Bringing Arctic and deep-sea science alive for inner-city kids

Dieuwertje “DJ” Kast of USC Dornsife’s Joint Educational Project (JEP) is drawing on her summer research experiences aboard a deep-sea exploration vessel and at an Arctic research station to inspire young scientists at the USC Family of Schools.

Dieuwertje "DJ" Kast holds aloft a USC banner during her summer research trip to the Arctic. Photos courtesy of DJ Kast.

By Susan Bell - October 6, 2016

DJ Kast is still haunted by two unforgettable sounds.

The first is the gentle, if eerie, glassy tinkle made by perpendicular shards of candle ice in a thawing Arctic lake. “When the pieces of candle ice clink against each other, it sounds like wind chimes,” said Kast, USC Dornsife’s Joint Educational Project (JEP) STEM program manager. “It’s a strange and beautiful music.”

Link to complete story

Help save the endangered turtles of Sulawesi!

Hi!

I'm a graduate student in IEB and have been working on a project to save endangered turtles in Indonesia. We are in the middle of a fundraising campaign.

Here is the link to the project site: https://experiment.com/projects/conservation-efforts-to-protect-endangered-turtles-of-sulawesi

~ Andrea Currylow

 https://dornsife.usc.edu/currylow/

Dr. Steven Finkel awarded ASM award

*Photo credit: Mark Berndt, USC Trojan Family Magazine

USC Professor Steven Finkel has been selected to receive the William A. Hinton Research Training Award for 2017. This award honors outstanding contributions toward fostering the research training of underrepresented minorities in microbiology. It is given in memory of William A. Hinton, a physician-research scientist and one of the first African-Americans to join the ASM. This award is also associated with an award lecture at the 2017 Microbe meeting in New Orleans.

IEB Grad Student Andrea Currylow in Madagascar

Join Holohil's John Edwards as he travels to southern Madagascar to assist USC biologist Andrea Currylow with her PhD research on Radiated and Spider Tortoises!

Help us “Deck Our Halls”!

The USC Graduate School has recently moved to a new office suite in STU 301 and we would like to display the work of graduate students from across USC on the walls. We are especially interested in data visualizations, paintings, photographs, graphics, textiles, or other contributions that reflect the interests and research pursuits of USC graduate students. Other than copyrighted images, all types of submissions are welcome. The work will be featured for up to one year and will be returned to the student no later than December 2016. Within reason, the Graduate School will cover the cost of professionally printing and mounting works selected for display. Featured students will be invited to an open house early next year.

To be considered, please submit a copy (or draft) of the proposed work via email to mereditd@usc.edu by January 15, 2016. Proposals will be reviewed the following week and final selections will be made by the end of January.

If you have questions, I am available to assist.

Best,

Meredith Drake Reitan, MPL, PhD
Associate Dean for Graduate Fellowships
Graduate School
Office of the Provost
Adjunct Associate Professor
Sol Price School of Public Policy
University of Southern California
mereditd@usc.edu

The USC Graduate School is now accepting nominations for the CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award for individuals who have completed dissertations representing original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline. The effective date of the degree, or the completion of doctoral degree requirements and dissertation, must fall in the period of July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2015, inclusive.

Two awards are given annually in two different broad areas. The 2015 fields of competition are:

o    Biological and Life Sciences
o    Humanities and Fine Arts

(The 2016 competition will focus on social sciences and engineering/physical sciences).

Please have students submit the following to graduate.fellowships@usc.edu by Monday, June 22, 2015:

1.      An abstract of the dissertation (not to exceed 10 pages, typed double-spaced on 8-1/2" x 11" white paper).
2.     A brief CV

If selected for nomination, three letters of reference evaluating the significance and quality of the dissertation will be due to the graduate school by Friday, July 10, 2015.

Jim Dines | Whale Mating: In the Hips

A new study turns a long-accepted evolutionary assumption on its head, finding that whale pelvic bones play a key role in mating.

Matthew Dean of biological sciences, (left), and Jim Dines searched through more than 10,000 boxes of unsorted cetacean bones in search of pelvic bones. Photo by Gus Ruelas.

Link to story

IEB: Maureen McCarthy

Maureen will be leaving for Uganda on September 26th.  Check out her blog:

1) Scientific American's Expeditions Blog site: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/expeditions/

Here's my first post on the Scientific American site: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/expeditions/2012/09/10/chimps-in-uganda-two-weeks-and-counting/

2) A blog hosted by USC Dornsife: http://dornsife.usc.edu/panoramic-perspectives/

I'm also on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/m.sophia.mccarthy) and Twitter (@mccarthymaureen). I hope to keep in touch with you over the upcoming year!

Andrew Fogel: NSF Doctoral Dissertation Grant

IEB Ph.D. Candidate, Andrew Fogel, has received an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant to fund his research on the gut microbes of African lemurs. EXSC-591, a course in research design, was helpful in securing this grant and others like it for students in the IEB graduate program.

Jessica Hartel: Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant recipient

Jessica Hartel, IEB PhD candidate, was awarded a Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork grant in the amount of $19,644 to fund her year-long study in Uganda. The Wenner-Gren award is one of the biggest, privately funded grants in the field of Anthropology. Let us all congratulate Jessica on her outstanding achievement.

Research Spotlight

Once a week, we will be highlighting the research of a lab or individual within the Department of Biological Sciences. If you would like to be included in this section, please e-mail uscbiscgrad@gmail.com