UT’s fellows are Susan M. Benner, associate dean in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences; Joanne M. Hall, professor in the College of Nursing; Veerle Keppens, associate dean for faculty affairs in the College of Engineering; and Annette L. Ranft, associate dean in the College of Business Administration.

They are among the forty-nine faculty and administrators from SEC schools who were chosen to participate in the program, a professional development initiative that seeks to identify, prepare, and advance academic leaders for roles within SEC institutions and beyond.

The program has two components: a university-level development curriculum designed by each institution for its own participants, and two three-day SEC-wide workshops held on specified campuses for all program participants.

The first workshop is to be held October 14 through 16, at the University of Georgia in Athens. The next will be February 5 through 7, 2014, at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.

The fellows program, established in 2008, fosters academic leadership among SEC faculty by allowing them the unique opportunity to address the challenges of academic administration at major research universities.

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CONTACT:

Karen Simsen (865-974-5186, karen.simsen@tennessee.edu)

The 7:30 p.m. concert will be held in the Sandra Powell Recital Hall of the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, 1741 Volunteer Boulevard. It is free and open to the public.

Earlier that day, from 11:10 a.m. to 12:25 p.m., Alash will host a workshop/master class in the band room. This event is open to students, faculty, and community members.

Tuvan throat singing is a unique practice where multiple pitches emanate simultaneously from a single performer’s voice.

Alash’s visit to Knoxville is part of the Distinguished Lecture Series in Musicology. The group is from the Republic of Tuva, a tiny Central Asian nation. Since its first tour of the United States in 2006, the group has appeared on dozens of college campuses. It has performed at major music festivals, including Bonnaroo and South by Southwest, and collaborated with a wide range of prominent artists, from the Sun Ra Arkestra to Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.

“The Tuvan throat-singing style was rarely heard in the West before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but has since become popular among aficionados of traditional music and first-time listeners alike,” said Rachel May Golden, UT associate professor and coordinator of musicology. “The ensemble’s visit to UT offers students, faculty, and members of the Knoxville community the opportunity to experience this music firsthand. Listeners new to this practice often describe the sound of Tuvan throat singing as eerie, haunting, meditative, or supernatural.”

The School of Music and the Ready for the World initiative are sponsoring the event.

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CONTACT:

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)

The Fulbright Program is a prestigious international exchange initiative that awards about 1,100 grants to American scholars each year. Funded by the U.S. government, Fulbright Scholars are chosen based on their leadership and academic merits and their abilities to teach, conduct research, and contribute to solutions for shared international concerns.

Wanda Costen, associate professor in Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant for the 2013 –2014 academic year. She is studying gender inequality, specifically the social closure barriers that prevent women’s upward career mobility, in the resort industry in Jamaica. In addition to her research, Costen is teaching in the Department of Management Studies within the Mona School of Business and Management at the University of West Indies –Mona. Upon her return, Costen plans to write a book explaining how the barriers to women’s career progression are socially constructed.

Scott Frey, professor of sociology and co-director of the Center for the Study of Social Justice, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant for the fall term of 2013. He is studying the adverse environmental, health, and socioeconomic consequences of pesticide use under export-focused rice production in Vietnam. In addition to his research, Frey is lecturing at the Vietnam National University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City on issues related to the environment and development. Frey is currently working on a book examining how and why hazardous products and wastes are displaced to the peripheral zones of the world economy.

Rebecca Klenk, lecturer in interdisciplinary programs and affiliated faculty member with the Anthropology Department and the Disaster, Displacement, and Human Rights Program, has been awarded a Fulbright grant for the spring term of 2014. She will lecture and work with graduate students in the Anthropology Department at the University of Delhi in India. Along with teaching, she will develop new research on global educational restructuring, and collaborate with colleagues in India to plan a project on community experiences of, and educational responses to, Himalayan climate change.

Timothy Young, a professor in the Forest Products Center at the Institute of Agriculture, also received an award for the fall term. Young is in Austria conducting research on cross-laminated timber and teaching graduate courses in design of experiments and statistical process control at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences.

Melanie Eldridge, formerly a research assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology,  received an award to carry out a research project in Brazil for the fall term of 2013. She recently accepted a position at another university.

Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has given approximately 310,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research; exchange ideas; and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. The Fulbright US Scholar Program is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, a division of the Institute of International Education.

For more information, visit the Fulbright program’s website.

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CONTACT:

Whitney Heins (865-974-5460, wheins@utk.edu)

The UT–Pro2Serve Math Contest, hosted by UT will award ten lucky and bright students $4,000 annual scholarships to UT.

In its fifteenth year, the contest allows Tennessee high school students—public, private and home-schooled—to compete for awards and honors based on their mathematics skills. Students will compete on Thursday, November 14, on the UT campus.

