A&S Hall of Fame 2014 - Dr. George C. Herring

George C. Herring is Alumni Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Kentucky. A native of Blacksburg, Va., he received a bachelor's degree from Roanoke College and after service in the U.S. Navy he earned both master's and doctorate degrees in History from the University of Virginia. He joined the UK faculty in 1969 after four years at Ohio University. At UK, he taught classes at all levels, from introductory survey courses in U.S. history to graduate seminars. He directed the work of thirty-five doctoral students and more than fifty M.A. students.

A&S Hall of Fame 2014 - Ethelee Davidson Baxter

Her Honor, Ethelee Davidson Baxter, was born in Jackson, Ky., in 1939, and was raised in Lexington, Ky. Baxter graduated from Lafayette High School in 1957 and was inducted into the first class of the Lafayette High School Hall of Fame in 1989. She graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1961 with a bachelor's degree in English, Speech and Drama. While at UK, she was a Wildcat cheerleader, President of the Blue Marlins synchronized swimming team, and a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Science Policy in America

Fundamental scientific research, as a majority federally funded initiative, is becoming more deeply embedded in politics. Since the end of the Space Race, funding of basic physical sciences research as a percent GDP has continuously declined, indicating that policy makers see funding scientific research as less of a priority than they once did. Indeed, a lack of understanding about both science and how science is done amongst members of Congress has led to both reduced prioritization and also to misguided attempts at regulation, such as making peer review a public process and considering Congressional oversight for specific grants. Here we will examine a few current issues in science policy and the need for physicists to effectively weigh in on such policy issues. We will also consider the positive or negative effects such public engagement may have on our scientific careers and ways in which you can get involved.

 

Refreshments will be served in CP 179 at 3:15 PM

Date:
-
Location:
CP155

SCALE RATIOS

 

In fluid dynamics the Reynolds Number is the ratio of inertial to viscous forces, and is used to distinguish laminar from turbulent flow. Peter Haff (2007) applied this logic to develop a landscape Reynolds number, and also suggested how other generalized “Reynolds numbers” can be constructed as ratios of large-scale to small-scale diffusivities to measure the efficiencies of complex processes that affect the surface. As far as I know, there has been little follow-up of this suggestion, but the premise seems to me quite promising at an even more general level, to produce dimensionless indices reflecting the ratio of larger to smaller scale sets of processes or relationships. The attached file gives a couple of examples. 

 

CLIMATE CHANGE & ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

 

Climate change is here, it’s real, and it won’t be easy for humans to deal with. But few things are all good or all bad, and so it may be for climate change, at least with respect to environmental science and management.

A vast literature has accumulated in the past two or three decades in geosciences, environmental sciences, and ecology acknowledging the pervasive—and to some extent irreducible—roles of uncertainty and contingency. This does not make prediction impossible or unfeasible, but does change the context of prediction. We are obliged to not only acknowledge uncertainty, but also to frame prediction in terms of ranges or envelopes of probabilities and possibilities rather than single predicted outcomes. Think of hurricane track forecasts, which acknowledge a range of possible pathways, and that the uncertainty increases into the future.

Forecast track for Hurricane Lili, September 30, 2002. The range of possible tracks and the increasing uncertainty over time are clear. Source: National Hurricane Center.

"TAKEN" DYNAMICS TO THE SPATIAL DOMAIN

 

The foundation for time series analysis methods to detect chaos is the notion that phase spaces and dynamics of a nonlinear dynamical system (NDS) can be reconstructed from a single variable, based on Takens embedding theorem (Takens, 1981). Many years ago (Phillips, 1993) I showed that temporal-domain chaos in the presence of anything other than perfect spatial isotropy (and when does that ever happen in the real world?) leads to spatial-domain chaos. This implies an analogous principle in the spatial domain.

Assume an Earth surface system (ESS) characterized by n variables or components xi, i = 1, 2, . . , n, which vary as functions of each other:

ESS = f(x1, x2, , , , xn)

If spatial variation is directional along a gradient y (of e.g., elevation, moisture, insolation) then

dxi/dy = f(x1, x2, , , , xn)

dx2/dy = f(x1, x2, , , , xn)

.                 .                   .

THE SEMANTICS OF RESILIENCE

 

Resistance of environmental systems is their capacity to withstand or absorb force or disturbance with minimal change. In many cases we can measure it based on, e.g., strength or absorptive capacity. Resilience is the ability of a system to recover after a disturbance or applied force to (or toward) its pre-disturbance condition—in many cases a function of dynamical stability. In my classes I illustrate the difference by comparing a steel bar and a rubber band. The steel bar has high resistance and low resilience—you have to apply a great deal of force to bend it, but once bent it stays bent. A rubber band has low resistance and high resilience—it is easily broken, but after any application of force short of the breaking point, it snaps back to its original state.

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