Mapping Every Element: Paul Karan and the Geography of China

Paul Karan of the Geography department will be instructing a course on China's geography in the Spring semester. It isn't just about maps, as Karan explains in this podcast, but rather the different ways many major elements of human life can connect in one field of study. Karan also details how and why this course can be beneficial to anyone, even those outside of the Geography major.

NATURAL SELECTION

 

Natural selection is most familiar with respect to Darwinian evolution. However, though some biologists will argue that selection acts only on genes, this is a very narrow and restricted view. Selection operates on a variety of environmental phenomena, and at a variety of scales. In hydrology and geomorphology, the principle of gradient selection dictates that the most efficient flow paths are preferred over less efficient ones, and that these paths tend to be reinforced. That’s why water flows organize themselves into channels (more efficient than diffuse flows), and channels into networks. The principle of resistance selection in geomorphology is simply that more resistant features will persist while less resistant ones will be removed more quickly. Thus geomorphic processes select for certain forms and features and against others. Among others, Gerald Nanson, Rowl Twidale, and Luna Leopold have written on selection in geomorphology, and Henry Lin, among others, in hydrology.

 

Principle of gradient selection at work--Board Camp Creek, Arkansas

College of Arts & Sciences Student Ambassador Information Session

Do you have a major in the College of Arts & Sciences?  Do you want to get more involved on campus, work with a dynamic, energetic group of fellow A&S students, and talk to others about the College of Arts & Sciences student experience? 

Then you should think about applying to be an Arts & Sciences Ambassador!  Come to this information session to learn more about this great opportunity.  For more information, go to this web site: 

http://www.as.uky.edu/ambassador-program-application

This will count as a Wired Event!!

Date:
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Location:
Champions Court 2 - First Floor Rotunda

Topology Seminar

Title:  The Freudenthal Suspension Theorem

Abstract:  The Freudenthal suspension theorem asserts that for an (n-1)-connected CW complex X the suspension map from \pi_i(X) to \pi_{i+1}(SX) is an isomorphism for i < 2n - 1 and a surjection for i = 2n - 1. We will introduce relative homotopy groups and the long exact sequence in homotopy groups for a space X and a subspace A. With these tools we will show how the Freudenthal suspension theorem follows from the homotopy excision theorem. Time permitting, we will examine some consequences for homotopy groups of spheres.

Date:
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Location:
745 Patterson Office Tower
Event Series:
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