Posted on Sep 10, 2007

The deadline for proposals for the Internal Education Foundation in two categories – student-initiated research projects and “educationally innovative projects” – is Monday, October 1.

Proposals for student-initiated research projects must have the written approval of a faculty advisor who has agreed to supervise the project. The proposals should be submitted to the director of Undergraduate Research (Science & Engineering, S100). 

Similarly, members of the College community who have “educationally innovative” proposals should submit them to the dean of Academic Departments (S&E, S100) on forms available there, or on the Web at http://www.union.edu/Academics/AcademicAffairs.

Forms and guidelines for both are available in Science & Engineering, S100, or visit the Web at http://www.union.edu/Academics/AcademicAffairs.

Questions concerning student-initiated research projects should be directed to Prof. Mary Carroll at carrollm@union.edu; questions concerning educationally innovative projects should be directed to Dean David Hayes at hayesd@union.edu. Transportation costs should also reflect the best rates available. Students who are planning to do interviews must indicate that arrangements have already been made.

The Research and Grants Committee is soliciting proposals for faculty research and scholarship activities. Applications and guidelines are available in the Office of the Dean of Academic Departments (S&E, S-100), or at http://www.union.edu/Academics/AcademicAffairs. The deadline for submission of proposals is Oct. 1.

Questions concerning the Faculty Research Fund or the Humanities Development Fund should be directed to Dean Hayes. Transportation should also reflect the best rates available.

All research proposals that include work with human subjects must have preliminary approval from the Human Subjects Research Committee before they can be funded by the Research and Grants Committee.

Posted on Sep 10, 2007

Wednesday, Sept. 12, 6 p.m. / Nott Memorial / Rosh Hashanah services, followed by dinner in Hale House

Thursday, Sept. 13, 9 a.m. / Nott Memorial / Rosh Hashanah services, followed by luncheon at Kosher Kitchen, West College

Friday, Sept. 14, 4 p.m. / Viniar Athletic Center / Union Volleyball Invitational

Friday, Sept. 14, 6 p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Field hockey vs. Skidmore

Friday, Sept. 14, 6 p.m. / The Turf at College Park / Men’s soccer vs. Worcester State

Friday, Sept. 14 – Monday, Sept. 17, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Film: Knocked Up

Friday, Sept. 14, 10 p.m. / Old Chapel / UProgram presents: Brian Brushwood’s bizarre magic

Saturday, Sept. 15, 11 a.m. / Viniar Athletic Center /Union Volleyball Invitational

Saturday, Sept. 15, 1 p.m. / Garis Field /Women’s soccer vs. Rochester

Saturday, Sept. 15, 1 p.m. / Rugby Field / Men’s rugby vs. UAlbany

Saturday, Sept. 15, 6 p.m. / The Turf at College Park / Men’s soccer vs. Nazareth

Sunday, Sept. 16, 2 p.m. / Garis Field / Women’s soccer vs. St. John Fisher

Tuesday, Sept. 18, 4:15 p.m. / Bailey Hall 201 / Discussion, “The Elegance of Line: Ruled Surfaces and the Dynamics of the Olivier Models,” with Davide Cervone, associate professor of Mathematics

Thursday, Sept. 20, 4:30 p.m. / Phi Beta Kappa Room, Schaffer Library / Philosophy Speaker Series presents “Imaginative Practical Reason”

Thursday, Sept. 20, 4:30 p.m. / Arts Atrium Gallery, Visual Arts Building / Artist reception with adjunct Professor of Photography Kevin Bubriski

Friday, Sept. 21, 11 a.m. / TBA / Women’s Tennis ITA Tournament

Friday, Sept. 21, 4 p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Field hockey vs. Vassar

Friday, Sept. 21, 4 p.m. / The Turf at College Park /Men’s soccer vs. Hobart

Friday, Sept. 21 / Kosher Kitchen, West College / Pre-Yom Kippur festive meal

Friday, Sept. 21, 5–9 p.m. / Downtown Schenectady / Art Night Schenectady

Friday, Sept. 21, 7 p.m. / Memorial Field House / Band: Gym Class Heroes

Friday, Sept. 21 – Monday, Sept. 24, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Film: Mr. Brooks

Saturday, Sept. 22 / Kosher Kitchen, West College / Yom Kippur break-fast

Saturday, Sept. 22, 11 a.m. / TBA / Women’s tennis ITA Tournament

Saturday, Sept. 22, 2 p.m. / Frank Bailey Field / Field hockey vs. RPI

Saturday, Sept. 22, 2 p.m. / The Turf at College Park / Men’s soccer vs. Hamilton

Sunday, Sept. 23, 2 p.m. / Fred L. Emerson Foundation Auditorium / Puccini’s “La Boheme” simulcast

Posted on Sep 10, 2007

Through Oct. 14

Mandeville Gallery

Nott Memorial

“ReView: Five Union Alumni” 

Features works in a variety of media by Alfred J. Nadel ’56 (drawings, mixed media); Stephen Pentak ’73 and Linda Fisher ’87 (paintings); Chester Urban ’93 (sculpture, drawings); and Nori Lupfer ’03 (photographs, prints). Reception set for Thursday, Oct. 4, 5-7 p.m.

