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)

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.

To read more about the research, visit the NIMBioS website.

To view an animation of the distribution, visit tiny.utk.edu/polities.

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)

In December 1946, Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart wrote “Tennessee Waltz” on the back of a large matchbox while returning to Nashville from a show in Texas. King and Stewart, upon arrival in Nashville, transferred their song from the matchbox to a sheet of music. The original sheet music of a song is known as a “lead sheet.”

The tune, made famous by singer Patti Page, would become one of Tennessee’s official state songs, be recorded by more than 500 musical artists, and sell more than 10 million copies. It has been cited as the most popular song in the history of country music.

Alexander presented the lead sheet to Haslam today before playing “Tennessee Waltz” on the piano for her and a gathering of the music center’s supporters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gMJxfnzUro

“The right home for the songwriters’ original manuscript of the state song that has become the most popular song in the history of country music is the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center at our state university,” Alexander said. “According to music historian Robert K. Oermann, finding this historic document is ‘like finding the Magna Carta of country music.’”

From left to right, Honey Alexander, Jimmy G. Cheek, Natalie Haslam and Lamar Alexander during the presentation of the original sheet music.

Oermann is an entertainment journalist, who has written seven books on country music. He is a columnist for MusicRow, an industry trade publication.

“We are thrilled that this unique piece of Tennessee’s legacy will now become part of the university’s history, said Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek. “We are grateful to Senator Alexander for this wonderful gift and know it will continue to inspire musicians who come to study and perform at the university.”

“It is so perfect because this is where country music was born in East Tennessee,” said Haslam. “To have this song that we all have loved for so long where it should be, and not locked in a closet somewhere, I’m thrilled to death. For people born in this area, it will make them so proud.”

In August the Alexanders, Ashley and Lew Conner, Denise and Steve Smith, and Colleen and Ted Welch purchased the lead sheet from Joyce Collins Ball. Ball and her sister, Darlene, were members of the Collins Sisters and Pee Wee King’s Golden West Cowboys entertainment troupe when the song was written.

King noted to his biographers that he and Redd Stewart had changed the bridge of their original “Tennessee Waltz” composition after a suggestion from their publisher. The manuscript given to UT bears the crossed-out words and penciled-in substitutions.

Alexander, a Maryville native, is former president of the University of Tennessee. He also is the only Tennessean to be popularly elected both governor and US senator. He served as governor from 1979 to 1987. He also previously served as US secretary of education. As senator, he is the ranking member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Lew Conner is a Nashville attorney. Ted Welch is a Nashville businessman and real estate investor. Steve Smith is chairman of the board of Haury & Smith Contractors Inc.

The Natalie L. Haslam Music Center opened in August and is home to the School of Music’s more than 350 students. Watch the video below to learn more about the building.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asU5jgCgzy8

To learn more about the UT School of Music, visit the website.

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CONTACTS:

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)

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

Joining in the ribbon cutting at today’s dedication were, from left to right: student Megan Brooker, Gov. Bill Haslam, Jim Haslam, Natalie Haslam, Jimmy G. Cheek, Sen. Lamar Alexander, Joe DiPietro, Theresa Lee, Jeff Pappas, Sandra Powell, Jim Powell and Margie Stephens.

Today Natalie L. Haslam, a philanthropist and ardent UT supporter, helped dedicate the new music building named in her honor—a state-of-the art addition to the campus that will showcase UT’s talented musicians and world-class faculty.

Haslam and her husband, Jim Haslam, joined Governor Bill Haslam, UT Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek, UT President Joe DiPietro, US Senator Lamar Alexander, other state and local officials, and alumni to celebrate the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, the new home of the UT School of Music.

“We are all amazed by this beautiful building,” said Natalie Haslam. “It’s truly incredible. It’s the answer to a long dream.”

Haslam is a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences and a music and arts enthusiast. She has served on numerous boards, including the Knoxville Symphony Society and the Knoxville Arts Council. She has been a member of the Tennessee Arts Commission and president of the Tennessee Presidents Trust.

In 2006 she, Jim Haslam, and the Haslam Family Foundation gave UT $32.5 million, $10 million of which was designated to the UT School of Music. The state of Tennessee allocated $30 million for the new music building.

“Our future is bright and it has been renewed with this building,” said Jeff Pappas, director of the School of Music. Thank you Mrs. Haslam. The spirit of this gift will live on through this building and students for generations to come.”

The celebration festivities included a concert held in the building’s Sandra G. Powell Recital Hall on Thursday. The concert was dedicated to the memory of Roger Stephens, the former School of Music director who provided the vision for the building but passed away soon after construction began.