Early registration for the competition has already begun and ends October 4. The cost is $10 per student. General registration is open through October 30 and is $15 per student. Participants must register before the event, and all fees must be received by November 1.

“The Pro2Serve Math Contest is important to fostering students’ interest in mathematics and encouraging them to pursue careers and education in science, mathematics, engineering, finance, and other fields,” said Conrad Plaut, mathematics department head. “The contest is also an opportunity to showcase UT and increase the likelihood that these talented students will attend the university.”

The contest has two parts. The first is the two-stage FERMAT. All participants take a multiple-choice test on algebra and geometry, called the Fundamental Exams of Remarkable Mathematical Ability and Talent (FERMAT I). The top fifty students move on to the next level of testing, called FERMAT II. This test has eight essay questions, requiring creative and original thinking. The ten students with the highest scores will each receive an annual $4,000 scholarship for four years of undergraduate study at UT Knoxville. FERMAT II exams are hand-graded by faculty members from UT’s Department of Mathematics.

The second part of the contest is the Math Bowl. A three-member team from each high school faces an opposing high school team in a double-elimination tournament in the style of the old GE College Bowl competitions. Sixty-four high school teams compete head-to-head to be the fastest to correctly answer ten math questions.

The championship round will be held from 3:30-3:50 p.m.

A full schedule is available online.

The contest is presented by the College of Arts and Sciences Mathematics Department and UT alumnus Barry Goss and his company, Professional Project Services Inc. (Pro2Serve).

“It is so important to continue to feed these students’ talent so they can go on and make positive contributions to Tennessee’s future,” Goss said. “Our goal is to have the brightest math minds in Tennessee high schools to further their education in Tennessee, hopefully at UT, and remain here after graduation to live and work.”

Pro2Serve provides technical and engineering services that support the infrastructures of government and private industry and help ensure our nation’s security. The media sponsor is the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Scholarships are funded by UT and Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek.

To register, visit www.math.utk.edu/MathContest or call 865-974-2461.

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CONTACT:

Whitney Heins (865-974-5460, wheins@utk.edu)

Bryan Self (865-974-2461, cself1@tennessee.edu)

Stacy Clark, a research forester with the US Forest Service, will present “American Chestnut Restoration: Can We Bring Back the Mighty Giant?”

The Science Forum is a weekly brown-bag lunch series that allows professors and area scientists to discuss their research with the general public in a conversational presentation.

The presentations begin at noon on Fridays in Room C-D of Thompson-Boling Arena. Attendees can bring lunch or purchase it at the arena. Each presentation is forty minutes long and is followed by a question-and-answer session. Science Forum presentations are free and open to the public.

The American chestnut was one of the most widely distributed and important tree species in eastern North America until decimated in the early part of the twentieth century by an exotic fungus from Asia, the chestnut blight.

“Planting trees that have been bred for blight resistance using Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) has led to some important discoveries,” Clark said. “The return of the American chestnut into forests of the eastern United States will face challenges from native and nonnative plants, animals, insects, and diseases, in addition to the chestnut blight.”

Future Science Forums will feature a variety of topics:

• October 11: Chad Duty, group leader of Deposition and Technology Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, discussing “3D Printing: The Next Generation of Manufacturing”
• October 25: Kasey Krouse, urban forester for the city of Knoxville, presenting “Knoxville Urban Forestry—Year One”
• November 1: Gerry Dinkins, curator of malacology and natural history at the McClung Museum, discussing “Rediscovery of the Nearly Extinct Alabama Lampmussel in the Emory River”
• November 8: Devin White, senior research scientist of geocomputation Oak Ridge National Laboratory and assistant professor of anthropology, discussing “Archaeological Discoveries from Space”
• November 15: Phil Colclough, director of animal collections and conservation at Knoxville Zoological Gardens, discussing “Eastern Hellbender Conservation and the New Role of Zoos”
• November 22: Nathan Schmidt, assistant professor of microbiology, discussing “Infection with the Malaria Parasite: Malaria Is Only Half the Problem”

The Science Forum is sponsored by the UT Office of Research and Quest, an initiative to raise awareness of UT’s research, scholarship, and creative activity.

For more information, visit scienceforum.utk.edu.

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CONTACT:

Amanda Womac (Amanda@HellbenderPress.org)

Mark Littmann (865-974-8156, littmann@utk.edu)

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

The first lecture will feature UT professors Erin Darby and Robert Darby, who will talk about their recent archaeological excavations at ‘Ayn Gharandal, Jordan.

The 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. event will be in the McClung Museum’s auditorium.

