- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Gealt Elected to EAST Executive Board

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:36:05 +0000

Dr. Michael Gealt, dean of ��Vlog��ýLR’s College of Science, has been elected to the executive committee of’s Board of Directors.

Established in Greenbrier, Ark., as as antidote for bored, at-risk students, the EAST (Environmental and Spatial Technology) educational model focuses on student-driven service projects accomplished by using teamwork and cutting-edge technology.

Students identify problems in their local communities and use tools such as global positioning system and geographic information system (GPS/GIS) mapping, computer assisted design (CAD) software, 3-D animation suites, virtual reality development, and more to develop solutions, collaborating with civic and other groups in the process.

“EAST has been instrumental in helping students develop an interest in using math and science to solve community problems,” Gealt said. “EAST students have impressed me with their enthusiasm and strong work effort. I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to help EAST in their educational efforts.”

Earlier this year, a team led by Gealt and College of Education Dean Angela Sewall established a collaboration between their colleges to recruit more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduates into teacher prep programs so they can teach in these critical areas in public schools.

The new ��Vlog��ýLRTeach program answers Gov. Mike Beebe’s call to increase the number of secondary school science and mathematics teachers by recruiting more STEM – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – undergraduate students into public schools.

The Governor’s Workforce Group selected ��Vlog��ýLR to receive $216,000 to support participation in the national UTeach program. Other state universities selected in the program were the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and University of Central Arkansas.

The ultimate goal of ��Vlog��ýLR’s collaboration is to replicate the UTeach program that started at the University of Texas in Austin and has been replicated at universities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, and more.

Last August, Beebe announced a $2.68 million initiative involving several programs, including UTeach, New Tech High Schools, where where students are taught practical applications for their class programs; and EASTcore, a program to expose students to Project-Based Instruction in STEM disciplines.

Students to Examine Appalachian Geology

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 20:51:36 +0000

A delegation of students and faculty from ��Vlog��ýLR’s Department of Earth Sciences is heading for the Geological Society of America annual meeting in Charlotte, N.C., this week to present research combined with a field trip to study Appalachian geology. Dr. Laura Ruhl, assistant professor of earth sciences, will lecture on her work regarding the validation of novel environmental tracers in relation to coal combustion residuals. Doctoral student Haveen Rashid will speak on the “Groundwater Flow Model of the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer of Cache Critical Area.” Dr. Beth McMillan, associate professor of earth science, will present a poster regarding the use of virtual visualization tools and a case study approach to improve learning about sedimentary rocks and minerals in an online introductory geology lab course. “In addition, we are taking 12 students with us on a field trip through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to look at Appalachian geology,” McMillan said. “While at the meeting, the students are expected to attend talks and [peruse] posters of interest to them and attend mentor breakfasts and industry-sponsored lunches.” The meeting will also allow students to meet and talk with prospective employers and graduate school representatives. Students attending include Jessica Brown of St. Louis, Corbin Cannon of Tulsa, Okla.; Chris Allen of Gravel Ridge, Jason Dodd of Benton, Kelly Ho of Jonesboro; Blake Forrest and Kirk Rodgers, both of North Little Rock; and Abby Wyant, John Hutchison, Eric Allaby, Elizabeth Eberle, and Tim Fitzhugh, all of Little Rock.

��Vlog��ýLR Promotes Observe the Moon Sept. 22

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:40:04 +0000

Students and scientists from ��Vlog��ýLR’s Department of Physics and Astronomy will join members of the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society, the Museum of Discovery, and Central Arkansas Library System to celebrate International Observe the Moon Night Saturday, Sept. 22, at Little Rock’s River Market. A day of activities at the museum, the downtown library, and the Arkansas Studies Institute will culminate in a riverside field trip where telescopes will be set up to offer glimpses of the moon up close. See location of Telescope Moon Viewing. All events are free and open to the public. The special guest this year – courtesy of Dr. Tony Hall, chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy – will be Steve Arnold of the Science Channel’s hit television show, “Meteorite Men.” Arnold, a native of Arkansas, has been hunting, collecting, and selling rare space rocks found from some of the most exotic locations on the planet. Arnold will speak at 1 p.m. at the Museum of Discovery. Later, he will join the lunar telescope viewings from 7 to 10:30 p.m. Here is a list of activities:

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Construct a lunar base activity for kids; Tinker Shop, Museum of Discovery.
1 to 2 p.m. – “Meteorite Man” Steve Arnold lecture; Museum of Discovery Great Hall.
2:30 to 4 p.m. – “For All Mankind” a documentary film of the Apollo Moon Missions; Arkansas Studies Institute Room 124.
3 to 5 p.m. – Making Moon Craters with Dr. Tony Hall; CALS Main Library Branch Children’s Room.
3 to 6 p.m. – Walking the Solar System; starts outside the Museum of Discovery.
7 to 10:30 p.m. – Lunar telescope viewings with members of the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society and ��Vlog��ýLR Physics and Astronomy students and faculty. The site is located just east of the I-30 overpass along President Clinton Ave. and overlooking the William E. “Bill” Clark Presidential Park Wetlands.

