Thursday, September 13, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Professor Plato’s Cave

Scientists use electronic visualization technology to help them understand the composition of molecules, among other things. The CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment), which was conceived and built in 1991 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, since has been built at several universities, government laboratories and industrial research centers. In a recent Honors lecture, Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, said the acronym comes from Plato’s allegory of the cave. In the cave, prisoners are chained so that they can only see shadows on the wall. Their backs are to a fire and to the people making images in front of the fire. Therefore, the shadows are the only “reality” the prisoners know. When you put the goggles over your eyes in the CAVE, “It tricks your brain … What this person is seeing is a three-dimensional molecule. … You think you’re surrounded by this molecule. It’s really very cool!,” says MacDougall.

Contact MacDougall at 615-898-5265.
pmacdoug@mtsu.edu

Brokeback britches

A version of the Levi’s TV commercial in which the entire urban world outside (and a beautiful girl) rises up through the floor when a young man puts on his jeans has been created for the gay male audience. Instead of a beautiful girl, a handsome young man rises up through the floor in a phone booth. Dr. Bob Pondillo, electronic media communication, says, “Lee, Levi’s, etc., are looking to reach a very obvious and affluent, youthful gay/straight demographic, and do so by advertising on niche specific cable channels, i.e., ones that demonstrate they draw the ‘right’ customers. … cable audiences are small compared to broadcast channels (albeit major network audiences are shrinking, too), but the cable outlets are specifically targeted, which is their strength.”

Contact Pondillo at 615-904-8465.
pondillo@mtsu.edu

Get WISE!

A group from Women in Science and Engineering, or WISE, will travel today and tomorrow to Eastman Chemical Company’s headquarters in Kingsport. They were invited by the women chemists, technicians and engineers at Eastman. “During our visit, we will chat with women scientists and engineers about industrial careers for women in chemistry,” says Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross, faculty advisor and professor of chemistry. “We will also spend time with Katie Hunt, president of the American Chemical Society (ACS), who will be visiting Eastman. Katie has expressed a special interest in meeting women undergraduate and graduate students from MTSU. Katie is the sixth woman president of the ACS in over 125 years!”

For interviews with Iriarte-Gross and/or students when they return, call Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253.
jiriarte@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

BONJOUR!--Any student whose summer was no more exciting than spending endless hours lying by the pool frying to a crisp can prepare now for an unforgettable summer 2008. There’s no time like the present to register for the annual general education study abroad program in Cherbourg, France, which will run from June 2 to June 27. At this beautiful port town in the Normandy region of northwest France, students will experience the history, art and culture of the area. “With the general education program, a student can spend four weeks in Cherbourg and in Normandy, and they can begin studying French while they’re there if they choose to, but they don’t have to already know any French,” Dr. Anne Sloan, Assistant to the Provost for International Education, says. Contact Sloan at 615-898-5091 or asloan@mtsu.edu or Jennifer Campbell, Director of International Education and Exchange, at 615-898-5179 or jjcampbe@mtsu.edu.

IN THE DRAWING ROOM--Youngsters who want professional instruction in drawing can experience a first-class introduction to the art at a Youth Culture & Arts Center (YCAC) workshop for ages 12-17. The workshop will take place from 1-4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 15, in Room 117 of the Todd Building on the MTSU campus. The instructor will be Erin Anfinson, assistant professor of art at MTSU. “During this workshop, students will explore the media of charcoal, gesture drawing and working from a still life,” says Anfinson. She recommends that participants wear clothes they won’t mind getting dirty because “charcoal is a little messy.” Space for this workshop could fill quickly. The fee is $20 per person. To register, go to http://www.youthculturecenter.org/. For more information, contact the instructor at anfinson@mtsu.edu.

WOMEN IN DEPTH--From prisoners to poetry and from Hitler to Hillary, the 2007-2008 Women’s Studies Research Series at MTSU will offer presentations on a diversity of provocative and thought-provoking topics this academic year. Each of the seven lectures is slated to take place at 3 p.m. one Thursday a month in Room 100 of MTSU’s James Union Building. All lectures are free and open to the public. “The MTSU women’s Studies Research Series has something for everyone interested in women’s experience,” says Dr. Jane Marcellus, professor of mass communication. “By bringing together scholars from across campus, we touch on a wide variety of feminist viewpoints in an informal monthly gathering.” The first presentation will be “Daughters in the Fatherland: Behavioral Socialization of German Girls in Nazi Germany,” by Dr. Nancy Rupprecht, professor of history, Sept. 20. Contact Marcellus at 615-898-5282 or jmarcell@mtsu.edu.

WE THE PEOPLE--Exercise your rights—speak your mind! Monday, September 17, is Constitution Day at MTSU. An open mike will be available on the Keathley University Center knoll from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Students who speak their minds will receive an American Democracy Project t-shirt. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the KUC area, students will distribute pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution to passersby. Five thousand copies will be on hand as needed. The ADP will plant signs across the campus with the text of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. Five other sets of five signs will be placed in sequence so that passersby will be able to read the full text of the First Amendment. Contact Dr. Jim Williams, ADP Coordinator, at 615-898-2633 or jhwillia@mtsu.edu.

THE CREATIVE COMMUNITY--“Colleagues: A Community College Art Faculty Exhibition” is the title of the upcoming diversity-rich art exhibit that will be presented Sept. 17 through Oct. 4 in the Todd Gallery on the MTSU campus. “This exhibition recognizes the talented faculty who serve students enrolled in community colleges across the state that are often far removed from major population centers,” says Lon Nuell, professor of art and gallery curator. Nuell says each of the participating artists work and teach in traditional studio areas such as painting, photography, printmaking, drawing, ceramics and sculpture, and graphic design and visual communication. The Todd Gallery, located on the first floor of the Todd Building, is open 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays. Admission is always free, and the exhibit is open to the public. For more information, please contact Eric Snyder, gallery assistant, at 615-898-5653.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE--The MTSU Opera players will perform Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14, and Saturday, Sept. 15, and again at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16, in the T. Earl Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus. “There will be combined talents from the MTSU School of Music’s opera department, the MTSU theater department, costumes from Tennessee Repertory Theater, and most importantly, gifted young children from the Homer Pittard Campus School,” says Dr. Raphael Bundage, producer of the show and director of opera and choral activities. Admission is $10 for the general public and $8 for seniors and students. For tickets, call 615-898-2849. For additional information on this and other events in the McLean School of Music, call 615-898-2493 or visit http://www.mtsumusic.com/.