The Butler Brown Bag Research Seminar

What is this?

This is a weekly gathering at lunchtime to learn about research at Butler University and to socialize. Our speaker will normally talk for about 25 minutes, leaving plenty of time for questions.

Everyone is invited. Please bring your lunch with you.

For the Spring 2008 semester, we will meet at 12:00 noon on Thursdays in PB103.

We wish to thank Interim Provost Dick Fetter for providing funds for posters and ads in the Collegian.

Tentative Schedule of Speakers for Spring 2008

February 28, 2008
George Geib, History
"The Central Competitive Coal Field"
March 27, 2008
Ankur Gupta, Computer Science
Dr. Gupta will talk about the connections between data compression, the definition of wisdom, and Sherlock Holmes.
April 3, 2008
Scott Parsell, Mathematics
Dr. Parsell will talk about his research in number theory, funded by a grant from the National Security Agency.
April 10, 2008
Xiarong Han, History, and Tiberiu Popa, Philosophy
Drs. Han and Popa will talk about change as a central theme in ancient Chinese and Greek philosophy.
April 17, 2008
Anne Wilson and Lisa Markus, Honors Program
Anne and Lisa will introduce two student speakers who will present their honors thesis research:
  • Rebecca Scherpelz, a History & Anthropology and International Studies major who was recently awarded Butler’s 2007-2008 Woman of Distinction, will present her honors thesis research about child soldiers in Uganda entitled "Ghosts of Uganda".
  • Tyler Blakley, a Chemistry and Biology major headed to medical school in the Fall, will present his work about "Rapid Bursts of Androgen-Binding Protein (Abp) Gene Duplication in Diverse Mammals".
April 24, 2008
Tim Brimmer and the Jordan Jazz,
The Jordan Jazz will entertain and educate us with style.

Schedule of Speakers from Fall 2007

September 7, 2007
Michael Zimmerman, Dean of LAS,
Dean Zimmerman will discuss how the funds from the Fairbanks Foundation and from alum Frank Levinson will be used.
September 14, 2007
Andrea Gullickson, Music,
Andrea will talk about her trip to Prague, in the Czeck Republic.
September 21, 2007
September 28, 2007
Luanne McNulty, Chemistry,
October 5, 2007
Stephen Perrill, Biology,
October 19, 2007
Larry O'Connor, Executive Director of Client Services, and Kathy Paulson-Gjerde, Associate Professor of Economics
"The Butler Business Accelerator"
The Butler Business Accelerator is an initiative that has been developed to enhance the delivery of business education and to provide avenues for faculty development. Learn more about the Accelerator’s outreach into the community and how faculty across campus can get involved. You will also hear from an LAS professor who has been involved in a recent Accelerator project.
October 26, 2007
Jon Sorenson, Computer Science & Software Engineering,
"Big Dawg: Butler's New Supercomputer"
Jon will talk about what a supercomputer is, why we have one at Butler (thanks to Frank Levinson's generosity), and what it means for us.
November 2, 2007
Canceled
November 9, 2007
Robert Holm, University Research Programs and the Butler Summer Institute,
Bob will introduce two BSI students from this past summer, who will each talk briefly about their research:
November 16, 2007
Canceled
November 30, 2007
Donald Braid, Assoc. Director for CCC,
Dr. Braid will discuss some of his work on folklore.

Organizers

Bob Holm, University Research Programs,
Todd Hrubey, Pharmacy,
Stephanie Judge, Marketing,
Carol Reeves, English, creeves@butler.edu, 9858,
Judith Lysaker, Education,
Gautam Rao, Media Arts, and
Jon Sorenson, Computer Science & Software Engineering, jsorenso@butler.edu, 9765.