April 12, 2002 |
VOL. 18, NO. 31 |
| Calendar |
| Exhibits |
| FYItems |
| Job Ops |
"Look at this,” said LSU scientist Roy Dokka, displaying a photograph of a National Geodetic Survey marker near Cocodrie. “This marker is fixed to the top of a long steel rod that was driven down about 100 feet into layers of sediment that were deposited thousands of years ago by the Mississippi River. The marker was about 10 inches underground when it was set in 1986. This marker is now six inches above ground. It’s not the marker that has moved. What has happened is that surface of the Earth has moved down due to natural compaction of the younger sediments that lie near the surface.”
Dokka, who is director of LSU’s new Center for Geoinformatics and professor of civil and environmental engineering, said the sinking of Louisiana’s coastal areas isn’t just an intriguing geological phenomenon. It has practical and sometimes serious consequences.
This compaction has made the system of benchmarks in the state, which surveyors use as known points of reference to calculate other points, unreliable. This is particularly critical when it comes to elevation, Dokka said, because levees, roads and evacuation routes rely on accurate elevations in order to estimate when, or if, people in a certain area should evacuate because of storm-related flood waters. Homeowners, businesses and insurance companies rely on these benchmarks also, to determine whether they are building in a flood zone.
The uncertainty is about to change. Dokka and Clifford Mugnier, also of the Center for Geoinformatics, have begun the installation of a network of global positioning system receiving stations that will cover the entire state and make determining the position and elevation of any location in the state accurate to within an inch. This network uses the 27 radio beacons operated by the U.S. Department of Defense that orbit above the Earth at about 12,600 miles. Working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, of which the NGS is a subdivision, and the Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, seven of approximately 25 proposed observation stations have already been established or are under construction – one at LSU, one at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, one at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, one at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium complex in Cocodrie, one at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, one at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux and one at Boothville-Venice High School in Plaquemines Parish. Dokka said he hopes to have the rest up by the end of the year. The NGS has contributed $800,000 to the project and the Corps of Engineers has contributed another $700,000.
The Louisiana Spatial Reference Center, or LSRC as it will be called, will be the most sophisticated and comprehensive such system anywhere in the world, Dokka said. Using global positioning satellites, the exact position of each station will be monitored 24 hours a day. Information from the stations is sent to a computer at LSU where the data is validated, then forwarded to NGS computers, where it is posted on the Internet. Surveyors, geographic information system professionals, the energy industry, the military and anyone who has an interest can access the information.
Among the benefits of LSRC will be the potential for precision farming, which means fewer nutrients from fertilizer runoff going into the Gulf, contributing to the fluctuating area of oxygen-depleted water known as the Dead Zone. Using precision farming methods, a farmer will be able to determine the fertilizer needs of not only every field, but areas within fields, with a high degree of accuracy. A tractor linked to LSRC will be able to apply exactly the amount of fertilizer the soil needs, vastly diminishing the amount of excess fertilizer that can be washed into the Gulf.
LSRC will also permit accurate mapping of where and how fast the Louisiana coastline is sinking into the Gulf. As the silt and clay that comprises most of the soil of southern Louisiana compacts due to its own weight, squeezing out the water, some 35 square miles per year become submerged. “That’s about two football fields per hour!” said Dokka. This land loss does not occur strictly at the shoreline but at many places in the coastal zone, especially marshes. If coastal restoration efforts are to be successful, Dokka said, areas of the coast that are sinking need to be identified and the rate of sinking must measured. Sinking rates will help in the planning process for future restoration and for monitoring the effectiveness of completed projects, he said. To see a sequence of projected land-loss images, go to http://www.lwrri.lsu.edu/cia/html/sefall.html.
 |
| Gerald Kennedy |
Still in the midst of his sabbatical on a Guggenheim fellowship, LSU Professor of English J. Gerald Kennedy garnered more honors recently, receiving an invitation from the State Department to lecture in Italy at the University of Verona this April and a Mellon Fellowship, which would allow him to conduct research this summer at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas.
“The invitation to Italy is very flattering,” Kennedy said. “To be representing your country speaking to a foreign audience is quite an honor. And I’m still amazed by (the Guggenheim fellowship). The chances of getting one of these are pretty difficult. Had I realized just how few of these were awarded in my field, I might never have applied.”
While his itinerary for the trip to Italy has yet to be finalized, Kennedy’s talk will focus on three tales written by Edgar Allan Poe during the election campaigns of 1844 - “The Oblong Box,” “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains” and “Words With a Mummy.” Together these stories hinge on the question of the annexation of Texas, the extension of slavery to the southwest and eventually America’s Manifest Dynasty to occupy the entire continent. Each one, Kennedy said, is about a dead body, which becomes either an image of national destiny or a mirror of national fate.
