E.O. Wilson will receive an Honorary Degree in Science and Letters in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UT’s Spring 2014 Commencement.
Wilson has had a long association with UT. More information about his connections with UT and his career can be found in the Tennessee Today article below.
A paper describing a new species of Clematis by EEB graduate student Aaron Floden appeared in the latest volume of the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. The new species was discovered during biological survey work in the Ocoee River gorge (Polk Co., Tennessee) that is turning up previously unrecognized diversity in this geologically unique area not far from Knoxville. The survey is being conducted by a team that includes UT graduates Joey Shaw (University of Tennessee, Chattanooga) and Dwayne Estes (Austin Peay University) and UT Herbarium Director Eugene Wofford.
Clematis vinacea
clematis
Gaining Admission into Highly Competitive Graduate Programs
Wednesday October 2nd, 4:00-5:30
University Center Auditorium
All students, first year and beyond, considering graduate or professional school are invited to this presentation by nationally known author and speaker, Donald Asher. Learn the ins-and-outs of the graduate admissions process and steps you can take to set yourself apart. Mr. Asher has presented this topic at UT for nearly 20 years and students consistently find him both informative and engaging. Co-sponsored by Career Services, Student Success Center, Arts and Sciences Advising Services, The College of Business Administration Undergraduate Programs and The College of Engineering. Find additional graduate school resources and a video link to a prior Asher presentation at http://career.utk.edu/students/graduate-school/
US Army Forward Surgical Team Display
Monday, October 7, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
University Center Brown Lounge
You are cordially invited to a special event showcasing the technology, advancement and flexibility of medicine in the military. From medical surgery and dental to health services and physical therapy, you’ll see first-hand what the military’s capabilities are in a variety of medical fields. The event will feature the Army’s Forward Surgical Team display—a field medical tent recreating an actual emergency/operating room, complete with military experts, showing the equipment used by first responders in deployed locations or during natural emergencies. Here’s your chance to learn more about the military’s capabilities and ask questions about how a medical or health-related education can lead to a military career as a physician, dentist, nurse or other medical professional. You can also learn about scholarship and loan repayment opportunities.
Health Fair for Students Considering Careers in the Health Professions
Tuesday, October 15, 11-3
University Center Ballroom
On Tuesday, October 15, UTK is hosting several admissions representatives from health professions schools. They are coming to campus to talk with pre-health students who are interested in their schools/programs. You can come to talk with the representatives in the University Center Ballroom any time between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. This will be a great opportunity for you to learn more about the schools, learn how you can become a more competitive applicant, and ask questions about the admissions process. The following programs will be represented: Medicine, Osteopathic Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Physician Assistant, Optometry, Podiatry, Physical/Occupational Therapy, Clinical Laboratory Science, Graduate Health Sciences, and other allied health programs.
MED SCHOOL CLINIC
Tuesday, October 15, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
University Center 223-224
To help pre-med students increase their knowledge about their medical career options and prepare to overcome the admissions hurdles ahead, UTK’s Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Health Honor Society and Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions will hold a free Medical School Clinic Event on Tuesday, October 15th. The seminar will be from 4 pm to 5:30 pm in 223-224 University Center. At this free event, attendees will engage with and listen to a panel discussion on practicing medicine, careers in medicine, and applying to medical school. Pre-med students will benefit from the lively exchange between practicing doctors, med school admissions officers, and current med students. The panel members will provide an array of perspectives on the opportunities and the challenges specific to the medical field today. We will help attendees reduce anxiety about preparing for the MCAT and completing applications by increasing their knowledge about the admissions process. The panel will include representatives from University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Quillen College of Medicine and LMU-Debusk College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Sergey Gavrilets has a new open-access paper in PNAS, which is getting a great deal of media attention in places like Nature (links below). The paper is entitled, “War, space, and the evolution of Old World complex societies.”
Significance: How did human societies evolve from small groups, integrated by face-to-face cooperation, to huge anonymous societies of today? Why is there so much variation in the ability of different human populations to construct viable states? We developed a model that uses cultural evolution mechanisms to predict where and when the largest-scale complex societies should have arisen in human history. The model was simulated within a realistic landscape of the Afroeurasian landmass, and its predictions were tested against real data. Overall, the model did an excellent job predicting empirical patterns. Our results suggest a possible explanation as to why a long history of statehood is positively correlated with political stability, institutional quality, and income per capita.
Press Coverage:
| Austrian Tribune | Nature |
| The Conversation | Pacific Standard |
| El Mundo | Popular Mechanics |
| Huffington Post | Science World Report |
| Los Angeles Times | Smithsonian |
| National Monitor | Wired |
A recent paper that Ben Keck and Darrin Hulsey of UTK co-authored was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B and written about in the journal Science:
http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2013/09/tracing-cichlids-through-seas
Link to the open access publication:
A group of EEB-ers (and friends) went rafting on the Ocoee last weekend. The trip was organized by Zach Marion, a grad student in the Fitzpatrick lab who is also a raft guide for RaftOne (http://www.raft1.com/). Everyone who participated had an awesome time and are eager to do it again. A lot of first-year students came out, and last week’s departmental speaker (Eric Sotka) went, too. Such trips are great for building cohort bonds and promoting future collaborations within the department. May there be many more EEB/GREBE-organized trips like this in the future!
Jen Schweitzer was awarded over $145,000 in Technology Fee Funds from the University in May. These funds are being used to purchase a suite of computer and environmental monitoring technologies. These resources will
Technology is growing rapidly for field studies and giving our students access to these instruments, techniques, and skills will greatly advance and enhance their learning and future career opportunities.
The incoming cohort of EEB graduate students is one of the (if not the) largest ever! Welcome to all 18 of you!
Gary McCracken took 3 graduate students (Amanda Janicki, Riley Bernard, and Melqui Gamba Rios) to the International Bat Research Conference in Costa Rica in August. It was the largest bat meeting ever, with over 600 participants from 55 countries. Below is a photo of the group wearing leaf-noses (which tropical bats have – see the link for a news article about the conference and tropical bats).
http://www.seabcru.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ibrc_2013_abstracts.pdf
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $18.6 million to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) to continue its interdisciplinary efforts in developing new mathematical approaches to problems across biology, from the level of the genome to individuals to entire ecosystems. EEB’s Lou Gross has been the director of NIMBioS since its inception in September 2008.