SU flexes faculty muscle in Spring 2005 Frontiers of Science lecture series

SU flexes faculty muscle in Spring 2005Frontiers of Science lecture seriesFebruary 10, 2005Edward Byrnesedbyrnes@syr.edu

Syracuse University civil and environmental engineering assistant professor Andria Costello, SU anthropology assistant professor Susan Goode-Null and Mark Trodden, associate professor in SU’s Department of Physics, will be speaking this spring in the Frontiers of Science lecture series.

The free, public lectures, held in Grant Auditorium at SU’s College of Law, are scheduled as follows: Costello will speak Feb. 9; Goode-Null will speak March 9; and Trodden will speak Apr. 6. Each event will begin with refreshments in the Grant lobby at 7 p.m., followed by the speaker’s presentation from 7:30-8:30 p.m. A question-and-answer period will commence at the conclusion of each lecture.

Series coordinator Marvin Druger, professor of biology and chair of SU’s Department of Science Teaching, created the series to highlight the many excellent scientists in the Syracuse area.

Costello will speak on “Computers, the Human Genome and Global Warming: How Technological Advances are Driving Environmental Research.” In her lecture, Costello will discuss how technological revolutions have enabled the development and use of a multitude of tools for environmental research. Specifically, Costello will examine the application of molecular tools to study methane oxidizing bacteria in an area impacted by acidic deposition.

Goode-Null’s lecture is titled “Measuring Population Health Status in the Past,” and will look at the process of examining skeletal remains as a key methodology in assessing a population’s general health status. Her presentation will present a comparative evaluation of standardized long bone measures and stature estimates at death for the New York African Burial Ground populations, aimed at determining whether either or both methods are viable indicators of individual and population health.

In his talk titled “Modern Cosmology and the Building Blocks of the Universe,” Trodden will take his audience on a tour of the major ideas of 20th century cosmology and address how cosmologists are attempting to use different aspects of physics to explain nature on its largest scale (the universe) and its smaller scale (the atom). Trodden will discuss the ways in which cosmologists are exploring how a young, hot, small universe became the old, cold, huge universe we see today, in their attempt to understand the physics of the Big Bang.

Since 1989, the Frontiers of Science Lecture Series has invited prominent speakers from the local scientific community to speak to local college students and the community at large about recent advances and events in the world of science. This fall’s series is made possible by community contributions and sponsorships from SU’s departments of science teaching, biology, chemistry, earth sciences, electrical engineering, mathematics, physics and psychology; The College of Arts and Sciences; the Renee Crown University Honors Program; the School of Education; the Study Council at SU; the Office of the Dean of Hendricks Chapel; SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry; and the Bristol-Meyers Squibb Industrial Division.