News - 2006

December 28, 2006

Laura Tohe, an associate professor of English, grew up listening to stories, so it's no wonder that she enjoys traveling the state telling tales as a speaker for the Arizona Humanities Council (AHC). For her years of work with the AHC, “telling the stories that help us to understand and relate to each other,” Tohe has received the AHC's Dan Shilling Public Scholar Award for 2006.

December 27, 2006

Faculty members in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences have had a busy and productive year, making significant research discoveries on a national level. Their accomplishments are noted in this year-end story.

December 21, 2006

Quentin Wheeler, an entomologist whose pursuits include beetle morphology and classification, and the role of taxonomy in biodiversity exploration and conservation, has been appointed ASU vice president and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He succeeds David A. Young, who is moving into the newly created position of ASU senior vice president for academic affairs.

December 15, 2006

Among the top 20 award-winning photomicrographs from Nikon’s international "Small World" contest now touring museums throughout the U.S., will be Charles Kazilek’s image of Lomandra longifolia (Spiny-headed mat rush). The Small World contest is considered to be a "leading forum for recognizing the art, proficiency and photographic excellence in photomicrography." Kazilek is a senior research professional and the director of technology integration and outreach in the School of Life Sciences.

December 15, 2006

In a study published in Management Communication Quarterly, bullied employees explain their experiences in emotional language that illustrates the depth of their mistreatment. “Many people can tell you they know bullies at work – and many have been targeted themselves – but few people truly understand the psychological and physical damage that results from these relationships,” says lead author Sarah Tracy, associate professor in ASU's Hugh Downs School of Communication. “It is very difficult for the targets of bullies to put into words their experiences, and when they do they are often seen as disgruntled employees or as being over-sensitive.”

December 15, 2006

Rex Weeks, a doctoral-level student in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, won the competition for Best Student Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Archaeological Conference.

December 11, 2006

“Ants: Nature's Secret Power,” an award-winning film about these ubiquitous and awe-inspiring social insects, will be shown at 9 p.m. Dec. 10, on the Science Channel and Jan. 13 on Animal Planet.

December 7, 2006

Marilyn Bowering, Diana Gabaldon, Tony Hoagland, Walter Mosley, Jim Sallis, Gail Tsukiyama. How would you like to rub shoulders with these noted authors? And learn more about the craft of writing as they practice it? These writers – and many more – will comprise the faculty at “Desert Nights, Rising Stars 2007,” ASU's annual writing conference. The conference begins Feb. 21 and continues through Feb. 24 at ASU's Tempe campus.

December 6, 2006

School of Life Sciences professor and Biodesign Institute virologist Bert Jacobs was named the recipient of the Innovator of the Year Award for Academia at the Governor’s Celebration of Innovation Awards, which took place before a packed house Dec. 5 at the Point South Mountain Resort. “I’m a professor and am usually not at a loss for words, but this is pretty amazing,” said Jacobs, upon accepting the award.

December 5, 2006

Two professors in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are being honored with the distinction of Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society. Margaret Nelson, professor of anthropology in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change and associate dean of ASU’s Barrett Honors College, and Daniel Sarewitz, professor in the School of Life Sciences and director of the Consortium for Science Policy and Outcomes, are among the 449 new AAAS Fellows this year.

November 30, 2006

Internationally acclaimed theoretical physicist and cosmologist Paul Davies is establishing a "cosmic think tank" at Arizona State University to confront the big questions at the interface of science and philosophy: What are the laws of nature? Why do they seem so peculiarly suited for the emergence of life? Why is nature mathematical? Are we alone in the universe? What is the destiny of humankind? "Paul Davies is one of the world’s most exciting thinkers," says ASU President Michael M. Crow. Davies, whose research is steeped in the branches of physics that deal with quantum gravity, was appointed College Professor this fall in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This newest ASU research institute, yet unnamed, will be anchored in the college’s School of Earth and Space Exploration.

