Recently, the discoveries of prehistoric rock art have become more common. With these discoveries comes a single giant one—all these drawing and engravings map the prehistoric peoples’ cosmological world.

The research led by Simek, president emeritus of the UT system and a distinguished professor of science, is published in this month’s edition of the journal Antiquity. The paper is co-authored by Nick Herrmann of Mississippi State University, Alan Cressler of the US Geological Survey, and Sarah Sherwood of The University of the South.

This art features a bird holding ceremonial maces and a ceremonial monolithic axe transforming into a human face. Photo Credit, Jan Simek, Alan Cressler, Nicholas Herrmann and Sarah Sherwood/Antiquity Publications Ltd.

The researchers proposed that rock art changed the natural landscape to reflect a three-dimensional universe central to the religion of the prehistoric Mississippian period.

“Our findings provide a window into what Native American societies were like beginning more than 6,000 years ago,” said Simek. “They tell us that the prehistoric peoples in the Cumberland Plateau, a section of the Appalachian Mountains, used the rather distinctive upland environment to map their conceptual universe onto the natural world in which they lived.”

Simek and his team analyzed forty-four open-air art sites where the art is exposed to light and fifty cave art sites in the Cumberland Plateau using nondestructive, high-tech tools such as a high-resolution laser scanner. Through analysis of the depictions, colors, and spatial organization, they found that the sites mimic the Southeastern native people’s cosmological principles.

“The cosmological divisions of the universe were mapped onto the physical landscape using the relief of the Cumberland Plateau as a topographic canvas,” said Simek.

The “upper world” included celestial bodies and weather forces personified in mythic characters that exerted influences on the human situation. Mostly open-air art sites located in high elevations touched by the sun and stars feature these images. Many of the images are drawn in the color red, which was associated with life.

The “middle world” represented the natural world. A mixture of open-air and cave art sites hug the middle of the plateau and feature images of people, plants, and animals of mostly secular character.  

The “lower world” was characterized by darkness and danger, and was associated with death, transformation and renewal. The art sites, predominantly found in caves, feature otherworldly characters, supernatural serpents and dogs that accompanied dead humans on the path of souls. The inclusion of creatures such as birds and fish that could cross the three layers represents the belief that the boundaries were permeable. Many of these images are depicted in the color black, which was associated with death.

“This layered universe was a stage for a variety of actors that included heroes, monsters and creatures that could cross between the levels,” Simek said.

Interestingly, weapons are rarely featured in any of the art sites.

Simek said the scale of the rendering is most impressive, noting the Cumberland Plateau was a sacred setting, spanning hundreds of miles, in which individual sites were only parts of a greater conceptual whole.

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C O N T A C T:

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

Read more at Discovery News.

In its second year of existence, the SEC Professor of the Year Award goes to one SEC faculty member whose record in research and scholarship places him or her among the elite in higher education.

McSween, who has won a number of national and international awards, is arguably the world’s foremost expert on the composition of Mars and has long been funded by NASA for research on meteorites. His influence is so renowned that he even has an asteroid – 5223 McSween – named in his honor by the International Astronomical Union.

To read the article, visit the SEC website.

Ellingson is one of no more than ten graduate students worldwide who received the award this year. It is given in recognition of the quality and significance of her research in integrating supercomputing technologies with biopharmaceutical research.

Ellingson has been successful in developing efficient programs for screening chemicals for their potential to interact with proteins.  Due to the her program’s association with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, she is able to use the Kraken, Jaguar, and Titan supercomputers to bridge supercomputing and biological research with particular importance in drug discovery and chemical/system biology.

The award comes with a travel fellowship to the national American Chemical Society meeting in Indianapolis this fall, a recognition ceremony during the meeting, and a free license of a well-known industrial computational chemistry program.

Ellingson’s work is performed in the UT/ORNL Center for Molecular Biophysics, under the supervision of Jerome Baudry, assistant professor in the Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology department , and Genome Science and Technology faculty in collaboration with Jeremy Smith, UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Molecular Biophysics. Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy.