Robert Darby, a lecturer in art history in the UT School of Art, and Erin Darby, an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies, direct the ‘Ayn Gharandal archaeological project that has uncovered rare new details about an ancient Roman fort in southern Jordan.

The lecture series invites scholars from around the world to present the latest archaeological discoveries. It is free and open to the public.

Upcoming lectures this fall include the following:

• November 7: “Cultural Interaction and Reaction in the Courtly Art of the Hellenistic World” by Kristen Seaman, Kennesaw State University, Georgia
• November 19: “The Neolithic Alepotrypa Cave: Past Findings and Present Research” by Anastasia Papathanasiou, Greek Archaeological Service.

The McClung Museum is located at 1327 Circle Park Drive. It is open Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Free parking is available on Circle Park Drive in front of the museum.

The Archaeological Institute of America is North America’s oldest and largest archaeological organization. The East Tennessee Society was founded in 1973 as the local chapter of the organization and aims to promote the knowledge, study of, and interest in archaeology and related subjects.

For more information about the McClung Museum and its collections and exhibits, visit the website.

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CONTACT:

Erin Darby (865-974-6977, edarby1@utk.edu)

Catherine Shteynberg (865-974-6921, cshteynb@utk.edu)

The luncheons will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Thursdays through December 5 in the UT Visitors Center on Neyland Drive.

The cafe is a full-service international dining experience. Lunch consists of intermezzo or small appetizer, salad, entrée, and dessert.

Cost is $12 and the faculty-staff discount does not apply. Advance tickets are required. For tickets, see Marcia Johnson in 110 Jessie Harris Building, call 865-974-6645, or email rhtm@utk.edu. Cash, checks, and credit cards are accepted.

The first luncheon Thursday will feature Italian fare. The menu is as follows:

First course: Traditional Italian antipasto with cured meats and cheeses from southern Italy served with homemade margherita pizza

Second course: Spinach and goat cheese ravioli with roasted garlic cream sauce

Third course: Chicken cacciatore served with creamy polenta

Dessert: Tiramisu

The dates and themes for the remaining luncheons are as follows:

• October 10—Italy
• October 24—France
• October 31—France
• November 7—Japan
• November 14—Japan
• November 21—Spain
• December 5—French-Japanese fusion

The luncheons are produced through a collaboration of HRT 445 (the Advanced Food Production and Service Management class), the UT Culinary Institute, and the Pellissippi Culinary Institute.

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CONTACT:

Marcia Johnson (for tickets): (865-974-6645, rhtm@utk.edu)

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)

Annette Engel, the Jones Associate Professor of Aqueous Geochemistry in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, at UT has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant for $794,000 to lead a research group to learn more about these clams, called lucinids, and the role they play in the ecosystem. The project is part of the NSF’s Dimensions of Biodiversity program.

Findings could have implications for the recovery and management of fast-disappearing coastal environments.

Engel will collaborate with Laurie Anderson at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and Barbara Campbell at Clemson University on the project over the next five years, with a total project budget of $1.6 million.

Lucinids play a key role in detoxifying coastal environments for other creatures such as fish, crabs, and manatees. They do this through a process called chemosymbiosis, a form of symbiosis in which a bacterium provides chemically derived energy and nutrients to a higher organism. Lucinids have bacteria that live within their gills and allows them to convert toxic compounds such as hydrogen sulfide—a neurotoxin to humans—into less toxic versions such as sulfate.

“These clams show us how chemosymbiosis, a unique evolutionary adaptation, is very important to life on earth,” said Engel. “The lucinids clean up environments for other animals and allow them to live. Yet little is known about their chemosymbioses and how they are affected by environmental changes.”

Lucinids’ symbiotic relationship also has allowed them to survive millions of years of extinctions and disturbances. Researchers will tap into a 400-million-year-old fossil record of the lucinids’ past to reconstruct environments and relationships over time. They will collect modern-day lucinid data from biomes in Florida, California, and the Bahamas with varying degrees of disturbance.

Their findings will uncover the genetic, taxonomic, and functional diversity of modern lucinid chemosymbioses and ways to identify the distinctive features of lucinid-bacteria biodiversity through the past. The goals are to be able to predict future lucinid evolutionary adaptations and help save or recover seagrass beds being lost at tremendous rates due to climate change, pollution, sea level rise, and other disruptions.

“Environmental managers are working to save these lands, yet they do not know about all the living beings in the ecosystems,” said Engel. “We will look at how the effect of human activities is changing water chemistry, how this change in water is impacting the clams and how this change is impacting the whole ecosystem.”

This project will train graduate and undergraduate students in interdisciplinary research; involve students underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; and provide mentoring and outreach to the public on the topics of symbiosis and biodiversity.