The music center, which opened in August, represents the first time all School of Music programs, faculty, and staff are under one roof. The $40-million building replaces a facility that was constructed in 1964 to accommodate 150 students. The School of Music, housed in the College of Arts and Sciences, now serves more than 350 students.

“That’s why we are in the education business,” said Cheek.” “We are obligated to provide our students with the best faculty, staff, research opportunities and resources. This building will provide learning opportunities. It is the best building in the country.”

Construction on the Haslam Music Center project began in 2010. The four-floor, 123,000-square-foot facility houses eight technology-enhanced classrooms; fifty-six practice rooms; fifty-seven performance studios/academic offices; an organ studio; the 412-seat Sandra G. Powell Recital Hall; the George F. DeVine Music Library; a recording/mixing lab; computer, electronic music, and piano labs; and an academic tutoring center.

The building is energy efficient and is designed to reduce energy consumption. It also conserves water use through underground cisterns that collect and store rainwater used to irrigate the site’s plants and lawns.

The materials used in the building’s construction will allow it to be considered for LEED Silver certification from the US Green Building Council.

The School of Music received All-Steinway distinction this fall—an international mark of music excellence signaling that at least 90 percent of an institution’s pianos are Steinway-designed. The school recently completed the initiative to raise more than $3.5 million to purchase sixty-eight new Steinway & Sons pianos to either replace or add to its existing inventory.

Associated Music Center Architects, a joint venture of BarberMcMurry Architects and Blankenship and Partners, designed the music center and was responsible for the construction. Johnson and Galyon was the contractor.

The music center’s opening coincides with the opening of the John D. Tickle Engineering Building. They are among twelve classroom and research facilities on the Knoxville and Agriculture campuses that have been built or undergone major renovations in the past five years.

To learn more about the UT School of Music, visit the website or watch the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asU5jgCgzy8

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CONTACT:

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

“This partnership is a major opportunity for positive outcomes for both UT and Miller Energy Resources,” said UT Distinguished Scientist Robert D. Hatcher Jr. “The graduate fellow will have the opportunity to work closely with seasoned scientists at one of the premier oil and gas companies in Tennessee while conducting research that could be useful to Miller in its operations in Tennessee.”

The Miller Energy Fellowship is unique in terms of industrial support commonly provided by a fellowship. While the thesis research will be directed by Hatcher, Miller Energy’s geologic staff will be involved with the department and the student during the research process. Miller Energy will provide expertise in particular areas of geology where none currently exists at UT through frequent discussions with the student and faculty as the student progresses through the graduate program.

“We are delighted to support aspiring students in our community through this collaboration with UT,” said Scott Boruff, CEO of Miller Energy. “Our company has made significant advancements since Deloy Miller started drilling in Tennessee in 1967. Those advancements would not have been possible without research partnerships with world-class institutions such as UT. This partnership signifies our ongoing commitment to supporting innovation and higher education in Knoxville.”

The first recipient of the Miller Energy Fellowship is Paul Levader (Vade) Scruggs, a native of Morgan County, Tennessee, who is currently working on his master’s in geology. Scruggs grew up around the oil industry in the Cumberland Plateau. He became interested in pursuing a career in petroleum geology before he decided to major in geology at UT, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 2012. Scruggs will be working on a research project that deals with the geologic controls of ancient reefs in the rocks thousands of feet beneath the plateau.

“We are very grateful to Miller Energy Resources for their partnership in supporting a graduate fellowship,” said Theresa Lee, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Achieving our educational and research goals depends on our attracting and retaining the best faculty and recruiting highly qualified graduate students to support their work. Graduate fellowships like this one give the college a competitive advantage in graduate student recruitment.”

Miller Energy Resources is a publicly held company with long-term exploration and production activities in the heart of Tennessee’s Appalachian Basin and in the Cook Inlet area of southeastern Alaska. The company was founded by Deloy Miller of Oneida, Tennessee, who continues to serve as executive chairman of the board of directors and plays an active role in company operations.

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CONTACTS:

Derek Gradwell, senior vice president, Miller Energy Resources Inc. (949-259-4995, info@millerenergyresources.com)

Tiffany Carpenter, assistant vice president of communications, UT Foundation (865-974-1476, tcarpenter@utfi.org)

Nussbaum, the Ernest Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, will present “The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear.” Her talk will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the University Center ballroom, Room 329. Following her presentation there will be a brief reception.

Nussbaum is an American philosopher and political theorist with a particular interest in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, political philosophy, feminism, and ethics, including animal rights. She holds appointments in the University of Chicago’s philosophy department and law school as well as associate appointments in classics, divinity, and political science.

