Science Scene January 2012 to May 2012

Science Scene
A publication of the College of Science, Utah State University
To share the research and professional development activities
of our faculty and students with the College, Utah State
Administrators, and the Board of Trustees.
January 2012 to May 2012
—The Dean’s Corner—
Dear Friends:
WOW! Temperatures are in the mid-nineties, several very large fires have broken out across the state, and the
campus is alive with students visiting to give us a once over with regard to enrolling here or just to take advantage of the many summer programs the University offers.
As I reviewed this issue of Science Scene I became ever more impressed by the accolades our students and faculty have garnered this year. These pages contain reports of graduate students writing research papers that have
appeared with wonderful reviews in prestigious journals, of scientists whose work with fossils has caused colleagues to name new species after them, to students being named Goldwater Scholars, colleagues writing books
and a veritable plethora of other awards and honors. As a dean I could not be happier with the progress our programs have made and with the quality of our faculty and staff.
The University is attempting to develop a more active summer session. This would allow students greater access
to a wider variety of classes and would help us spread the students into three sessions rather than two. The Provost and the President have worked hard to begin development of a more extensive and intensive summer school
experience.
All in all, things are going well and people have really pulled together during the period of reduced funding. I
think we are turning the corner and the future looks great. It is my pleasure and honor to be associated with the
University family.
Sincerely,
— College of Science Contract & Grant Activity —
$ Amounts
(# of proposals)
January 2012
Proposals Submitted
$2,004,581 (23)
Awards Received
$925,627 (18)
COLLEGE OF SCIENCE

February 2012
March 2012
April 2012
$6,004,427 (18) $11,340,084 (16) $2,186,068 (12)
$164,218 (2)
$201,369 (5)
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY

$609,552 (5)
May 2012
Cumulative Totals
FY11-12
$3,133,838 (20)
$39,537,985 (142)
$1,327,667 (14)
$8,807,010 (100)
0305 OLD MAIN HILL, LOGAN UTAH 84322-0305
— Inventing the Wheel: USU Grad Student’s Paper is ‘VIP’ in Top Journal—Chemist Timur Galeev’s research paves the way for nano-object development
A paper recently published in a leading international chemistry journal
by USU graduate student Timur Galeev has been selected as a “Very Important Paper.”
Galeev is first author on the article, published in the Feb. 1, 2012 online
issue of Angewandte Chemie International Edition, a journal of the German Chemical Society.
“The ‘VIP’ designation means that Timur’s paper is among the top five
percent of articles selected by the journal’s referees,” says Alexander
Boldyrev, professor in USU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and faculty mentor to Galeev. “This is an impressive honor from a
prestigious journal and an impressive accomplishment for a doctoral student.”
Boldyrev is quick to point out that Galeev has published 10 papers in peerreviewed journals in the past year and a half. The doctoral student’s paper in
Angewandte Chemie details the research team’s successful production of a
molecular nanowheel that achieves the highest coordination number for a
central atom to date.
USU doctoral student Timur Galeev,
right, pictured with faculty mentor Alex
Boldyrev, is first author on a paper selected for the top tier of a prestigious
international chemistry journal.
“It’s a new record,” Boldyrev says.
In chemistry, the coordination number of an atom refers to total number of “neighbors” of a central atom in a
molecule or ion. In this case, Galeev and Boldyrev, working in collaboration with Brown University scientists
Constantin Romanescu, Wei-Li Li and Lai-Sheng Wang, modeled clusters of 10 boron atoms gathered in a ringlike structure, unlike any seen before. The highly symmetrical model resembles an old American West wagon
wheel with ten spokes.
“It’s a very stable structure,” Galeev says. “It reveals a new understanding of how chemical bonding theory
works.”
The team conducted the National Science Foundation-funded research using a laser-vaporization supersonic molecular beam technique combined with photoelectron spectroscopy and quantum-chemical calculations.
Boldyrev’s alum Boris Averkiev, recipient of USU’s 2009 Robins Award as Graduate Researcher of the Year
and now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota, contributed to the project’s calculations.
Boldyrev, recipient of USU’s 2009 D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award, says the research lays the groundwork for development of a variety of nano-objects.
“The development of these kinds of chemical bonding models will have a significant impact on rational design of
nanocatalysts, nanomaterials with tailored properties, nano-scale electronic devices and more,” he says. “That’s
our goal.”
– by Mary-Ann Muffoletto
For the full story, visit http://www.usu.edu/ust/index.cfm?article=50744
2
— Prehistoric Aggie: USU Geologists Celebrate Namesake Trilobite —
In recognition of nearly 20 years of field work in Utah’s ultra-steep
Wellsville Mountains, along with exhaustive classification and sedimentation modeling of Cambrian formations, USU geology professor Dave
Liddell has a prehistoric namesake.
Zacanthoides liddelli is the prodigious name given to the spiky little critter. The newly identified species of trilobite is described and named by
paleontologists Richard Robison of the University of Kansas and The
Ohio State University’s Loren Babcock in a paper published in the Nov.
30, 2011, issue of the online journal Paleontological Contributions.
Tiny Zacanthoides liddelli, a trilobite that
existed some 520 million years ago, is named
for USU geologist Dave Liddell.
“This trilobite was named after me in acknowledgment of the work my
students and I have done on the local Cambrian rocks,” says Liddell,
head of USU’s Department of Geology.
Barely an inch long, tiny Z. liddelli lived about 520 million years ago and experienced a landscape much different
from today’s Utah.
“During the Cambrian period, Utah was situated within five degrees of the equator,” Liddell says. “The current
Wellsville Mountains didn’t yet exist. Instead, this area was covered by a shallow ocean with a warm, tropical
climate.”
Z. liddelli was likely a sediment-processor, he says, subsisting mostly on algae. “The diminutive invertebrate
might have been pursued by larger, carnivorous arthropods such as the shrimp-like Anomalocaris or the bizarre,
multi-tentacled Hallucigenia.”
“The trilobite’s spiny exterior was probably its best defense against
predators,” Liddell says. “Nobody would want to take a bite out of that.”
Z. liddelli is among a profusion of trilobites, ranging in size from about a
millimeter to the length of a skateboard, that flourished during the Cambrian period. The hard-shelled, segmented creatures roamed oceans of the
lower Paleozoic era for more than 270 million years.
“Fossils of between 50 to 60 trilobite species have been found in the
Spence Shale of the Wellsvilles,” Liddell says.