As for his research on the Mellon Fellowship, Kennedy will be doing work for his book - tentatively titled Inventing America’s Narrative: Literary Nationalism in the Age of Poe. Thanks to the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, Kennedy will have access to its chronological index of 19th century works, which will make it possible for him to obtain materials that he would not have been able to find otherwise.
While on his sabbatical, Kennedy said he has been taking research trips, doing work at the Library of Congress and becoming familiar with writers he had read but not studied in depth. He terms it a “personal seminar.”
In addition to his works on Poe, Kennedy has written numerous articles on Ernest Hemingway, Walker Percy, F. Scott Fitzgerald and the French critic Roland Barthes. He also published the first biography of William Darby, frontier traveler and man of letters.
Kennedy has also received a number of awards and honors in addition to his most recent ones. In 1999 he was named LSU’s Distinguished Research Master; in 1993 he was given the LSU Foundation Distinguished Faculty Award; and in 1982 he was awarded the Pushcart Prize for his essay on Barthes’ final book, Camera Lucida. Kennedy also founded the LSU Summer in Paris Program and has made national television appearances on A&E’s Biography and The Learning Channel’s “Poe’s Tales of Terror,” which was part of the network’s “Great Books Series.”
 |
| The College of Basic Sciences recognized its top faculty and honored 443 students at the 27th Anniversary Dean Arthur R. Choppin Honors Convocation in the LSU Union Cotillion Ballroom in March. |
The College of Basic Sciences recognized its top faculty and honored 443 students with certificates for academic achievement at the 27th Anniversary Dean Arthur R. Choppin Honors Convocation in the LSU Union Cotillion Ballroom. Along with Chancellor Mark Emmert, Dean Harold Silverman and the chairs of the five college departments recognized students and faculty for their achievements in the classroom and laboratories.
Faculty awards included teaching honors as well as research recognition from the college and the Tiger Athletic Foundation. Students who were honored earned a minimum of 60 hours in college credits and maintained a 3.50 overall grade-point average. In addition, the students were enrolled in the college as full-time students during the fall 2001 semester and are currently pursuing full-time course loads
The college recognized its Outstanding Students who will compete at the University level for top class honors. The Outstanding Senior was G. Bryan Fillette, zoology; the Outstanding Junior was Christina Jia Sheng Chen, biochemistry; and the Outstanding Sophomore is Arsham Sheybani, biological sciences.
The college also recognized two outstanding students with the R. Greg Hussey College Achievement Award for their leadership, service and scholarly activities. Theodore Heath, computer science; and Brian Harrell, zoology; received the awards. The award is named in honor of Dean Emeritus Greg Hussey, who retired in 2000 after serving as a faculty member for 38 years and as assistant dean for 29 years. Hussey was on hand for the presentation of the awards.
The department chairs also presented their respective honors to their students.
In biological sciences, Lisa Ann Bertucci received the Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Award; Erin Marie Weeden received the Robert Amborkski Award for the Outstanding Senior in Microbiology; Chris Nicole Davis was awarded the M.D. Socolofsky Scholarship for Excellence in Microbiology; Jennifer Eileen McCain, Jessica Rene Gautreaux and Joseph Chris Bruno Jr. all received the Charles S. McCleskey Memorial Endowed Scholarship for Excellence in Microbiology; Jennifer Eileen McCain received the Outstanding Senior in Biochemistry Award; and Sara Kathryn Bordelon was awarded the Outstanding Senior in Zoology.
In chemistry, Christin Lott was presented with the Outstanding Chemistry Achievement Award and Kristin Carbo received the Research Achievement Award.
In computer science, Theodore Hierath, Rashina Hoda, Bruce Lin, Nirav Desai, Brent Spell, and John W. Tesch III all were presented with top departmental honors. In addition, Hierath, Hoda and Lin were chosen to receive the Department of Computer Science Best Student Awards.
In geology and geophysics, Kelli Willson was presented with the award for Outstanding Sophomore; Judith Fridge was named Outstanding Junior; and Melanie Thompson received the Outstanding Senior Award.
In physics and astronomy, Hierath was presented with the Keen Morris Award and Daniel Busby was recognized for his outstanding achievement and contributions to research in Professor William Hamilton’s group on gravity-wave research.
Finally, in the Honors College, Christina Jia Sheng Chen was recognized for her distinguished work and being named Outstanding Junior in the Honors College.
 |
|
|
Impressive directing opportunities light the way to the national stage for LSU Theatre Professor John Dennis. Both the Alabama and Colorado Shakespeare Festivals will put his directing and playwrighting skills to use this summer.
Dennis, head of the master of fine arts acting program at LSU, begins the summer at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery directing Doris Baizely’s “Shiloh Rules,” a Southern Writers’ Project world premiere.
The show will run from May 14 to July 27 in repertory with “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Hamlet” and “Sheppey.
Dennis said he could not be more pleased to be working with one of Baizely’s scripts again after staging her adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” with Swine Palace Productions in December 2001.
