Research Society Sigma Xi Presents Fall Semester Seminar Schedule at Colorado State University

Colorado State University’s chapter of Sigma Xi, the national research society, will offer noontime lectures on weather observations from space, designing reliable software and population effects on Front Range ecosystems through Dec. 1.

All seminars will be held in Room 166 of Lory Student Center on the Colorado State campus. The seminars, which begin at noon on Fridays, are free and open to the public.

The presentations include the following.

• Oct. 13: Tom VonderHaar, professor of atmospheric science, and researcher Don Reinke will examine "40 years of weather observations from space…Big eyes in the sky." VonderHaar, a University Distinguished Professor, is director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere and an expert on satellite meteorology, radiation physics and the global climate. Reinke is a research associate with the institute.
• Nov. 3: Yashwant Malaiya, professor of computer science, will discuss "Holistic approach to reliable software." Malaiya is an expert on the testing and reliability of both hardware and software and heads the computer science department’s testing and reliability research group.
• Dec. 1: Jill Baron, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and an affiliate of Colorado State’s Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, will address "How agriculture and urban expansion have influenced ecosystems of the Colorado Front Range." Baron specializes in biogeochemical cycling, ecosystem ecology and research into preservation of natural ecosystems.

For more information on the seminars, contact Don Johnson at (970) 491-1239.