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Mathematics, Sciences, &
Engineering Division
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2013 Speakers
Symposium Series
Thank you to all who contributed their time and effort
in making our inaugural speakers series so successful.
The 2013 Speakers Symposium Series was a great success!
2013 SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE
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February 26, 2013
Dr. Michael Sailor
UCSD, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Harnessing the Photonic Properties of Silicon
Nanostructures for Biomaterials Applications
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April 16, 2013
Dr. Richard
Squires
CSUN, Department of Geological Sciences
Fossil
Treasures of Santa Clarita Valley |
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March 5, 2013
Mr. Matthew
Wallace
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Flight System Manager
Mars
Curiosity Mission |
April 23, 2013
Dr. J. David
Jentsch
UCLA, Department of Psychology
Reward,
Interrupted: Inhibitory Control and its
Relevance to Addictions
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March 26, 2013
Dr. Dan Lubin
UCSD, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
The Sun and Global Climate Change |
April 30, 2013
Dr. Robert Grubbs,
Nobel Laureate (2005) in Chemistry
California Institute of Technology, Division of
Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Fundamental
Research to Commercial Products: Applications of
Olefin Metathesis Catalysts |
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2012 Symposium
Schedule, Guest Speakers, Abstracts and
Biographies can be viewed here. |
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
7:00 PM
BYKH-105
Dr. Michael Sailor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, m/c 0358
La Jolla, CA 92093-0358
Tel: 858.534.8188
Email: msailor@ucsd.edu
Home Page:
http://sailorgroup.ucsd.edu/
Harnessing the Photonic Properties of Silicon Nanostructures
for
Biomaterials Applications
Abstract
Silicon is best known for the central role it
plays in microelectronic and photovoltaic devices. However,
the same electronic and photonic properties that make this
semiconductor so useful for solid-state applications can
also be useful in biology. This presentation will discuss
how the properties of silicon can be harnessed for
manipulation and imaging of biological systems. In
particular, porous nanoparticles of silicon will be
discussed. The combination of both nanoscale morphology
(e.g. tunable micro- and meso-pore dimensions, capacity to
host molecules, polymers, or nanoparticles) and nanoscale
properties (e.g. photoluminescence, photonics, chemical
reactivity) generates some interesting opportunities for
biomaterials applications not readily achieved with other
materials. The use of the photoconductivity,
photoluminescence, and reflective optical characteristics of
this material for in-vitro and in-vivo sensing, imaging, and
drug delivery will be highlighted.
Figure 1. Nanoparticles of porous Si and
their use in biological imaging. (left)
Luminescent porous Si nanoparticles generated
by pulsed electrochemical etching. Scale bar is 100 nm. (right)
Confocal microscope image of dendritic cells
(green) containing porous Si nanoparticles (red). Intrinsic
NIR fluorescence from the quantumconfined Si nanostructures
shown in red; green in image is cellular membrane stain. A
targeting antibody induced internalization of the
nanoparticles. Scale bar is 40 μm
Biography
Michael J. Sailor is a Professor of Chemistry and
Biochemistry and the Leslie Orgel Scholar in Inorganic
Chemistry at the University of California, San Diego. He
holds Affiliate appointments in the Departments of
Bioengineering and Nanoengineering, and in the Materials
Science and Engineering Program at UCSD. He received a B.S.
degree in Chemistry from Harvey Mudd College and a Ph.D.
degree in Chemistry from Northwestern University. He joined
the faculty at the University of California, San Diego in
1990, after post-doctoral appointments at Stanford and
Caltech.
Professor Sailor is an expert in nanophase materials, with
emphasis on silicon-based photonic systems. Current projects
in his lab are directed at problems in nanoparticle-based
diagnosis and treatment of disease, optical biosensors,
detectors for toxins, pollutants, and biological warfare
agents, photonic crystals, and microfluidic systems.
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Tuesday, March 5, 2013
7:00 PM
BYKH-105
Mr. Matthew Wallace
Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Flight System Manager
Mars Curiosity Mission
Abstract
On August 5, 2012, NASA landed the one
ton Curiosity rover inside Gale Crater on the surface of
Mars. The landing marked the first use of the 'sky-crane'
system, as well as the end of an eight month interplanetary
cruise from Earth and beginning of an exciting two year
surface science mission. Updates from the landing and the
surface science mission to-date will be presented.