The three-lobed arthropods, among the world’s first creatures with compound eyes, eventually died out at the end of the Permian period.
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto
For the full story, visit http://www.usu.edu/ust/index.cfm?article=50657
3
Dave Liddell, left, professor and head of
USU’s Department of Geology, and colleague Bob Gaines of the University of California, Pomona, rest on an outcropping of
the Spence Shale Formation in Utah’s
Wellsville Mountains.
— ’Ag’ Normal: USU Statistician Co-Authors New Book for Mixed Models —
For scientists involved in statistical analysis, it’s all about distribution. And the normal distribution, with its symmetrical bell curve,
is not a global truth, says Utah State University statistician Susan
Durham.
“Data from research – especially agricultural and natural resources
research – is not always normally distributed,” says Durham, a statistical consultant in the USU Ecology Center. “Software to help
researchers analyze these kinds of data, particularly in complex designs, has only been around for a few years.”
Durham is among a multi-state group of authors who recently
published a guide to help researchers navigate modern statistical
methods pertaining to the design and analysis of mixed models for
non-normally distributed data. “Analysis of Generalized Linear
Mixed Models in the Agricultural and Natural Resources Sciences,” by Edward Gbur, Walter Stroup, Kevin McCarter, Durham, Linda Young, Mary Christman, Mark West
and Matthew Kramer, provides researchers using SAS® statistical software with practical examples for field trial
applications.
Susan Durham, a statistical consultant with the USU
Ecology Center, has co-authored a new book that
offers guidance to scientists involved in agricultural,
natural resources, ecological and biological research.
“The theory of these generalized linear mixed models is still ahead of our
understanding of how to actually do the modeling, so preparing this book
was a fabulous learning experience for all of us,” Durham says. “What’s
unique about the book is it takes a very practical approach to help researchers apply these statistical methodologies to their data.”
Researchers involved in such areas as natural resources, ecological, biological and agricultural science research, especially those using field trials, will benefit from the book, she says.
Published by the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America and the Crop Science Society of America, the book is the
culmination of a five-year project funded by the Multi-state Project
NCCC-170 “Research Advances in Agricultural Statistics” under the
auspices of the North Central Region Agricultural Experiment Station
Directors. Durham’s participation in the project was facilitated by travel
funds from the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station.
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto
For the full story, visit http://www.usu.edu/ust/index.cfm?article=50855
4
Durham and team’s book demonstrates,
through examples, the design and analysis
of mixed models for non-normally distributed data and challenges traditional statistical methodology.
— Aggie Gold Standard: Four USU Students are 2012 Goldwater Honorees —
Two USU students are 2012 Goldwater Scholars and two Aggies received
honorable mention in a prestigious national competition that recognizes outstanding undergraduate achievements in science and mathematics.
Mitch Dabling and Sarah Mousley are recipients of the award, which is administered by the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. Jordan Rozum and Rachel Ward received honorable mentions.
Mitch Dabling, civil engineering
At USU, Dabling has excelled in a variety of hydraulic engineering research
projects resulting in invitations to present at prestigious academic conferences
and publish in professional journals. He served as captain of USU’s Concrete (from left to right) Mitch Dabling, Sarah Mousley, Rachel Ward , and Jordan Rozum, earn
Canoe Team, leading Aggies to first place at the 2011 American Society of
Civil Engineers Rocky Mountain Region Student Conference. The team quali- national honor
fied to participate in the 2012 National Concrete Canoe Competition; the first
USU group to receive this honor.
Dabling plans to pursue doctoral studies in civil engineering and specialize in dam rehabilitation.
Sarah Mousley, mathematics
To Sarah Mousley, the world consists of endlessly multiplying webs of connections: computer users connected by the Internet, airports connected by flight paths, countries connected by trade, atoms connected by bonds.
The self-described born mathematician, a USU Presidential Scholar and University Undergraduate Research Fellow, has
proved several theorems on the structure of networks. Mousley, who completed a competitive NSF Research Experience for
Undergraduates at the University of North Carolina, Asheville in 2011, also assists fellow students as an Undergraduate
Teaching Fellow, a certified tutor in USU’s Drop-In Math and Stats Tutoring Lab and as a tutor for USU Multicultural Student Services.
Following graduation from USU, she plans to pursue doctoral studies in graph theory, teach and conduct research in pure
mathematics at the university level.
Jordan Rozum, physics and mathematics
After graduating from InTech Collegiate High School in 2010, Rozum entered USU as a Presidential Scholar and University Undergraduate Research Fellow. His undergraduate research activities in atmospheric physics and astrophysics have
included analyzing data collected by a USU Space Dynamics Laboratory-built satellite and study of galaxy geometry.
Rozum plans to pursue graduate study in physics and math and a career as a professor at a research university.
Rachel Ward, physics and mathematics
After completing her initial studies at Utah’s Salt Lake Community College, where she was named to the President’s List,
Ward entered USU on a Dean’s Transfer Scholarship.
The undergrad has pursued research ranging from rocket science with USU’s Aerospike Engineering Lab to investigation of
gravity waves in the Mesosphere with USU’s Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences.
Following graduation from USU, Ward plans to pursue graduate study in biophysics or biomedical engineering.
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto
5
— College Faculty Research Awards 2012 —
Name
Award
Department
Christopher Corcoran Faculty Researcher of the Year
Mathematics and Statistics
Sean Johnson
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentor of the Year
— College Student Research Awards 2012 —
Name of Student
Award
Department
Scott Roy
Undergraduate Researcher of the Year
Mathematics and Statistics
— College of Science Minigrant Recipients 2012 —
The College of Science awards minigrants of $750 to qualified sophomores, juniors, and seniors. These funds are matched by a
departmental contribution of $250. Awards are intended to encourage students to become involved in their first mentored research
experience. Minigrant recipients for 2012 are:
Name of Student
Department
Mentor
Elisabeth Horne
Geology
James Evans
Jory Johnson
Biology
Diane Alston
Jessica Shaw
Biology
Edmund Brodie
Brennan Young
Geology
James Evans
— VPR Seed Grants Selected for Funding July 1, 2012 —
Seed Program To Advance Research Collaboration (SPARC):

Dr. S.K. Morgan Ernest (PI, Assoc. Prof., Biol, SCI), Peter Adler (Assoc. Prof., WILD, NR), David Koons (Asst. Prof.,
WILD, NR), Ethan White (Asst. Prof., Biol, SCI), Paul Wolf (Prof., Biol. SCI), and Mike Pfrender (Assoc. Prof., Biol., Notre
Dame Univ.). “The Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Generalist and Specialist Coexistence Strategies”. $34,936.

