Outreach Programs
Science at Breakfast
Community leaders, business owners, entrepreneurs, patent lawyers and media reps learn about the University of Utah's hottest research topics during the Science at Breakfast lecture series. Offered four times during the academic year, this lecture series features the latest research developments by College of Science faculty.
The breakfast discussions are held at Little America Hotel, 500 South Main St., Salt Lake City, at 7:30 a.m. By invitation. The College of Science Advisory Board sponsors the lecture series.
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The first presentation was held Wed, Sept. 12. This event featured new College of Science Dean, Pierre V. Sokolsky, professor of physics at the University of Utah. His lecture title was "The College of Science and You: Starting a New Path Together."
The College of Science and its four nationally ranked departments -- biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics -- are poised to make significant advances in scientific research, facilities, and student education at the University of Utah.
"My goal is to reach out to you and other influential members of our community to show you that you can be active participants in the scientific process. Directly involving the public and a variety of support institutions is a way of both teaching science and allowing the public and the business community to have ownership in the scientific process," says Sokolsky.
NOTE: THIS PRESENTATION CAN BE VIEWED ONLINE AND/OR DOWNLOADED HERE: Sokolsky/Sept. 12.
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The second presentation was held Wed, November 7. This event introduced new Associate Professor of Physics John Lupton. His topic was "Plastic Electronics: From Single Molecules to New Devices."
Electronic materials that are based on plastics, rather than metals, promise a range of cheap, environmentally benign, and mechanically flexible devices such as video displays and solar cells. However, plastics are inherently disordered materials typically made up of long, floppy chains of carbon atoms. Like a plate of spaghetti, every chain has a slightly different length and shape. In a real device, the electronic properties of each chain – such as the color of light generated by it – will vary slightly from chain to chain, thereby affecting its performance.
NOTE: THIS PRESENTATION CAN BE VIEWED ONLINE AND/OR DOWNLOADED HERE: Lupton/Nov. 7.
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The third presentation was held Wed, January 16. This event featured Professor of Biology Kent G. Golic. His topic was "Studying Fruit Flies to Understand Cancer and Aging."
The common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has a distinguished history of contributions to genetic research. Because the fly shares many genes in common with humans, including a large fraction of genes involved in genetic diseases, it has become a favorite experimental organism to help us understand human biology. The biological mechanism of cancer and aging are two key areas of research.
NOTE: THIS PRESENTATION CAN BE VIEWED ONLINE AND/OR DOWNLOADED HERE: Golic/Jan. 16.
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The fourth presentation will be held Wed, March 12, 2008. This event will showcase the work of Mathematics Professor Fred Adler. His lecture title is "Mathematics: A Cure for the Common Cold?"
Rhinoviruses, the most common cause of the common cold, are arguably the most successful disease on earth. People spend about one year of their lives partially incapacitated by tiny viruses armed with only 10 genes.
Mathematical biologists take information about how things work and try to explain what we observe. Understanding these mild infections may also help to understand what goes wrong in deadly emerging diseases like avian influenza and SARS.
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For more information contact James DeGooyer, (801) 581-6958 at the University of Utah College of Science.