Biography
Mr. Matt Wallace
grew up in
various towns in New Jersey and the suburbs of Washington
D.C. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1984 with a
B.S. in Systems Engineering and served five years as a line
officer in the U.S. submarine force fast attack fleet. Matt
left the Navy to go to graduate school at Caltech, where he
received an M.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1991, prior to
coming to JPL.
At JPL, Mr. Wallace is currently the
flight
system
manager
for the Mars Science Laboratory project. Wallace and his
team are responsible for overseeing the development of
spacecraft systems for the current Mars rover, code named
Curiosity, which launched from Kennedy Space Center in
November 2011 and landed on the Martian terrain in August
2012. Wallace has made significant contributions to other
robotic planetary missions and three Mars rover missions,
including management of the assembly as well as test and
launch operations team for both the Spirit and Opportunity
rovers. He also handled surface mission operations for the
Opportunity rover after it landed on Mars in 2004.
Matt
supported Cassini power system activities and advanced
mission concepts, then worked in various capacities on the
Mars Pathfinder lander and rover engineering teams. He was
one of the operations coordinators for Sojourner during the
MPF landed mission. Matt also worked for several years at
Orbital Sciences Corporation, holding various systems and
program management positions on remote sensing satellite
programs before returning to JPL in 2001.
Top of Page
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
7:00 PM
BYKH-105
Dr. Dan Lubin
UCSD,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
The Sun and Global Climate Change
Abstract
The Earth’s climate depends on both the Sun, which provides
the energy input, and on the composition of the atmosphere,
which traps radiation and maintains a habitable temperature
regime. Consequently, the Sun is often a source of confusion
in the climate change issue. It is common for climate change
deniers to “blame the Sun” for the increasing global
temperatures and changing weather patterns we have seen.
This presentation will clarify how the Sun has actually
influenced climate change over the historical record.
Throughout the past century, while greenhouse gas (GHG)
abundances have been steadily increasing and influencing
Earth’s climate, the Sun has remained relatively bright and
constant in its output. Solar cycles have been steadily
active, with instantaneous sunspot numbers at solar maximum
exceeding 100 in every cycle since 1893 (Cycle 13). The
climate warming we have experienced since the beginning of
the modern industrial era cannot be attributed to the Sun.
However, the recent minimum between Cycles 23 and 24, and
NASA predictions of a substantially lower sunspot number at
the 2013 solar maximum, suggest that the Sun’s recent bright
and quiescent period may be ending. Studies of recent solar
cycles, and astrophysical studies of nearby solar analogs,
suggest a 40% chance of the Sun entering a new Maunder
Minimum sometime in the Twenty First Century. During the
historical Maunder Minimum (1645-1715), meteorological data
from Europe and proxy records from global oceans indicate a
substantially cooler climate, attributable to decreased
solar radiation. In our lifetime, we may therefore see a
period of solar dimming in conjunction with increasing GHG
abundances. A new Maunder Minimum would not entirely offset
the projected GHG-induced warming, because the GHG effect is
at least three times larger than best estimates of the solar
radiation decrease. Instead, the complex interactions
between radiative balance and atmospheric dynamics yield
unusual regional patterns of pronounced warming versus
cooling. The reality of the Sun’s influence on climate is
timely and an interdisciplinary field of study.
Biography
Dr. Dan Lubin is a veteran of three Antarctic and two Arctic
field campaigns, including the National Ozone Expedition,
the 1994 Arctic Ocean Section, and the Surface Heat Budget
of the Arctic (SHEBA) program. After his bachelor's degree
in Physics from Northwestern University, Dr. Lubin earned an
M.S. in Astronomy and Astrophysics in 1988 and Ph.D. in
Geophysical Sciences in 1989 from the University of Chicago.
He joined the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) in
1990 as a postdoctoral researcher and has been affiliated
with SIO as a Research Physicist since 1993, currently as
the Associate Director. In addition to maintaining research
interests in polar field instrumentation, remote sensing,
and astronomy, Dr. Lubin also serves as an Engineering Duty
officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and is a senior lecturer at
the University of California, San Diego.
Dr. Lubin’s research interests lie in the areas of satellite
remote sensing of Earth's polar regions, the application of
global climate model simulation to the polar regions, and
new instrumentation and techniques for space-based remote
sensing. His group is currently examining
Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Interactions in the Arctic, the
influence of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) on meteorology
and climate change over the Antarctic Peninsula, and the
development of radiometric instrumentation for polar climate
research.
