SUMMER 2008

Science with a purpose

... and a view

CMAST researchers are hard at work

for the health of our coasts

IN THIS ISSUE Scope Academy 3 Future meteorologists 9 Youngest supernova 11 PAMS Foundation 25th 14

scope A LO O K I N S I D E THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

NC STATE UNIVERSITY

PAMS Foundation Board of Directors

PAMS Alumni & Friends

Advisory Board

Officers

Benton Satterfield, President

Bill White, Vice President

Larry James, Secretary

General Members

Cindy Clark

Kim Deaner

Floyd Green

Scott Guthrie

Glenn Osmond

Jack Penny

Kimberly Potter

Er Ralston

Nancy Ridenhour

Pam Pittman Robinson

Chuck Wachtel

Leigh Wilkinson

PAMS Campaign

Committee

Eric Bigham

Charles Case

Eric Doggett

Suzanne Gordon

Julie McVay

Connie Moreadith

Emily Mann Peck*

Mike Peirson

Ginger Sall*

John Sall*

* Co- chairs

Bob Jordan

Liaison, University Committee

scope

Officers

Eric Doggett, Chairperson

Bill Trent, Vice Chairperson

Anita Stallings, President

Michelle Duggins, Secretary

Kathy Hart, Treasurer

Charles Leffler, Assistant Treasurer

General Members

Susan Atkinson

Thomas Bregger

Roy Cromartie

Maureen Droessler

Kevin Eldridge

Stephen Frye

Ned Guttman

Lawrence Ives

Don Johnson

Charles Joyner

Herbert Kirk

Karen Lackey

Rob Lindberg

David Montgomery

Mo Ogburn

Mike Peirson

Tom Rhodes

John Ryals

Cathy Sigal

Cecil Smith

Glen Snider

Michael Thompson

Bill White

Leigh Wilkinson

Glen Williams

Meredith Williams

Mark Wyatt

Christian Wypasek

Miriam Zietlow

Emeritus

Richard Cook

Scope is published by the College of

Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

The College is made up of internationally

recognized departments:

Physics

Mathematics

Chemistry

Molecular & Structural Biochemistry

Statistics

Marine, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences

Dean

Daniel Solomon

Managing Editor

Anita Stallings

Editor

Steve Townsend

Contributing Writer

Tracey Peake

Design

Zubigraphics

12,500 copes of this public document

were printed at a cost of $ 8,120.00

or 65¢ per copy.

On the cover:

David Eggleston stands on a balcony at

NC State's Center for Marine Sciences

and Technology ( CMAST). Located on the

shores of Bogue Sound, CMAST is a leader

in research, education and outreach on

marine systems ( see page 4).

Photo by Steve Townsend.

SUMMER 2008 in this issue...

4

8

11

16

Dean’s message

2 PAMS and the public good

College news

3 Scope Academy has more to offer than ever

9 Course allows future meteorologists to apply their knowledge to real- world challenges

15 Welcome to the Office of College Advancement

Research highlights

4 Science with a purpose… and a view

10 Failed HIV drug gets second chance with addition of gold nanoparticles

11 Astrophysicist discovers youngest known supernova in Milky Way

Honors

12 Notables

13 Pantula elected president of American Statistical Association

13 Fornes receives prestigious Holladay Medal of Excellence

Alumni and Development news

14 PAMS Foundation turns 25

15 Achieved! NC State concludes record- breaking capital campaign

16 Faculty member leads by example to establish first physics professorship

Just for Fun

8 State Climate Office announces winners of the Young Weather Photographers Contest

More than 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson

wrote, “ Whenever the people are well

informed, they can be trusted with their own

government.” Just under a century later, North

Carolina State University was established as a

land- grant institution “ to provide teaching,

research, and extension services to the people

of North Carolina.”

A lot about our state, our nation and our

world has changed since the days of President

Jefferson— or even NC State’s first president,

Alexander Quarles Holladay— but the value of

an educated and informed population is as

important today as it was in 1789 or 1887. In

fact, as the challenges we face as a society con-tinue

to grow in scope and complexity, more

and better resources than ever are needed to

ensure that we make wise decisions.

This is an area where the College of

Physical and Mathematical Sciences plays an

important role. When we were established

nearly 50 years ago, the College’s primary

function was to contribute to the scientific

literacy of NC State students through our

significant role in the university’s general

education program and our undergraduate

and graduate curricula. While we have expe-rienced

tremendous growth in the years

since, PAMS remains committed to that edu-cational

mission.

In fact, as you will see on the pages that fol-low,

we believe it is our responsibility not only

to educate future scientists, but also to inform

current and future leaders in government, edu-cation

and industry on the importance of

science in our society.

We believe that our governmental leaders

require a strong scientific knowledge base that

informs the development of wise public poli-cies,

and that citizens require the necessary

information with which to evaluate them.

Through their relationships in Carteret

County, across North Carolina and up and

down the East Coast, Dave Eggleston and his

colleagues at the Center for Marine Sciences

and Technology ( CMAST) are serving as a

clearinghouse for such information as it relates

to marine systems issues.

We believe that our alumni and friends can

continue to be engaged as lifelong learners

well past their college days. Through pro-grams

such as Scope Academy, Scope maga-zine

and many others, we regularly update

our alumni and friends— many of whom are

leaders in their various fields— on the scien-tific

advances of our researchers and on the

scientific issues of the day.

Finally, we believe that our faculty should

be leaders in their disciplines. We achieve this

through faculty members like Sastry Pantula,

the head of our Department of Statistics. As

president- elect of the American Statistical

Association, Pantula will be actively engaged

in setting the national agenda for his discipline.

A well- informed people certainly can be

trusted with their own government, and PAMS

can be trusted to inform all the people of

North Carolina and beyond— as we have for

the last half century.

