Please join us on tonight (Thursday, Aug. 4) at the Burroughs Wellcome Fund (21 TW Alexander Drive, RTP). It’s been a while since we’ve gathered to chat, share ideas, and swap tales.
Rob Dunn will be on hand to discuss his latest book The Wild Life of Our Bodies.
My suggested timeline looks like this:
6 p.m.: Arrival and mingling
6:30 Rob Dunn has the floor (with discussion to follow)
7:30 More mingling
8:30 Hard stop.
Food and beverages will be provided.
The Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments (CISA) is seeking an outreach and communications specialist to assist in efforts to improve regional capacity to cope with climate variability and change. CISA is part of the NOAA-funded Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments program. CISA is committed to improving the range, quality, relevance, and accessibility of climate information for decision making and resource management in North and South Carolina. Major efforts in the coming year will focus on assembling inputs on major climate risks, impacts, and vulnerabilities in support of the National Climate Assessment, organizing activities to advance drought preparedness in support of the National Integrated Drought Information System, and supporting engagement with decision makers engaged in issues intersecting climate and watershed and coastal management, human health, and adaptation.
The specialist will work with an interdisciplinary team of researchers and partners in climate-sensitive sectors. The specialist will be responsible for coordinating stakeholder contacts, organizing webinars, meetings, and workshops; participating in stakeholder organized events; and preparing workshop and meeting reports. The position will be based in the Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina – Columbia and involve regular travel to meet with partners throughout the region.
Applicants should have completed a master’s degree and experience working on climate, water, or related environmental issues is strongly preferred. The project requires strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work independently. Candidates must also demonstrate proficiency in with basic computer software (word processing, spreadsheets, and database programs) and have the ability to utilize new software with minimum instruction.
The position is for one -year with the possibility of extension based on performance and availability of funding. Salary Range: $34,000-42,000. Level commensurate with experience. Applications due July 23rd.
For more information on CISA, see http://www.cisa.sc.edu/
For further information on position and the application process go to http://hr.sc.edu/employ.html and search for Research Associate
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Science news officer at the University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is seeking a science news officer to handle research news and media relations for the School of Engineering and AppliedScience, the School of Veterinary Medicine, the School of Dental Medicine and the science departments of the School of Arts and Sciences.
The ideal candidate would have previous media-relations experience, preferably in a higher-education setting. A background in science writing is necessary. Experience in dealing with major national and international news media is a definite plus; however, someone without that level of media-relations experience might be considered if he or she can offer abundant evidence of being able to rise to that level with minimal start-up time.
The position also involves writing for the Web and for internal publications.
We seek a self-starter who can see the broad picture while also attending to details, who can work with Ivy League deans and faculty in translating research for lay audiences and who is a team player as well as an independent worker. The position requires excellent writing skills, and a writing test will be administered.
The position is part of the central University Communications Office at Penn and reports to the director of media relations.
Should you wish to inquire about the position, please e-mail Ron Ozio, director, media relations, at ozio@upenn.edu. Please note: no phone calls or unannounced visits please.
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Editor of Swarthmore College’s Alumni Magazine
Job opportunity available to serve as editor of Swarthmore College’s alumni magazine and director of publications. LINK
Rob Dunn’s new book The Wild Life of Our Bodies is now out. He was recently interviewed on Radio in Vivo by Ernie Hood. DOWNLOAD
From the publisher:
The Wild Life of Our Bodies tells the stories of our changing relationships with other species (be they worms, bacteria or tigers).
In doing so, it considers questions such as what our appendix does, why we suffer anxiety, why human babies tend to be born at night and whether tapeworms are good for us, all from an ecological perspective.
E. O. Wilson described the book as “an extraordinary book…. that with clarity and charm takes the reader into the overlap of medicine, ecology, and evolutionary biology to reveal an important domain of the human condition.”
A brief description of the book’s contents as well as an excerpt can be found in The Scientist. Or see more writing and an RSS feed at… http://www.robrdunn.com/. You can also submit a sample to learn more about the wild life of your body at wildlifeofyourbody.org.
Dr. Myron Cohen is leading a $73 million study on HIV transmission. His research team has just announced a major breakthrough in reducing HIV transmission — here’s one example of the news coverage [LINK]
Please join us to meet Dr. Cohen and learn about his research. Carolina Science Cafe is Thursday, July 7 — it begins at a new time — 6 p.m. — at the Back Bar at Chapel Hill’s Top of the Hill restaurant. Sigma Xi sponsors Morehead’s Carolina Science Cafe each month and provides a table of appetizers.
More info:
http://bit.ly/sciencecafe
From 20 November 2009:
In what was a long overdue celebration, the Science Communicators of North Carolina headed to the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NASCent) to celebrate the birthday (and publication of The Origin of Species) of Charles Darwin.