November 28, 2006

“We have found unexpected rock layering in Earth's deepest mantle,” says Edward Garnero of ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration, one of a team of seismologists exploring heat flow deep in Earth. Garnero depicts this finding in a colorful image (right), which shows deep within Earth, half-way to its center, some 3,000 kilometers down, the boundary between Earth's molten predominantly iron outer core (here shown as the mottled orange surface), and the solid rock mantle (dark green background). In the center of the fluid core floats the solid inner core – a 'frozen' portion of the fluid material due to the extreme pressures. This image depicts a unique chemically distinct material sitting on top of the core, with plumes extending off of this unique pile. Seismologists have detected this pile, as well as a relatively thin lens (blue) of material floating above the core mantle boundary. This material, dubbed "post-perovskite," owes its existence to a more compact organization of the atoms in the predominantly "peroskite" minerals of the deep mantle that occurs precisely at the temperatures and pressures of the deepest mantle.

November 21, 2006

In two weeks' time, research conducted by CLAS scientists graced the covers of two science journals. The two covers – one of Science News and the other of Genome Research – hit the newsstands in October and early November.

November 14, 2006

The study and advancement of valued aspects of human life – children, youth, families and their social worlds – are at the core of ASU’s new School of Social and Family Dynamics.
A celebration to launch the new school is scheduled for 11 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 16, in the East Portico of Lattie Coor Hall on ASU’s Tempe campus. Also, part of this week’s launch activates is a graduate student research poster competition from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, also at Coor, and, a panel discussion from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union, Pima Room, on the topic: The Future is Now! Strategies for Success in the New American University. A keynote address by Eleanor Maccoby, professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University, is slated for Wednesday evening at 7:30 in ASU’s Galvin Theatre.

Language professor receives Polish honors

November 6, 2006

Danko Sipka, an ASU professor of Slavic languages, was recognized for his efforts in promoting Polish culture and language in Phoenix by the Polish-American Congress of Arizona. Sipka received a meritorious recognition award from the group along with a certificate of recognition signed by Krystyna Tokarska-Biernacik, the U.S. Consul General of Poland in Los Angeles. He received the awards in October – Polish-American Heritage Month. Sipka, a nationalized Polish citizen who was born in Yugoslavia, teaches Polish and Serbo-Croatian at ASU.

November 1, 2006

Clay is most commonly associated with the sublime experience of the European spa where visitors have been masked, soaked and basted with this touted curative since the Romans ruled. If ASU geochemist Lynda Williams and microbiologist Shelley Haydel’s research on the antibacterial properties of clays realizes its full potential, smectite clay could one day rise above cosmetic use to take its place comfortably with antibacterial behemoths like penicillin. The National Institutes of Health awarded a $438,970 grant over two years to Williams and Haydel for the study of clay mineral alternative treatment for Buruli ulcer.

October 31, 2006

Four professors in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are teaching and doing research in other countries this year, having received Fulbright Scholar grants in the U.S. government's flagship academic exchange program.

October 25, 2006

Though it might not be possible to teach an old dog new tricks, ASU researchers in the School of Life Sciences have found that evolution may have taught old genes new tricks in the development of social behavior in honeybees.

October 24, 2006

First-generation scholarship recipients, students from 14 Arizona communities whose parents do not have a college degree, will be among 196 students and approximately 275 donors honored by ASU ’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Oct. 26. The college’s first-generation scholarship program is a special initiative of David A. Young, ASU vice president and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

October 23, 2006

The public is invited to spend a day exploring Earth and space with ASU scientists – geologists, astrophysicists, volcanologists and others – from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 28, in the Bateman Physical Science F-Wing, at Arizona State University’s Tempe campus.

October 20, 2006

Nadine Carson, who earned her bachelor’s degree in home economics at ASU in 1953 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2000, is this year’s recipient of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame Award. The award, established by the board of directors of the college alumni chapter in 1995, recognizes alumni for exemplary achievement. It is the highest honor the college confers to a graduate who has achieved professional distinction and made significant community service contributions. Also being honored by the college are Mervyn Lakin, Alice “Dinky” Snell and Rogier Windhorst.