Ellingson has also recently won the 2013 Science Alliance award and, among many travel fellowships, the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing and Supercomputing Broader Engagement awards several years in a row. She has also co-authored many peer-reviewed publications with her advisor and collaborators.

The award is sponsored by the society’s Computers in Chemistry division in association with the Canadian scientific software company Chemical Computing Group. For more information, visit the ACS website.

UT Ambassadors held a surprise party for Robert “Taylor” Thomas, center, when he gave his 300th campus tour.

He knows that the only two graves on UT’s campus belong to dogs and that the most popular class on campus is the History of Rock n’ Roll.

Robert “Taylor” Thomas knows dozens of fun facts about UT.

Thomas, who graduates from the College of Arts and Sciences today with a degree in philosophy, has learned many things at UT. But as a UT Ambassador, he has taught many things as well.

UT Ambassadors are the student liaisons and tour guides for prospective students and their parents who are visiting campus.

Thomas made sure his tours were filled with useful—and quirky—information about UT.

“The Torchbearer’s torch went out once when LSU fans put a jack-o-lantern on it. Another time its arm fell off. Also, in 1974, a public streak was held on Cumberland Avenue after Walter Cronkite named Knoxville the ‘Streaking Capital of the World.’ That’s why we call Cumberland ‘The Strip.’ Those are just some of my favorites,” Thomas said.

Thomas, of Lexington, Tennessee, has given more than 300 campus tours, setting what is believed to be a nationwide record for campus tours.

“My job meant everything to me. Getting on that bus and seeing people’s faces—it was a fun time. I was here to get an education, but being a student ambassador was a very special part of my college experience.”

Thomas applied to be a UT Ambassador at the end of his freshman year. After a year of being an Ambassador, he applied for a leadership position.

“I asked him how he would gain the respect of upperclassmen who had been in the program longer,” said Laura Stansell, assistant director of admissions. “He paused, then said, ‘Well, I don’t speak up a lot, so I like to think that when I do, people listen.’ How right he was!”

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C O N T A C T :

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

She apprenticed in a middle school classroom “and I loved it,” she said. “I was sold after that.”

Eakes, of Knoxville, and seven other students will graduate this month as part of VolsTeach’s inaugural class. She already has been hired as a teacher at Karns Middle School for the fall.

VolsTeach graduates. Pictured, from left to right in the front row: Kelsey Ford, Maria Owens, Tara Phillips, Sarah Eakes, and Melinda Hopkins. Back Row, from left to right: Scott Bailey, Joel Smith, and Taylor Brown.

Through VolsTeach, she said, “I never changed my major, which was nice. I just changed my career.”

VolsTeach prepares math, science, and engineering majors to become teachers in Tennessee’s high-need middle and high schools. It has been recognized statewide for helping to solve one of the state’s most vital education problems—a shortage of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers in middle and high schools.

VolsTeach, which began in fall 2010, currently has 133 students. Students are able to earn a degree in their discipline and a secondary education teaching license within four years and at no extra cost. Students take VolsTeach as a minor. Their degree provides them with two career paths. The first cohort of students is a year ahead of the initially projected graduation schedule.

The program is a collaboration between the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. It replicates UTeach, a successful model developed by the University of Texas at Austin.

“We’re building that pipeline of students who earn their undergraduate degrees in their content areas and their teaching licensure to fill those critical teaching areas of chemistry, physics, math, and biology,” said Susan Newsom, assistant director of VolsTeach.

For Scott Bailey, a microbiology major from Maynardville, Tennessee, being part of the program has helped him develop his passion.

“I love teaching,” he said. “All the master teachers and instructors have been super thoughtful and helpful about how to make myself a better person and a better teacher.”

Bailey, who will graduate in December, said VolsTeach has given him an added benefit.

“The program has allowed me to meet a whole lot of people and make really close friends,” he said.

To learn more about VolsTeach, visit the program’s website.

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CONTACT:

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

UT will award two honorary degrees and welcome a host of accomplished speakers at this spring’s commencement ceremonies, which begin May 8.

Honorary degrees will be awarded to renowned journalist John Seigenthaler at the College of Law commencement and to opera singer Mary Costa, known as the voice of Sleeping Beauty, at the College of Arts and Sciences commencement. Read more about the recipients in Tennessee Today.