Through Nov. 13

Burns Arts Atrium 

Visual Arts Building

“Nepal, 1975-2005”

Works by Kevin Bubriski, Vermont-based adjunct photography professor

Posted on Sep 10, 2007

The faculty welcomed 32 new colleagues last week. The newcomers include (with the remainder to be listed next week):

GEOLOGY: Holli Frey, assistant professor, holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Her research interests include the origin of continental crust and its internal stratification, geochemical and textural profiles of phenocrysts, and the role of water in magmatic systems. She was a teaching assistant at Franklin & Marshall College, a graduate student instructor at the University of Michigan and a professor at Oberlin College. She has received numerous research grants and won the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award in 2004. Jaclyn Cockburn, visiting instructor, began at Union in January. She holds a Ph.D. from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. She has presented widely and has participated in and led many field camps throughout Canada and South America.

HISTORY: Kenneth Aslakson, assistant professor, holds both a J.D. and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin with a dissertation titled “Making Race: The Role of Free Blacks in the Development of New Orleans’ Three-Caste Society, 1791-1812.” He was an adjunct professor and an assistant instructor at the university. Mazin Tadros, visiting assistant professor, is finishing his doctoral studies at the University at Albany. A specialist in medieval and early modern Mediterranean, Near Eastern, Britain and British Empire history, he was a teaching assistant at the university and also has significant experience in management, sales and distribution of technical products. Jennifer Delton, a Mellon faculty exchange member and chair of the Department of History at Skidmore College, received her Ph.D. from Princeton University. Her expertise covers the fields of modern U.S., political/intellectual history, African-American, American left and American business history.

MATHEMATICS: Kim Plofker, visiting assistant professor, earned her Ph.D. from Brown University, where she held many positions including visiting lecturer, project consultant, departmental computing coordinator and research assistant. She has written numerous publications and is the recipient of many grants and fellowships. She is versed in 10 modern and classical languages. Jue Wang, visiting assistant professor, earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she was a graduate teaching assistant. Her research interests include fluid dynamics, turbulence and scientific computation. Wang has won numerous teaching awards and fellowships.

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING: Ashok Ramasubramanian, assistant professor, holds a Ph.D. in engineering from Dartmouth College. He did post-doctoral research at Washington University in St. Louis for five years after that prior to joining Union. Ramasubramanian is the recipient of many academic fellowships and the author of numerous journal articles. His industrial experience includes working as a signal processing engineer for The MathWorks Inc. and DSP Software Engineering, Inc. Rebecca Cortez, assistant professor, earned her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University. She has taught courses there and at Wright State University. She has worked as a materials research engineer for the Air Force Research Laboratory and a research associate for the Air Force Institute of Technology in Ohio. Jennifer Currey, visiting assistant professor, holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a dissertation titled “Characterization of the Mechanical Environment of a Healing Bone Implant Interface.” She has taught courses in statics and linear algebra, engineering dynamics and computer-aided design at Rensselaer and has received the GE Faculty of the Future award. David Hodgson, assistant professor (a visiting instructor last year), is finishing his graduate work at Colorado State University, where he has taught control systems, heat and mass transfer, mechatronics and measurement systems, and thermal sciences.

Posted on Sep 10, 2007

Brian Peterson, assistant professor of African History, and Michele Ricci, assistant professor of German, have been named the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professors for this year. The professorships provide support for promising junior faculty members in the Humanities and History. Peterson earned his Ph.D. from Yale University. His research interests include West African history, slavery and emancipation, labor migration, Islamic history, and women’s and gender history. He has taught at the College of William and Mary, Yale and the University of California at Santa Cruz. Ricci holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University. She has held teaching positions at Oberlin College, University of Miami and Stanford. Her interests include 20^th century German literature, expressionism in fiction and the fine arts, exile culture, postwar fiction, and visual arts and literature in 20^th century Berlin.

Rebecca Koopmann, associate professor of Physics and Astronomy, presented two papers in June at the International Astronomy Union Conference on “Dark Galaxies and Lost Baryons” in Cardiff, Wales. The papers, titled “Virgo Early-Type Dwarfs in ALFALFA” and “A 500 kpc HI Tail of the Virgo Pair NGC 4532/DDO 137 Detected by ALFALFA,” describe Koopmann’s research on the hydrogen gas contents of nearby galaxies as revealed by the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey. Koopmann spent her 2006-07 sabbatical at Cornell University as a visiting scientist with the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, which operates the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

Professor Emeritus of Chemistry John R. Sowa, the College's Environmental Health Safety Compliance Officer and Radiation Safety Officer, is president-elect of the NENY Chapter of the Health Physics Society, which is committed to radiation safety from radioactive materials and equipment. In addition, he was the second person featured in the Brain Injury Association of New York State’s newsletter. He has been active in this community for more than 20 years and has helped a number of Union students with such injuries.