Story Ideas:
Former UTEP Professors Calculate Life on 100 Million Planets
• The number of planets on which complex life could exist in the Milky Way may be as high as 100 million, according to a recent study published by two former UTEP professors and their colleagues in the online journal Challenges.
Louis Irwin, Ph.D., professor emeritus and former chair of biological sciences at UTEP, and his colleagues surveyed the growing list of more than 1,000 known exoplanets (planets in other solar systems). Using a formula that considers planetary density, temperature, substrate (liquid, solid, or gas), chemistry, distance from its central star, and age, Irwin’s team computed a “biological complexity index (BCI),” which rates planets on a scale of 0 to 1.0 according to the number and degree of characteristics assumed to be important for supporting multiple forms of multicellular life.
The BCI calculation revealed that 1 percent to 2 percent of exoplanets showed a BCI rating higher than Europa, a moon of Jupiter thought to have a subsurface global ocean which could harbor different forms of life. Based on an estimate of 10 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, and assuming an average of one planet per star, this yields the figure of 100 million. Some scientists believe the number could be 10 times higher, or more.
Irwin emphasized that the study does not indicate that complex life exists on that many planets – only that the planetary conditions that could support it do. He also noted that complex life doesn’t mean intelligent life (though doesn’t rule it out), or even animal life, but simply that organisms larger and more complex than microbes could exist in a number of different forms, quite likely forming stable food webs like those found in ecosystems on Earth.
A co-author of the study is Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Ph.D., former associate professor of geological sciences at UTEP who now works at Washington State University.
The full report is available at http://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/5/1/159.
UTEP Students Awarded Competitive Study Abroad Scholarships
• Ten UTEP students were awarded competitive scholarships to study abroad for summer and fall 2014 thanks to the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program.
The Gilman Scholarship Program is highly competitive, with more than 2,600 applications for approximately 700 awards.
The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is open to all U.S. citizen undergraduates in good academic standing who receive Federal Pell Grant funding, who will apply or be accepted into a study abroad program eligible for credit at the student’s home institution, and whose course of study will last at least four weeks in a single country.
Expert:
Consequences of the Summer Heat on Electrical Power and Energy Systems:
• Paras Mandal, Ph.D., assistant professor of industrial, manufacturing and systems engineering
His research addresses technological challenges associated with electric power and energy systems. Research areas focus on power system planning and operation in deregulated environment and intelligent systems application to power systems.
Press Events/Photo Opportunities On Campus:
June 9 – Sept. 27
8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday – Friday
Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts — L Gallery
Ignite: The Artistic and Educational Heritage of Gaspar Enriquez
The Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts will exhibit “Ignite: The Artistic and Educational Heritage of Gaspar Enriquez” June 9 – Sept. 27 in the L Gallery.
Summer hours for the Rubin Center are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with weekend hours by appointment. All events are free and open to the public.
To contact the Rubin Center, please call 915-747-6151, email rubincenter@utep.edu or visit rubincenter.utep.edu.
Monday, June 9 – Sept. 27
8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts — Rubin Gallery
Rachelle Thiewes: Something Gleams
The Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts will exhibit “Rachelle Thiewes: Something Gleams” June 9 – Sept. 27 in the Rubin Gallery.
Summer hours for the Rubin Center are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with weekend hours by appointment. All events are free and open to the public.
To contact the Rubin Center, please call 915-747-6151, email rubincenter@utep.edu or visit rubincenter.utep.edu.
Tuesday, June 10 – Aug. 2
10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Tuesday – Saturday
UTEP Centennial Museum
“Viva La Causa: Forging UTEP’s 21st Century Demographic”
On Dec. 3, 1971, students at The University of Texas at El Paso changed the face of the campus by taking over the Administration Building, demanding educational equality for Chicano/as. In honor of the Centennial Celebration, the Department of History presents an exhibit examining the Chicano/a Movement of the early 1970s. The exhibit highlights local student involvement in the context of the national Chicano/a Movement through the use of historical photographs and newspaper articles, original artwork and firsthand accounts of a pivotal movement in student activism on campus.
For more information, please contact the UTEP History Department at 915-747-5508 or the UTEP Centennial Museum at 915-747-5565.
Friday, June 13
8:30 p.m.
Kidd Field, UTEP Campus
Movies on the Lawn — The Game Plan
Returning for the program’s fourth season, Movies on the Lawn will show “The Game Plan” at 8:30 p.m. Friday, June 13 at Kidd Field. “The Game Plan” is a family sports comedy film rated PG featuring Dwayne Johnson as American Football Federation quarterback Joe Kingman, who scores a winning touchdown and opens his door the next morning to discover an 8-year-old girl saying she is his daughter.