Drs. Jixun Zhan (PI, Asst. Prof., BE. ENG), Jon Takemoto (Prof., Biol., SCI), and Dong Chen (Res. Assoc. Prof., BE. ENG).
“Identification of the Biosynthetic Gene Clusters of Two Antifungal Natural Products”. $34,997.
For more information, visit: http://research.usu.edu/facultyfunding/
Fall 2012 Deadline: Submit applications to the College of Science Dean’s Office no later than 5 October 2012.
Questions? Contact Lisa M. Berreau at 797-3509 or [email protected].
6
— Intermountain Graduate Research Symposium April 5-6, 2012 —
The Intermountain Graduate Research Symposium is a student-organized conference focusing on graduate research and projects
throughout the Intermountain West. The symposium encourages graduate students within the region to share their research findings in
presentation or poster format, network with fellow graduate students from USU and other universities, and gain professionalism through
the conference experience.
Presentations were given by the following College of Science graduate students:
Name of Student
Title
Department
Mentor
Eric Addison
Busted: The Final Showdown between Binaries and Black Holes
Physics
Shane Larson
Jeremy Bakelar
Characterization of the Zinc Knuckle Proteins Air1 and Air2
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Sean Johnson
Nicole Boehme
Niche Partitioning of Velvet ant (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) Communities in Sand Dune Habitats at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Biology
Refuge, Nye County, Nevada
James Pitts
Zachary Brym
Developing an Agroecological Approach to Biomass Scaling and
Branching Architecture using Orchard Trees
Biology
Morgan Ernest
Sarah Clark
Effect of Dispersed Oil and Gas Development on a Bee Community in the Piceance Basin, Colorado
Biology
James Pitts
Fine-Scale Topography Shapes Spider Community Structure along
Stephanie M. Cobbold an Elevation Gradient: Links between Guild Identity, Temperature
and Habitat Structure
Biology
James MacMahon
Andrew M Durso
Dietary Ecology of a Sand Prairie Snake Community
Biology
Alan Savitzky
Oleksandr Gromenko
Testing the Equality of Mean Functions of Ionospheric Critical
Frequency Curves
Mathematics and
Statistics
Piotr Kokoszka
Yukie Kawasaki
Syringomycin E: A Potential Organic-Compatible Agrifungicide
Biology
Jon Takemoto
Ellen Klinger
Chalkboard Co-Infections of Leafcutting Bees (Megachile rotundata): Understanding the Arms Race between Obligate, Facultative, Biology
and Non-Pathogenic Fungal Species
Rosalind James
Jonathan Koch
Investigating the Species Boundaries of North American Thoracobombus (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Bombus)
Biology
James Pitts
Abibat Lasisi
Validation Study: A Case Study of Calculus 1 (Math 1210)
Mathematics and
Statistics
Brynja Kohler
Michael Rigley
Numerical Techniques in Modeling Fluid Flow through Porous
Media
Mathematics and
Statistics
Joe Koebbe
Juanita Rodriguez
Historical Biogeography of the Cosmopolitan Spider Wasp Genus
Ceropales (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae)
Biology
James Pitts
Emily Sadler
The Black-Headed Conundrum: Species Boundaries in Chyphotes
(Hymenoptera: Chyphotidae)
Biology
James Pitts
Sanjib Shrestha
Bioactive Properties and Mechanism of Action of Novel Antifungal
Biology
Aminoglycoside Analogs
Jon Takemoto
Leda Sox
Observations with the most Sensitive Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar
Vincent Wickwar
7
Physics
— Intermountain Graduate Research Symposium (cont.) —
—
Presentations (cont.)
Name of Student
Title
Department
Mentor
Lori R. Spears
Prey Availability Mediates Spider Response to Shrub Architecture:
A Structural Equation Modeling Approach
Biology
James MacMahon
Erica Stephens
The Contribution of Predatory Insect Life Stage Diversity to Pea
Aphid Suppression in Alfalfa
Biology
Ricardo Ramirez
Lacy Taylor
Structural and Functional Characterization of RNA Surveillance
Proteins
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Sean Johnson
Rushun Tian
Bifurcation Results on some Elliptic Systems
Mathematics
and Statistics
Zhi-Qiang Wang
Cecilia Waichert
Assessing Species Boundaries using a new Molecule Marker: The
Case of Agenilla Accepta Species-Group (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae)
Biology
James Pitts
Jesse Walker
Niche Axes in a Desert Environment: Abiotic and Biotic Influences
on Scorpion Distribution, Abundance, and Activity
Biology
James MacMahon
Kevin Williams
The Velvet Ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) of Trinidad: A Springboard for Biodiversity Studies in South America
Biology
James Pitts
Gregory Wilson
Amberly Evans
Electron Energy Dependent Charging Effects of Multilayered Dielectric materials
Physics
JR Dennison
Jonathan Wood
Phycocyanobilin Content of Cyanobacteria Grown in the Produced
Waters of the Uinta Basin, Utah
Biology
James Pitts
Peter Zelina
Retarded Potential Analyzer for a Microwave-Produced Plasma
Physics
Ajay Singh
XI Zhang
Functional Prediction of Intraday Cumulative Returns
Mathematics
and Statistics
Piotr Kokoszka
— 2012 Undergraduate Research Day on Capitol Hill —
College of Science student researchers ascended Salt Lake City's Capitol Hill on January 25, 2012, to share their efforts and discoveries
with Utah legislators and visitors. Stationed with their posters in the Capitol rotunda, Aggies honed their presentation skills and served
as ambassadors for the college and the university. Students representing the College of Science were:
Name of Student
Title
Department
Mentor
Landon Hillyard
The Effect of Space Environment on Wireless Communications Devices’
Performance
Physics
JR Dennison
and Jan Sojka
Colby Russell Kearl
Development of a Genetic Marker to Distinguish Between Pulex Irritans
and Pulex Simulans, Two Potential Flea Vectors of Plague Transmission
Biology
Scott Bernhardt
Brooke Siler
Trapping a PRMT1: Target Complex by Tethering the Target to the Enzyme
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Joanie Hevel
Kristina M. Sorensen
Ultrasonic Analysis of Breast Tissue for Pathology Classification
Mathematics
and Statistics
Timothy E. Doyle
Jenica Sparrow
Heng Ban
The Effects of Acceleration on Nucleate Boiling and Bubble Departure
Dynamics in Microgravity
Physics
JR Dennison
Biology
Donal Sinex
Alysha Nicole Waters An Evaluation of an Neurophysiological Auditory Model
8
— — URCO Recipients Spring 2012 —
—
URCO (Undergraduate Research & Creative Opportunities) grants, given by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, award up to
$500 for students’ funded proposals. The students’ sponsoring academic department also matches the award.