Daniel L. Solomon, Dean

2 ■ SUMMER 2008 | scope

We believe it is our responsibility not only to educate

future scientists, but also to inform current

and future leaders in government, academics and

industry on the importance of science in our society.

Dean Dan Solomon shares a laugh with Prema Arasu, NC State’s associate vice provost for inter-national

academics, during a tour of the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. NC State is

a primary partner in the campus, a world- class research hub where collaborative science will lead the

charge for great discoveries in nutrition, health and biotechnology research.

PAMS and the public good

PHOTO BY BECKY KIRKLAND

scope | SUMMER 2008 ■ 3

What do you get when you combine two of

the College’s most popular events into one

exciting weekend? If our math is right, you’ll

get the best Scope Academy ever.

The bulk of the action for Scope Academy

2008 is on Saturday, Oct. 11. The day begins

with a brunch for friends and alumni of the

Department of Mathematics, followed by

classroom sessions led by PAMS’ distin-guished

faculty.

These “ Scope Seminars” have received rave

reviews in past years. This year should be no

exception with topics that include:

■ Between Dose and Response The crit-ical—

but often overlooked— role of phar-macokinetics,

pharmacodynamics and

statistics in optimizing drug treatment

( Marie Davidian, Statistics)

■ Diving for Science The impact of

SCUBA- based research from the Bahamas

to the Florida Keys ( David Eggleston,

MEAS)

■ Driving Discovery and

Development What

the research we’re

doing at NC State

means for the state, the

nation and the world

( Ray Fornes, Associate

Dean for Research)

■ Clearing the Air

Discussing the contro-versial

relationship

between smog and

premature death

( Montserrat Fuentes,

Statistics)

■ The Physics of Sports The huge role sci-ence

plays in the way athletes perform and

the way the game is played ( David Haase,

Physics)

■ Cartilage Regener-ation

Transforming

gels into living tissue

through mathematical

modeling ( Mansoor

Haider, Mathematics)

■ Battling Biofilms

From inside your lungs

to outside a ship’s hull:

How a class of chemi-cal

compounds can

prevent communities of

bacteria from forming

( Christian Melander,

Chemistry)

■ Inside the VORTEX

NC State’s exciting role

in the study of torna-does

( Matt Parker,

MEAS)

■ Get Energized! Parti-cipate

in the fun, hands- on activities The

Science House is using to encourage

young people to engage in the important

study of energy ( Sharon Schulze, The

Science House)

■ What Happened? A panel of NC State

experts explains the math behind the sub-prime

collapse and the credit crunch ( Jeff

Scroggs, Mathematics)

The Scope Seminars will

be followed by the Scope

Lecture and inaugural

Mathematics Distinguished

Lecture, presented by Dr.

Donald Saari of the

University of California-

Irvine. Widely cited in both

academic and popular pub-lications

as an expert on

voting methods, Saari’s lec-ture

is titled “ Chaotic

Elections: A Mathematician

Looks at Voting.”

The evening will con-clude

with the College’s

annual Realizing Possi-bilities

dinner. This extremely popular event

has moved to the fall this year. As in past

years, this event will honor the teachers and

endowment donors who have positively

impacted the lives of PAMS students. This

year, we will also celebrate the College’s suc-cessful

conclusion of the Achieve! Campaign

for NC State.

Established four years ago as PAMS

Alumni and Friends Weekend, Scope

Academy quickly has grown into one of the

university’s most successful public education

outreach initiatives. According to Dean Dan

Solomon, the event is critical in the College’s

efforts to promote a scientifically literate pop-ulation.

“ Beyond educating those who will work

directly in science and technology fields, it’s

also important that we develop a strong sci-entific

knowledge base among the general

public and those who frame public policy,”

Solomon says. “ Decision makers need solid

scientific information to make sound policy

decisions, and citizens need the tools with

which to evaluate them. Through resources

like Scope Academy, PAMS seeks to serve as

an active and engaged resource for both of

these groups.”

Formal invitations to Scope Academy 2008

were mailed in mid August. Online registration

is available at www. pams. ncsu. edu/ weekend.

For more information, please e- mail pams_ info

@ ncsu. edu or call 919- 515- 3462.

Scope Academy

has more to

offer than ever

Donald Saari

But don’t think for a second that the resort-like

setting means the folks at CMAST are tak-ing

it easy. In fact, they’re hard at work tackling

a wide array of marine system challenges that

impact coastal regions in North Carolina and

around the world.

The center

of the action

Chartered in 1997 and housed in its current

55,000- square- foot facility since 2000,

CMAST has been under the direction of

David Eggleston for the past two years.

Eggleston, also a professor in PAMS’

Department of Marine, Earth and

Atmospheric Sciences ( MEAS), is rightfully

proud of the unique diversity of expertise

within CMAST. Center faculty and students

are studying everything from shoreline ero-sion

to improving the quality and safety of

seafood preparation statewide.

“ We have representation from seven

departments and three colleges ( the colleges

of Agriculture and Life Sciences and

Veterinary Medicine in addition to PAMS)”

he says. “ I’m not aware of any other center at

NC State that brings together this type of

expertise under one roof.”

Much more than just an NC State build-ing

that happens to be located at the coast,

the CMAST facility represents a unique edu-cational

partnership between the state uni-versity

and community college systems. In

addition to CMAST, the building houses per-sonnel

from Carteret Community College,

NC Cooperative Extension, and NC Sea

Grant.

The building is also strategically located in

the heart of a bustling marine systems

research and education community. The

UNC- Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Science

and the NC Division of Marine Fisheries

headquarters are within walking distance, and

the Duke University Marine Laboratory, the

National Atmospheric and Oceanic

Administration/ National Ocean Service

Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat

Research, the NC Maritime Museum and the

NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores are all

within a short drive.

