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Monday, November 17
Jin Montclare - New York University
Gene Therapy
Dr. Jin Kim Montclare received her undergraduate BS degree in Chemistry and Philosophy from Fordham University, Bronx NY. She then went to Yale University, New Haven, CT as a NSF predoctoral fellow and earned her PhD in Bioorganic Chemistry in 2003. After an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA from 2003-2005 in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, she began her academic career in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NYU-Poly and is currently Associate Professor. Dr. Montclare’s research focuses on exploiting nature’s biosynthetic machinery and evolutionary mechanisms to design new biomaterials and functional proteins. She as been garnered with numerous awards and her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, Army Research Office, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Dreyfus and Teagle Foundations. Follow her on twitter @jkmontclare.
Tuesday, November 18
Shikha Sharma - West Virginia University
Isotopic Fingerprints
Dr. Shikha Sharma earned her PhD. from the Center of Advanced Studies in Geology in India and then took German Academic Exchange Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Erlangen Nuremberg. Dr. Sharma is an isotope geochemist and joined faculty at West Virginia University in 2010. She spearheads the stable isotope research efforts in Regional University Alliance a five university consortium developed Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory to address nation’s most challenging energy issues. Her current research on energy-water issues in the Appalachians and biogeochemistry of shales is supported by several federal agencies like National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and US Geological Survey.
Wednesday, November 19
Kenneth Hugdahl - University of Bergen
Auditory Hallucinations
Born in 1948, Dr. Kenneth Hugdahl earned his PhD in Psychology from Uppsala University, Sweden, 1977. He served as a postdoc at the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, and has been a guest professor at UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute. Currently, Dr. Hugdahl is a professor of biological psychology at the University of Bergen. Dr. Hugdahl has published more than 300 articles, and 5 books in his research areas of neuro-psychology and cognitive neuroscience, including both experimental and clinical studies. Most known for his studies of brain asymmetry and auditory hallucinations, he is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, e.g. European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant in 2010, Honorary Doctor Turku University, Finland 2009, Meltzer Foundation, Norway Honorary Award 2014.
Thursday, November 20
Jack Ridge - Tufts University
Geologic Time
Dr. Jack Ridge‘s research interests lie in the reconstruction of the last deglaciation in the northeastern U.S., primarily as indicated by the annual layering (varves) of sediments from glacial lakes. This work has involved correcting the New England Varve Chronology, calibrating it with radiocarbon ages, and expanding its paleomagnetic declination record in order to correlate varve stratigraphy across a wider geographic area. The main goal of this research is to assemble high-precision (annual) records of terrestrial glacial events in the northeastern U.S. that can be compared to regional and global records of climate. This comparison can be used to test a number of hypotheses regarding the mechanisms for rapid climate change events at the end of the last glaciation and the interactions of terrestrial ice sheets, the ocean, and the atmosphere in the North Atlantic region as they relate to ice age climate. Thus far varve record have been correlated to climatic events and used to test the rates and timing of glacial readvances and ice recession.
Friday, November 21
Douglass Kerr - University of Hong Kong
Modern Insights on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Douglas Kerr was born in Scotland and educated in England. He has taught at the University of Hong Kong for more than thirty years. He is a literary historian whose most recent book, Conan Doyle: Writing, Profession, and Practice is published by Oxford University Press.