Click Image for Map of Evening Telescope Setup for Moon Viewing

Senior’s Photo Lands on National Journal Cover

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 20:33:24 +0000

A photograph taken by ��Vlog��ýLR biology senior Katherine F. Simmons of Little Rock graces the cover of the September issue of the journal , the heavily cited journal covering all biological disciplines. The photo of a hispid cotton rat as it appears under mixed ultraviolet and visible light after it has been dusted with nontoxic fluorescent powder was taken during a mammalogy class field trip in 2010. “Researchers and students live-trap the rodents, then release them after dusting. Powder trails allow the animals’ movements to be followed using ultraviolet lights,” according to the caption accompanying the photo. “For students, powder tracking is a vivid introduction to the habits and habitat preferences of native species. For members of institutional animal care and use committees, protocols involving capture and powder tracking highlight the different considerations associated with the ethical use of animals in wildlife research, which are distinct from those in biomedical research.” The photo relates to an accompanying journal article by Dr. Robert Sikes, professor in the ��Vlog��ýLR Department of Biology, and his colleagues. The article argues in favor of changing Public Health Services (PHS) policy to formally recognize the taxon-specific guidelines developed by professional societies as the most appropriate standards for the care and use of wild vertebrates in research. Sikes, who chairs the Animal Care and Use Committee of the American Society of Mammalogists, wrote the article with Ellen Paul, executive director of the Ornithological Council, and Steve Beaupre, president of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Sikes also is the lead author of the “Guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the Care and Use of Wild Mammals in Research.” The authors are working to provide resources relevant to wildlife research that benefit “investigators, oversight and regulatory personnel, and – most especially – the animals themselves.”

NSF Grant to Advance Chemistry

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 17:40:17 +0000

Dr. Robert E. Belford, associate professor of chemistry at ��Vlog��ýLR, has received a $200,000 National Science Foundation grant to develop an intercollegiate course in cheminformatics – the modeling of chemical and related biological information on computers. Belford, chair of the American Chemical Society’s Division of Chemical Education Committee on Computers in Chemical Education, will work in collaboration with Dr. David J. Wild, director of the Indiana University Cheminformatics Program, to pioneer the use of the Semantic Web and Distance Education. The goal will be to bring high-impact education on practical informatics and cheminformatics techniques to chemistry undergraduates in a wide range of universities and smaller colleges. Their team will include a variety of experts in cheminformatics, chemical education, and information sciences. The intercollegiate course will be hosted by ACS CCCE. ��Vlog��ýLR is the lead institution for the collaborative project. “Advances in cheminformatics over the past couple decades have been so rapid that the traditional undergraduate curriculum has not kept up,” Belford said. “It will be a significant competitive asset for our students to be cognizant of these new technologies when they graduate.” The goal of the grant is two-fold – to bring faculty up to par with recent advances and to provide students with these skills. “For students to graduate with the skills they need to excel as chemists they not only need to know the foundations and lab skills central to the science, but they also need to know how to communicate the results of their work, how to acquire and review the results of others’ work, and increasingly how to use computational and informatics techniques as part of their scientific discovery process,” Belford said. According to Belford, this is more than just moving scientific communications beyond the traditional Gutenberg-era printed document. “Sure social and semantic technologies are impacting the scientific discovery process by changing how scientists share and communicate information, but there is another aspect of cheminformatics which could be changing the very nature of how we solve problems,” he said. “That is, cheminformatic advances are changing the nature of the cognitive artifacts we use to represent and manipulate information, which in turn has the potential to enable the development of new schema for problem solving that could have a profound impact on the practice of science.” Belford joined the ��Vlog��ýLR faculty in 2002 from the University of West Virginia where he was a visiting assistant professor of chemistry. He earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Arizona State University.

Physics Students Featured in New York Times

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:19:04 +0000

The New York Times featured ��Vlog��ýLR Ph.D. candidate Hilal Cansizoglu in a recent on how food is helping people from different cultures meet and understand each other. Cansizoglu – a native of Turkey who is seeking a doctorate in ��Vlog��ýLR’s applied physics program – moved to Little Rock two years ago from Dallas with her husband. She met new friends by attending weekly gatherings of women who together cook a meal, eat, and share stories and recipes for cultural dishes. “Cooking class is a very good opportunity to share our food with our friends,” Cansizoglu told the Times. “I say friends, because after a while, we become friends. After we show them how to cook Turkish food, then we eat what we cook all together on a round table, regardless of thinking who we are or what background we have.” The classes are run by Raindrop Turkish House, a social, cultural, charitable, and educational organization with 17 locations in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. “This also makes me feel attached to people here,” she said.