The Dimensions of Biodiversity awards are supported by NSF’s Directorates for Biological Sciences and Geosciences along with NASA, which co-funds projects that use state-of-the-art remote sensing technologies. To learn more the program, visit http://1.usa.gov/1bMi7Bn.

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CONTACT:

Whitney Heins (865-974-5460, wheins@utk.edu)

A novel method developed at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis at UT helps determine which patients will benefit from transplantation.

The topic of the underreported dangers of overdosing on acetaminophen has received ample attention following recent in-depth investigation by the radio program “This American Life” and public-interest journalism organization ProPublica.

There is a chemical antidote to acetaminophen poisoning, but it is effective only if administered within eight hours of an overdose. If liver damage is severe enough and the antidote is not administered early enough, the only lifesaving treatment is liver transplantation.

However, determining which patients need a transplant and which will recover is a major challenge in treating patients with acetaminophen overdose.

Chris Remien, a postdoctoral researcher at NIMBioS, and his research partners have developed a novel method to determine which patients will benefit from liver transplant in these instances. Rather than relying on purely statistical methods, Remien’s method is based on a dynamic model of acetaminophen metabolism and cellular damage.

In addition to making predictions on the need for a transplant, the model also defines a limit to how much acetaminophen someone can take over time before it causes liver damage.

“There is a simple threshold in the model because of how the liver processes acetaminophen, so that there is either very little liver damage or rapid damage, which may explain why patients who chronically overuse acetaminophen can eventually develop rapid liver damage,” Remien said.

The model has shown promise in a set of fifty-three patients from the University of Utah, but it still needs to be validated in a larger multicenter study before it can be used by physicians.

“We are currently collecting more data and collaborating with other groups in order to validate our method,” Remien said.

Collaborating on the project are Norman Sussman, associate professor of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, and Fred Adler, professor of mathematics and biology at the University of Utah.

For more information about Remien’s model, view a video of his seminar talk at bit.ly/186aQbr.

The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis brings together researchers from around the world to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries to investigate solutions to basic and applied problems in the life sciences.

To learn more, visit nimbios.org.

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CONTACT:

Catherine Crawley (865-974-9350, ccrawley@nimbios.org)

Whitney Heins (865-974-5460, wheins@utk.edu)

Four Hollywood producers currently working in development and production will talk about their work and explain how projects like The Hunger Games, World War Z, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Gangster Squad get made.

Participants include Matt Milam, a UT graduate who is currently a senior vice president of motion picture production and development for Skydance Productions, which recently released World War Z and has Mission Impossible 5 in development. Other participants include Jon Silk, who works at Warner Bros. as a senior vice president of production at Lin Pictures, where he co-produced Gangster Squad; Will Russell-Shapiro, a senior executive for Aversano Productions, which has been involved with Safe House (starring Denzel Washington) and The Last Airbender (directed by M. Night Shyamalan); and Bryan Unkeless, senior vice president of production and development at Color Force, where he co-produced The Hunger Games and also helped develop the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise.

A reception will follow in the Mary Greer Room on the second floor of Hodges Library, Room 258. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 974-6963.

CONTACT:

Charles Primm (865-974-5180, charles.primm@tennessee.edu)

Tricia Hepner, associate professor of anthropology and co-director of the college’s new Disasters, Displacement, and Human Rights program, will present “Anthropology as a Tool for Improving the Human Condition.”

Now in its twenty-fourth season, the Pregame Showcase—sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences—gives fans the chance to hear from esteemed UT faculty prior to each gridiron matchup. This week’s showcase will be held at 10:21 a.m. in the Carolyn P. Brown University Center Ballroom (Room 213).

Free and open to the public, the showcase will feature a thirty-minute presentation and a fifteen-minute question-and-answer session followed by a brief reception. Door prizes will be awarded.

Through the new DDHR program, faculty and students are developing collaborative methods to analyze crises, from coal ash spills and refugee flows to mass grave excavations and postwar reconstruction. Hepner will talk about some of the work she’s done, as well as some of the work done by her colleagues and students.

“Anthropology is a very diverse discipline, encompassing human biology and culture in the past and present,” Hepner said. “DDHR unites cultural anthropology, archaeology, and biological anthropology to generate new insights into pressing global problems.”

In addition to teaching and co-directing the DDHR program, Hepner is vice chair of the college’s Africana Studies program. She authored the book Soldiers, Martyrs, Traitors and Exiles: Political Conflict in Eritrea and the Diaspora, co-edited two books and wrote several journal articles and book chapters.

Here’s the lineup for the rest of the season:

October 5—”Tick Tock: Sleep Across the Lifespan and the Role of the Internal Clock.” Theresa Lee, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a biopsychologist who has researched the importance of sleep and the internal clock, will talk about research that explains how sleep patterns vary across a lifetime and what is “normal.”