College of Science recipients:
Name of Student
Title
Department
Mentor
Clayton Bingham
Development of a Non-Destructive Morphological Estimator of Ploidy in Chlorella
Biology
Paul Wolf
E. Parker
Davenport
Dark Adaptation and its Dependency on Light Intensity and Color
Physics
Shane L. Larson
Eric Elton
Photoinduced Reactivity of Substituted 3-Hydroxyflavonolate Zinc Complexes
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Lisa Berreau
Emily Sue Frampton
Cloning and Expression of the Air2 Protein
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Sean Johnson
Landon Hillyard
The Effect of the Space Environment on Bluetooth Protocol Communication Hardware
Physics
JR Dennison
AJ Knight
Dallas Nutt
Linking Liquefied Sediment to a Paleoearthquake Along the East Cache Fault
Geology
Susanne Janecke
Ben LaRiviere
Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Snake River Plain: Sedimentological
Analysis of the Kimama Core, Hot Spot Drilling Program
Geology
Tammy Rittenour
Taylor Rasmussen
Locking Down the N-terminus of PRMT1 to Assess the Role of Motion in Activity
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Joanie Hevel
Chelan Rogers
Causes of Variation in Body Size in Two Species of Ladybird Beetle
Biology
Ted Evans
Troy Siddoway
Identifying Sources of Colorado River Bedload Through Time Upstream of Moab,
Utah
Geology
Joel Pederson
Brooke Siler
Investigating the Importance of the N-terminal Negative Residues in Human
PRMT1
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Joanie Hevel
Drake Smith
Defining a Minimal PRMT5-like Activity in Yeast HSL7
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Joanie Hevel
Michael Strange
Paleoecology and Paleogeography of the Middle Cambrian Spence Shale Member
of the Langston Formation of Northern Utah and Southern Idaho
Geology
David Liddell
— Keep in Touch on the Web —
Everyone is encouraged to bookmark and visit the College of Science web site, www.usu.edu/science, frequently for
news and information updates, as well as the college’s Facebook page, “USU College of Science.”
9
— Celebrating Undergraduate Research at the Student Showcase — April 3, 2012
—
Name of Student
Title of Project
Department
Mentor
Clayton Bingham
Non-Destructive Morphological Detection of DNA Content in
Chlorella
Biology
Paul Wolf
Brett Bostrom
Zach Butterfield
Ben Jackson
Studying the Upper Atmosphere using a Sodium LIDAR
Physics
Titus Yuan
Katelyn Breivik
Background Sky Variability for Multi-Messenger Follow-up Surveys Physics
Shane Larson
Russell W. Butler
The Role of the N-terminus of Human Protein Arginine Methyltrans- Chemistry and
ferase 1 on Substrate Specificity
Biochemistry
Joanie Hevel
Amy Crandall
Initial Characterization of the NEXT Complex
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Sean Johnson
MaLaura Creager
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Biology
Kimberly Sullivan
Christine Dhiman
Survey of Erwin Amylovora, Casual Agent of Fire Blight, from
Apple and Pear Orchards in Utah for Streptomycin Resistance
Biology
Claudia Nischwitz
Chet Edlund
Regulation of Cyanide Production in Pseudomonas Chlororaphis 06
Biology
Anne J. Anderson
Samantha Fairchild
Removal of Instability from Reactive Metal Centers
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Siddhartha Das
Aaron Fronk
The Effects of Reclamation on Bird Populations in the Bear River
Area
Biology
Kim Sullivan
Makda Gebre
Vero vs Vero 76 Cell Line for Viral Titers
Biology/Chemistry
Craig Day
and Biochemistry
Rylee Gregory
Brynne Lytle
Caenorhabditis Elegans: A Low-Cost in Vivo Animal Model for
Efficacy Studies of Novel Antibiotics
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Tom Chang
Daniel Heath
Selective Degradation of Human Cancer Cells by Bluetongue Virus
Infection and Regulation of Signaling Pathways within Infected
Cells
Biology
Joseph K. K. Li
John Hofer
Thompson’s Jumping Ring Revisited
Physics
Ajay Singh
Sean Hunt
Computational Behavior of Stomatal Interactions
Physics
David Peak
Colby Kearl
Development of a Genetic Marker to Distinguish between Pulex
irritans and Pulex Simulans, Two Potential Flea Vectors of Plague
Transmission
Biology
Scott Bernhardt
10
— Undergraduate Research at the Student Showcase (cont.) —
—
Name of Student
Title of Project
Department
Mentor
Thomas Martin
Comparison of Larger-Scale to Shorter-Scale Gravity Waves Over
Antarctica
Physics
Mike J. Taylor
Nicole Martineau
Danny Morris
Green Surfactants are Awesome!