October 20, 2006

The second half of the first round of ASU's Academic Bowl featured the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Team B, with students John McCormick, Eli Bliss, James Scanlon and Mike Rockwell, against the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications. CLAS came away victorious, 210-110, and advances to the second round, Oct. 25, when they will compete against the team from the W.P. Carey School of Business. Team A also will compete in the second round, against the New College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the West campus. Cheering both teams on are alternates Trent Horn, Blake Hovander and Gabriel Rodriquez.

October 18, 2006

An ambitious group of historians, philosophers, bioethicists, scientists, lawyers and policy experts from ASU will be taking a detailed look at the history of embryo research to understand how society, culture and technology have affected the course of science. ASU professor Jane Maienschein and a team including research leaders from the School of Life Sciences have been awarded a three-year, $750,000 grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the project as a part of the NSF Human and Social Dynamics program.

October 16, 2006

ASU President Michael Crow identified four faculty members from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as among his “2006 Promotion and Tenure Exemplars.” Earning this recognition were Sudhir Kumar in the School of Life Sciences, Linda Luecken in the Department of Psychology, Sarah Tracy in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication and Matthew Whitaker in the Department of History.

October 13, 2006

The thwarted 2006 London airline bomb plot not only heightened summer travel fears and created new passenger screening inconveniences, but also greatly underscored the urgent need for improved national security measures. Now, Joseph Wang, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and director of the Center for Biosensors and Bioelectronics at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, has developed a highly sensitive technology to rapidly detect liquid peroxide explosives in as little as 15 seconds. The results are published as a research communication online in this week’s edition of the leading international analytical journal, The Analyst.

October 13, 2006

“Mars Exploration Rovers – Still Driving After All These Years” is the topic of one of the special cultural activities that Smithsonian magazine brings to Arizona, and Arizona State University, this November as part of Smithsonian CultureFest.

October 13, 2006

Subhash Mahajan, director of ASU’s new School of Materials, has been selected to serve a three-year term on the board of trustees of ASM International, formerly the American Society of Metals.

October 13, 2006

The first round of ASU’s Academic Bowl featured the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Team A, with students Eric Cox, Chris Ray, Carlos Ross and McKay Jones, against the College of Teacher Education and Leadership. CLAS came away victorious, 340-140, and advances to the second round, Oct. 25. The CLAS Team B is warming up for its first round, to compete against the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications on Oct. 19.

October 12, 2006

The global politics of women’s health, human rights and development is the topic of the 2006 Feldt/Barbanell Women of the World Lecture. Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General, Nafis Sadik, will deliver the lecture at 7 p.m., Oct. 16, in Neeb Hall at Arizona State University’s Tempe campus. The lecture is free and open to the public; a reception will follow. Additional information is available from ASU’s Women and Gender Studies Program at (480) 965-2358.

October 12, 2006

Everyone knows the name Osama bin Laden. But few people know the name Nikolai Ivanovich Kibalchich – save scholars of Russian history, perhaps. But according to Lee B. Croft, professor of Russian and coordinator of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Kibalchich, born in 1853, holds the dubious honor of being the first person to use explosive devices for the purpose of terrorism.

October 10, 2006

David A. Young, ASU vice president and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was one of two recipients of a MVP (most valuable player) award for his leadership in helping shape the curriculum for the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix program in collaboration with Arizona State University. Founding faculty members, which include several from the School of Life Sciences, were on hand to celebrate the opening of the College of Medicine’s new home in three renovated historic Phoenix Union High School buildings just east of ASU’s new downtown Phoenix campus and a few blocks from ASU’s College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation.

September 20, 2006

Discovery of a nearly intact, 3.3 million-year-old juvenile skeleton is filling an important gap in understanding the evolution of a species thought to be among the earliest direct ancestors to humans, says William Kimbel, a paleoanthropologist with ASU’s Institute of Human Origins and a professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change.

