PAMS Focus  -  July 2007

PAMS Focus is a periodic e-mail newsletter about activities, achievements and other news from the NC State College of Physical & Mathematical Sciences (PAMS). If you have any suggestions or comments, please share them with us by e-mailing pams_info@ncsu.edu.

Mary Schweitzer to be featured on NOVA on PBS, Tuesday, July 24

Mary Schweitzer of the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences will be featured in a segment on the Tuesday, July 24 broadcast of “NOVA scienceNOW” at 8 p.m., Eastern time on PBS. The segment will highlight her research, featuring her discovery of soft dinosaur tissue.

Mark your calendar now!

The 2007 PAMS Alumni & Friends Weekend will be held Oct. 12-13. More information will be available at a later date, and a registration brochure will be mailed in August.

NC State sends delegation to China

PAMS Dean Dan Solomon was part of an NC State delegation that spent several days strengthening ties between the university and colleagues in China.  Chancellor James Oblinger, Solomon, and two other deans joined an economic development delegation from the Research Triangle area on this relationship-building trip. Some group members, including Solomon, posted blog entries about their experiences during the trip. The blog is located at:  http://www.ncsu.edu/china/.

“International education and study-abroad opportunities are important parts of NC State’s mission,” Oblinger said. “They help us build relationships with international institutions and individuals and boost economic development for the state and nation. Education is the new language of the world and part of the currency of tomorrow.”

Last fall, NC State signed 13 academic agreements with universities in China, creating a range of new education and research opportunities for the university’s students and faculty and their counterparts from China. For more information, visit: http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/2007/may/105.html.

Swallow receives prestigious UNC System teaching award

Bill Swallow, professor of statistics, received an Award for Excellence in Teaching from the University of North Carolina (UNC) Board of Governors - the system’s highest teaching honor. Swallow is one of 16 educators - one from each UNC System campus - who received the award from UNC System President Erskine Bowles and Board of Governors Chairman Jim Phillips, Jr. during a special luncheon. Winners will receive a prize of $7,500 and a bronze medallion. For more, see http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/2007/may/085.html.

Giant penguins? In Peru?

Julia Clarke of the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences has announced a remarkable find: a five-foot penguin that lived 36 million years ago in a warm equatorial region. This represents the northern-most migration of giant penguins, at a warmer time when the earth had no ice sheets. Unlike any previously known modern or prehistoric penguins, it also had a long, spear-like beak. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the work sheds light on penguin diversity, evolution and migration. For more, see: http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/2007/june/112.htm.