More than 3,730 undergraduate and graduate students will receive degrees at thirteen college ceremonies this spring.

Graduates and their guests can park free in university student parking areas throughout the campus, but should avoid parking in staff lots.

Commencement ceremonies will be webcast.

Webcast links are included below. For information about parking and other details, visit the commencement website.

Below is a list of the commencement ceremonies and speakers. All events take place in Thompson-Boling Arena unless otherwise specified:

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8

• 8:30 a.m.—College of Nursing. The speaker is Julie Worley, a nursing doctoral student who has a private psychiatry practice. She teaches online at Rush University in Chicago and will be a full-time assistant professor and researcher at Rush after graduation. View the webcast here.

• 11:30 a.m.—College of Engineering. Alumnus Dwight Hutchins, the global managing director of Accenture’s Health and Public Service Strategy practice, will speak. View the webcast here.

• 3:30 p.m.—College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. Missy Kane, a former Olympian, a Pan American Games medalist, and a former UT track coach, will speak. She is now a fitness promotion coordinator for Covenant Health. View the webcast here.

THURSDAY, MAY 9

• 8:30 a.m.—College of Communication and Information. The speaker is alumna Monica Langley, an author and senior special writer for The Wall Street Journal. View the webcast here.

• 11 a.m. —Audiology and Speech Pathology. Cox Auditorium in Alumni Memorial Building

• 1:00 p.m.—College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Alumnus Donnie Smith, president and chief executive officer of Tyson Food, will speak. View the webcast here.

• 4:30 p.m.—Graduate Hooding. Amanda Sanford, fifth-year doctoral candidate in political science and president of the Graduate Student Senate, will speak. The Graduate School expects about 300 master’s students and 100 doctoral students to take part in the ceremony. View the webcast here.

FRIDAY, MAY 10

• 9:00 a.m.—College of Arts and Sciences. Costa will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane and Musical Letters and speak briefly. The speaker is alumna Margaret Scobey, former US Ambassador to Egypt and longtime diplomat. She is now deputy commandant, international affairs advisor, Industrial College of the Armed Forces. View the webcast here.

• 2:00 p.m.—College of Business Administration. Mark A. Emkes, Tennessee Commissioner of Finance and Administration and retired chairman, chief executive officer and president of Bridgestone Americas Inc., will speak. View the webcast here.

• 5:00 p.m.—College of Law. Seigenthaler will receive an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree and speak briefly. US Sen. Lamar Alexander, who served as Tennessee’s governor, president of the University of Tennessee and US Secretary of Education, will speak. View the webcast here.

SATURDAY, MAY 11

• 10:00 a.m.—College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Patricia Sura, who completed her residency at the College of Veterinary Medicine and was an assistant professor of surgery for six years, will speak. Sura now practices at a veterinary hospital in Kentucky.

• 1:00 p.m.—College of Social Work. No guest speaker. View the webcast here.

• 5:00 p.m.—College of Architecture and Design Hooding Ceremony. The speaker is alumna Robin Klehr Avia, regional managing principal and chair of the board at Gensler, an internationally acclaimed design firm. View the webcast here.

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C O N T A C T :

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

McSween is a Chancellor’s Professor and distinguished professor of earth and planetary sciences.

The SEC Professor of the Year Award honors one SEC faculty member from the fourteen conference universities whose record in research, scholarship, and service places him or her among the elite in higher education.

“We are honored that Hap won this top award in our conference,” said Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek. “It is well deserved. He is a stellar representative of our university and what it means to be an extraordinary scientist, teacher, and researcher.”

McSween first won the university’s SEC Faculty Achievement Award, making him a finalist for the top award. He will be honored at the SEC Spring Banquet in Destin, Florida, in May and will receive a $20,000 honorarium.