Biology
Anne J. Anderson
Glennie Mesa
Patterning Carbon Nanotube Forest
Physics
T.C. Shen
Lisa Montierth
Robert Johnson
Simulation Chamber for Space Environment Survivability Testing
Physics
JR Dennison
James Dyer
Kelby Peterson
Micrometeoroid form MISSE Examined to Understand the Effects
of the Space Environment on Space Suit Materials
Physics
JR Dennison
Taylor Rasmussen
Locking Down the N-terminus of PRMT 1 to Assess the Role of
Motion in Activity
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Joanie Hevel
Megi Rexhepaj
The Pursuit of a Crystal Structure & Biochemical Characterization
of RNA Surveillance Protein, M-Phase Phosphoprotein 6 (Mpp6)
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Sean Johnson
Brooke Siler
Trapping a PRMT 1: Target Complex by Tethering the Target to
the Enzyme
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Joanie Hevel
Charles Sim
Alec Sim
Electric Field Dependence of the Time to Electrostatic Breakdown
in Insulating Polymers
Physics
JR Dennison
Drake Smith
Defining a Minimal PRMT 5-Like Activity in Yeast HSL7
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Joanie Hevel
Kristina M. Sorensen
Ultrasonic Multivariate Analysis of Breast Tissue for Pathology
Classification
Mathematics and
Timothy E. Doyle
Statistics
Jenica Sparro
Landon Hillyard
Heng Ban
The Effects of Acceleration on Nucleate Boiling and Bubble Departure Dynamics in Microgravity
Physics
Michael Strange
Paleoecology and Paleogeography of the Middle Cambrian Spence
Shale Member of the Langston Formation of Northern Utah and
Geology
Southern Idaho
W. David Liddell
Brian Tracy
Lunar Tidal Effects on the Equatorial Vertical Plasma Drifts over
Jicamarca, Peru
Physics
Bela Fejer
Rachel Ward
Comparison of Gravity Wave Behavior in Northern and Southern
Hemispheric Summer Seasons Through Observation of Polar
Mesospheric Clouds
Physics
Mike Taylor
11
JR Dennison
— Utah State Students Present Research at NCUR 2012 —
Name of Student Title of Project
Department
Mentor
Thomas Anderson Development and Testing of Novel Pradimicin-type Antifungal and Antiviral
Whitney Morgan Agents
Biology
Jon Takemoto
Physics
JR Dennison
Doug Ball
An Electron-Photon Duel: Cathodoluminescence in Disordered Polymeric
Materials
Russell Butler
Chemistry
The Role of the N-Terminus of Human Protein Arginine Methyltranferase 1 on
and
Joanie Hevel
Substrate Specificity
Biochemistry
Tyler Crossley
Daniel Heath
Viratherapy for Human Cancer Cells: Identification of Oncolytic Pathways
Potentially Used by Bluetongue Viruses to Kill Human Cancers
Cell and
Molecular
Biology
Joseph K.-K. Li
Christine Dhiman
Survey of Erwinia Amylovora, Casual Agent of Fire Blight, From Apple and
Pear Orchards in Utah for Streptomycin Resistance
Biology
Claudia Nischwitz
Eric Elton
Synthesis, Characterization, and H2O Reactivity of N2S2-Coordinated Pb(II)
Compounds
Chemistry
and
Lisa Berreau
Biochemistry
Amberly Evans
Low Temperature Cathodoluminescence in Disordered SiO2
Physics
Jonathan Gish
Production of the Industrial Feedstock Chemical HMF From Algae
Chemistry
and
Alvan C. Hengge
Biochemistry
Camden Hunt
Specialized Facial Hairs on Female Bees: Evidence for Multiple Evolutionary
Events to Assist Bees in Harvesting Pollen from Nototribic Flowers
Biology
Terry Griswold
Colby Kearl
Development of a Genetic Marker to Distinguish Between Pulex Irritans and
Pulex Simulans, Two Potential Flea Vectors of Plague Transmission
Biology
Scott Bernhardt
Lisa Montierth
Robert Johnson
Simulation Chamber for Space Environment Survivability Testing
Physics
JR Dennison
Malea Moody
Atmospheric Distribution of Cosmic Rays and the Connection to Solar Activity Physics
Shane Larson
Benjamin Morris
Environmental, Ecological, and Human Correlates of Species Diversity in
Highly Virulent Human Infectious Diseases
Ethan P. White
12
Biology
JR Dennison
— Utah State Students Present Research at NCUR 2012 (cont.) —
Name of Student Title of Project
Department
Mentor
Kelby Peterson
Micrometeoroid From Misse Examined to Understand the Effects of the Space
Physics
Environment on Space Suit Materials
Megi Rexhepaj
Biochemical Characterization and the Pursuit of Crystal Structures
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Sean
Johnson
Varden
Semerjyan
Reconfiguration of the Receiver System for Sodium Doppler Wind/
Temperature Lidar
Physics
Titus Yuan
Brooke Siler
Trapping a PRMT1: Target Complex by Tethering the Target to the Enzyme
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Joanie Hevel
Charles Sim
Electric Field Dependence of the Time to Electrostatic Breakdown in
Insulating Polymers
Physics
JR Dennison
Drake Smith
Defining a Minimal PRMT5-Like Activity in Yeast HSL7
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Joanie Hevel
Jenica Sparrow
Landon Hillyard
The Effect of Acceleration on Nucleate Boiling and Bubble Departure
Dynamics in Microgravity
Physics
JR Dennison
Heather Tarbet
Understanding Molecular Recognition of PRMTs Using Truncation Mutants
Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Joanie Hevel
JR Dennison
— College of Science Dean’s Office Welcomes New Deans’ and Development Asst. —
The College of Science Dean's Office is excited to welcome Vicki
Jones to our team as our new Dean's/Development Assistant. Vicki
hails from Fallon, Nevada, where she previously worked for University
of Nevada Cooperative Extension. A vivacious self-starter, she’s
blessed with a diverse background of experience ranging from selfemployment to community activism and leadership. Education is very
important to Vicki and she continues to pursue her college education,
having earned an associate’s degree at Western Nevada College in
2011, while working full-time and raising her family.
“I’m very excited to be here,” Vicki says. “Moving to Logan is a huge
change for my family and I, but I’ve already fallen in love with USU
and beautiful Cache Valley. The newest item for my bucket list is to
make it up Old Main Hill without losing my breath.”
13
Nicole Boehme** and James Pitts. “Niche Partitioning of
Velvet Ant (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) Communities in Sand
Dune Habitats at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nye
County, Nevada.”
— STUDENT ACTIVITIES —
Student Awards, Recognition & Grants
undergraduate* graduate**
BIOLOGY
CASS
The following presentations were made at the Entomological
Society of America Pacific Branch Meeting, Portland, Oregon, 2528 March 2012.
Jennifer Meehan** (presenter), David Hansen**, W. Kent
Tobiska, Jared Fulgham, Robert W. Schunk, Jan J. Sojka,
Herbert C. Carlson, Don Rice, Larry C. Gardner, Ludger
Scherliess, Lie Zhu, C. Tschan, D. Bouwer, and R. Shelley
presented a poster titled “New Space Weather Data Sources and
Products for Communication and Navigation Systems” at the
American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, New Orleans,
Louisiana, 22-26 January 2012.
Sarah Clark** and James Pitts. “Effect of Dispersed Oil and
Gas Development on a Bee Community in the Piceance Basin,
Colorado.” 1st place in the Masters student oral competition.
Emily Sadler** and James Pitts. “The Black-headed
Conundrum: Species Boundaries in Chyphotes (Hymenoptera:
Chyphotidae).” 2nd place in the PhD student poster
competition.