September 18, 2006

Newsweek editor Jon Meacham looks to the religious faith of America’s founding fathers to glean insight into today’s conversations and debates about the role of religion in American society. Meacham will be on the ASU Tempe campus Sept. 26 to deliver the Jonathan and Maxine Marshall Distinguished Lecture at 7:30 p.m. in Gammage Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets are available at the ASU Bookstore or may be reserved by calling (480) 965-0051 or online (clas.asu.edu/tickets).

September 14, 2006

Catherine Kaplan, an assistant professor of history, focuses on the early national period of U.S. history in a lecture at 2:15 p.m., Sept. 15, as part of ASU's Constitution Day celebration.

September 8, 2006

Learn more about ASU’s Institute for Social Science Research in a Sept. 8 podcast (http://popc.asu.edu) with Alan Artibise, dean of the Division of Social Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and executive director of the Institute. Click here to access the podcast.

September 6, 2006

Guy Cardineau and Willem Vermaas, faculty members in the School of Life Sciences, will lead separate collaborative research projects in biotechnology that are being jointly funded by ASU and the Tecnológico de Monterrey.

August 31, 2006

ASU and the University of Arizona are helping transform downtown Phoenix by working together to create a 21st century model for biomedical teaching and research. Eight ASU faculty members, including six from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, have joint appointments at the University of Arizona College of Medicine's Phoenix program.

August 30, 2006

Jewell Parker Rhodes learned many life lessons sitting on some old, worn steps – a stoop – with her grandmother in Pittsburgh.

Rhodes, creative director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, has preserved those lessons – and her fond memory of “Grandma” – in a new book titled “Porch Stories: A Grandmother's Guide to Happiness.”

August 28, 2006

Three kinds of microbes are catching a ride on the Space Shuttle so scientists can study how their genetic responses and their ability to cause disease change. The experiment will be the first to investigate the effects of spaceflight on the disease-causing potential and gene expression profiles of disease-causing microbes. The experiment's principal investigator is Cheryl A. Nickerson a researcher at ASU's Biodesign Institute and an associate professor in the School of Life Sciences.

August 23, 2006

The petite woman carrying a long metal hook and a bucket while traversing the hallways in the A-wing of ASU's Life Sciences Center is Sandra Schenone. She's a snake handler – and a supervisor in the Department of Animal Care and Technologies.

August 16, 2006

Every spring it happens. As the sun peeks above the horizon at the Martian south polar icecap, powerful jets of carbon-dioxide gas erupt through the icecap's topmost layer. The jets climb high into the thin, cold air, carrying fine, dark sand and spraying it for hundreds of feet around each jet. This dramatic scene emerges from new research by a team of Mars scientists that includes Arizona State University's Phil Christensen. The research report appears in the Aug. 17, 2006, issue of the scientific journal “Nature.” The new work solves a longstanding Martian polar riddle.

August 16, 2006

Geography is more than memorizing the location of European countries or naming the U.S. state capitals. Much more, in fact. And this is what has won the Distinguished Mentor Awards for Malcolm Comeaux and Robert Mings, professors emeriti of geography.

August 1, 2006

ASU's drive to accelerate its advance to the forefront of technology innovation is taking a major stride with the creation of the School of Materials - designed as a transdisciplinary unit, combining faculty and resources from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering. It will be overseen by deans of both. "Throughout history, human progress has been tied to the advances in materials. Every age of civilization, like the Bronze Age or the Iron Age, is associated with a material. Today we are in the Materials Age," says Subhash Mahajan, founding director of the school, which begins offering classes in the fall semester.

July 26, 2006

ASU’s Edward J. Hackett will be in a position to influence the direction of social sciences on a national scale as the newly appointed director of the Division of Social and Economic Sciences at the National Science Foundation. His term began in mid-July.

July 5, 2006

Simon Peacock, a long-time Arizona State University faculty member and divisional dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is headed to the University of British Columbia. Peacock, a distinguished geoscience scholar, will take up duties as dean of UBC’s Faculty of Science effective Aug. 1.