October 19—”Haunted Bangkok: Angry Spirits, Buddhist Power, and Popular Media in Thailand.” Rachelle Scott, associate professor of religious studies, will talk about the role of ghosts and other supernatural beings in Theravada Buddhism and how these stories continue to impart ethical lessons to Buddhists across Asia and around the world.

November 9—”Making the Cuts: Austerity Policies and Their Social Implications.” Jon Shefner, head of the Department of Sociology, will look at the effects of spending cuts, tax hikes, and other measures governments use to reduce their budget deficits during adverse economic conditions.

November 23—”Simulations of Solutions: Solving Problems Through Scientific Computing.” Steven Wise, associate professor of mathematics, will discuss the evolution of scientific computing and look at the challenges that lie ahead, including how we might—and might not—be able to solve some of our biggest problems with the help of computers.

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CONTACT:

Lynn Champion (865-974-2992, champion@utk.edu)

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

Emily Ward Bivens, an associate professor in the School of Art, was recently featured in the newsletter of the National Performance Network and Visual Arts Network. The national organizations support the work of artists working in visual and performing arts. Bivens is director of foundations in the School of Art and a member of a four-person art collaborative called the Bridge Club.

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Ernest Freeberg, professor and head of the Department of History, spoke at the Decatur Book Festival in Atlanta last month about his new book, The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America. This history of the social and cultural impact of electric light was published this year, and Freeberg has been sharing his findings with audiences across the country. The Washington Post has called the book “a captivating intellectual adventure that offers long-forgotten stories of the birth pangs of the electrical age that are amusing, surprising and tragic.” His talk in Atlanta was part of a series of talks on science and technology.

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Joshua Fu, a civil and environmental engineering professor, has received a certificate and award from publisher Elsevier Limited for his manuscript about Beijing air quality published in a 2007 edition of Atmospheric Environment. From 2007 to 2012, the paper, entitled “Air quality during the 2008 Beijing Olympic games” is ranked in the top three most cited articles in the journal, which is one of top journals in air quality and climate change.

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The Geological Society of America’s Penrose Conference will be held in honor of Distinguished Scientist and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences Bob Hatcher. The event is March 30 to April 4, 2014, in Asheville, North Carolina. The topic for the upcoming conference is continental collision mountain building processes and focuses on a region of the southern Appalachians that, to quote the society, “represents the primary study locale of Bob Hatcher’s seminal career.” For more information, visit the society’s website.

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Darrin Hulsey, an assistant professor in ecology and evolutionary biology, has a paper published in the current issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society. The study cast doubt on the old hypothesis that cichlids, a freshwater fish spanning a rainbow of colors and a myriad of shapes reached multiple continents by swimming in place while an ancient supercontinent split up. Instead, Hulsey and his colleagues say the freshwater fish must have undertaken death-defying dispersals by paddling across the salty seas.

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Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences Micah Jessup is the Structural Geology and Tectonics Division of the Geological Society of America’s featured essayist for this month. The society invited twelve scientists to submit scientific essays to celebrate its 125th anniversary. One essay is published each month on the society’s website during the anniversary year. To read Jessup’s essay, “Mid-crustal processes in the Himalaya”, visit the society’s website.

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Sandra Mixer, an assistant professor of nursing, is the 2013 recipient of the Transcultural Nursing Society Award. The mission of the society is to enhance the quality of culturally congruent, competent, and equitable care that results in improved health and well-being for people worldwide. Mixer will be honored at its 39th conference in October in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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Mariano Rodriguez-Cabal, a doctoral student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, has had his dissertation accepted by the journal PNAS. His work demonstrates for the first time that the addition of novel species (exotic invasive species) and the resulting loss of a keystone species leads to the node-by-node disassembly of an interaction web in Patagonia resulting in a cascade of local extinctions. Together, the results demonstrate that simultaneous gains and losses of species are both consequences and drivers of global change that can lead to under-appreciated cascading co-extinctions.

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Jered Sprecher, an associate professor in the School of Art, spent two months this summer as the artist in residence at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas. The Chinati Foundation is a contemporary art museum. The residency concluded with an exhibition of his work at the Chinati Foundation Locker Plant.

A MacArthur Fellow, Hirsch has published eight books of poems. His most recent, The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems, compiles thirty-five years of work. His awards include the National Book Critics Circle Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature.

His talk about fellowships, open to UT faculty, will take place from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the John D. Tickle Engineering Building, Room 405. His poetry reading, which is open to the public, will be at 7:00 p.m., in Hodges Library Lindsay Young Auditorium. Afterward he will be signing copies of his books, which will be sold at the site.