Eggleston says each institution benefits

from being a part of the greater community.

“ People sometimes ask why there are so

many marine labs around here,” Eggleston

says. “ I explain to them that a lot of the chal-lenges

we face are incredibly complex, and

our expertise complements each other to

address the challenge from all angles.”

To illustrate his point, Eggleston explains

the exciting role CMAST is playing as a mem-ber

of the NC EONS ( North Carolina

Environmental Observation Network System)

partnership. NC EONS is a collaboration of

seven North Carolina universities and addi-tional

state and federal agencies tasked with

developing a coordinated environmental

observing and modeling system in the North

Carolina estuaries and coastal waters.

The Albemarle- Pamlico Estuarine System

is the country’s second largest estuary and

North Carolina’s most valuable marine

resource, but little is known about the water

quality, fisheries and physical behavior. To

rectify this, the NC EONS team is building a

325- square- foot platform 15 feet above the

surface of southern Pamlico Sound and about

three miles north of the Cedar Island Ferry

terminal. The platform, made possible by

funding from the North Carolina Research

Competitiveness Fund and additional sup-port

from the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration and U. S. Army

4 ■ SUMMER 2008 | scope

Located in Morehead City

on the shores of Bogue Sound,

NC State University’s Center

for Marine Sciences and

Technology ( CMAST) has a

view that would give a lot of

beachfront hotels a run for

their money.

SCIENCE WITH A PURPOSE ...

PHOTO BY STEVE TOWNSEND

The Center for Marine Sciences and Technology

Corps of Engineers, will be loaded with sen-sors

and monitoring devices. It also will be

equipped with high- bandwidth communi-cations

tools that allow distant researchers,

students, policy makers and others to access

data that are vital to monitoring the health

of the system and to understanding its

response to climate change.

Don Stanfield, CMAST’s electronics tech-nician,

has been heavily involved in the proj-ect

from the beginning. Stanfield designed

the platform and is one of two lead techni-cians

engineering and installing its instru-mentation.

According to Stanfield, data

collected at the platform will include live

video and meteorological conditions; water

level, circulation, temperature, salinity and

quality parameters; and fisheries informa-tion,

such as acoustic reflection data.

Where have

all the oysters

and blue

crabs gone?

While he speaks enthusiastically about all

the research going on at CMAST, Eggleston’s

own expertise is in marine ecology and con-servation.

Much of his work is devoted to

improving the health of species native to

North Carolina’s coastal waters, including

the oyster and the blue crab. Both species are

vital to the state’s ecology and economy and

have seen dramatic declines in their

AND A VIEW

COURTESY OF CMAST

scope | SUMMER 2008 ■ 5

David Eggleston

6 ■ SUMMER 2008 | scope

populations in recent years.

One of Eggleston’s doctoral students,

Brandon Puckett, recently received a presti-gious

National Marine Fisheries Service- Sea

Grant Joint Population Dynamics Graduate

Fellowship for his work on oyster population

dynamics. Puckett’s work, conducted under

the guidance of Eggleston and Kyle Shertzer

of the NOAA Center for Coastal Fisheries and

Habitat Research, involves monitoring cur-rent

oyster reserves and optimizing future

reserve designs, using Pamlico Sound as the

model system. The fellowship will provide

funding for Puckett to continue his work at

CMAST for the next three years.

“ This work will help answer a lot of prac-tical

questions about the effectiveness of the

current reserves, specifically the survival rate

of individual reefs and their interaction with

each other through water current and larvae

flow,” Puckett says. “ The hope is that the

results will give us— and, in turn, give the NC

Division of Marine Fisheries— a better under-standing

of spatial management practices and

in particular, marine reserve network design.”

Eggleston has been studying the blue crab

since he joined the MEAS faculty in 1993, and

he has developed an extensive body of work on

the species. He shares his expertise with col-leagues

and policy makers within North

Carolina as a member of the NC Division of

Marine Fisheries’ Scientific Advisory Com-mittee

for Blue Crab.

The blue crab is North Carolina’s leading

commercial fishery product by both weight

and dollar value, accounting for over $ 21 mil-lion

in 2007 even with the diminishing land-ings

of recent years. Eggleston’s latest work

could actually increase blue crab numbers dra-matically.

He is working with other researchers

through a partnership led by the University

of Maryland to see if hatchery- born blue crab

can be successfully raised in freshwater farm

ponds. Eggleston says the initial growth and

survival rates in pilot studies were promising,

but the real test will come this fall.

“ We just stocked a private lake here in

Carteret County with 60,000 hatchery- born

crabs,” he says. “ We’ll know in a few months

if we have the science down so that it can be

applied on a larger scale. If so, we’ll be able

to simultaneously lessen the ongoing strain

on wild populations and help local farmers

diversify their products.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF CMAST

Whether it’s oysters, oceans, blue crabs or

beaches, Eggleston believes CMAST can play

a large role in the long- term health of the

entire coastal region.

“ It’s all about sus-tainable

coastal devel-opment,”

he says.

“ The best way to do

it is to identify all the

resiliency indicators

we can — whether they

be biological, eco-nomic,

chemical—

and manage as

best we can for

those indica-tors.”

Promoting sustainable coastal

development through research,

education and outreach

CMAST is not just a place for academic research. David Eggleston and his colleagues take

great pride in providing real- world solutions to marine systems issues and opportunities to

engage the center’s neighbors, regardless of age or educational background.

