University News
Faces on the Quad Discover Science Lecture Series features top scientists Kimberly Mahoney, Max Wynne, Molly Moser
These three freshman journalism students were transformed into real-world journalists at the Rally to Restore Sanity hosted by “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart and the March to Keep Fear Alive hosted by “The Colbert Report’s” Stephen Colbert in October at the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. They shot photographs and videos, tweeted and reported to their blog entitled, “Fearful Yet Sane: Three college journalism students’ journey to our generation’s defining moment.” Max Wynne is a chemical engineering major, but is considering journalism as a major. Kimberly Mahoney is a journalism major planning to focus on advertising. Molly Moser is a journalism major and would like to minor in either forensic pathology or mortuary science. Expenses for the three students’ trip were covered by donations.
Nazrul Mojumder
This Reno High School graduate is now a senior studying chemistry and chemical engineering. Nazrul or “Naz” Mojumder has been involved with the Honors Program and Women in Dialogue club and is a McNair Scholar and vice president of the Muslim Student Association. As a McNair Scholar, he went through intensive Graduate Record Examination preparation last summer and carried out a research project working with a metalloenzyme called NiSOD-nickel superoxide dismutase. He is continuing this research work through the College of Science’s Department of Chemistry and hopes to attend graduate school, where he would like to continue research on neurodegenerative diseases.
Nevada Silver & Blue • Winter 2011
Steven Wood
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A former U.S. Marine from Lexington, Ky., this 36-year-old returning student is pursuing a degree in computer science after having worked in information technology for several years. Last summer, Wood landed a coveted internship through the Nevada NASA Space Grant Consortium and worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The grant, awarded through the University’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering, offered him the opportunity to work in the Mobility and Robotics Section at the lab with the Surface System Perception Group. He was one of 130 summer interns working at the massive Ames campus in California and was one of four interns from the University’s College of Engineering. —Krystal Pyatt ’10
Renowned scientists from around the country are featured in a series of five evening lectures in the University’s new Davidson Mathematics and Science Center, Nell J. Redfield Auditorium. “Science encompasses a wonderfully diverse collection of explorations into the unknown,” said Jeff Thompson, dean of the College of Science. “We invite the public to join faculty and students as we experience the extent of the science universe with the best scientists on the planet through our Discover Science Lecture Series.” The inaugural lecture in November featured National Academy of Science fellow and adjunct University of Nevada, Reno professor Michael Waterman, one of the founders and current leaders in the area of computational biology. His work formed one of the theoretical cornerstones for many DNA mapping and sequencing projects, including the Human Genome Project. The second lecture in the series, “Lake Tahoe: Five Decades of Change and the World Water Crisis,” was presented by world-renowned limnologist and Lake Tahoe expert Charles Goldman. “The world water crisis is exemplified by the changes at Lake Tahoe over the past three decades, and is directly linked to climatic change,” said Goldman, also now an adjunct professor at the University. “Freshwater and marine ecosystems are now threatened on a global scale.” Upcoming topics and speakers in the series are: • “The World as Seen Through the Lens of a Scientist. How knowledge of math, biology, chemistry and physics can transform how you live, work and play.” Presented Feb. 3 by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist; director, Hayden Planetarium, Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History, New York. • “Eleven Thousand Years of Long-Term Human Environment Interaction in Amazonia.” Presented April 7 by Anna Roosevelt, professor, Department of Anthropology and Program in Geography, University of Illinois at Chicago. • “The Coupled Climate-Energy System: Limiting Climatic Disruption in the American West by Revolutionary Change in the Global Energy System.” Presented May 5 by Larry Smarr, founding director, California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology; Harry E. Gruber, professor in computer science and engineering, University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. For more information, call (775) 784-4591 or visit www.unr.edu/cos. —Mike Wolterbeek ’02