Here’s a look at the rest of the series:

• Tuesday, October 15—Amy Murrell Taylor, associate professor of history, University of Kentucky. Her talk is entitled “On the Frontlines of Freedom: Life Inside the US Civil War’s ‘Contraband’ Camps.” An historian of the US South with a special interest in the Civil War era, gender, and family, Taylor is the author of The Divided Family in Civil War America and co-editor of Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction. Her essays have appeared in popular publications including The Civil War Monitor magazine and The Civil War: Official Park Service Handbook.
  4:00 p.m., University Center Shiloh Room (Room 235)
• Monday, March 10—Patricia Buckley Ebrey, professor of history, University of Washington. Her talk is entitled “Emperor Huizong: Daoist, Poet, Painter, Captive.” She will offer a fresh look at the Chinese emperor who came to the Song Throne in the first month of 1100, a few months after his seventeenth birthday, and reigned almost twenty-six years. Rather than dwell on the turmoil caused by his reign, she will look at the ruler as a skilled poet, painter, calligrapher, musician, and art collector.
  Time and location to be announced.
• Thursday, April 24—Carole Pateman, distinguished professor emeritus of political science, University of California, Los Angeles.
  Details of her talk, as well as its time and location, to be announced.

For more information about the Humanities Lecture series, see uthumanitiesctr.utk.edu/this_years_visiting_scholars.html.

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CONTACT:

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

Kickoff is set for 12:21 p.m. EDT for the Volunteers’ game against the Jaguars. Gates open at 10:15 a.m. The SEC Network will televise the game.

New security rules prohibit backpacks of any kind or size from entering Neyland Stadium. All items, including purses, are subject to search at the gates. Purses or other bags larger than twelve inches by twelve inches by twelve inches cannot be brought into the stadium.

The UT Police Department encourages all fans to come to the stadium carrying as little as possible with them to expedite their entry into the stadium and to their seat.

These items also are prohibited:

• alcoholic beverages, cans, bottles, or coolers
• radios without headphones
• open umbrellas
• video cameras
• stadium seats with arms
• weapons of any kind, including pocket knives

No items can be left or stored at stadium gates. Fans can bring the following items inside the stadium, provided they meet the size requirement:

• cushions and seats without arms
• small diaper bags that accompany infants
• small cameras, pagers, cell phones, and binoculars

UT also reminds fans to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement. All fans are asked to call 865-974-3111 or 911. From their cell phones, fans can send an anonymous report of suspicious activity by texting the letters “UTPD” followed by the location and details pertaining to an incident to Tip411 (847411).

Parking and Traffic

Due to campus construction, fans are encouraged to arrive early. Click here for complete information on game day parking, stadium regulations and activities. The latest information on campus construction can be found at conezone.utk.edu.

Only fans with permits can park on campus. UT encourages others to use shuttle buses from the Old City, the Knoxville Civic Coliseum and the Market Square area of downtown Knoxville, and Farragut High School in west Knoxville. Many area hotels also offer shuttle service to the game.

Under state law, no smoking is allowed anywhere inside the stadium. Fans cannot leave the stadium and be readmitted.

Commercial solicitation in front of Neyland Stadium from Middle Way Drive to Gate 10 is prohibited starting four hours before kickoff and continuing until the game is over.

Game Day Activities

The traditional Vol Walk will start at 10:00 a.m. on Volunteer Boulevard near Circle Park, as the members of the football team proceed down Volunteer Boulevard and then continue down Peyton Manning Pass to the stadium.

The Pride of the Southland Marching Band will begin marching at 10:35 a.m. from their new home at the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center on Volunteer Boulevard and will then follow the same path as the Vol Walk. High school marching bands from Greeneville and Murfreesboro, Tennessee, will join the UT band march this week.

From 8:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., the Volunteer Village commercial display area will be open on the lawn of the Humanities and Social Sciences Building.

Fans also can attend the College of Arts and Sciences Pregame Showcase. Held two hours before each home game kickoff in the University Center Ballroom, the showcase is a free thirty-minute presentation by a UT faculty member. This week, at 10:15 a.m., Tricia Redeker Hepner, associate professor of anthropology and co-director of the college’s new Disasters, Displacement, and Human Rights Program, will discuss “Anthropology as a Tool for Improving the Human Condition.”

Fans are encouraged to follow @UTGameday on Twitter for the latest updates on traffic, weather, gate information, and game day events such as the Vol Walk and band march.

Season tickets and select individual game tickets are available at uttix.com.

CONTACT:

Charles Primm (865-974-5180, charles.primm@tennessee.edu)

Hap McSween, Chancellor’s Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, will present “Exploring the Asteroid Vesta: NASA’s Dawn Mission.”

The Science Forum is a weekly brown-bag lunch series that allows professors and area scientists to discuss their research with the general public in a conversational presentation.