Here is just a small sample of current and proposed activities that have created a buzz up

and down the coast:

Blue Heron Bowl

CMAST volunteers assisted with last year’s Blue Heron Bowl in Morehead City. Blue Heron

Bowl is the regional competition for the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, an academic com-petition

for high schools on topics related to the study of oceans. Blue Heron Bowl partici-pants

compete for college scholarships, research trips, computers and the chance to attend

the national competition. This year’s North Carolina champion was the team from East Carteret

High School. The team’s captain, Matt Joyner, will enroll in the MEAS department at NC State

this fall.

Habitat Restoration and Living Shoreline Demonstration Project

Shortly after moving into its current facility in 2000, CMAST partnered with Carteret

Community College and community volunteers to investigate ways to better protect water

quality in Bogue Sound while also controlling shoreline erosion. The result was a system of

offshore breakwaters, stone sills, man- made wetlands and coastal marsh that serves as a

living laboratory and classroom to more than 300 K- 12 and college students each year.

Student Center Project

Still in the early planning stages, this center would provide housing to high school, under-graduate

and graduate students engaged in CMAST education or research opportunities as

well as to rotating faculty from NC State’s main campus and visiting scholars from around

the world. Plans call for the center to be a LEED- certified building, so it will also serve as an

example of sustainable coastal building.

scope | SUMMER 2008 ■ 7

The NC EONS Platform will change

the way scientists, students and policy

makers look at the Albemarle- Pamlico

Estuarine System.

For more

information

CMAST: www. cmast. ncsu. edu

NC EONS PROGRAM: www. nceons. org

NC COOPERATIVE EXTENSION:

www. ces. ncsu. edu

NC SEA GRANT: www. ncseagrant. org

BLUE HERON BOWL:

www. unc. edu/ ims/ blueheronbowl

The State Climate Office of North Carolina

( SCO) recently concluded its first- ever weather

photography contest. The contest was open to

photographers between the ages of 7 and 16,

with the stipulation that the photo must have

been taken in North Carolina. The first place

winner received a rain gauge, an NC State prize

pack and a tour of the SCO offices on

Centennial Campus. Second and third place

received NC State prize packs.

SCO plans to run the contest again next

spring. For more information or to see more

photos from this year’s contest, please visit

www. nc- climate. ncsu. edu/ contest.

8 ■ SUMMER 2008 | scope

State Climate

Office announces

winners of the

Young Weather

Photographers

Contest

FIRST PLACE — Kalyn Faggart, 11th Grade, Concord, NC.

Photo of a lightning strike ( taken from her front porch).

THIRD PLACE — Kara Stonecypher, 5th Grade, Chapel Hill, NC.

Photo showing the impact of the drought ( taken last summer

at the North Carolina Zoo).

SECOND PLACE — Kristen Kokkelenberg, 7th Grade, Holly Springs, NC.

Photo of sun rays through the clouds ( taken on a bike ride near her home).

To be top candidates for good jobs and

graduate school slots, students need experi-ence

solving messy, real- world problems that

do not fit into an idealized model or a neat

textbook solution. That is why associate pro-fessor

Sandra Yuter of marine, earth and

atmospheric sciences incorporates a semester

project into her remote sensing class that

requires the students to apply their knowledge

to a practical application.

Each student in Yuter’s Introduction to

Remote Sensing class is assigned to a group and

given a specific geographic location and season.

The student groups tailor and justify a weather

radar observing system consistent with their

specific climatic conditions.

Each group has unique challenges. For

example, one group had to deal with a small

island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean;

another location was surrounded by moun-tain

ranges; other groups dealt with ongoing

threats of monsoons, hurricanes or tornadoes.

The groups have various project milestones

during the semester, but the true test of their

work is a poster presentation session at the end

of the semester. These posters, similar to those

presented at a professional or academic con-ference,

are judged by MEAS faculty and per-sonnel

from the National Weather Service

office in Raleigh.

In addition to testing the students’ grasp of

the basic physical principles behind remote

sensing, the final project requires students to

develop some of the interpersonal and com-munication

skills they will need to succeed.

“ They have to work together to figure out

how best to apply theory and data to a specific

set of needs and constraints, make design deci-sions,

and then justify to the judges why they

made those decisions,” Yuter says.“ They’re not

just learning the science, they’re learning to

work together and developing the confidence

to apply the science and explain it to others.

They’re also getting a chance to showcase their

knowledge and abilities to some of the very

people they want to work with when they

graduate.”

Yuter’s Spring 2008 class put their best foot

forward when they made their presentations

on an April afternoon in Jordan Hall. Students,

mostly dressed in business or business casual

attire, were more than willing to share their

work and their thoughts on the experience.

The team of Steven Harrington, Jason

White, and Casey Letkewicz was a good exam-ple.

Harrington and White were both gradu-ating

seniors who will enter the work force,

and Letkewicz is a graduate student. While

their levels of prior experience with radar and

career paths varied, each took something valu-able

from their time in the class.

For White, the most valuable aspect of the

class was that it forced him to present and dis-cuss

the science as part of a team. For Letkewicz,

who had some prior experience studying radar,

it was useful to “ get so specific” and to apply the

theory to specific real- world settings and prob-lems.

For Harrington, it was hard to nail down

the most useful aspect of the experience. “ I

learned something new every day,” he admits.

“ The whole class helped me out.”

Barrett Smith ( BS ’ 05, MS ’ 07 MEAS) was

a student in Yuter’s first class that participated

in this exercise. Now employed at the National

Weather Service in Raleigh, he’s been back twice

as a judge.“ I’m always extremely impressed by

the professionalism the students show in their

presentations,” Smith says. “ Meteorology jobs

are focused around the presentation of infor-mation,

whether it is research at conferences

or daily forecasts. These projects give students

a chance to practice their presentations skills

in front of professionals.”

scope | SUMMER 2008 ■ 9

Course allows future meteorologists to apply their

knowledge to real- world challenges

MEAS students Jason White, Steven Harrington and Casey Letkewicz pose in front of their poster.