Chemistry & Biochemistry
The following posters were presented at the Annual Meeting of the
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, San
Diego, CA, 21-25 April 2012:
Jonathan Koch** and James Strange: “Applying Molecular
Tools to Investigate the Species Boundaries of North American
Thoracobombus (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Bombus).” 1st place in
the PhD student oral competition.
Yuan Chu**, Nicholas H. Williams, and Alvan C.
Hengge. “A Simple Arg to Lys Mutant of Protein Phosphatase
1 Exhibits Catalytic Efficiencies Toward Monoanionic
Substrates Superior to Wild Type.”
Physics
Amberly Evans ** and JR Dennsion
“Space Plasma Environment Induced Luminescence of Materials on
Space Based Observatories”
NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship (NSTRF)
September 2012-August 2013
$170,000
Viacheslav I. Kuznetsov**, Sean J. Johnson, and Alvan C.
Hengge. “High Resolution Structure of the Phosphatase VHZ
Explains Unexpected Substrate Specificity, and Suggests the
Presence of Metavanadate at the Active Site.”
Mark P. Haney** and Alvan C. Hengge. “The
Phosphoramidase Competency of Prototypical Phosphatase
Motifs.”
Rachel Ward* American Institute of Physics, Society of Physics
Students Outstanding student for undergraduate research award.
“Comparison of Northern and Southern Hemispheric Gravity
Waves through Analysis of Polar Mesospheric Clouds Imaged by
the AIM Satellite.” International Conference of Physics Students
(ICPS), Utrecht, Netherlands, 4-10 August 2012.
Caleb J. Allpress**, Atta M. Arif, Dylan T. Houghton, and Lisa
M. Berreau presented a poster titled “Photochemically Initiated
Oxidative Carbon-carbon Bond Cleavage Reactivity in
Chlorodiketonate Ni(II) Complexes,” at the Bioinorganic Chemistry
Gordon Research Seminar, Ventura, CA, 26-29 Jan. 2012.
Student Presentations
undergraduate* graduate**
Geology
Biology
The following posters were presented at the AGU Fall Meeting, San
Francisco, CA, 5-9 December 2011:
The following oral presentations were made at the Annual Meeting
of the Intermountain Branch, American Society for Microbiology
at Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, 7 April 2012:
Lisa Seunarine and Anthony R. Lowry. “Constraining the
Dynamical Behavior of the Western U.S. Lithosphere Through
Computational Modeling: Evidence That Lower Crustal Flow
Plays a Significant Role in Load Accommodation.”
Kawasaki, Yukie**, Michelle Grilley, and Jon Y.
Takemoto. “Syringomycin E: A Potential Organic-compatible
Agrifungicide.”
Eric P. Beard, J.R. Hoggan and Anthony R. Lowry
“Applying Modern Measurements of Pleistocene Loads to
Model Lithospheric Rheology.”
Shrestha, Sanjib**, Michelle Grilley, and Jon Y. Takemoto.
“Bioactive Properties and Mechanism of Action of Novel
Antifungal Aminoglycoside Analogs.”
14
Student Awards
Student Presentations
Joseph Li served as an invited conference judge for undergraduate
and graduate research posters at the 10th Annual MGE@MSA/
WAESO Student Research Conference at the Memorial Union,
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 14 February 2012.
Physics
The following posters were presented at the 12th Spacecraft
Charging Technology Conference, Kitakyushu, Japan, 14-18 May
2012:
Physics
Amberly Evans**, Gregory Wilson**, Justin Dekany**,
Alec M. Sim, and JR Dennison. “Low Temperature
Cathodoluminescence of Space Observatory Materials.”
Jan J. Sojka, on behalf of the Utah State University Department of
Physics, accepted a 2012-2015 Department of Distinction Award
for Improving Undergraduate Physics Education from the American
Physical Society Committee on Education, Atlanta, GA, 2 April
2012.
Gregory Wilson**, Amberly Evans**, Justin Dekany**,
and JR Dennsion. “Charging Effects of Multilayered
Dielectric Spacecraft Materials Surface Voltage, Discharge and
Arcing.”
Faculty Grants
Justin Dekany**, Robert H. Johnson*, Gregory Wilson**,
Amberly Evans**, and JR Dennison. “Ultrahigh Vacuum
Cryostat System for Extended Low Temperature Space
Environment Testing.”
Biology Grants
Claudia Nischwitz
“Identification of Alternate Inoculum Sources for Erwinia
amylovora in Apple and Pear Orchards in Utah”
USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant
15 April 2012 - 30 March 2013
$9,595
Justin Dekany**, Alec M. Sim**, Jerilyn Brunson**, and
JR Dennison. “Electron Transport Models and Precision
Measurements in a Constant Voltage Chamber.”
Robert H. Johnson*, Lisa D. Montierth*, JR Dennison,
James S. Dyer, Ethan Lindstrom and Alex Chanson*.
“Small Scale Simulation Chamber for Space Environment
Survivability Testing.”
Claudia Nischwitz
“Identification of Powdery Mildew Species and Inoculums Sources
for Improved Timing and Reduction of Fungicide Applications in
Utah Fruit Tree Orchards”
USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant
1 May 2012 - 30 April 2013
$9,758
Alec M. Sim** and JR Dennison. “Unified Density of States
Based Model of Electron Transport and Emission of Spacecraft
Materials.”
Claudia Nischwitz and Diane Alston
“Identification of Onion Pathogens, Alternate Hosts and Vectors in
Utah”
USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant
15 April 2012 - 30 March 2013
$10,553
Charles Sim*, Alec M. Sim**, Matthew Stromo*, and JR
Dennsion. “Defect-Driven Dynamic Model of Electrostatic
Discharge and Endurance Time Measurements of Polymeric
Spacecraft Materials.”
Joshua L. Hodges**, Alec M. Sim**, Justin Dekany**.
Gregory Wilson**, Amberly Evans**, and JR Dennison. “In
Situ Surface Voltage Measurements of Layered Dielectrics.”
—
Diane Alston
“A New Cherry Insect Pest, the Spotted Wing Drosophila”
USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant
1 January 2012 - 31 December 2013
$10,755
FACULTY ACTIVITIES —
Math
Nathan Geer
National Science Foundation "Moab Topology Conference 2012”
1 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 $25,000
Awards & Recognition
Biology
Physics
Timothy Gilbertson was recognized as University Graduate
Mentor for 2012 at Utah State University, Logan, UT, 6 May 2012.
