Topic: science
Professor Bierzychudek studies natural selection’s effect on desert flowers
6 November 2007
- Advancing Knowledge
(Portland, Ore.)—Twenty years after beginning a field study in the Mojave Desert, evolutionary biologist Paulette Bierzychudek has published a report that reconsiders the shifting balance theory, which has influenced scientists and researchers for decades. Bierzchudek, William Swindells Sr. Professor of Natural Sciences, and Douglas Schemske of Michigan State University found that the dissemination of blue [...]
Bentley sees big potential in microscopic particles
29 October 2007
- Advancing Knowledge
(Portland, Ore.)—Anne Bentley, assistant professor of chemistry, received a $30,000 Faculty Start-up Award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation to fund her nanoparticle research. The microscopic fluorescent particles Bentley will study are similar to the materials used in television screens and have potential applications throughout the electronics industry Though tens of thousands of nanoparticles could [...]
Jens Mache receives grant to advance computer science education
18 October 2007
- Advancing Knowledge
(Portland, Ore.)—Jens Mache, associate professor of computer science, recently received an $85,355 grant from the National Science Foundation in order to explore how to bring the new field of wireless sensor networks into the undergraduate classroom. Until now, sensor network education has been primarily offered at the graduate or professional levels. Mache and his colleague [...]
Undergraduate discovers Swiffer-like adaptation in two unrelated spiders
10 October 2007
- Advancing Knowledge
(Portland, Ore.)—While working on an independent study project in a biology lab at Lewis & Clark College, Rebecca Duncan made a discovery that may someday find its way into kitchens and onto battlefields. Studying two groups of spiders that stick sand to themselves as a means of camouflage, Duncan discovered that they had developed the [...]
Confronting the science crisis with liberal arts education
10 October 2007
- Advancing Knowledge
(Portland, Ore.)—Concerns are growing in Congress, and among educators and scientists, that the United States is losing ground in the fields of science and technology. Recent studies have scrutinized the diminished government funding for scientific research and education systems that fail to inspire or prepare students for careers in science and [...]
Rogers summer researchers present findings
8 June 2007
- Advancing Knowledge
(Portland, Ore.)—Students at Lewis & Clark College are spending the summer conducting research in collaboration with faculty members as part of the John S. Rogers Science Research Program. Nearly 40 students will discuss their research in fields including physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics and computer science during a series of brown bag talks in June [...]