PHOTO BY STEVE TOWNSEND

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

Doppler radar images from the National Weather Service in Raleigh

10 ■ SUMMER 2008 | scope

PAMS researchers have discovered that

adding tiny bits of gold to a failed HIV drug

rekindle the drug’s ability to stop the virus

from invading the body’s immune system.

The addition of gold nanoparticles to a

modified version of a drug designed in the

1990s to combat HIV— but discarded due to

its harmful side effects— creates a compound

that prevents the virus from gaining a cellu-lar

foothold, say Christian Melander, assis-tant

professor of chemistry, and doctoral

student T. Eric Ballard.

The drug, a compound known as TAK-

779, was originally found to bind to a spe-cific

location on human T- cells, which blocks

the HIV virus’ entry to the body’s immune

system. Unfortunately, the portion of the

drug’s molecule that made binding possible

had unpleasant side effects. When that por-tion

of the molecule— an ammonium salt—

was removed, the drug lost its binding ability.

That’s when Melander and colleagues

from the University of North

Carolina at Chapel Hill and

the University of Colorado

at Boulder turned to gold as

the answer. The element is

non- reactive in the human

body, and would be the

perfect “ scaffold” with

which to attach mole-cules

of the drug in

the absence

of the ammonium salt,

holding the drug mole-cules

together and concen-trating

their effect.

“ The idea is that by attaching these

weak- binding individual molecules of

the drug to the gold nanoparticle, you

can magnify their ability to bind,”

Melander says.

The researchers’ theory proved correct. They

started with a modified version of TAK- 779,

which didn’t include the harmful ammonium

salt. After testing, they found that attaching 12

molecules of the modified drug ( SDC- 1721)

to one nanoparticle of gold restored the drug’s

ability to prevent HIV infection in primary

cultured patient cells, which are cells taken

directly ftom the patient. When only one mol-ecule

of the drug was attached to the gold

nanoparticle, the compound was unable to

prevent HIV infection, indicating that the mul-tivalency

of the drug was important for its

activity.

“ We’ve discovered a non- harmful way to

improve the strength and efficacy of an

important drug,” Melander says. “ There’s no

reason to think that this same process can’t

be used with similar effect on other existing

drugs.”

PHOTO BY STEVE TOWNSEND

COURTESY OF CHRISTIAN MELANDER

This graphic depicts a modified version of the

HIV drug TAK- 779 bonding to gold.

Christian Melander, center, takes a break

in the lab with some of his students. Failed HIV drug gets second chance

with addition of gold nanoparticles

An NC State astrophysicist has discovered

the youngest known supernova in our galaxy.

Estimated at a mere 140 years old, this celes-tial

whippersnapper is at least 200 years

younger than the next oldest known super-nova,

and its discovery may pave the way to

a greater understanding of exploding stars.

Stephen Reynolds, professor of physics,

led a team of researchers who suspected that

a celestial object known as G1.9+ 0.3 was a

very young supernova remnant. They exam-ined

images of the object that were taken in

2007 by NASA’s Chandra X- Ray Observatory

and compared these images to those taken

of the same object in 1985 by the National

Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large

Array radio telescope.

Not only did the Chandra images confirm

Reynolds’ suspicions that the object was a

young supernova remnant, but the scientists

discovered that the supernova had increased

in size by 16 percent in just 22 years, sug-gesting

that the initial explosion had

occurred only 140 years ago— or less if the

rate of explosion had been slowing.

Supernovae are exploding stars, and act

as the “ engines” that drive the life cycles of

galaxies. A supernova explosion disperses

heavy metals, cosmic rays, and high- energy

particles throughout the galaxy, aiding in the

formation of new stars. In fact, a supernova

explosion may have helped prod our own

solar system into existence.

The brightness of supernovae can easily

be obscured from optical telescopes by large

amounts of interstellar gas and dust, ren-dering

them all but invisible to astronomers.

X- ray and radio telescopes, however, can

detect the radio waves and high energy

X- rays that supernovae emit, enabling us to

“ see” even highly obscured explosions.

Reynolds says that the G1.9+ 0.3 super-nova

has the largest obscuration of any

known galactic supernova object.

“ If not for all the interstellar ‘ gunk’

between us and this object, people would

have seen this supernova as a new star in the

constellation Sagittarius in the years around

1870 to 1900,” Reynolds adds.

“ Normally, we deal with older remnants

and have to work very hard to see even tiny

changes. This supernova is getting brighter,

which means it’s still on its way up— study-ing

it will go a long way toward filling in gaps

in our knowledge of these events and their

effect on galaxies.”

scope | SUMMER 2008 ■ 11

Astrophysicist discovers youngest known

supernova in Milky Way

COURTESY OF STEPHEN REYNOLDS

PHOTO BY STEVE TOWNSEND

Image of a remnant of the most recent supernova

yet known in our galaxy, only about 100 years

old. The radio observation from 1985 ( orange)

is superimposed over the 2007 infrared

observation ( green).

Stephen Reynolds

Ronald Fodor ( MEAS) received a Fulbright

award to study and teach abroad during the

2008- 09 academic year. Fodor will use his

Fulbright to travel to Hungary for the spring

semester of 2009 to teach graduate geology

courses at Eotvos Lorand Technical University

in Budapest. Recipients of Fulbright awards

are selected on the basis of academic or pro-fessional

achievement and leadership poten-tial

in their fields.