Keith A. Mott and David Peak
“Integrated Stomatal Response to Environmental Input”
National Science Foundation
1 September 2011 - 31 August 2014
$524,502
Theresa Pitts-Singer was awarded the Pacific Branch
Entomological Society of America Physiology, Biochemistry, and
Toxicology Award at the Entomological Society of America Pacific
Branch Meeting, Portland, OR, 25-28 March 2012.
Student Presentations
15
Student Presentations
Lisa M. Berreau presented an talk titled, “Photoinduced COrelease Chemistry of Divalent Metal Flavonolate Complexes,” at
the 243rd American Chemical Society National Meeting, San Diego,
CA, 25 March 2012.
Shane L. Larson
“Wide-field Variability Search Strategies for Multi-messenger
Astronomy”
NASA EPSCoR Minigrant
1 July 2011 - 30 June 2012
$23,633
Lisa M. Berreau gave the keynote lecture titled, “Taking the Field:
Learning to Play the Pop Flies and Bad Hops through
Undergraduate Research” at the 2nd Annual Student Research Day
at Dixie State College, St. George, UT, 8 April 2012.
Ian Anderson and Charles Torre
“Interdisciplinary Software Infrastructure for Differential
Geometry, Lie Theory and their Applications”
National Science Foundation
1 April 2012 - 31 March 2015
$360,845
Lisa M. Berreau chaired the NIH F04A Special Emphasis
Fellowship Panel, 19-20 March 2012.
Geology
Lee Pearson, JR Dennison, and Tim Doyle
“Volume Charge Distribution Measurement in Thin Dielectrics”
Small Business Tech. Transfer Research, Air Force Research Lab
March 2012 - November 2013
$100,000
The following presentations were made at the Rocky Mountain
Section of the Geological Society of America, 11-12 May 2012:
Carol M. Dehler, Mark Pecha and Timothy Lawton. “Detrital
Zircons Studies in the Western Interior U.S. and Their
Implications for Ancient Landscape evolution.” Dr. Dehler
chaired this session.
JR Dennison
“Advanced Modeling and Measurements of Spacecraft Materials
Properties for Spacecraft Charging”
National Academies Research Fellowship, Air Force Research Lab
January 2012 - December 2012
$122,000
Carol M. Dehler, Karl E. Karlstrom, George, E. Gehrels, J.
Michael Timmons and Laura J. Crossey. “Stratigraphic
Revision, Provenance, and New Age Constraints of the
Nankoweap Formation and Chuar Group, Grand Canyon
Supergroup, Grand Canyon Arizona.”
JR Dennison and Ryan Hoffmann
“James Webb Space Telescope Electron-Fused Silica RIC TestsPhase VI of Materials Testing of Highly Insulating Materials for the
James Webb Space Telescope”
NASA James Webb Space Telescope Project by Goddard Space
Flight Center
May 2012 - November 2012
$69,410
Carol M. Dehler and Robert C. Mahon presented an abstract
titled “Detrital Zircon Provenance, Age Constraints and
Revised Stratigraphy of the Mesoproterozoic and
Neoproterozoic Pahrump Group (Supergroup?), Death Valley
Region, California.”
Anthony R. Lowry presented an invited talk titled “Why
Mountains Are Where They Are: Quartz Marks the Spot” at the
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Seminar Series,
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 13 January 2012.
Faculty Presentations & Professional Activities
undergraduate* graduate**
Anthony R. Lowry, D.L. Schutt, K.D. Putrika, Marlon M. Jean
and M. Perez-Gussinye presented a talk titled “Hypothesis-Testing
Proposed Control of Strain Weakening by Crustal Quartz
Abundance” at the AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 5-9
December 2011.
Biology
The following oral presentations were made at the Entomological
Society of America Pacific Branch Meeting, Portland, Oregon, 2528 March 2012:
Terry Griswold “Mining Collections for Viable Candidate
Pollinators of Crops.”
Mathematics and Statistics
S.C. Isom, John R. Stevens, R. Li, W. Spollen and R.S. Prather
presented a poster titled “Transcriptional Profiling By HighThroughput Sequencing of Porcine Pre- and Peri-Implantation
Embryos” at the Annual Conference of the International Embryo
Transfer Society, Phoenix, AZ, 7-10 January 2012.
Theresa Pitts-Singer “Fine-tuning Blue Orchard Bee
Management for Almond Pollination.”
Chemistry
John R. Stevens presented a talk "Gene Set Testing to
Characterize Multivariately Differentially Expressed Genes" at the
Kansas State University Conference on Applied Statistics in
Agriculture, Manhattan KS, 29 April - 1 May 2012.
Lisa M. Berreau presented poster titled, “Aliphatic Carbon-carbon
Bond Cleavage Reactivity in Photoinitiated Systems,” at the Metals
in Biology Gordon Research Conference, Ventura, CA, 22-27 Jan.
2012.
16
Student Presentations
Faculty Grants
Adele Cutler presented “Random Forests and Archetypeal
Analysis of Biomedical Data" at the Salford Analytics and Data
Mining Conference, San Diego, CA, 24-25 May 2012.
Katarzyna Grubel**, Amy R. Marts, Samuel M. Greer, David L.
Tierney, Caleb J. Allpress**, Stacey N. Anderson**, Brynna J.
Laughlin, Rhett C. Smith, Atta M. Arif, and Lisa M. Berreau.
2012. Photoinitiated Dioxygenase-type Reactivity of Open-shell 3d
Divalent Metal Flavonolate Complexes. Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. DOI:
10.1002: ejic.201200212.
Juergen Symanzik presented an invited talk titled “The Anscombe
Data Sets: Explained and Expanded” at the Interface 2012
Conference (43rd Symposium on the Interface: Computing Science
and Statistics), Houston, TX, 18 May 2012.
Jared K. Olson and Alexander I. Boldyrev. 2012. Electronic
Transmutation: Boron Acquiring an Extra Electron Becomes
“Carbon.” Chemical Physics Letters 523: 83-86.
Juergen Symanzik (joint with Nathan Voge) presented an invited
talk titled “Ignoring the Spatial Context in Intro Stats Classes - and
some Simple Graphical Remedies” at the 2011 Joint Statistical
Meetings (ASA), Miami Beach, FL, 3 August 2011.
Wei-Li Li, Constantin Romanescu, Timur R. Galeev**, Zachary
Piazza, Alexander I. Boldyrev, and Lai-Sheng Wang. 2012.
Transition-Metal-Centered Nine-Membered Boron Rings: M©B9 and
M©B9-. (M = Rh, Ir). Journal of the American Chemical Society 134:
165-168.