“Hap is beloved as a truly wonderful human being whose interactions with others are characterized by kindness and generosity,” said Theresa Lee, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “He is the epitome of a servant leader and we are indebted to him for responding to calls for his leadership and service at critical times in his department, the college, and the university. He is passionately committed to the success of this institution. We are a better community because Hap McSween is among us.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoUTUr684I8

McSween is the world’s leading expert on the composition of Mars. He is co-investigator for NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft mission, the Mars Exploration Rovers and the Dawn spacecraft mission. He is a recipient of the National Academy of Sciences’ J. Lawrence Smith Medal for his pioneering studies of the parent planets of meteorites and his work on the geological history of Mars, and he is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In 1999, McSween led a team of researchers that discovered geologic evidence on a meteorite that water existed deep in Mars’ crust. He also has an asteroid named for him by the International Astronomical Union, 5223 McSween.

A UT faculty member for thirty-five years, McSween has been named the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences best teacher six 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.

The SEC Professor of the Year is selected by the SEC provosts. The award is part of several academic initiatives the Southeastern Conference has undertaken to encourage academic leadership and collaboration within the SEC.

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C O N T A C T :

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

Harry McSween (865-974-9805, mcsween@utk.edu)

Formichella is an authority on the music of Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846 – 1916) and will perform Tosti’s Italian salon music. Both she and the composer are from the same region – Gulianova, Italy. Formichella is nationally renowned in her country, and is currently a faculty member of the Conservatory L. D’Annunzio of Pescara, Italy. For more info, visit her website.

Formichella also will premiere a new work entitled Vorrei, written by assistant professor Brendan McConville, which he describes as “a re-setting of a Tosti work by the same name,” and “a modern homage to 19th century Italian salon music.”

Distinguished Professor Dan Simberloff, the Gore-Hunger Professor of Environmental Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a leading expert in invasive species, had the idea of starting an institute to study biological invasions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Loa2wly3rgY

A project completed by students during the High School Arts Academy.

The twelfth annual High School Arts Academy at UT gave eighty students from thirty East Tennessee schools an opportunity to study visual arts in a university setting last month.

Student participants enrolled in a workshop of their choice: ceramics, layered books, video, watercolor, photo/collage, printmaking, drawing, or improv design. All workshops were taught by School of Art professors.

In addition to the workshops, participants also viewed the current UT student exhibit in the Ewing Gallery, and at the end of the day, they visited the other workshops to see their peers’ creations.

Although spring break in several public school systems hindered attendance, Marcia Goldenstein, the academy’s organizer and a professor in the School of Art, considered this year’s academy a hit.

A student works on a water color portrait during the academy.

“The event was such a success,” Goldenstein said. “Many of high school teachers also came to the academy, and their comments about how valuable the UT High School Arts Academy is for their students means the world to us.”

Area high schools that participated in the 2013 UT High School Arts Academy included Anderson County High School, Clinton High School, and Oak Ridge High School in Anderson County; Heritage High School in Blount County; Elizabethton High School in Carter County; Chuckey-Doak High School, North Greene High School, and West Greene High School in Greene County; Morristown East High School in Hamblen County; Collegedale Academy in Hamilton County; Bearden High School, Carter High School, Central High School, Farragut High School, Gibbs High School, Halls High School, Hardin Valley Academy, L&N STEM Academy, Knoxville Catholic High School, Powell High School, Tennessee School for the Deaf, Webb School of Knoxville, and West High School in Knox County; Greenback High School and Lenoir City High School in Loudon County; Kings Academy and Sevier County High School in Sevier County; Sullivan Central High School in Sullivan County; Unicoi County High School in Unicoi County; and David Crockett High School in Washington County.

Five students have received 2013 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees.

The recipients are:

• Lauren Breza, a doctoral candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology, from Tallahassee, Florida. She is exploring how sustainable land use practices influence carbon emissions within the ecosystem. Breza received her undergraduate degree in ecology and evolutionary biology from UT.

• Madelyn Crawford, a senior graduating this spring with a degree in honors biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology, from Knoxville. Crawford plans to examine the effect of microbes that live in mammals’ guts on the function of the hosts’ immune systems. She will be enrolled in the immunology and molecular pathogenesis PhD program at Emory University.