Nussbaum previously taught at Harvard, Brown, and Oxford Universities. She has received honorary degrees from more than forty colleges and universities in the US, Canada, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

“There is hardly anyone today who would not rank Martha Nussbaum as one of America’s leading intellectuals. She is a model for all of us on what it means to participate in society in a measured and intelligent way,” said Tom Heffernan, Kenneth Curry Professor in the Humanities and director of the UT Humanities Center. “Her work on feminism and the situation of women in nonwestern countries is some of the most trenchant and influential commentary being written today.”

Heffernan said Nussbaum is invited to speak all over the world, so arranging her visit is a coup for UT.

“Her acceptance of our invitation—given the complexity of her schedule and the dozens of requests she receives—will extend the visibility of UT and the UT Humanities Center,” he said.

Nussbaum has served as a research advisor at the World Institute for Development Economics Research in Helsinki and as a part of the United Nations University. She has published nineteen books and almost 400 essays. She is currently working on her twentieth book, to be titled Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice.

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

• Monday, September 30—Edward Hirsch, poet, author, and president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He will talk about applying for a Guggenheim Fellowship and also give a poetry reading. 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.

Lecture, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., John D. Tickle Engineering Building, Room 403; poetry reading, 7:00 p.m., Hodges Library Lindsay Young Auditorium.

• 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, visit the Humanities Center website.

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C O N T A C T :

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

The

To read the full article, visit The Chattanoogan.

Called 3552 Don Quixote, the body is the third largest near-Earth object—mostly rocky bodies, or asteroids, that orbit the Sun in the vicinity of Earth. About 5 percent of near-Earth objects are thought to be “dead” comets that have shed all the water and carbon dioxide in the form of ice that give them their coma—a cloud surrounding the comet nucleus—and tail.

This image displays Don Quixote’s orbit.

The team found that Don Quixote is neither. It is, in fact, an active comet, thus likely containing water ice and not just rocks. The finding will be presented at the European Planetary Science Congress 2013 in London today, Sept. 10. The discovery could hold implications for the origin of water on Earth.

“Don Quixote has always been recognized as an oddball,” said Emery. “Its orbit brings it close to Earth, but also takes it way out past Jupiter. Such a vast orbit is similar to a comet’s, not an asteroid’s, which tend to be more circular—so people thought it was one that had shed all its ice deposits.”

Using the Spitzer Space Telescope operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology under contract with NASA, the team—led by Michael Mommert of Northern Arizona University—reexamined images of Don Quixote from 2009 when it was in the part of its orbit closest to the Sun, and found it had a coma and a faint tail.

Emery also reexamined images from 2004, when it was at its farthest distance from the sun, and determined that the surface is composed of silicate dust, which is similar to comet dust. He also determined that Don Quixote did not have a coma or tail at this distance, which is common for comets because they need the sun’s radiation to form the coma and the sun’s charged particles to form the tail. The researchers also confirmed Don Quixote’s size and the low, comet-like reflectivity of its surface.

“The power of the Spitzer telescope allowed us to spot the coma and tail, which was not possible using optical telescopes on the ground,” said Emery. “We now think this body contains a lot of ice, including carbon dioxide and/or carbon monoxide ice, rather than just being rocky.”

This discovery implies that carbon dioxide and water ice might be present within other near-Earth asteroids, as well. It also may have implications for the origins of water on Earth as comets may be the source of at least some of it, and the amount on Don Quixote represents about 100 billion tons of water—roughly the same amount that can be found in Lake Tahoe.

The project was funded by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope project and the German Research Foundation. Co-authors are Joseph Hora and Howard Smith, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Alan Harris, German Aerospace Center; William Reach, Universities Space Research Association; Cristina Thomas, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; Michael Mueller, Space Research Organization Netherlands ; Dale Cruikshank, NASA Ames Research Center; David Trilling, Northern Arizona University; and Marco Delbo’, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur.

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C O N T A C T :

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

From left: Deborah Welsh, professor and head of the Department of Psychology; Theresa Lee, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; actress Valisia LeKae; and Calvin MacLean, head of the Department of Theatre and artistic director for the Clarence Brown Theatre.

An award-winning Broadway actress who has starred in numerous roles including her current portrayal of Diana Ross in Motown: The Musical, has received UT’s Accomplished Alumni Award.

University officials honored Valisia LeKae on Friday during the Clarence Brown Theatre season opening celebration at the Orangery.

The Accomplished Alumni Award recognizes notable alumni for their success and distinction within their field. A variety of alumni have been featured through the program, including CEOs of major corporations, Olympians, authors, artists, musicians, US ambassadors, and civic leaders.

LeKae, a 2001 psychology graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences, received a nomination for the 2013 Tony Award for best actress in a leading role for her portrayal of Diana Ross. She’s also garnered other honors for Motown, including a Theatre World Award and nominations from the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle. LeKae previously received a 2010 Joseph Jefferson Award in addition to Black Theatre Alliance and Kevin Line Award nominations.

