By Massiel Ladron DeGuevara
Staff Writer
For 27 years, the Pepperdine Natural Science division has been hosting the Natural Science Seminar series.
The series focuses on the disciplines of math, biology and chemistry, with the objectives of exposing students to different disciplines they would otherwise be unfamiliar with, or to build on what students are learning in the classrooms.
The lectures are held weekly on Wednesdays at noon in the Keck Science Center, room 130 and are open to all Pepperdine students and faculty.
Students are invited to attend a private lunch, which is paid for by Pepperdine, at the Marriott café after each lecture.
“This is the students’ time to dialogue with the guest speaker,” said biology professor Dr. Stephen Davis. “It’s a great opportunity for them to receive sound advice on career choices from someone other than their professors.”
The speakers come from a number of places throughout the world, dealing with various issues. Dr. Susan Helm started off the series on Jan. 23 speaking on problem-based learning, titled “PBL in Science: Can we do that?”
Yesterday’s speaker, Dr. Darren Sandquist from CSU Fullerton, spoke on research he did with the Encelia farinose, or brittle bush.
The lecture, “Why some plants wear fur coats in the desert,” explained how plants are able to survive in the desert with very little rainfall through trycombs, a thin layer of “hair” on the leaf.
Dr. Tyrone Hayes of UC Berkeley will be speaking on Feb. 6 on integrating laboratory and field studies of environmental contaminants.
The following Wednesday CSU Fullerton professor Kathryn Dickson will be speaking on tuna fish in her lecture, “Are Tunas Faster or More Efficient Swimmers than their Ectothermic Relatives?”
On Feb. 20, the director of conservation of biology in Cape Town, South Africa, David Richardson, will bring an international perspective to Pepperdine students.
“He is one of the leaders in the field and will shed a new perspective on things,” Davis said. “There is an incredible diversity of plants in South Africa which he will be discussing.”
Davis believes we can learn a great deal from this lecture. “It really is an incredible story,” Davis said. “Despite all the social challenges, South Africa is way ahead of us. They are better in conservation, they use clever management schemes and have a world health organization.”
Richardson’s lecture is titled “Using Natural Experiments in the Study of Alien Tree Invasions: Opportunities and Limit-ations.”
A Pepperdine student who attended the biology program in Costa Rica, Barbara Han, will be giving a lecture on her research on March 6.
She will be speaking on the poisonous dart frogs of the tropic. These are bright red frogs that were used as deadly darts to kill animals by the natives.
The following Wednesday, Dr. Rodney Honeycutt, a professor at Texas A&M University will be speaking on mammals and conservation. Pepperdine’s Dr. Stan Warford will be speaking on component software on March 20.
Dr. John Sperry, from the University of Utah, will be speaking on March 27 about hydraulic constraints on the form and function of plants.
Douglas Mulford will be speaking the following week on the recent advances in solid state materials or chemistry of fireworks.
To close the seminar series for spring 2002, Pepperdine student Andre Page will be speaking on the native structure of neural and body wall hemoglobins from cerebratulus lacteus.
“The focus of these lectures is to benefit the student,” Davis said. “We want to continue to invite distinguished and accomplished scientists to come in from the outside and broaden students’ exposure to different things.”
January 31, 2002