• Rachel Forvargue, a doctoral candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology, from Harrisonburg, Virginia. Her research will inform policies and strategies for natural resource management for the marine protected areas on the Great Barrier Reef system. She received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the College of William and Mary.

• Kelly Rooker, a doctoral candidate in mathematics, from Fredericksburg, Virginia. She is using mathematical models to discover when humans started coupling and uncover previously unseen evolution in early humans. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology and mathematics from Bridgewater College.

• Hannah Woo, a doctoral candidate in environmental engineering, from San Francisco, California. She is investigating how plant material broken down by ocean bacteria can be used to make cheaper biofuel. She received her bachelor’s degree in molecular environmental biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Each will receive $30,000 over the next year along with a $10,500 cost-of-education allowance for tuition and fees and opportunities for international research and professional development.

Jeremy Blaschke, a graduate student in systematic biology; Brian Looney, a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology; Kathryn Massana, a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology; Emily Morin, a graduate student in mechanical, aerospace, and biomedical engineering; Quentin Read, a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology; Jordan Sawyer, a graduate student in mechanical, aerospace, and biomedical engineering; and Katlyn Stiles, a graduate student in anthropology, received honorable mentions.

The NSF’s fellowship program—the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind—aims to ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States. Past fellows include numerous Nobel Prize winners, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Google founder Sergey Brin, and Freakonomics co-author Steven Levitt.

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C O N T A C T:

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

Dean Theresa Lee presents the award to Jeffrey Kovac.

Chemistry Professor Jeffrey Kovac has been honored for his contributions to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education by serving as director of the Tennessee Governor’s Schools for Sciences and Engineering and the Tennessee Science Olympiad State Tournament.

Theresa Lee, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, recently presented Kovac with a plaque on behalf of the college.

Kovac directed the Governor’s Schools from 1994 to 2012. He headed up the Science Olympiad from 2008 to 2012.

“Jeff’s leadership of these programs has produced remarkable outcomes and touched many students,” Lee said. “At a time when improving STEM education has become both a state and national priority, Jeff has been a leader at both the college and university level, and through these two important initiatives for pre-college students.”

As director of the Governor’s School for the Sciences and Engineering, Kovac designed curriculum and activities for 100 to 150 of Tennessee’s best and brightest students each year. He recruited instructors and taught at least one seminar himself.

“His steadfast commitment to educational excellence, passionate advocacy for pre-collegiate education, skillful negotiation, and documentation of student success enabled the university to obtain nearly $4.5 million and contracts to sponsor the program and provided a high-quality academic educational experience for more than 2,000 talented Tennessee high school students,” Lee said.

Science Olympiad is a one-day event introduces about 1,000 middle and high school students to science and engineering through competitive events. As director, Kovac recruited and trained dozens of event coordinators and more than fifty student volunteers. He also took a leadership role on the event’s board of directors to try to increase statewide participation in the event.

Kovac has been at UT since 1976. He has a bachelor’s degree from Reed College, a doctorate from Yale University, and two years of postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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C O N T A C T :

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

She will be discussing some of the mission’s findings at the Science Forum on April 19.

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 weekly 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.

NASA has been studying Titan, Saturn’s largest satellite, since 2004. Although it is ten times farther from the sun than Earth and about 200 degrees Kelvin colder, Titan’s surface is very similar to Earth’s but composed of very different materials.

Pictures and data from Titan show windblown dunes covering about 20 percent of the moon’s surface. They are similar to sand dunes on Earth but are made of carbon-rich material.

Titan also has many drainage networks, similar to river systems on Earth. Instead of being formed by water, they were formed by liquid hydrocarbon.

Burr studies data after it is released by NASA. She said she is excited about the findings.

“There’s another planetary body—another world—that looks amazingly like Earth, but formed in very different materials,” she said. “It’s really fascinating.”

The last Science Forum presentation of the semester will be April 26 and will feature Joan Markel, curator of Civil War exhibits at the McClung Museum, presenting “Digging into Our Civil War Past.”

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C O N T A C T :

Holly Gary (865-974-2225, hgary@utk.edu)

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu)

• New program will expand UT department’s focus in international human rights
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