skip to main content | skip to sidebar | skip to search

Main Nav: Register and Find Classes / Degrees

Science Seminar Series Spring 2013 - Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Division

Please Note: No food or drink items allowed at these seminars.

The Ohlone College Science Seminar Series is a program sponsored by the Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Division and ASOC. This program features distinguished speakers who address interesting topics related to science or technology. The events are free and open to the public.

  • Henrietta Lacks' Cells, John Moore's Spleen, Ted Slavin's Antibodies, and Myriad Genetics' Patents: Four cases that illustrate the science and ethical issues in biological research
    by Laurie Issel-Tarver, Associate Professor of Biotechnology, Ohlone College
    • Friday, March 15, 2013, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
    • Room 3201, Building 3, second floor, Fremont campus
    • Your cells, tissues, and genes belong to you, don't they? Maybe not! We'll discuss the case of Henrietta Lacks, whose cervical cancer cells helped revolutionize biological research. We'll talk about John Moore, whose spleen cells and tissues were patented without his knowledge, and how he fought back. We'll discuss Ted Slavin, who discovered the value of his unusual blood and used it for profit as well as to advance research. And we'll talk about a case that will be heard by the Supreme Court this spring, in which Myriad Genetics is defending its right to hold patents on human genes.

  • Fifty Shades of Green: True bugs, new species, and why I'm not smarter than a fifth-grader
    by Bradley Balukjian, PhD candidate at UC Berkeley
    • Friday, April 19, 2013
    • 12:00pm - 1:00pm
    • Room 3201, Building 3, second floor, Fremont campus
    • Ever wonder how we find new species? How we decide what a species is and what to call it? Turns out 2013 is a pretty good time to be an insect taxonomist, with millions of unknown species still awaiting discovery in our planet's ecosystems. Mr Balujian will discuss his PhD research at UC Berkeley, in which he found and documented 25 species of plant bugs (relatives of stinkbugs and bed bugs) in the volcanic islands of Tahiti. He used a novel approach of integrating morphological, genetic, and ecological data to determine how many species there are and how they can be identified, as well as re-describing species based on new data. He will also cover his research on the factors that led new species of plant bugs to form over millions of years on these islands. Finally, he will discuss why this kind of research is important not only for science, but also for local education, particularly with regards to a natural history program he led for fifth-graders in Tahiti.
    • This seminar is co-sponsored by the Biology Club of Ohlone College.

  • Benford's Law
    by Jeff O'Connell, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Ohlone College
    • New Date! Friday, April 26, 2013, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
    • Room 3201, Building 3, second floor, Fremont campus
    • Benford's Law states that in most (but not all) real-life data, the leading digit is distributed in a specific, non-uniform way. That is, a number will begin with a 1 more than it will begin with a 2, begin with a 2 more than it will begin with a 3, and so on. Benford's Law applies to populations of cities, numbers found in newspapers, molecular weights, addresses, death rates. Jeff O'Connell will discuss this truly amazing result including how it is being used to detect fraudulent transactions. This talk will also include the history that led to Benford finding this result. And how, if he had owned a calculator, he never would have discovered it. The Mathematics in this talk will be accessible to any level.
    • More information about Benford's Law.

Footer Begins