Feb-2013

A Newsletter for Alumni and Friends February 2013

Dean's Message

Greetings friends of the College of Science,

We hope that you enjoy this issue of the Vandal Science News – I know that we enjoy putting it together as a short glimpse into what's been going on in the college. In this issue you'll be able to, as usual, read about some of the great things our students and faculty have been doing in the laboratory and classroom. But I'd like to focus my brief message here on some of the things that we're doing outside of our research and classroom teaching missions – things that we do to enrich the community and bring awareness of science and mathematics to the broader community.

We continue to grow our successful Women in Math and Science program. We'll be conducting two days of programs for young women in the Boise and Meridian school districts this April, just as we did for many northern Idaho districts last October. In the Boise programs this year we're partnering with the folks from the McCall Outdoor Science School (in the College of Natural Resources) to make it an even richer experience for the participating young women.

Our Science Outreach team (consisting of current U-Idaho students) continues to be active in demonstrations for audiences of all ages. And in a few weeks we'll be hosting the Idaho state finals of the Invent Idaho competition. In this event approximately 120 grade 1-8 students from around the state will visit campus with their families. They'll display their inventions, have them judged by a panel of U-Idaho scientists and engineers, and also tour some U-Idaho facilities. We hosted the competition last year and the students had such a great experience that the organizers insisted it return to U-Idaho again this year.

The College of Science is once again part of this year's Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival (going on right now). Last year, we (along with the College of Art and Architecture) pioneered the idea of providing academic-themed workshops for visiting high school students – programs that relate science disciplines to music and give the visiting students a taste of university life outside of music performance. Our workshops were so successful that this year several other colleges (Business, Law, Natural Resources) are taking part as well. For our part, Professor Mark Nielsen presented a workshop on the mathematics of music, while Professors Marty Ytreberg and Christine Berven demonstrated the physics of sound waves. (You can see a video of part of their workshop here on our Facebook page.)

As I hope this brief account conveys, our faculty and students are excited about science and enjoy sharing that excitement with others. We see this as an important part of our mission, for Science truly is advanced by increasing public appreciation of the work scientists do.

Thank you for your continuing support of the College of Science.

- Dean Paul Joyce

From the Lab to the World

Recent graduate, Kali Turner, will stay in Idaho for a semester to complete her research before heading across the world for even more hands-on experience that she hopes will lead her to a future helping humans fight disease. read more »

Hill Undergrad Research Fellowship

Daniel LaPorte is one of five recipients of the Hill Undergrad Research Fellowship. Daniel will use the Hill Fellowship award to present his work on p53 at the American Biophysical Society's 2014 conference. read more »

Alumni Award for Excellence

This year we were please to announce five of our students received the U-Idaho Alumni Award for Excellence. These students have been recognized for their academic success and demonstrating career and professional preparation. read more »

From the Advisory Board

The Alumni Awards program recognizes outstanding alumni and friends for their professional accomplishments and service to society and the university. This year's Celebration of Alumni Excellence will be held on Thursday, November 1. read more »