Anthony Franklin ( Statistics graduate stu-dent)

received a 2008 Ford Foundation

Diversity Fellowship. This fellowship program

is administered by the National Research

Council of the National Academies and seeks

to increase the diversity of the nation’s col-lege

and university faculties by increasing their

ethnic and racial diversity, to maximize the

educational benefits of diversity, and to

increase the number of professors who can

and will use diversity as a resource for enrich-ing

the education of all students. Franklin was

one of only 120 scholars to receive either the

predoctoral, dissertation or postdoctoral

award.

Ryan Going ( Mathematics undergraduate

student) was selected to participate in the

National Institute of Standards and

Technology’s Summer Undergraduate

Research Fellowship ( SURF) program for

2008. Going spent 11 weeks in Boulder, Colo.,

learning about and working with nanowires,

which have the potential to produce inex-pensive,

high- quality ultraviolet and visible

light for displays, medical diagnostics, water

sterilization, and a host of other applications.

Going is a double major in electrical engi-neering

and applied mathematics.

Amit Lakhani ( Physics), Kasey Phillips

( Mathematics and Physics) and Jennifer Ricks

( Chemistry) were among 18 NC State science,

mathematics, engineering and technology

undergraduate students and recent alumni to

receive the National Science Foundation’s

prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship.

The Graduate Research Fellowship program

invests in graduate education for a select

group of diverse individuals who demonstrate

potential to successfully complete graduate

degree programs in disciplines relevant to the

mission of the National Science Foundation.

The three- year awards include a stipend, as

well as an educational allowance for tuition,

fees and health insurance.

Brandon Puckett ( MEAS graduate student)

received a 2008 National Marine Fisheries

Service- Sea Grant Joint Population Dynamics

Graduate Fellowship for 2008. The program

supports highly qualified doctoral students

interested in careers related to population

dynamics of living marine resources and the

development and implementation of quanti-tative

methods for assessing their status.

Awarded annually for up to four researchers

nationwide, the three- year award provides for

the fellow’s stipend, tuition and fees, health

insurance, travel and research expenses.

Please see more on Puckett’s research in the

cover story of this issue of Scope, which begins

on page 4.

The Department of Statistics, along with

corporate partner GlaxoSmithKline, received

the 2008 SPAIG ( Statistical Partnerships

among Academe, Industry and Government)

award for their collaboration in NC State’s

Graduate Industrial Traineeship ( GIT) program.

The GIT program, which was discussed in the

spring issue of Scope (“ Statistics programs

make national headlines,” pages 10- 11) places

students at area companies to get hands- on

experience and work in teams with excellent

mentors. Pam Arroway, teaching associate

professor, assistant department head and co-director

of graduate programs in the

Department of Statistics, directs the program.

For more information, contact Arroway at

pam_ arroway@ ncsu. edu.

12 ■ SUMMER 2008 | scope

PHOTO BY ALISON RUFF

COURTESY OF AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION

Dean Dan Solomon and Anthony Franklin

Notables

Pam Arroway accepts the 2008 SPAIG award from

ASA President Peter A. ( Tony) Lachenbruch

Sastry Pantula, head of the NC State

Department of Statistics and director of the

Institute of Statistics, has been elected as the

105th president of the American Statistical

Association ( ASA). Pantula will serve as ASA

president beginning Jan. 1, 2010.

The ASA is a scientific and educational soci-ety

founded in 1839, with 18,000 members

serving in academia, government, and indus-try.

The 2008 election featured the highest

voter turnout in ASA history.

A 2002 fellow of the ASA, Pantula received

the Young Statistician Award from the

International Indian Statistical Association in

2002 and the D. D. Mason Faculty Award in

2001. He is a member of the NCSU Academy

of Outstanding Teachers, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma

Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta and Mu Sigma Rho.

Pantula received his PhD in statistics from

Iowa State University, and master’s and bach-elor’s

degrees in statistics from the Indian

Statistical Institute in Calcutta, India. He

became the statistics department head at NC

State in 2002, after serving the university as

assistant department head, director of gradu-ate

programs and professor of statistics.

“ Statistics is the backbone of scientific

research,” Pantula says. “ ASA, in collabora-tion

with many other international associa-tions

and institutes, now has tremendous

potential to advance science and guide pub-lic

policy. The diversity of our membership

and the cross- sectoral relationships among

our members in academia, business, govern-ment

and industry provide a unique talent

pool to address global problems related to

health, environment and resources. I am

excited and humbled by this opportunity to

serve ASA at this pivotal time.”

In addition to Pantula’s election, PAMS

faculty members Montserrat Fuentes and

Zhao- Bang Zeng were selected this year as

ASA fellows.

NC State has a rich history of excellence in

statistics. The university’s Department of

Statistics is among the nation’s oldest and most

prestigious, having been founded by renowned

statistician Gertrude Cox in 1941. Among its

many contributions to the field, the depart-ment

is the birthplace of SAS, the world’s

largest privately owned software company.

scope | SUMMER 2008 ■ 13

PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD

Sastry Pantula

Pantula elected president of

American Statistical Association

Fornes receives

prestigious

Holladay Medal

of Excellence

PHOTO BY STEVE TOWNSEND

Raymond Fornes, professor of physics, was

a 2008 recipient of NC State’s Alexander

Quarles Holladay Medal of Excellence. Named

in honor of the university’s first president, the

Holladay Medal is the highest award given to

faculty by the Board of Trustees and the uni-versity.

It recognizes “ a lifetime of outstand-ing

achievement in support of NC State’s

mission.” A member of the NC State faculty

for nearly 40 years, Fornes also serves as

PAMS associate dean for research.

Raymond Fornes

14 ■ SUMMER 2008 | scope

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the

establishment of the North Carolina State

University Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Foundation. While this milestone may not get

as much attention as the upcoming 50th

anniversary of the founding of PAMS— which

will be celebrated in 2010— it offers a won-derful

opportunity to look back on the role

the Foundation has played in the tremendous

growth of the College over the last 25 years.