Immediately following the opening night of “Shiloh Rules,” Dennis moves on to the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder to direct his newly written original review titled “Shakespeare in Briefs.” This review will run throughout the summer in repertory with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Richard III” and “Hamlet.”
“The review is an unmasking or ‘debriefing’ of some of the myths surrounding the world’s greatest playwright and the festival’s repertory season,” said Dennis. Four men comprise the cast and will play both men’s and women’s roles.
According to Dennis, “Shakespeare in Briefs” will include several top ten lists, including the 10 best suicides, best tunes and best insults, and will feature a segment where Romeo and Juliet sing their own rendition of “I’ve Got You Babe.”
Dennis says the Colorado Shakespeare Festival is considering “Shakespeare in Briefs” as a permanent production piece for upcoming summer seasons.
Several LSU graduate students auditioned in New York City and Montgomery for roles in each of the plays he is directing. “This could be an all-LSU summer at Colorado Shakespeare,” said Dennis. Several LSU Theatre alumni, including Tony Molina, James Easly and Tony Marble, have already been cast.
Dennis is honored that these nationally recognized institutions have invited him to join them this summer. Both festivals are among the four largest in the United States, and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival is ranked fifth in the world.
“Shiloh Rules” tickets are available from the Alabama Shakespeare Festival by calling ASF Tickets at (800) 841-4273 or visiting the Web site at www.asf.net. Tickets for “Shakespeare in Briefs” are available from the Colorado Shakespeare Festival by calling (303) 492-0554 or online at www.coloradoshakes.org.
FBI Assistant Director for Training Cassandra McWilliams Chandler and Louisiana State Sen. John L. “Jay” Dardenne have been selected this year for induction into the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication’s Hall of Fame.
LSU Manship School Dean John Maxwell Hamilton said the school is recognizing the two inductees “for their outstanding professional records, their demonstrated service to the profession and their interest in and dedication to the school.”
Chandler received a bachelor of arts degree in journalism and English from LSU in 1979 and later a juris doctorate from Loyola University School of Law. She is the FBI’s highest-ranking African-American woman and is responsible for all training programs for new employees and continuing education for the existing FBI workforce. Before her 16-year career with the FBI, she worked as a news anchor, reporter and talk show host at WRBT-TV 33 in Baton Rouge. She then practiced law with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans. Chandler is also a member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, known as NOBLE, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Dardenne received a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from LSU in 1976 and a juris doctorate from LSU in 1979. Dardenne currently chairs the state Senate Finance Committee and Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget. He is a member of Louisiana’s Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee, Education Committee and Judiciary “B” Committee. He has won numerous awards for his service to education. He recently received a national award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for his work with school-based health centers. Dardenne is also a recipient of the Lifetime Service Award from Friends of Louisiana Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. Dardenne, a member of the law firm of Kennon, Odom & Dardenne, has also been an active community volunteer, having hosted the Jerry Lewis Telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association for more than 20 years. Dardenne chaired the local organizing committee for the 2001 National Senior Olympics and received the 2001 Community Leadership Award from Leadership of Greater Baton Rouge.
The school is inducting the two professionals at its annual Hall of Fame banquet on April 18 at the C.B. Pennington Jr. Conference Center in Baton Rouge. The program begins with cocktails at 6:30 p.m. and presentations at 7:30 p.m. The banquet is open to the public.
Tickets are $40 per person and can be purchased by contacting Quinn Rainwater, development director of the LSU Manship School, at 225-578-2418.
Jessica Koederitz, a recent LSU graduate and University Medalist, garnered yet another award, as she became only one of 900 graduate students across the nation to be given a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
The NSF, which “seeks to ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science, mathematics and engineering in the United States, and to reinforce its diversity” extolls the honor once a year to outstanding graduate students in the fields of mathematics, engineering, the behavioral and social sciences, and to research-based Ph.D. candidates in science education.
The award gives Koederitz three years of full support at the school of her choice, as well as a stipend of $21,500 per year, allowing her to focus wholly on her post-graduate work. The award also offers a one-time international research travel allowance for students who plan to study or do research full time at a foreign site for at least three continuous months.
Koederitz will spend the summer in Peru, beginning in May, with a group from the LSU Museum of Natural Science. There, they will conduct research in a mountainous region of the country on an ornithological expedition. Last summer, the group, including Koederitz, conducted their research in the Amazon.
Koederitz, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in zoology and a minor in Spanish, began her work with the museum’s faculty and students after obtaining a Chancellor’s Aide position in ornithology. Her job was to prepare research specimens. Under their tutelage, Koederitz said, she was able to accomplish her goals.
Currently, Koederitz is working on a research project at LSU to establish the family tree of a Black-spotted Barbet through the process of gene sequencing with graduate student Jason Weckstein.
Photo Gallery |
 |
| Students plant crops at Hill Farm community gardens near the Rec Center. |
 |
 |