Juergen Symanzik presented an invited talk titled “3-D
Stereoscopic Plots: From History to R” at the Interface 2011
Conference (42nd Symposium on the Interface: Computing Science
and Statistics), Cary, NC, 2 June 2011.
N. G. C. Astrath, L. C. Malacarne, G. V. B. Lukasievicz, H. S.
Bernabe, J. H. Rohling, M. L. Baesso, J. Shen and S. E. Bialkowski.
2012. A 3-Dimensional Time-Resolved Photothermal Deflection
“Mirage” Method. Applied Physics Letters 100: 091908.
Physics
Shane L. Larson presented an invited talk entitled “Small Aperture
Wide Field Surveys for Gravitational Wave Counterparts” at the
American Physical Society Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 2 April 2012.
The above paper was also selected for the April 2012 issue of
Virtual Journal of Ultrafast Science. The Virtual Journal, which
is published by the American Physical Society and the American
Institute of Physics in cooperation with numerous other societies
and publishers, is an edited compilation of links to articles from
participating publishers, covering a focused area of frontier
research.
Faculty Publications
undergraduate* graduate**
Biology
Geology
Charles W. Fox, William G. Wallin, Martha L. Bush, Mary Ellen
Czesak, and Frank J. Messina. 2012. Effects of Seed Beetles on
the Performance of Desert Legumes Depend on Host Species, Plant
Stage, and Beetle Density. Journal of Arid Environments 80: 10-16.
J. Paul, C.P. Rajendran, Anthony R. Lowry, V, Andrade, and K.
Rajendran. 2012. Andaman Postseismic Deformation Observations:
Still Slipping After All These Years? Bulleting Seismological Society
of America 102: 343-351.
Paul G. Wolf. 2012. Plastid Genome Diversity. In "Plant Genome
Diversity" Edited by Johann Greilhuber, Jonathan Wendel, Ilia J.
Leitch, Jaroslav Dolezel, Springer Verlag, pp. 145-154.
H.T. Berglund, A.F. Sheehan, M.H. Murray, M. Roy, Anthony R.
Lowry, R.S. Nerem, and F. Blume. 2012. Distributed Deformation
Across the Rio Grande Rift, Great Plains and Colorado Plateau.
Geology 40: 23-26.
Joseph K.-K. Li. 2012. Bluetongue viruses: Propagation,
Quantification and Storage. Current Protocols in Microbiology
Unit 15C.4. 1 - 18 (CP-11-0063).
Mathematics and Statistics
Mark W. Ellis. 2012. The Problem with the Species Problem. Hist.
Phil. Life Sci 33: 343-364.
J.R. Stevens, A. Cutler, and D.R. Cutler. 2012. Random Forests. In
“Ensemble Machine Learning: Methods and Applications” Edited by
Cha Zhang (Microsoft) and Yunqian Ma (Honeywell), Springer,
pp.157-175.
Chemistry & Biochemistry
Alexander S. Ivanov**, Konstantin V. Bozhenko, and Alexander
I. Boldyrev. 2012. Peculiar Transformations in the CxHxP4-x (x = 04) Series. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computations 8: 1351408.
Juergen Symanzik, R. E. Moustafa, and A. S. Hadi. 2011. MultiClass Data Exploration Using Space Transformed Visualization Plots.
Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics 20: 298-315
Russell A. Allred**, Deborah C. Bebout, Atta M. Arif, and Lisa
M. Berreau. 2012. Mercury Coordination Chemistry of a Nitrogen/
Thioether Sulfur Ligand having an Internal Hydrogen Bond Donor:
Generation of a Thioether-coordinated Dimercurous Complex.
Main Group Chemistry 11: 53-67.
Faculty Grants
Juergen Symanzik. 2011. Three-Dimensional Stereoscopic Plots,
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews (WIREs). Computational Statistics
3: 483-496
17
Faculty Presentations
J. Ding, and Juergen Symanzik, A. Sharif, J. Wang, S. Duntley,
Shannon, W. D. 2011. Powerful Actigraphy Data Through Functional
Representation. Chance 24: 30-36
David E. Brown and L. Langley. 2012. Forbidden Subgraph
Characterization of Bipartite Unit Probe Interval Graphs. Australasian
J. Combinatorics 52: 19-31.
Physics
Ian Anderson and Charles Torre. 2012. New Symbolic Tools for
Differential Geometry, Gravitation and Field Theory. Journal of
Mathematical Physics DOI: 10.1063/1.3676296.
Charles Torre. 2012. All Homogeneous Pure Radiation Space Times
Satisfy the Einstein Maxwell Equations. Classical and Quantum
Gravity 29:077001.
JR Dennison, Amberly Evans*, Danielle Fullmer*, and Joshua L
Hodges**. 2012. Charge Enhanced Contamination and
Environmental Degradation of MISSE-6 SUSpECS Materials. IEEE
Trans. On Plasma Sci 40: 254-261.
Amberly Evans*, and JR Dennison. 2012. The Effects of Surface
Modification on Spacecraft Charging Parameters. IEEE Trans. On
Plasma Sci 40: 291-297.
Gregory Wilson** and JR Dennison. 2012. Approximation of
Range in Materials as a Function of Incident Electron Energy. IEEE
Trans. On Plasma Sci 40: 305-310.
RC Hoffmann and JR Dennison. 2012. Methods to Determine Total
Electron-Induced Electron Yields Over Broad Range of Conductive
and Nonconductive Materials. IEEE Trans. On Plasma Sci 40: 298304.
Faculty Presentations
18
Faculty Presentations
19
20
ADDRESS SERVICES REQUESTED
Office of the Dean
0305 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322-0305
Science Scene is an internal newsletter sent to the
Utah State Board of Trustees, Utah State Administration, and the College of Science faculty and staff.
It is published regularly throughout the school year.
Its purpose is to inform the Board of Trustees and the College of the research activities of our faculty and students,
also providing a forum for peers to follow one another’s careers and professional development.

Editor & Layout –Vicki Jones (797-2488).
A special thanks to Dean James A. MacMahon and Associate Dean Lisa M. Berreau
for editorial support,
and to our departmental newsletter representatives —
Nancy Kay Harrison, Biology; Geri Child, Chemistry and Biochemistry; Vicki Anderson , Computer Science;
Marsha Hunt, Geology; Meredith Purintun, Mathematics & Statistics; Sharon Pappas, Physics; and
Melanie Oldroyd, The Center for Atmospheric & Space Sciences (CASS).