Top of Page
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
7:00 PM
BYKH-105
Dr. Richard Squires
CSUN, Department of
Geological Sciences
Fossil Treasures of Santa
Clarita Valley
Abstract
Rocks and their fossil
contents are vastly different between the southern part
(Eastern Ventura Basin) and northern part (Soledad Basin) of
Santa Clarita Valley. The reason is primarily the San
Gabriel Fault, which bisects the valley. Movements
along this fault, as well as along the associated San
Andreas Fault, juxtaposed marine (ocean) deposits in the
southern part of the valley against mostly non-marine (river
and lake) deposits in the northern part. Even though
the two basins were created at approximately the same time,
they have had very different geologic histories.
In the southern part of
the valley, marine environments (deep-ocean floor to
shoreline) dominated the geologic history. Fossils are
mostly seashells that are between 50 to 3 million years old.
The earliest ones (early Eocene) are scarce and were
transported by currents from shallow, subtropical waters
into deeper waters. Eight million years ago (late
Miocene), deep cool marine waters were present, and
microscopic single-cell diatoms and fish scales (scarce)
accumulated. Five million years ago (early Pliocene),
a deep-water submarine canyon existed, and near the head of
this canyon, abundant shallow-marine gastropods (snails) and
bivalves (clams) lived, as well as sand dollars and shark
teeth. Some of the latter are from the largest
meat-eating shark of all time, Carcharocles megalodon,
whose teeth can be 7 inches long. Three million years
ago (late Pliocene), the southern part of the valley was
covered by a shallow-marine delta, where abundant oysters
and scallops lived, as well as some barnacles and sand
dollars. During the last three million years, this
shoreline slowly retreated to the west and is now located
near Ventura.
In the northern part of the valley,
grasslands adjacent to rivers dominated the geologic
history. Fossils are scarce and mostly land mammals.
The oldest fossils are about 23 million years old (early
Miocene), and the deposits they occur in were originally
near what is now the U.S.A.-Mexican border. These
fossils are sheep-like "oreodonts," four-foot-tall browsing
camelids, and three-toed horses. Twelve million years
ago (late Miocene), there were bear dogs, hyena-like dogs,
saber-tooth cats, small rhinoceroses, one-toed horses,
"giraffe" camels, and long-jawed mastodons. For a
time, there was also a large freshwater lake containing
small gastropods and some leaves (washed into the lake).
Ten million years ago, a shallow arm of the ocean covered
most of the northern part of the valley. Associated
fossils are fish, fish scales, some gastropods, large
oysters, large mussels, scallops, sea turtles, and some
transported land plants.
Biography
Professor Squires obtained his
B.S. and M.S. in geology from the University of New Mexico
and his Ph.D. in geobiology from Caltech. After a
post-doctorate appointment at JPL, he began teaching at CSUN
(California State University Northridge) and has been a
faculty member there for 38 years. His main research
interests are the evolution and ancient geographic
distribution of Late Cretaceous, Eocene, and Pliocene
shallow-marine gastropods (snails) and bivalves (clams).
He has numerous publications and has been the mentor of many
undergraduate and graduate students. He is a long-time
resident of Santa Clarita, and several of his papers concern
the local geology.
Top of Page
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
7:00 PM
BYKH-105
Dr. J. David Jentsch
Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry & Biobehavioral
Sciences
Associate Director for Research, The Brain Research
Institute
University of California, Los Angeles
Reward, Interrupted: Inhibitory Control and its Relevance
to Addictions
Abstract
Addiction
is a disease; it is defined, medically and scientifically,
as a clinically-impairing pattern of compulsive and
inflexible reward seeking. All addictions involve the
pursuit of rewards (whether they be drugs, food, sex or
thrill) that almost all humans find pleasurable, yet only a
small proportion of people become addicted to these things.
Our research focuses on a number of important questions. We
examine why – biologically – it is so hard for some to
resist the attraction of drugs, even when they are trying
very hard to do so. We study the brain mechanisms that
contribute to vulnerability and resilience to addiction. We
seek to understand how brain molecules contribute to
addiction and how they can be targeted to disable its hold
on the individual. This talk will deal with an assortment of
these issues and attempt to show how neuroscientific
research can inform our social understanding of a long
misunderstood disease.
