PAMS Focus - January 2008

PAMS Focus is the bi-monthly electronic newsletter for alumni and friends of the NC State University College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (PAMS). If you have any suggestions or comments, please share them with us by e-mailing pams_info@ncsu.edu.

Faculty discovery ranked top 10 science story of 2007

The work of PAMS paleontologist Mary Schweitzer has been ranked the 10th most important science story of 2007 by Discover magazine.

Schweitzer, associate professor in the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, with a joint appointment at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, first caused a stir in 2005 with her discovery of soft tissue in a 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil. This year, in a dual effort with colleague John Asara from Harvard, the researchers used multiple analyses to verify and sequence proteins from the ancient tissue that link the T. rex to modern-day chickens, bolstering the idea that modern-day birds descended from dinosaurs.

Each year, the January issue of Discover features a series of short items describing and ranking the previous year’s top 100 science stories. This is the second time since Schweitzer came to NC State that her work has been ranked by the magazine.

For more information, please visit http://news.ncsu.edu/news/2007/12/dino-discover-07.php.

NC State honors trailblazing statistician and mathematician

David Blackwell couldn’t make it to North Carolina for fall commencement, so NC State took Blackwell’s honorary doctorate degree to him!

Blackwell, a world-renowned statistician and mathematician and the first African American to be inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, received his diploma in person on Jan. 6 at a Sunday brunch ceremony in Berkeley, California. Sastry Pantula, head of the Department of Statistics, presented the diploma and conveyed congratulations from NC State Chancellor James Oblinger and PAMS Dean Daniel Solomon.

For more, including photos of the event, please visit http://www.stat.ncsu.edu/blogs/news/?p=45.

Upcoming Event: Physics welcomes 1996 Nobel Laureate

The Department of Physics is pleased to welcome Sir Harry Kroto, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida State University, and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry, as the presenter of the 2008 L.H. Thomas Lecture. The lecture, titled Architecture in NanoSpace, will be Tuesday, Feb. 26, at 4 p.m. in the Sayers Auditorium (Riddick 301).

For more information, please call 919-515-2521 or e-mail kdaniel@ncsu.edu.

New year brings new-and-improved “Focus”

A belated “Happy New Year!” to all members of the PAMS community. We wish all our alumni, friends, faculty, staff and students all the best for 2008 and beyond.

This first 2008 issue marks a few changes for PAMS Focus. Most notably, we have expanded and updated our mailing list, which means many of you are receiving this publication for the first time. Other changes of note include:

• The publication has shifted to a bi-monthly calendar to best keep you apprised of activities, achievements and other news from the college.
• We have a new contact e-mail address, pams_info@ncsu.edu, which sends your questions and comments directly to the dean’s office. Please also use this address to remove or update your e-mail address with us or to let us know of friends or colleagues who may benefit from receiving PAMS Focus.
• All issues will be available on the Web and archived at http://www.pams.ncsu.edu/news/focus.php.

We hope you enjoy the changes we have made, and we welcome your suggestions for improvements.