Ecology Group Awards Prof for Service

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:02:48 +0000

Janet Lanza, a professor in the ��Vlog��ýLR Department of Biology, has received the Distinguished Service Citation from the Ecological Society of America. She has served the society for two decades as Book Review Editor of its flagship journal, Ecology. As book editor, Lanza selects the books to review from those sent by publishers, finds appropriate reviewers, and edits the reviews – two to five per issue – for clarity, accuracy, and content. “Through a good eye for books worth reviewing, a familiarity with the discipline, and a keen and discriminating awareness of the pool of book reviewers, Lanza has produced a regular stream of high-quality reviews that span and transcend ecology,” said Nadine Lymn, a spokesperson for the society. The Ecological Society of America – the largest professional society of ecologists in the world with more than 10,000 members – publishes five well-respected journals, convenes an annual conference of more than 4,500 ecologists, and provides ecological and conservation advice to policy makers and media. Lanza’s service as book editor allows her to hire a biology student to work on the project. The books submitted for reviews – valued at $25,000 – are donated annually to ��Vlog��ýLR’s Ottenheimer Library.

In Memoriam: Deborah “Debbie” Lynch

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 20:58:53 +0000

Deborah “Debbie” Lynch, wife of Dr. Thomas Lynch, associate dean of the ��Vlog��ýLR College of Science and Mathematics, died Sunday, Aug. 12, following a lengthy battle with cancer. A prayer service will be held at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15, at Christ the King Catholic Church, 4000 Rodney Parham Road. A mass of Christian burial will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 16, at the church under the direction of . In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the scholarship fund supporting biology students in the name of Dr. Thomas and Deborah J. Lynch at ��Vlog��ýLR’s Office of Development, 2801 South University Ave.

CSAM Dean Appointed to EAST Initiative Board

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:49:06 +0000

Dr. Michael A. Gealt, dean of ��Vlog��ýLR’s College of Science and Mathematics, has been named to the board of directors of EAST Initiative, an educational model focusing on student-driven service projects accomplished by using teamwork and cutting-edge technology.

The EAST educational model was established in Greenbrier, Ark., as as antidote for bored, at-risk students. Students identify problems in their local communities and use tools such as global positioning system and geographic information system (GPS/GIS) mapping, computer assisted design (CAD) software, 3-D animation suites, virtual reality development, and more to develop solutions, collaborating with civic and other groups in the process. “EAST has been instrumental in helping students develop an interest in using math and science to solve community problems,” Gealt said. “The EAST students have impressed me with their enthusiasm and strong work effort. I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to help EAST in their educational efforts.” Last month, a team led by Gealt and ��Vlog��ýLR College of Education Dean Angela Sewall established a collaboration between their colleges to recruit more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduates into teacher prep programs so they can teach in these critical areas in public schools. The new ��Vlog��ýLRTeach program answers Gov. Mike Beebe’s call to increase the number of secondary school science and mathematics teachers by recruiting more STEM undergraduate students into public schools. The Governor’s Workforce Group selected ��Vlog��ýLR to receive $216,000 to support participation in the national UTeach program. Other state universities selected in the program were the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and the University of Central Arkansas. The ultimate goal of ��Vlog��ýLR’s collaboration is to replicate the UTeach program that began at the University of Texas in Austin and has been replicated at universities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, and more. Last August, Beebe announced a $2.68 million initiative involving several programs, including UTeach, New Tech High Schools, where students are taught practical applications for their class programs, and EASTcore, a program to expose students to Project-Based Instruction in STEM disciplines.

Former Math Chair Johnson Dies

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 16:38:12 +0000

Dr. Alan M. Johnson, professor emeritus and former chair of ��Vlog��ýLR’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics, died Wednesday, June 6, at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center after a year-long illness. He was 73. “From my first day on campus, Alan has been friend, colleague, mentor and advisor,” said Dr. Tom McMillan, current chair of the department. “His wonderful, slightly offbeat sense of humor and his compassion and care for students and colleagues made it a joy to be with him. Alan’s visits to the department always brightened my day. Even if I had “tons” of work to do, his visits would always end too soon, and I hated to see him leave. I will miss him very much.” A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 9, at Roller-Chenal Funeral Home Chapel. A reception will follow at the funeral home’s Garden Room. Johnson, who served as chair from 1980 to 1987 and again in 2005 to 2006, joined ��Vlog��ýLR in July 1980 as an associate professor of mathematics from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La. A native of Spadra, Ark., Johnson earned a B.A. degree in mathematics with a minor in physics and a M.S. in mathematics from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He also earned a Ph.D. in statistics from Texas A&M University. He is survived by his wife, Bonita Rachel Johnson, three daughters and their families, and a brother. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Dr. Alan M. Johnson Memorial Scholarship Fund at the ��Vlog��ýLR Office of Development.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock