Thursday, February 28, 2008
Cooper Award lecture to explain “The Fate of the Entire Universe”
 Dr. Kent Scheller, associate professor of physics, is the 2007 H. Lee Cooper Core Curriculum Teaching Award winner and will present the Cooper Award lecture at 3 p.m. Thursday, March 6, in Mitchell Auditorium in the Health Professions Center.His lecture is entitled “Science: Theories, Laws and the Fate of the Entire Universe.” “If that doesn’t grab you, nothing will,” he said in an interview with News and Information Services. “I’m excited about it.” Acknowledging that an explanation of the fate of the universe would be a daunting task, he said, “It will be a condensed version. The lecture is just an hour so we’ll have to hit the high points.” In the lecture, designed for a general audience, Scheller hopes to clarify misconceptions about science and make people understand why it’s important. “I’m not sure people appreciate the level to which science governs just about everything they do in life,” he said. The Cooper award was presented to Scheller at the 2007 Fall Faculty and Administrative Staff Meeting. It includes a generous stipend, a plaque, and additional monies for travel and faculty development. Scheller is using the funds to continue his breast cancer research - not a project one automatically associates with a nuclear astrophysicist. In his work, he bombards normal and malignant breast tissue with protons and examines the resultant x-ray emissions to determine whether the tissues differ elementally. “People don’t really lose sleep over nuclear astrophysics,” he said. “Not a lot of people care how silicon atoms are made in the interior of stars, but a lot of people care if their grandmother or mother is going to die of breast cancer. It’s those kinds of problems that are only going to be solved through mastery of science, and that’s why my talk is important.” Scheller holds a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. He joined USI in 1999. Focusing exclusively on teaching, the Cooper award honors a USI faculty member whose work in University Core courses has been especially creative and successful in furthering UCC goals. The Cooper award is named in honor of H. Lee Cooper, long-time friend and supporter of USI. |
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