Biogenic Volatile lsoprenoid Emission and Levels of Natural Selection
Dani, K. G. S., S. Fineschi, and F. Loreto. 2015. Biogenic Volatile lsoprenoid Emission and Levels of Natural Selection. Journal of the Indian Institute of Science 95:1-13. | Find with Google Scholar »
|
Dear all,
Lots of stuff next week…see details below!
cheerio Mariella
General News and Announcements
Have your say – your feedback for 2014 and feedforward for 2015!
Please give me your thoughts and opinions in this anonymous survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CYGG5NT
Dean’s visit
Barbara Messerle, the new Dean will visit the Department on Monday 12 in the E8 tearoom. Please come along for some nibbles and a chat with Barbara!
Formal Department Meeting – February 10, 1-2pm E8 tearoom
All staff (professional and academics), post-docs and HDR students are requested to attend this formal meeting. Agenda below:
Formal part of the meeting
- Apologies
- Minutes of previous meeting (to be circulated prior to the meeting)
- Business arising from the minutes of previous meeting
- Consideration of Exam results for Session 3, 2015
- Consideration of examination results of students who have requested disruptions
- Discipline Cases
- S3 Prizes
- Any other business (AOB)
Informal part of the meeting
- Associate Dean International – Kelsie Dadd
- TEDS – Mariella and Katch
- Copyright survey – Anne-Marie
- Amazing Race – Veronica & Anne-Marie
- MREs – Michelle & Grant
Please let me know if you want to add any item to the informal part of the meeting.
Supplementary HDR Conference
Feb 12 & 13 – watch for emails!
Curb email sprays!
Please do not send out items to the Department, unless they are urgent. Send them to me for inclusion in the Department Matters.
New to the Department
Professor David Mabberley
Our newest Honorary Associate is Professor David Mabberley, formerly Executive Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust (Sydney), is Emeritus Fellow, Wadham College, University of Oxford (UK), and Extraordinary Professor at the University of Leiden (The Netherlands). Besides finishing up some ‘legacy’ projects (including a fourth edition of his dictionary, ‘Mabberley’s Plant-book’ [ed. 3, 2008]) at MQ, he is working on the ecology and systematics of Citrus and its allies in the light of the threat of worldwide devastation of all citrus crops by huanglongbing (‘citrus greening’). David will be coming into the Department every Wednesday when in NSW. He will be based in the Honoraries room E8A281 and is keen to part of the biology community. So please email him for a chat (david.mabberley@mq.edu.au).
Dr Fleur Ponton
“My research focuses on better understanding the links and relationships between nutrition, gut microbiota, disease and immunity in insects to provide a more comprehensive and robust understanding of the key determinants of the outcome of host–pathogen interactions.”
Fleur will be located in W21F, and her email will be fleur.ponton@mq.edu.au
VC Commendation
Congratulations to Jasmin Ruch, whose PhD thesis was awarded a Vice Chancellor’s Commendation!
COPYRIGHT MONITORING SURVEY
The survey will run from 9th of February through Sunday the 3rd of May. This means that we will have to track ALL photocopying done on each of our 6 multifunction devices (4 in E7 and 2 up the hill) for the entire period. In addition all copying for teaching purposes, even if done off campus, is to be tracked. Printing, Scanning & Faxing does not need to be tracked. More details are attached!
Student welcome Lunches – Pizza!!!!!
The lunches are an informal opportunity for staff to mingle and meet with students. The event will be inside the marquee by the lake. Cocktail tables will be set up with a sign on each for each faculty. These will be the staff’s base and can roam and mingle from there. The Mentor Team leaders will act as hosts for the staff and meet staff aligned to their faculty upon arrival and show them to their area. We will also provide a name tag for everyone. Staff are welcome to enjoy the free pizzas and refreshments.
- International (Postgraduate) – Thursday 12 February, 12pm – 2pm, Lakeside Marquee near Campus Hub Building (C10A)
- International (Undergraduate) – Friday 13 February, 12pm – 2pm, Lakeside Marquee near Campus Hub Building (C10A)
- International (Undergraduate) – Monday 16 February, 12pm – 2pm, Lakeside Marquee near Campus Hub Building (C10A)
- Academic Orientation (First Year) – Wednesday 18th February, 12pm – 2pm, Lakeside Marquee near Campus Hub Building (C10A)
- Academic Orientation (First Year) – Friday 20th February, 12-2pm, Lakeside Marquee near Campus Hub Building (C10A)
- RSVP Friday Feb 13 – https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/studentsconnectstaffrsvps
Department Seminars
We (Elizabeth Madin and Mel Zeppel) are your new seminar series co-ordinators! We want to have a diverse and exciting lineup and we need your help! We’re now taking speaker nominations for second semester 2015 and first semester 2016. We’re particularly interested in bringing in any overseas/interstate visitors that may be in Australia or Sydney for conferences, meetings, etc. Please send any nominations to Elizabeth (dr.elizabeth.madin@gmail.com) or Mel (melanie.zeppel@mq.edu.au) by Feb. 16.
We also have one 20-minute speaker slot open for an internal speaker on May 6. Please let us know if you’re interested (emails above).
Lastly, we have a number of speakers that have already been scheduled but still need internal faculty/postdoc/senior postgrad hosts. Can you or someone in your lab host one of these fabulous individuals? Please email us if so!