The presentations begin at noon on Fridays in Room C-D of Thompson-Boling Arena. Attendees can bring lunch or purchase it at the arena. Each presentation is forty minutes long and is followed by a question-and-answer session. Science Forum presentations are free and open to the public.

“The Dawn spacecraft has completed its orbital investigation of asteroid Vesta and is now enroute to asteroid Ceres,” McSween said. “These are the two most massive asteroids, and their properties provide an interesting view of the diversity of planetary building blocks.”

Dawn’s asteroid-mapping mission aims to shed light on the evolution of the solar system by studying these huge space rocks. Vesta is the solar system’s brightest asteroid, and Ceres is the largest and is considered to be a dwarf planet.

McSween is the co-investigator for NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft mission, the Mars Exploration Rovers and the Dawn spacecraft. He had an asteroid named for him by the International Astronomical Union, 5223 McSween.

McSween has been a UT faculty member for thirty-six years and has been name the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences’ best teacher seven times. UT awarded him the Alexander Prize, which recognizes excellence in teaching and research, and the College of Arts and Sciences College Marshal, the highest college honor bestowed upon a faculty member. He is also this year’s Southeastern Conference Professor of the Year.

Future Science Forums will feature:

• October 4: Stacy Clark, research forester with the US Forest Service, discussing “American Chestnut Restoration: Can We Bring Back the Mighty Giant?”

• October 11: Chad Duty, group leader of Deposition Science and Technology Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, discussing “3D Printing: The Next Generation of Manufacturing”

• October 25: Kasey Krouse, urban forester for the city of Knoxville, presenting “Knoxville Urban Forestry—Year One”

• November 1: Gerry Dinkins, curator of malacology and natural history at the McClung Museum, discussing “Rediscovery of the Nearly Extinct Alabama Lampmussel in the Emory River”

• November 8: Devin White, senior research scientist of geocomputation at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and assistant professor of anthropology, discussing “Archaeological Discoveries from Space”

• November 15: Phil Colclough, director of animal collections and conservation at Knoxville Zoological Gardens, discussing “Eastern Hellbender Conservation and the New Role of Zoos”

• November 22: Nathan Schmidt, assistant professor of microbiology, discussing “Infection with the Malaria Parasite: Malaria Is Only Half the Problem”

The Science Forum is sponsored by the UT Office of Research and Quest, an initiative to raise awareness of UT’s research, scholarship, and creative activity. For more information, visit the Science Forum website.

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C O N T A C T :

Amanda Womac (Amanda@HellbenderPress.org)

Mark Littmann (865-974-8156, littmann@utk.edu)

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

Jill Mikucki, assistant professor of microbiology, will present “Antarctica: Exploring Ecosystems Below Half a Mile of Ice,” on Friday, September 20.

The Science Forum is a weekly brown-bag lunch series that allows professors and area scientists to discuss their research with the general public in a conversational presentation.

The presentations begin at noon on Fridays in Room C-D of Thompson-Boling Arena. Attendees can bring lunch or purchase it at the arena. Each presentation is forty minutes long and is followed by a question-and-answer session. Science Forum presentations are free and open to the public.

“Ice covers 10 percent of continental landmass on the planet, making subglacial environments an important, yet poorly understood, component of the Earth system,” says Mikucki. “Subglacial aquatic environments serve as analogs for past global glaciation events.”

She focuses her research primarily on the interactions between microbes and their environment, and how the impact of microbial metabolism is detectable on an ecosystem scale.

Mikucki will discuss her research in Antarctica and highlight her experiences as part of the Willans Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) team, which collected water and sediment samples from a subglacial lake in January—an exciting first in Antarctic exploration.

Mikucki boasts numerous trips to Antarctica and plans to return in November to continue her research and exploration of the Antarctic subglacial aquatic system beneath Whillans Ice Stream in West Antarctica and the mysterious Blood Falls subglacial ecosystem in the McMurdo Dry Valleys.

Future Science Forums will feature a variety of topics:

• September 27: Hap McSween, Chancellor’s professor of earth and planetary sciences, presenting “Exploring the Asteroid Vesta: NASA’s Dawn Mission”
• October 4: Stacy Clark, research forester with U.S. Forest Service, discussing “American Chestnut Restoration: Can We Bring Back the Mighty Giant?”
• October 11: Chad Duty, leader of the Deposition Science and Technology Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, discussing “3D Printing: The Next Generation of Manufacturing”
• October 25: Kasey Krouse, urban forester for the city of Knoxville, presenting “Knoxville Urban Forestry—Year One”
• November 1: Gerry Dinkins, curator of malacology and natural history at the McClung Museum, discussing “Rediscovery of the Nearly Extinct Alabama Lampmussel in the Emory River”
• November 8: Devin White, senior research scientist of geocomputation at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and assistant professor of anthropology, discussing “Archaeological Discoveries from Space”
• November 15: Phil Colclough, director of animal collections and conservation at Knoxville Zoological Gardens, discussing “Eastern Hellbender Conservation and the New Role of Zoos”
• November 22: Nathan Schmidt, assistant professor of microbiology, discussing “Infection with the Malaria Parasite: Malaria Is Only Half the Problem”

The Science Forum is sponsored by the UT Office of Research and presented by Quest. For more information, visit the Science Forum website.

