enthusiasm for our field.
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| Proposals |
| NASA - Roses 2007 |
SOLICITED RESEARCH PROGRAMS (IN ORDER OF PROPOSAL DUE DATES)
|
APPENDIX |
PROGRAM |
NOI/Step-1* DUE DATE |
PROPOSAL DUE DATE |
|
A.24 |
International Polar Year Education and Public Outreach |
N/A |
1/8/2007 |
|
C.25 |
Stardust Sample Analysis |
1/5/2007 |
1/19/2007 |
|
B.9 |
Virtual Observatories for Heliophysics Data |
11/29/2006 |
1/30/2007 |
|
E.2 |
Applied Information Systems Research |
11/29/2006 |
1/30/2007 |
|
B.2 |
Solar and Heliospheric Physics |
12/8/2006 |
2/9/2007 |
|
E.5 |
History of Scientific Exploration of Earth and Space |
12/15/2006 |
2/15/2007 |
|
A.20 |
Making Earth System data records for Use in Research Environments |
1/2/2007 |
3/5/2007 |
|
C.18 |
Astrobiology: Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology [1] [2] |
1/19/2007 |
3/15/2007 |
|
E.6 |
Opportunities in Science Mission Directorate Education and Public Outreach |
2/7/2007 |
4/4/2007 |
|
D.12 |
Astronomy and Physics Research and Analysis – 2007 |
3/2/2007 |
4/13/2007 |
| Center Events |
| Spring 2007 Public Lectures |
Lectures are free and open to the public
Reception to follow
Dr. Clive R. Neal
University of Notre Dame
Barringer Lecture Series
“The Moon: Inspiring the World 40 Years After Apollo”
February 12th - 7:00 pm
Old Main - Giffels Auditorium
Dr. Julia Kennefick
UArk Physics Department
“Distance Across the Cosmos: From Hipparchus to the Accelerating Universe”
February 21st - 7:00 pm
Poultry Science Auditorium
Dr. John Dixon
UArk Geosciences Department
“Geology in Frozen Places”
April 11th - 7:00 pm
Poultry Science Auditorium