Friday, April 24, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

“Let it grow, let it grow/Let it blossom, let it flow”— Eric Clapton

The Department of Agribusiness and Agriscience continues its annual plant sale from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. today, April 24, and all next week Monday through Friday while supplies last, at the Horticulture Building on Blue Raider Drive on the MTSU campus. All plants were raised by MTSU students taking the ABAS 3600 class “Horticulture in Our Lives.” Geraniums in 6” pots are $3 each. All hanging baskets and flats are $10 each. Other available plants include tomatoes, peppers, okra, squash, cucumbers, watermelons, cantaloupes, celosia, coleus, double impatiens, marigolds, million bells, million golds, petunias, salvia, ferns, vinca (periwinkle), wandering ju, wave petunias, was leaf begonias, and zinnias.

For more information or to arrange special pickup times, contact Janet Kelly at 615-898-2523.

Biobucks

Officials from Tennessee State University and Middle Tennessee State University are celebrating the announcement of a $2.7 million National Science Foundation TRIAD GK-12 partnership grant to improve biology education. GK-12 is an NSF program that places graduate students in K-12 classrooms. MTSU and TSU grad students will work with students from Rutherford County and Metro Nashville public schools. TSU and MTSU will use the grant to support nine STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduate fellows each year for the next five years. “We believe this approach will be very effective and sustainable,” says Dr. Tony Farone, an MTSU biology professor and the project’s principal investigator. “Our team is looking forward to working together to train future STEM scientists who will find communicating science to the general public and K-12 outreach a natural part of their career.”

Contact Randy Weiler in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.
jweiler@mtsu.edu

The carbon conundrum

Why would combating the “greenhouse effect” be difficult even with a reduction in carbon emissions? Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, says, “We still have the experimental problems of accurately measuring global temperatures, as well as concentrations of CO2, both in the atmosphere and dissolved in the oceans. None of these are cheap or easy. Cost overruns in NASA’s ambitious, but scientifically essential plans to replace the aging fleet of Earth-observing satellites are threatening its political support.” However, MacDougall says scientists at the University of Southern California are pioneering research projects “that seek to recycle excess CO2 in the atmosphere by recombining it with water and the copious amounts of energy that surround us in the form of light and heat, to synthesize methanol and other valuable fuels out of thinly carbonated air!”

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

TR EXTRA

HOW TO HELP THE HELPERS--The 15th annual “Dynamics of Elderly Caregiving” conference is slated for today, April 24, at the St. Clair Street Senior Center in Murfreesboro. The focus will be on providing contacts, resources and support to individuals who give necessary assistance to elderly patients and family members. The conference is sponsored by the MTSU School of Nursing and multiple community agencies. For more information, contact Linda League at 615-898-5950.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS--“People are shouting too many philosophies of health and happiness at us,” notes a commentator on the recent explosion of interest in a topic of vital interest to us all—our own perceived well-being. But long before the shouting began, philosophers like Aristotle, Epicurus, Montaigne, Spinoza, Mill, Hume and James were carefully considering the question of how to get happy and stay that way. Dr. James Oliver will lead students through an examination of this subject in “The Philosophy of Happiness,” a class slated for Tuesdays and Thursdays this fall at MTSU. “In this course, we’ll survey older philosophical ideas about happiness, the new approach in psychology, and some of the best fictional literature,” says Oliver. ”Our approach will be calm, reasonable and interdisciplinary, with no gratuitous shouting.” Contact Oliver at 615-898-2050 or poliver@mtsu.edu.

PEDAL PUSHERS--The 3rd annual Tour de Boro, a Century Cycling Event sponsored by the MTSU Department of Recreation and Leisure Services, is slated for tomorrow, April 25. There are three routes—16.5 miles, 31 miles, and 57.5 miles. All routes are along scenic, low traffic back roads winding through southern Rutherford County. Onsite registration on the day of the event is $35 beginning at 6 a.m. For more information, contact Crystal Barnett at 615-491-4398.

GET A CLUE!--MTSU is expanding its popular CSI: MTSU four-day program for students entering the 10th, 11th and 12th grades in Rutherford and surrounding counties. This year’s event is slated for June 16-19. The goals of CSI: MTSU are: to allow students to explore many unique career possibilities in forensic science; to provide a “real life” reasons to tackle higher level math and science courses; and to develop skills in teamwork, seeing and understanding details, critical thinking and presentation skills. The student investigators will be presented with a re-creation of an actual crime scene. Each student is trained in the fundamental processes of collecting evidence, including DNA, fingerprints, hair and fibers, simulated blood spatter, and shoe prints. For more information or to register, call 615-898-2462 or send an e-mail to eshockle@mtsu.edu.