The mission of the PAMS Foundation is to

“ promote the educational, research and serv-ice

programs of the College … through per-sonal

advocacy … and by securing private

funding for priority programs.”

The first organizational meeting of the

PAMS Foundation was held at McKimmon

Center on July 6, 1983. The minutes from that

meeting report that Vice Chancellor George

Worsley, serving as the Foundation’s acting

treasurer, reported endowment assets of

$ 245,000. Thanks in no small part to sound

leadership by its volunteer board of directors

and the generosity of alumni and friends

around the world, the Foundation’s endow-ment

today is worth more than $ 10 million.

Garrett Briggs served as dean of the College

from 1981 to 1988 and was responsible for

establishing the PAMS Foundation. Briggs,

who went on to serve as president of Peace

College before retiring from academics in

1998, helped set the tone early on by chal-lenging

Foundation board members to serve

beyond an honorary capacity.

“ I told them that being on the board was

obviously partly in recognition of their pro-fessional

and personal achievements, but that

there was more to it,” Briggs recalls. “ I chal-lenged

them to be active champions for the

College wherever they went.”

Anita Stallings serves as president of the

PAMS Foundation board in her role as exec-utive

director of development and college rela-tions.

Through her 10 years of experience with

the Foundation, Stallings says the tradition of

“ active” board members is alive and well.

“ We’ve been incredibly fortunate to have

volunteers serve our Foundation who are as

enthusiastic, generous and hard working as

they are creative and insightful,” she says.

While the College has benefited immea-surably

from the energies of its Foundation

board members throughout its first 25 years,

inaugural board member Nancy Ridenhour

( BS ’ 76 Statistics) says the members can also

gain a lot from their involvement. Ridenhour

recalls a specific conversation she had with fel-low

board member and IBM site manager,

Dick Daugherty.

“ I still remember listening to Dick talk

about going to China and what the impact of

that huge population would one day have on

the world economy,” she says. “ That conver-sation

made a big impact on me. I take The

Economist magazine to this day.”

“ He certainly was right, by the way!” she

adds.

Fortunately for the College of Physical and

Mathematical Sciences, its Foundation board

members have been right about a lot of things

over the last 25 years.

PAMS Foundation turns 25

COURTESY OF NCSU LIBRARIES

In this photo from 1983, emeritus physics faculty

Jan Schetzina ( left) and former PAMS dean

Garrett Briggs ( right) accept a check from

representatives of Ford Aerospace. That same

year, Briggs established the PAMS Foundation,

which has helped the College dramatically

increase contributions from individuals and public

and private organizations over the last 25 years.

The PAMS Office of Development and

College Relations has changed its name to the

PAMS Office of College Advancement to bet-ter

reflect the breadth of services it provides to

the College. In addition to increasing private

financial support, the PAMS advancement team

also are involved— both at the College level and

in partnership with individual departments—

in building relationships with corporate and

foundation partners, improving alumni rela-tions,

and developing print and electronic com-munications

for a variety of audiences.

In addition to the name change, three new

staff members have joined the team since the

beginning of the year:

Steve Townsend joined the office in January

as director of communications. Steve is a grad-uate

of the University ofMichigan and Wayne

State University and comes to PAMS from Case

Western Reserve University. In his new role,

Steve is responsible for all the College’s print

and electronic communications, including

Scope magazine, PAMS Focus and the College

Web site.

Marla Gregg joined the office in April as

director of development for donor and alumni

relations. Marla is a graduate of the University

of Central Florida and comes to PAMS from

the UNC Center for Public Television. In her

new role, Marla will be responsible for engag-ing

alumni, friends, donors and potential sup-porters

of the College and its individual

departments.

The newest member of this team is Debbi

Fox- Davis. Debbi joined the office in July as

director of development. A graduate of George

Mason University ( BA) and Monterrey

Institute of International Studies ( MBA), Debbi

most recently served as assistant director of

development at Habitat for Humanity ofWake

County. She is responsible for building strong

relationships with PAMS supporters and iden-tifying

opportunities to match College priori-ties

with potential private resources.

While not new to the team, PAMS’ other

director of development, Denise Malloy

Hubbard, will take on an expanded role.

Hubbard, who previously had worked prima-rily

with individual donors and alumni, will

now also work with corporate and foundation

partners.

Anita Stallings, executive director of devel-opment

and college relations, and Michelle

Duggins, finance and donor relations officer

round out the team. For more information on

the Office of College Advancement or to con-tact

a staff member, please visit www. pams.

ncsu. edu/ development.

scope | SUMMER 2008 ■ 15

June 30 marked the official conclusion of Achieve! The Campaign for NC State. The fall issue

of Scope will include a complete report on the campaign results within PAMS.

In the meantime, please plan to join us as we celebrate the conclusion of the campaign at this

fall’s Scope Academy ( for more information, please see story on page 3 or advertisement on

back cover) and rest assured that the power of your generosity will have a transformational

impact on the lives of our students, the College and beyond for years to come.

New PAMS Advancement staff members

Debbi Fox- Davis, Marla Gregg and

Steve Townsend

Welcome to the Office of College Advancement

Achieved!

NC State concludes record-breaking

capital campaign

PHOTO BY BRAND FORTNER

There are any number of reasons donors

choose to support PAMS. Brand Fortner did

it to lead by example.

In addition to his role as a research profes-sor

in the Department of Physics, Fortner also

serves as the department’s development liai-son.

In this capacity, he works with his fellow

faculty members and the College’s advance-ment

staff to identify and develop fund rais-ing

opportunities for the department.