June 7, 2006

It might seem that with a name like Sumner Starrfield, the Arizona State University Regents' Professor of physics and astronomy would have known his future was written in the stars. The truth is Starrfield, who was recognized by the Arizona Board of Regents in 2002, never set out to be an astronomer. Instead, his career followed a winding path before the planets aligned to bring him to ASU to establish its fledgling astronomy program.

June 2, 2006

Networking and collaboration — hallmarks of modern scientific enterprise — are at the core of undergraduate research initiatives at the School of Life Sciences. This week’s announcement of a $1.8 million award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) will propel the university’s plan to build the Arizona Biosciences Network — AzBioNet. The network is an opportunity for undergraduate students to interact and develop professional relationships with scientists who work at major research and medical institutions in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

June 1, 2006

This monsoon season will be like no other, according to Joseph Zehnder, a meteorologist in CLAS. The reason is because it will be studied more extensively than any other monsoon season.

Beginning this July, Zehnder will lead a team of nearly 20 researchers to study the formation of monsoon storms in the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson, Ariz. Using an armada of instrumentation on land and flying or floating overhead, the team will train digital cameras, sounding balloons and a specially instrumented airplane, on the genesis of monsoon thunderstorms.

May 26, 2006

Urbano Rios, an immigrant from Mexico, graduated this month from ASU with a degree in speech and hearing science. He says he was motivated by an urgent desire to help his daughter Milagro, who was diagnosed with autism when she was 3 years old.

May 23, 2006

Researchers believe that dynamic regions of the human genome - "hot spots" in terms of duplications and deletions - are potentially involved in the rapid evolution of morphological and behavioral characteristics that are genetically determined.

Now, an international team of researchers - including a graduate student and an associate professor from ASU - are finding similar hotspots in chimpanzees, which has implications for the understanding of genomic evolution in all species.

May 22, 2006

Deep within Earth, halfway to its center in an area where Earth's core meets its mantle, lies a massive folded slab of rock that once was the ocean floor, reports a team of researchers, including one from ASU, in the current issue of "Nature."

May 18, 2006

At a series of unique desert freshwater springs, streams and pools (pozas in Spanish) in Cuatro Cienegas, Mexico, 21st century ingenuity is meeting Jurassic Park. Professor Jim Elser and astrobiologist Jack Farmer are partnering with Valeria Souza of Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) to use DNA analyses to tease out the origins of the ponds' smallest inhabitants: bacteria.

May 17, 2006

Next year, at least 21 ASU students, more than half of whom are majoring in programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will be studying abroad on prestigious national scholarships, increasing the outreach and impact of the university.

May 8, 2006

More than 6,000 students will graduate May 11 from ASU, most entering a robust job market that is hungry for their skills. The new graduates will receive their degrees from ASU President Michael Crow at a ceremony in Wells Fargo Arena. Among the most popular degrees: biology, psychology, communication and justice studies.

May 3, 2006

Three young faculty researchers in ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are recent recipients of awards from the National Science Foundation that together total more than $1.3 million for individual projects as diverse as seismic data analysis, children’s ability to regulate their emotions and the application of DNA as a nano-scale building material. The three — Matt Fouch, Carlos Valiente and Hao Yan — were awarded Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grants by the NSF for their research. This highly competitive award program is the NSF’s most prestigious grant to junior faculty.

May 3, 2006

Rob Edsall, an assistant professor in the geography department, is one of three outstanding faculty members being honored by the Associated Students of ASU with the 2006-2007 Centennial Professorship Award.

April 27, 2006

The Russian and East European Studies Center in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences was awarded a two-year U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs grant of more than $600,000 in 2001 to administer the educational partnership. Fatmir Sejdiu, a professor of public administration who participated in the semester-in-residence program at ASU in 2003, recently was elected president of Kosovo.