Biography
Dr. J.
David Jentsch received his Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience
from Yale University and has been on the faculty in the
Department of Psychology at UCLA since 2001. He is now a
Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry & Biobehavioral
Sciences as well as the Associate Director for Research of
the Brain Research Institute. His work on the
neuroscience of substance abuse has been recognized by the
2010 Joseph Cochin Young Investigator Award from the College
on the Problems of Drug Dependence and the 2011 Jacob P.
Waletzky Award for Innovative Research on Drug Abuse and
Alcoholism from the Society for Neuroscience.
In addition
to maintaining an active research and teaching program
focused on behavioral neuroscience, neurogenetics and
psychopharmacology, Dr. Jentsch has played a national role
in scientific advocacy around the issue of humane use of
animals in biomedical research and discovery. He formed the
group Pro-test for Science and contributes to the mission of
several research advocacy groups, including Speaking of
Research and Americans for Medical Progress. In
addition, his efforts to promote scientific advocacy have
been recognized by the 2012 Award for Scientific Freedom and
Responsibility from the American Association for the
Advancement of Science.
Dr. Jentsch’s
lab
conducts research on the
genetic and neurochemical influences on cognitive control
abilities in laboratory animals; in addition, he closely
collaborates with clinical neuroscientists in order to
undertake translational research that spans levels of
analyses and model systems, forwards and back translating
data between animal models and human subjects.
Top of Page
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
7:00 PM
Performing Arts Center
Dr. Robert Grubbs, Nobel
Laureate (2005) in Chemistry
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91125
Fundamental Research to Commercial
Products:
Applications of Olefin Metathesis
Catalysts
Abstract
The
olefin metathesis reaction was discovered in the 1960's as a
method for the inter-conversion of hydrocarbons. The
nature of the catalysts and the mechanism of the reaction
were
unknown. Fundamental studies of the possible mechanisms of
the transformation led to the development of well-defined
catalysts that would promote the transformation. Evolution
of the catalyst structures resulted in the formation of a
family of catalysts based on ruthenium that promote the
reaction under practical conditions and in the presence of a
variety of functionality. The availability of a catalyst
that promotes scrambling of the fragments of a carbon-carbon
double bond by a metathesis reaction in the presence of a
variety of functional groups and under normal reaction
conditions has opened a variety of applications that range
from the production of tough polymers that are seeing a
variety of uses to the production of highly functionalized
pharmaceuticals. The catalysts facilitate synthesis of olefinic materials and have few side reactions. Part of
their use in "Green" chemistry has been their application to
the conversion of renewal materials to useful chemicals.
Biography
Dr. Robert
Grubbs,
an organic chemist whose work on catalysis has led to a wide
variety of applications in medicine and industry,
received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry from the
University of Florida, followed by his Ph.D. in Chemistry
from Columbia University. He spent a year at Stanford
University as a postdoctoral fellow and then joined the
Michigan State University faculty in 1969. He joined the
faculty ranks at the California Institute of Technology in
1978 with full tenure as a professor and has been the Victor
and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry since 1990.
His research focuses on: organometallic syntheses and
mechanisms, organic syntheses, and polymer syntheses.
In 2005, Dr. Grubbs earned the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry for the development of the metathesis method in
organic synthesis. Metathesis is an organic reaction
in which chemists selectively strip out certain atoms in a
compound and replace them with atoms that were previously
part of another compound. The end result is a custom-built
molecule that has specialized properties that can lead to
better drugs for the treatment of disease or better
electrical conducting properties for specialized plastics.
In particular, Dr. Grubbs has worked on olefin metathesis.
Prior to this work, metathesis was poorly understood and of
limited value to scientists. Dr. Grubbs developed powerful
new catalysts for metathesis that enabled custom synthesis
of valuable molecules, such as pharmaceuticals and new
polymers with novel materials properties. This
pioneering work has led to industrial and pharmaceutical
methods that are more efficient and less wasteful, simpler,
and more environmentally friendly.
A special thank you is extended to the following
faculty/staff members for assisting with the Spring 2013
Series:
Jeannie Chari (Biological Sciences), Teresa Ciardi (Physical
Sciences/Astronomy), Vincent Devlahovich (Geology), Ann
Kressin (Chemistry), and Elizabeth Hernandez (Biological
Sciences/Physics).
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