“As one of our graduates, Valisia’s degree in arts and sciences prepared her with knowledge and skills to succeed in a variety of careers—not necessarily in an area related to her major in psychology,” said Theresa Lee, dean of the college and professor of psychology. “She is a prominent example of how an arts and sciences degree prepares graduates to pursue dreams, seize opportunities, and follow unanticipated career paths to success. We congratulate Valisia on her extraordinary accomplishments so early in her career.”

A native of Memphis, LeKae has appeared in Broadway productions such as The Book of Mormon, The Threepenny Opera, 110 in the Shade, and Ragtime.

Other regional credits include Caroline, or Change; Dreamgirls; Big River; Godspell; and Little Shop of Horrors.

LeKae was featured in the Live at the Lincoln Center production of Camelot, which aired on PBS. She has toured the country in All Shook Up and Mamma Mia! Her television credits include One Life to Live, The 60th Annual Tony Awards, and The View.

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PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Deborah Welsh, professor and head of the Department of Psychology; Theresa Lee, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; actress Valisia LeKae, and Calvin MacLean, head of the Department of Theatre and artistic director for the Clarence Brown Theatre.

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CONTACT:

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)

Kate Jones, associate professor of physics and astronomy, will talk about “Star Dust and Atom Smashers.” She will explain how the atomic nucleus—despite being less than a thousandth of the size of an atom—leaves its fingerprints on the chemical composition of the solar system.

Now in its twenty-fourth season, the Pregame Showcase—presented 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 begin at 10:21 a.m. in the Carolyn P. Brown University Center Ballroom (Room 213).

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

“The nuclear and the astronomical worlds are vastly different, yet their interactions govern how stars burn and finally die,” Jones said. “Nuclear fusion powers stars and keeps them from imploding under the gravitational forces of their colossal mass. When this fusion process ends, the star dies in a cataclysmic explosion.”

Concerned about the gap between a 1988 text and current research in the field, Jones revised her introductory nuclear physics course so her students could supplement the text by investigating and sharing current ideas and research in the field of nuclear physics. Jones has published more than seventy refereed articles and holds a doctorate in experimental nuclear physics from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom.

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

September 28—”Anthropology as a Tool for Improving the Human Condition.” Tricia Redeker Hepner, associate professor of anthropology and co-director of the college’s new Disasters, Displacement, and Human Rights Program, will explain how faculty and students are exploring the causes, contexts, and consequences of contemporary crises, from oil spills and refugee flows to mass grave excavations and postwar reconstruction.

October 5—”Tick Tock: Sleep Across the Lifespan and the Role of the Internal Clock.” Theresa Lee, psychology professor and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, 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 for 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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C O N T A C T :

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

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

The probability of contamination of diesel fuel is increasing as biodiesel becomes more popular and as distribution and supply systems use the same facilities to store and transport the two types of fuels.

A professor and student team at UT has developed a quick and easy-to-use sensor that can detect trace amounts of biodiesel contamination in diesel.

The work of chemistry professor Ziling (Ben) Xue and doctoral student Jonathan Fong has been published in the journal Chemical Communications.

“The ability to detect biodiesel at various concentrations in diesel is an important goal in several industries,” said Xue. “There is particular concern over biodiesel contamination in jet fuel, because at higher levels it can impact the thermal stability and freezing point of jet fuel leading to deposits in the fuel system or gelling of the fuel. These issues can result in jet engine operability problems and possible engine flameout.”

Xue and Fong tested several dyes and found that the dye Nile blue chloride, dissolved in alcohol, can be made into a thin film with high sensitivity toward biodiesel contamination in jet fuel. They tested small strips of the sensor and found it could successfully detect amounts of biodiesel contaminant in diesel as low as 0.5 parts per million—ten times below the allowable limit of 5 ppm in the US—in less than thirty minutes.

With diesel, because it does not displace alcohol in the dye, the sensor remains blue. However, biodiesel replaces the alcohol, changing the sensor color to pink. This change can be seen with the naked eye.

“Right now, there is a dire need for quick, easy, and direct detection of biodiesel in diesel and biodiesel-diesel blends to ensure safe and efficient-performing fuels,” said Fong. “The sensors we developed are intrinsically small, easy to use, inexpensive, and can be mass produced for disposable applications.”

The researchers say the sensor can be deployed in a portable reader for use in the field. The sensor can also be used for drivers delivering biodiesel-diesels to gas stations to quickly verify that the blends are accurate.

They are working with the UT Research Foundation to find partners to commercialize the technology.

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C O N T A C T :

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