April 26, 2006

Robert E. Page Jr. is in good company these days. The Arizona State University professor, two former U.S. presidents, the U.S. chief justice and a Nobel laureate are among the 175 newly elected fellows in the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Page, a Foundation Professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, also is the founding director of the college’s School of Life Sciences.

April 21, 2006

Jihadis place a great deal of emphasis on developing comprehensive public relations and communication strategies to aid their side in the media war. That’s according to communication researchers at Arizona State University who studied recently declassified al-Qaida documents and other open source reports captured in Iraq and Afghanistan during U.S. military operations. “Their strategies are crafted after careful audience analysis and message adaptation, two of the most fundamental rules underlying any communication or public relations campaign,” write the authors of a report released this week by faculty members and graduate students in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication.

April 20, 2006

The next generation of explorers—those who will probe Earth’s interior, examine the oceans’ depths and travel to Mars and beyond—will need to be part scientist and part engineer. That cross-training, starting at the undergraduate level, is the premise behind Arizona State University’s new School of Earth and Space Exploration. Recently approved by the Arizona Board of Regents, the school is set to open July 1 with Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of geology Kip Hodges coming on board as its founding director.

April 19, 2006

In today’s global environment, examining worldwide issues with an intent to improve quality of life, is what distinguishes ASU’s new School of Global Studies. A launch ceremony for the school is set for 11 a.m. Thursday, April 21, in Coor Hall’s East Portico.

April 17, 2006

Former U.S. ambassador Dennis Ross will deliver a keynote lecture on how to think about national security in an era of globalization at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 20, at Arizona State University’s Coor Hall, Room 170. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is part of two days of activities to celebrate the launch of the School of Global Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. A ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday, April 21, in Coor Hall’s East Portico. ASU President Michael Crow and China’s Sichuan University President Xie Heping are among dignitaries speaking at the ceremony. They will be joined by David Young, ASU vice president and dean of the college, and David Jacobson, director of the new school.

April 14, 2006

Two ASU students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences have won prestigious national scholarships. Taylor Jackson, a senior in biology and society, and Arianne Peterson, a junior majoring in anthropology, have won Udall Scholarships for their service and research in environmental policy.

April 14, 2006

Independent filmmaker Paul Espinosa, a professor in Chicana/o Studies at Arizona State University, is one of the series producers for a new four-part television series–“California and the American Dream.” The episode "The Price of Renewal" premieres April 20 on PBS affiliate, Eight/KAET.

April 14, 2006

Organic photochemist Ian Gould has distinguished himself in industry and academia. Last year, he became one of only four ASU faculty members selected to carry the title President's Professor, a distinction created to reward enthusiasm and innovation in teaching, given to professors who have made outstanding contributions to undergraduate education.

April 13, 2006

A new team of researchers, including Anne Stone, an anthropological geneticist in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University, writes in the cover story of this week’s “Nature” (April 13, 2006), that both humans and chimpanzees have gene variants but for different reasons—and is an example of convergent evolution.

Stone joins a growing list of researchers from ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences whose research has made the cover of either “Nature” or “Science” this academic year.

April 12, 2006

Matthew Whitaker, an assistant professor of history, and Ariel Anbar, an associate professor of geological sciences and chemistry, were nominated by their students for this annual event. The faculty members are to pick a topic so close to their hearts that it would be the last lecture they might ever give on Earth, if they were about to face the end of their days.

April 5, 2006

Faculty member Laura D. Hanish is being tapped by the National Institutes of Health to serve as a member of the Social Psychology, Personality and Interpersonal Processes Study Section in the Center for Scientific Review beginning July 1.

April 3, 2006

Joseph Wang, director of the Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors in the Biodesign Institute at ASU, is the 2006 recipient of the American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry Cole Parmer Award in Electrochemistry. Wang also holds joint appointments as professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences' School of Life Sciences and in the department of chemical and materials engineering in the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.

March 31, 2006

Dubbed “Darwin’s natural heir” by “The Guardian” newspaper in 2001, Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard University research professor emeritus, will share his particular vision of “The Future of Life,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at the Galvin Playhouse in the Nelson Fine Arts Center on Arizona State University’s Tempe campus.