In celebration of the Centennial Year, organizers will distribute giveaways to the first 100 people to arrive at each showing, offer contests on the UTEP Union Services Facebook page and set up a school supply drive for students in the community. The drive will collect school supplies such as paper, markers, crayons, glue, Kleenex, hand sanitizer, erasers and pencils. A collection area will be set up at each Movies on the Lawn showing. The school supplies will be disseminated to community students in need after the last show.
Two movies have been added to the usual eight-movie summer lineup in response to community member requests.
All films are free to the public and shown on an 18-foot inflatable screen.
The Movies on the Lawn series has been growing in popularity since it began in 2011. This year, the total attendance for the summer series is expected to reach about 5,000. In 2013, the total attendance was more than 2,500, which included four cancelled showings due to inclement weather.
At the concession stand, guests can purchase a $5 combo, which includes a 12 oz. can of soda, popcorn and a hot dog. Guests may also purchase a Centennial popcorn cup for $2.50. Popcorn refills are $1.50 for the rest of the season.
No alcohol or glass containers are allowed inside Kidd Field.
The venue is ADA accessible and all films will have closed captioning.
For more information, call Union Services at 915-747-5711 or visit https://www.facebook.com/UTEPUnion.
All films begin at approximately 8:30 p.m. or as determined by sunset.
Campus Spotlights:
UTEP Duo Leads New 3-D Printing Journal
• A new academic journal aimed at promoting the latest findings in 3-D printing and related fields will launch in early June, and its top editors are from UTEP.
Gaia Lupo, publisher and managing editor of Elsevier publications, will debut the premiere online edition of Additive Manufacturing during the RAPID Conference in Detroit’s Cobo Center. The conference is the industry’s largest gathering for people interested in rapid technologies, 3-D printing and 3-D scanning and the most up-to-date trends, techniques and developments in the fields.
Wicker and MacDonald, whose days already are filled with research, classes and on- and off-campus service obligations, said they looked forward to creating a quarterly online and print journal that provides colleagues with another avenue to present their research findings. The journal will cover new technologies, processes, methods, materials, systems and applications. Lupo also will introduce UTEP’s Ryan Wicker, Ph.D., as the editor-in-chief, and Eric MacDonald, Ph.D., as the deputy editor of the new journal. Wicker holds the Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh Murchison Endowed Chair in Engineering and is professor of mechanical engineering and director and founder of the W.M. Keck Center for 3-D Innovation. MacDonald is an associate professor in electrical and computer engineering and the center’s associate director.
Amsterdam-based Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, and deliver better care.
Lupo praised Wicker and MacDonald as excellent scientists and enthusiastic editors who are well regarded in their industry, and called the Keck Center the premier facility of its kind in the world. Since 2009, UTEP is one of the top in the nation for 3-D printing and has ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 3 in the world in the number of research articles appearing in additive manufacturing peer-reviewed journals.
The first issue will be free at www.journals.elsevier.com/additive-manufacturing
Wise Latina International Summit
• Gina Nuñez-Mchiri, Ph.D., associate professor of anthropology; Yolanda Chávez Leyva, Ph.D., department of history chair; Selfa A. Chew-Smithart, Ph.D., department of history lecturer; and Cemelli de Aztlan, adjunct professor in religious studies, will partner with Wise Latina International, a nonprofit corporation that serves the border area including Texas, New Mexico and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
The organization will present a summit titled “Tapestry of Evolution: Strength, owed and Influence” Friday, June 13 and Saturday, June 14 in El Paso’s downtown Arts District, including the El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso Library and El Paso Museum of History.
Wise Latinas’ mission is to “educate and empower Latinas and women of all walks of life to over overcome barriers, to be self-reliant, to become leaders and to act as agents of change in our communities through the arts and entertainment.”
The summit will promote and encourage economic, educational, health, socio/political empowerment for the betterment of Latinas in the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez border region. It also will celebrate the creative and scholarly accomplishments of Latinas and will offer a variety of workshops, readings, exhibits, and lectures. In addition, health screenings will be offered to the public.
Nuñez-Mchiri has widely contributed to Wise Latina by facilitating meetings leading up to the summit , serving as co-chair of the “Latina Identity Project,” and as a participant in the “Yo Soy” theater representation of Latinas leaders. Chávez Leyva will be featured in an exhibit of Latina historians and writers and will present a talk on “Women of the Borderlands: Curanderismo & Activism” at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Jun 14 at the El Paso History Museum’s Theater Room.
Chew-Smithart will present “Cuerpos Poeticos Poemas Breves” at 2:15 p.m. July 14 at the El Paso Pubic Library’s Sullivan Room. “Nuestras Historias” will highlight the stories of Latinas through a series of mobile banners with historical photographs researched and designed by UTEP students. Directed by Chew-Smithart, the project is part of the Department of History’s award-winning Museo Urbano.
For more information or to register, visit www.wiselatinainternational.org.