Leaving no doubt that he believes in what

he’s selling, Fortner earlier this summer pledged

a $ 333,000 bequest to establish the Brand

Fortner Distinguished Professorship. With a

match from the state’s Distinguished Professors

Endowment Trust Fund, Fortner’s gift will

establish a $ 500,000 endowment that will pro-vide

salary and other support in perpetuity for

a professor in the Department of Physics.

“ I am very proud to be associated with

physics at NC State,” Fortner says. “ I am also

confident in where we are going as a depart-ment,

and this gift is my way of showing that

I want to be a part of its continuing legacy.”

Fortner came to NC State in 2006. He pre-viously

was chief scientist of the intelligence

exploitation group of the Johns Hopkins

University Applied Physics Lab. Fortner has

also held positions at NASA and at the National

Center for Supercomputing Applications.

He is widely regarded as an expert in acces-sible

scientific visualization and in technical

data formats. He is the founder of two scien-tific

software companies and has written two

books on color vision and technical data. He

holds a PhD in physics from the University of

Illinois, where he funded a chair in astrophysics

and continues to co- sponsor a film festival.

According to Dean Dan Solomon, profes-sorships

like this are vital to the long- term suc-cess

of the department and the College.

“ PAMS routinely competes for the best and

brightest faculty members in the country,”

Solomon says. “ These types of endowments

are crucial for attracting and retaining out-standing

talent.”

Anita Stallings, executive director of devel-opment

and college relations, says that more

and more people are looking into creating

planned gifts like Fortner’s.

“ As more and more ‘ baby boomers’ are near-ing

the end of their first careers and starting to

retire in larger numbers, we have an increas-ing

number of alumni and friends who are

more seriously looking at their long- term

financial plans,” she says. “ Fortunately, some

of those folks are including NC State and the

College in those plans.”

Stallings adds that, in addition to a simple

will bequest, there are a number of other

planned giving options that can provide

income or reduce tax liability for the donor

right away. Please see the advertisement on the

facing page for more information. You can also

contact the PAMS Office of College Advance-ment

at pams_ dev@ ncsu. edu or 919- 515-

3462 to discuss a variety of philanthropic

options.

PHOTO BY STEVE TOWNSEND

Brand Fortner

Faculty member leads by example

to establish first physics professorship

How to

make a gift

You may remember how difficult it was

to manage the expense of higher educa-tion.

You may want to help today’s stu-dents

achieve their dreams.

The PAMS Foundation provides many

ways to support students, faculty and pro-grams

of the College. Whether you want

to contribute to an existing scholarship,

support a departmental enhancement

fund, make a memorial gift or consider

support in other areas, our staff is avail-able

to help you explore the options.

To support existing funds

To contribute to a scholarship, fellow-ship

or other fund, fill out our secure,

online gift form at https:// www3. acs.

ncsu. edu/ pams/ or mail a check to the

PAMS Foundation, Campus Box 8201,

Raleigh, NC, 27695. Make checks payable

to PAMS Foundation and write the name

of the fund on the “ notes” or “ for” line.

If your employer provides matches for

charitable donations, please send a

completed matching gift form with your

contribution.

There are many funds not mentioned

in this issue of Scope. For a full list of

funds, visit www. pams. ncsu. edu/ devel-opment/

funds. php or contact our office.

To explore other options

If you have questions about gift plan-ning,

we can help you identify tax benefits,

choose between permanent endowment

versus one- time support, and explore

estate planning or life- income options.

There are many ways to match your

interests with specific College needs, and

several possibilities for making your

vision a reality. Whether using cash,

appreciated stock, real estate or a

bequest, we can help you find the best

way to make the most of your gift.

Contact us at 919- 515- 3462 or by

e- mail at pams_ dev@ ncsu. edu.

16 ■ SUMMER 2008 | scope

NCSU Physical & Mathematical

Sciences Foundation

Campus Box 8201

110 Cox Hall

Raleigh, North Carolina 27695- 8201

pams_ dev@ ncsu. edu

919- 515- 3462

Through careful coordination with your financial planner and the PAMS Foundation,

it is possible for you to increase income, reduce or eliminate taxes— including income,

capital gains, gift, and estate taxes— while making a greater investment in the future

of PAMS than you ever thought possible.

Deferred, or planned, gifts come in many shapes and sizes. Contact us today at

pams_ dev@ ncsu. edu or 919- 515- 3462 for more information on achieving financial

security for you and PAMS through:

■ beneficiary designations for wills, trusts and retirement plans

■ charitable gift annuities

■ charitable remainder trusts

■ charitable lead trusts

■ remainder interest in a residence or farm

■ life insurance

How can you secure a legacy for

yourself and the College of Physical and

Mathematical Sciences all at the same

time? By ensuring that your financial,

retirement and estate plans are in

order, and considering a deferred gift

to PAMS in the process.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY

E n s u r e t w o L E G A C I E S

PAMS Foundation Board Meeting and Reunion

Invitation Only

Department of Mathematics Alumni & Friends Brunch

Scope Seminars

Featuring special classes about exciting topics:

■ Diving for science

■ The physics of sports

■ Tornadoes

■ Battling biofilms

■ Cartilage regeneration

… and more!

Scope Lecture

“ Chaotic Elections! A Mathematician Looks at Voting”

Donald G. Saari

Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Economics

Director, Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences

University of California- Irvine

Realizing Possibilities Dinner

Celebrating the successful conclusion of the Achieve!

Campaign for NC State and recognizing the generous donors

who made it possible

Join us on campus for a weekend of

celebration and exploration! Register now

at www. pams. ncsu. edu/ weekend.

Sponsored by the PAMS Foundation

PAMS Alumni & Friends Weekend presents scope academy 2008