SCONC was treated to a trio of fascinating presentations on ice age sabertooth cats, nifty little treeshrews (closely related to primates), and ancient ferns. NASCent prepared an assortment of tasty goodies and we appreciate their hospitality.
As I find them, I’ll link to other descriptions of the night as I was concentrating on the visuals. Enjoy the photos.
The Wild Life of Our Bodies by Rob Dunn
Oh man, am I on a roll with the posts today. I first saw Rob Dunn during one of the American Scientist’s Pizza Lunch when he was talking about his first book. He now has a second and is at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences for a book release party and other festivities. See below for complete details.
Everything takes place on Thursday, June 30 from 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m.
FB event post: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=211603738874415
COME SEE THE WILD LIFE OF YOUR BODY AND LIFE
THE EVENT: The Ecology and Evolution of our Wild Lives, June 30th 5:30 to 9:00 pm at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.
POSTERS: Come see more than a hundred scientists from the triangle and beyond talk about the species you most directly interact with but little know. There will be informal talks about urban owls and hawks, pigeons, forehead mites, the microbes in your belly, on your belly button and in your cheese, the bedbugs in your, ahem… neighbors house, the voles in your yard and MUCH, MUCH, more. Scientists will be competing for your attention and for prizes for the most interesting and best-communicated research.
TALKS: Come see discussions by Raleigh scientists of the secret lives of termites (they are stranger than you might imagine), the monsters in your garden, the evolution of bedbugs and roaches and, at the end of the night, the wild life of your body (yes, your body), whether those species that are living on and in you or those whose influence is simply felt in terms of who you are. Learn, for example, about how the Toxoplasmosis parasite in many of our brains might be influencing not just who but really who we are.
BOOK RELEASE AND PARTY: After the talks, stick around at the museum for the book release party for Rob Dunn’s new book, The Wild Life of Our Bodies. There will be wine, beer, and a whole lot of wild life.
To learn more about your own wild life, see yourwildlife.org, where you can find out what lives in the belly buttons of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences staff, read about bedbugs, dust mites, why having a tapeworm might be good for you and why we get goose bumps, have an appendix, or suffer anxiety. You can also find out how to study the microbes on your body and the plants and animals of your backyard. New species and discoveries lurk, wherever you live, even on you.
Last week (June 23), saw a bunch of SCONCs descending upon the Durham Bulls vs. the Buffalo Bison. The Bulls won in convincing fashion and the SCONCs had an opportunity to introduce family members and chat while hopping seats on the first base side. SCONC President Ernie Hood passed along these photos. [SCONC photos]
Also, as another means of connection, please join the SCONC MeetUp page. There’s a TBD upcoming event to talk about future SCONC events. More on that later.
Wednesday, Feb. 23
American Scientist Pizza Lunch at noon at Sigma Xi. See post below…
On Wednesday (2/23) Cherry A. Murray, Ph.D., distinguished applied physicist and dean of Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), will discuss her career as a research executive, scientist and university leader, during a public lecture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her presentation, “Life in the Fast Lane,” is set for 7 pm in Carroll Hall auditorium. No registration or tickets are required. Parking is available in commercial lots on Rosemary Street.
http://college.unc.edu/features/February2011/article.2011-01-31.3865109496
Thursday, Feb. 24
This Thursday night (2/24/2011) at 9:30 p.m., UNC-TV (North Carolina Public Television) will screen a documentary profiling North Carolina environmental heroes.
The program is a co-production of UNC-TV and students and faculty from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. To find out more about the program, go to: http://jomc.unc.edu/environmentalheroes
If you miss the program Thursday night, check the website Friday to see the half-hour program in streaming mode.
To keep keeping you on your toes, American Scientist will host Pizza Lunch on a Wednesday again this month, rather than on a Tuesday. And it promises to be another good one.
Come hear Anne Pusey, chair of evolutionary anthropology and a James B. Duke professor at Duke, speak at noon Wed., Feb 23 at Sigma Xi. Her talk: Friends or Foes: Social Relationships Among Female Chimpanzees. Pusey has studied competition, cooperation and social bonds in multiple species. Most of her work focuses on our close evolutionary cousins, the chimpanzees. Early in her career, Pusey observed juvenile and adolescent development under the direction of Jane Goodall at Tanzania’s Gombe Stream Reserve. She still has ties. Her research team maintains and digitizes data collected at Gombe, where Goodall started observing chimpanzees more than 50 years ago.
Thanks to a grant from the N.C. Biotechnology Center, American Scientist Pizza Lunch is free and open to science journalists and science communicators of all stripes. Feel free to forward this message to anyone who might want to attend. RSVPs are required (for the slice count) to cclabby@amsci.org
Directions to Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society in RTP, are here: http://www.sigmaxi.org/about/center/directions.shtml