March 31, 2006

A career of peering into deep space (and basically back in time) to see how and why the universe developed in the way it did has given Rogier Windhorst a wonderful long-term perspective.

March 28, 2006

When it comes to the future of biology-based research, James Collins thinks ASU is ahead of the game. Collins, assistant director of biological sciences at the National Science Foundation, says ASU's multidisciplinary approach has the university well positioned for the days to come.

March 27, 2006

For the first time in ASU history, four young undergraduate students – three of whom are from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences – have scored big in the competitive world of science and math awards, winning national Goldwater Scholarships. They are Paul Schmit, physics; Shannon Fortin, biochemistry; and James Cronican, biochemistry.

March 24, 2006

See butterflies and more from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, April 1, as School of Life Sciences faculty and graduate students put aside their microscopes and lecture notes to lead a guided hike in Coon Bluff, located 18 miles northeast of Mesa, off Bush Highway in the Tonto National Forest. The event is free and open to the public.

March 24, 2006

A sampling of exotic international wines and imported beers paired with delicious tastings from acclaimed Valley restaurants makes this year’s International Wine Festival at Arizona State University an elegant event. The annual scholarship fundraiser, hosted by ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni board, will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, April 8, in historic Old Main at ASU’s Tempe campus. Tickets are $50 and the event, which includes a silent auction, is open to the public.

March 23, 2006

Carlos Castillo-Chavez is one of the newest Regents’ Professors in ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as the Joaquin Bustoz Jr. Professor of Mathematical Biology. He is sought out for his opinion and advice by the CIA, pharmaceutical companies, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, other universities and audiences around the world, most recently in China (where he holds an honorary professorship) and Latin America.

March 21, 2006

ASU was selected as one of only two universities in the country to receive a prestigious grant to advance the dialogue between science and religion in contemporary society. Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, professor of history, heads ASU’s initiative for 2006-09. Titled “Facing the Challenges of Transhumanism: Religion, Science, and Technology,” the project is based at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict.

March 17, 2006

Stopping an invasion of breast cancer cells, improving the function of spacecraft design and identifying the conditions under which a political third party can thrive are just a few of the research projects being conducted by undergraduate students in ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. These young researchers, under the watchful guidance of faculty mentors, will have an opportunity to discuss their research with the public and other students at the inaugural collegewide undergraduate research poster symposium from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, March 23, in the Memorial Union, Room 207.

March 17, 2006

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, race relations is a topic that continues to surface in the news. It also is the focus of the 11th annual A. Wade Smith Memorial Lecture Series on Race Relations at Arizona State University. Author and scholar Robin D. G. Kelley, considered a leading voice for contemporary black urban issues, will address the topic in his lecture “Another Reconstruction: Debating Reparations and Race in Post-Katrina America,” on March 23.

March 13, 2006

A new planet-spanning Web site – Google Mars (mars.google.com) – launches today on what would have been Mars astronomer Percival Lowell's 151st birthday. At the heart of the new Web site lies a gigantic picture-puzzle image of Mars created by researchers at Arizona State University's Mars Space Flight Facility. Also today, ASU and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are releasing to the public and scientists alike a movie, "Flight Into Mariner Valley." This exciting, narrated video takes viewers on a simulated flight through the grandest canyon in the solar system, Valles Marineris on Mars.

March 9, 2006

When Randall Cerveny was growing up on a farm in Nebraska, he recalls climbing onto his roof and watching the mighty thunderstorms of the Midwest roll by. His keen interest in storms was an early indication of his precocious intimacy with the heavens, and the sky remains the limit for Cerveny, a professor with ASU's Department of Geography.

March 8, 2006

A team of CLAS researchers, which includes faculty and graduate students, is being funded by the U.S. Department of Defense to develop inexpensive lasers based on a new family of silicon-based semiconductors.