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C O N T A C T :

Amanda Womac (Amanda@HellbenderPress.org)

Mark Littmann (865-974-8156, littmann@utk.edu)

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

Abraham Verghese has been senior associate chair and professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine since 2007. He is also the author of a novel and two nonfiction books, including My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story (1995) about his experience with AIDS patients in Tennessee, which was selected by TIME magazine as one of the five “best Books of the Year.”

Verghese’s lecture, “The Search for Meaning in a Medical Life,” is free and open to the public. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Cox Auditorium in the Alumni Memorial Building. A book signing will follow the lecture, and Verghese’s books will be sold on site.

Born to Indian parents teaching in Ethiopia, Verghese grew up near Addis Ababa and began his medical training there. When the Ethiopian emperor was deposed, Verghese and his parents fled to the United States, where Verghese worked as an orderly before returning to complete his medical education at Madras Medical College in India.

After graduating, he returned to the United States, where he was a medical resident at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City from 1980 to 1983. He moved to the Northeast for a fellowship at Boston University School of Medicine, working at Boston City Hospital for two years as the AIDS epidemic was beginning.

Returning to ETSU as an assistant professor of medicine, he began treating AIDS among the area’s rural population.

“He cared for a seemingly unending line of young AIDS patients in an era when little could be done other than help them through their premature and painful deaths. Long before retrovirals, this was often the most a physician could do and it taught (him) the subtle difference between healing and curing,” says his website.

After chronicling his experiences, Verghese became interested in writing and attended the Iowa Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree. His writing has appeared in publications including the New Yorker, Texas Monthly, the Atlantic, the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, Granta, Forbes.com, and the Wall Street Journal.

Verghese also practiced medicine at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center in El Paso, Texas, and was the founding director of the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio.

He has been at Stanford since 2007.

The annual Anne Mayhew Distinguished Honors Lecture Series is presented by the Chancellor’s Honors Program. The lecture series recognizes noted economic historian Anne Mayhew, who served at UT as chair of the Department of Economics, dean of the Graduate School, and vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Co-sponsors for this lecture include the UT College of Arts and Sciences, UT Medical Center, Friends of the Knox County Public Library, UT College of Social Work, Jerry Askew, UT College of Nursing, and Knox County Public Library.

For more information about the Chancellor’s Honors Program, visit the website.

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C O N T A C T :

Sylvia Turner (865-974-2479, sturne31@utk.edu)

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

“Letters to the Earth: Songs and Poems of Conservation” will feature Jesse Graves, Marilyn Kallet, Jeff Daniel Marion, Linda Parsons Marion, R. B. Morris, and Arthur Smith. They are all either UT faculty, staff, or alumni.

The 3:00 p.m. event, sponsored by Ijams and the City of Knoxville, is a prelude to the Centennial Conservation Expo at Chilhowee Park in October.

“Our poems forge connections among ourselves and others, between us and the environment that we seek to conserve,” said Kallet, director of the UT Creative Writing Program. “All share in caring for the natural world that is endangered. Poetry is a way of gardening, giving a chance to protect the green shoots that peek through the rubble.”

Ijams is located at 2915 Island Home Avenue in South Knoxville.

Free and open to the public, the panel discussion begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Toyota Auditorium at Baker Center.

The panel discussion will be led by Glenn Reynolds, law professor and creator of Instapundit.com. He will provide an overview of the Fourth Amendment and then launch into the discussion about privacy and transparency.

Other panelists are:

• Suzi Allard, associate professor of information sciences, who will discuss the impact on her field of information science.
• Michael W. Berry, professor of electrical engineering and computer science and director of the Center for Intelligent Systems and Machine Learning, who will discuss data mining.
• Brandon Prins, professor of political science, who will discuss these issues from a global and national security perspective.

From 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., the Baker Center Ambassadors will take a copy of the Constitution to the Pedestrian Walkway and invite students to sign it. They also will have a copy in the center’s rotunda that students can sign from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. They will be handing out pocket-size copies of the Constitution.

C O N T A C T :

Nissa Dahlin-Brown (865-974-8681, nissa@utk.edu)