2013 Undergraduate Research Poster Day

Come join us in a celebration of Undergraduate Research at Villanova University.   Wednesday, September 25, 2013 from 3:30 to 5:30 pm in the Villanova Room, Connelly Center.  Undergraduate Research Opportunities are yet another reason that Villanova Unniversity is a great place to learn and grow.   Undergraduate researchers will present their summer research in an exciting poster session

Hosted by:  The Center for Udnergraduate Research and Fellowships, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, The Department of Chemistry, The College of Engineering.

The Department of Chemistry presents Dr. Daniel Nocera's lecture on The Chemistry of Solar Fuels, Thursday, April 25

The Jean Dreyfus Boissevain Lectureship for Undergraduate Institutions, Department of Chemistry, Villanova University presents Dr. Daniel Nocera, The Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy, Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology at Harvard University.   On Thursday, April 25, 2013, Dr. Daniel Nocera will lecture on The Chemistry of Solar Fuels in Room 132, Driscoll Hall, at 4:30 pm.  The public is invited to attend.

On April 24, 2013, The Department of Chemistry presents the Jean Dreyfus Boissevain Lectureship for Undergraduate Institutions with Dr. Daniel Nocera

Dr. Daniel Nocera, The Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy with the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University will present a lecture on The Global Energy Challenge.   This will take place on Wednesday, April 24, 2013 in the Villanova Room, Connelly Center, Villanova University at 4:30 pm.    The public is invited and encouraged to attend this lecture.   RSVPs are appreciated.   Call 610-519-4881 or email amanda.grannas@villanova.edu

Dr. Daniel Nocera
The Pattterson Rockwood Professor of Energy
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Harvard University

St. Joseph's University Chapter of Sigma Xi 24th Annual Call for Abstracts

The 24th Annual Sigma Xi Student Research Symposium will be held on Friday, April 19, 2013, at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Undergraduate and graduate students working in the areas of Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, the Natural, and the Social Sciences are invited and encouraged to present the results of their work in the poster sessions.  We expect, as in previous years, over 100 students from the region's colleges and universities to attend.

The Symposium will commence at 5:00 PM on the Saint Joseph's University Campus in Philadelphia, PA.  It will open with the keynote address in the Wolfington Teletorium in Mandeville Hall. The poster sessions will start at 6:45 in the Campion Student Center.

This year's keynote speaker is Dr. Irene Pepperberg, Research Associate and Lecturer, Dept. of Psychology, Harvard University, and Adjunct Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Brandeis University.  Her talk is entitled "Numerical Competence Studies on a Grey Parrot."  This talk is free and open to the public.  Dr. Pepperberg will also be this year's recipient of the Christopher Clavius, S.J. award.  This award recognizes the work of inspirational scientists, researchers and policy makers.  Clavius, a Jesuit mathematician and astronomer is best known as an architect of the modern Gregorian calendar and as an inspiration to such thinkers as Kepler, Descartes and Leibniz.  As one of the world's foremost authorities on animal cognitive capabilities, Dr. Pepperberg is particularly deserving of this award.  Indeed, over the course of her impressive career she has been the recipient of many fellowships, grants, and awards.  Her book, The Alex Studies, describing over 20 years of peer-reviewed experiments on Grey parrots, received favorable mention from publications as diverse as the New York Times and Science. Her memoir, Alex & Me, was a New York Times bestseller and won a Christopher Award. She has presented her findings nationally and internationally at universities and scientific congresses, often as a keynote or plenary speaker, and has published numerous journal articles, reviews, and book chapters. She is a fellow of the Animal Behavior Society, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, the American Ornithologists' Union, AAAS, the Midwestern Psychological Society, the Eastern Psychological Association (where she is now also a board member), and presently serves as consulting editor for three journals and as associate editor for The Journal of Comparative Psychology.

The registration fee for the symposium is $25 for students and $40 for faculty members. The optional dinner at Saint Joseph's is an additional $15 for both students and faculty.  Registration and abstracts are due by Tuesday March 19th, 2013.  For more information including online registration for the symposium, please visit http://www.sju.edu/srs.  Please share this announcement with any potentially interested students or faculty. We look forward to seeing you and your students this April.

Drs Grannas and Palenchar will speak at Professional Development Seminar on Tuesday January 26th

Students, If you are thinking about carrying out research at Villanova this summer or during the school year, you will probably want to attend PDS on Tuesday, January 26th. (4:30pm Mendel 101) Drs. Grannas and Palenchar will be speaking about the focus of the research in their laboratories. Both are taking students this summer and during the academic year. Dr Grannas carries out work in environmental/analytical chemistry and Dr Palenchar carries out work in biochemistry/parasitology. You can find out more about their work on their webpages, as well: http://www95.homepage.villanova.edu/amanda.grannas/ http://www29.homepage.villanova.edu/jennifer.palenchar/

Talk by Enivornmental & Geochemist Dr Usha Rao

Dr Usha Rao from St. Joseph's University will be speaking on "The Presence of 129I from Nuclear Sources in the Sediments of Lake Ontario: Pathways, Inventories, and Redox Dependent Mobility" this Tuesday at 4:30 in Mendel 213. A reception will follow. All are welcome to attend You can learn more about Dr Rao's work here: http://www.sju.edu/academics/cas/chemistry/faculty/urao.html

Reminder: Strategic Plan Town Hall meeting Today @ 3:30pm in Driscoll 132

From Fr. Peter's email on October 23rd, 2009 (added emphasis below is mine):

The Strategic Plan

We continue to move forward with reviewing and refining the objectives outlined in our Strategic Plan. This plan is designed to provide a clear roadmap for us to follow as we seek to strengthen the educational experience that distinguishes Villanova, while also being flexible enough to allow us to meet changing needs and trends.

Last fall, I held a series of Town Hall meetings to discuss the preliminary results of the strategic planning process. The past year has been filled with work, conversation, and collaboration which have resulted in some adjustments to our initial objectives. One such adjustment has been to focus more on strengthening our national reputation vs. positioning the University to enter the national rankings at a certain level.

I would like to invite the faculty to attend one of two Town Hall meetings scheduled for early November. At the meeting, I will share with you more information about this and other adjustments, as well as our plans for how to move forward with the Strategic Plan. The first meeting will take place Thursday, November 5 at 3:30 p.m. in Driscoll Hall Room 132. The second meeting will take place Wednesday, November 11 at 3:30 p.m. in the Connelly Center Cinema. These meetings will also provide an opportunity for us to dialog about the search for a new Vice President for Academic Affairs. I would like your input on this process and look forward to speaking with you.

I hope your schedule will allow you to take part in this important, continuing conversation regarding Villanova’s future.