March 2, 2006

Described as “a fascinating center of gravity for Arizona science and engineering,” ASU’s two newly dedicated interdisciplinary research facilities will house a number of centers and laboratories that are part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

February 23, 2006

“Human communication is a concept that’s not often understood by humans,” says venerable television host Hugh Downs after receiving accolades and well wishes for his 85th birthday at a celebration hosted by ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication. Down’s birthday – Feb. 14 – was proclaimed “Hugh Downs Day” by Gov. Janet Napolitano.

February 16, 2006

Arizona State University Regents’ Professor of English Ron Carlson never expected to find an audience for his stories in the Middle East. And he certainly didn’t think that the audience would be sitting in the middle of a war zone. An English language stage production, one of a few in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein, will feature Carlson’s stories and be performed at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad this month.

February 15, 2006

Two outstanding ASU students have won national academic honors from USA Today, named in the newspaper's Feb. 15 issue for their exceptional intellectual achievement and leadership. Taylor Jackson, a senior in biology and society, has been chosen for the All-USA College Academic Third Team and Elizabeth Dreeland, a December graduate, has received honorable mention.

February 13, 2006

Odds are, someone you know has Metabolic Syndrome. To help combat this health problem, ASU has created the Center for Metabolic Biology.

February 10, 2006

On Friday, Feb. 24, undergraduate students who are engaged in cutting edge research will present their findings to the public at the 13th annual Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium, sponsored by the School of Life Sciences.

February 9, 2006

A conference at Arizona State University Saturday, March 4, will look at Arizona’s death penalty to see how it is functioning. Titled “Arizona’s Death Penalty in 2006,” the conference is sponsored by the ASU School of Justice and Social Inquiry, Arizona Death Penalty Forum, Catholic Charities and the Coalition of Arizonans to Abolish the Death Penalty.

February 7, 2006

Constitutional law scholar Geoffrey R. Stone will discuss free speech in a time of war at the annual Frank Lecture Feb. 9.

February 6, 2006

ASU will host the seventh annual Conference of the American Indian Studies Consortium Feb. 15-16 on the ASU Tempe campus with the theme “Indigenous Nations and the Academy: The Dynamics of Indigenous Scholarship and Thought in Defending and Protecting Our Lands, Languages, Tribal Nations and Cultures.”

February 1, 2006

A proposed new robotic mission to Mars plans to make the first exploration of subsurface water ice in a potentially habitable zone.

February 1, 2006

Need a good book for a rainy day? Look no further than ASU President's Professor of Geography Randy Cerveny’s recently published “Freaks of the Storm,” a collection of true stories about weird weather phenomenon recorded all over the world.

February 1, 2006

ASU is working with the U.S. Department of Labor on a new initiative that aims to expand employment and advancement opportunities for American workers.

January 31, 2006

ASU’s Mars research team recently wrapped up an educational outreach mission in India, giving college-aged space exploration enthusiasts and dignitaries from the Indian Space Research Organization a close-up look at the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) project, meteorites and live images of the planet’s surface. The “Welcome to Mars!” exhibit, modeled after last year’s ASU exhibition in China, was featured at Techfest ’06, the annual international science and technology festival of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. An estimated 30,000 people attended the three-day event in Mumbai, India.

January 27, 2006

Eighteen ASU student-led ventures will be launched this year as part of the second annual Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative selection process. CLAS students are part of seven of the awarded teams.

January 17, 2006

ASU's Institute for Qualitative Research Methods has gained international notice by drawing together some of the top minds in the field.

January 10, 2006

Conflict at the interface of religion and science is the focus of a series of public symposia to be held at ASU’s Tempe campus Jan. 22-23.

January 10, 2006

An analysis of the Hubble Space Telescope’s deepest view of the universe offers compelling evidence that monster black holes in the centers of galaxies were not born big but grew over time through repeated galactic mergers. “By studying distant galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), we have the first statistical evidence that supermassive black-hole growth is linked to the process of galaxy assembly,” said ASU astronomer Rogier Windhorst, who is a member of the two teams that conducted the analysis.