- Richard Thackway – April 22
- Peter Scanes (OEH) – April 29
- Sharon Cummins – May 13
- Sally Powers (Univ. Western Sydney) – May 27
New Field-Work Manager
It is my absolute pleasure to announce that Sarah Collison has accepted the offer for the position of Senior Scientific Officer (Terrestrial) AKA- Terrestrial Fieldwork Manager. Please join me to congratulate Sarah. Wishing her all the very best in her new role. No doubt that Sarah will shine in this role with her personality and dedication to teaching and safety.
Rekha
Kick start your technical lab skills 2015
This two-day workshop is a course designed for students with little lab experience in particular school leavers transitioning to first year. The students will develop a range of practical skills for the laboratory, run before the start of semester. A suite of techniques are demonstrated and practised across two intensive days.
What will the student learn?
- Laboratory and chemical safety
- Aseptic techniques
- Microscopy and microimagery
- Making solutions
- Record and present data
- Health and safety
- Teamwork and communication with peers
Workshop 1
Date: Thursday 5 February – Friday 6 February 2015 Time: 9:30am to 3:30pm
Cost: FREE (Registration required)
Workshop 2
Date: Thursday 19 February – Friday 20 February, 2015 Time: 9:30am to 3:30pm
Cost: FREE (Registration required)
Technical Lab Skills Workshop content enquiries to:
Rekha Joshi
E: rekha.joshi@mq.edu.au
Register via links at: http://science.mq.edu.au/kick-start-technical-lab-skills/
Looking for Accommodation
Culum has two interns coming from the US looking for temporary accommodation:
Travis: March 2-May 15
Bethan: April 9-May 25
If anyone has room for these folk, contact Culum.
2015 AMSA ANNUAL AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE
These ones are for students, academics and technical staff!
Further details of eligibility and previous winners are available from the Australian Marine Sciences Association website www.amsa.asn.au.
Ecological Consultants Association of NSW – grants!
Val Williams Scholarship in Botany 2015
The North Shore Group, Australian Plants Society NSW Ltd offers a scholarship to provide financial support for scientific research in botany. Our inaugural scholarship was awarded in 2009 at $2,000 and will be maintained at $2,000 for our Seventh Round in 2015.
Our Scholarship honours the memory of the late Val Williams, an esteemed Australian Plants Society North Shore Group member and APS NSW President and student of botany and conservation. The Scholarship is open to students undertaking scientific research at the Honours, Masters or PhD levels. Conditions apply but the first criterion is that the research will contribute to the knowledge, conservation or propagation of native plants in the Sydney or surrounding regions.
Applications will close on 13th March 2015
Tthe application form can be downloaded from our web site at http://www.blandfordia.org.au/Scholarship.html
Looking for housemate – Thornleigh
- $250 per week + $ 500 deposit including electricity, etc.
- Minimum 2 months stay
- Single room with your own bathroom + single car park is available to rent in a nearly new three bedroom townhouse to share with a professional young couple and a dachshund. Room can be either furnished with a bed or unfurnished (already has a mirrored wardrobe).
- Features:
- Short walk to Thornleigh and Normanhurst Station, Parkway Plaza, Café and Restaurants.
- Gourmet kitchen with stainless steel appliances
- Gas cooking and granite benchtops
- Polished timber floor
- Private balcony and a shared backyard
- Double remote control lock up garage
- Lock up storage
- Air conditioning
- Fair use – Unlimited internet
- Looking for an environmental-friendly person who is tidy, considerate and shares household chores.
- Available NOW! Contact Yuna (Phone: 0432250790 / email: yuna.kim@mq.edu.au)
A spacious room to rent in Thornleigh
Amazing Race – Checkpoint needed
Just following up on the email I sent a week or so ago regarding the Amazing Race Checkpoint provider details and a reminder to complete the online form located here about what challenges you will run at your checkpoint.
If you could please complete this survey form back to me by COB Feb 12th it would be very much appreciated.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions Amie O’Brien <amie.obrien@mq.edu.au>
Level 3 E8A printer now networked
The B&W printer in the E8A corridor (outside Gunella’s old office) belongs to biology and is now networked for printing & scanning. You can add the printer in the usual way. For instructions click here. The printer address is E8A3xx. Please let Anne Marie know if you have any trouble.
Society for Conservation Biology
“The Extinction Crisis – man the lifeboats”
Monday 9th February –
6.30 pm drinks, 7.30-8.30 pm for Discussion ($5 entry),
Taronga Zoo Theatre, Mosman (Under the Red Pillar near Zoo top entrance) RSVP on Eventbrite
Panelists: Scott Gorringe, Lesley Hughes, Richard Kingsford and Hugh Possingham
Volunteers
An army of volunteers wants to work for YOU!
iLearn announcement
Please be aware that Dataswitch, an essential tool that populates iLearn with unit information such student cohort information, handbook information, is down. Informatics are currently working on the issue and we will let you know when it has been resolved. This is an area outside of the Learning and Teaching Centre.
What does this mean?
In simple terms, iTeach cannot create any iLearn units at the moment.
Is my iLearn unit affected?
Yes – If you have created your unit for the upcoming session today.
Possibly – if you have created your unit for S1 before today but students have enrolled today, then they will not be appearing in your iLearn unit. *This does not refer to when they can access your unit (only if you set access to start from today). It just means that they will not appear in the list of enrolled students until Dataswitch is working again.
No – If you have not created your unit for S1 yet, should not be impacted.
Tutoring training
The Teaching Induction Program (TIP), is a professional development workshop program for tutors/sessional staff, run by the Learning and Teaching Centre. The program has undergone changes based on feedback for 2015. The program is made up of a set of six workshops delivered through a combination of face-to-face and online modes. The course requires 6 workshops to be completed to be eligible for a certificate of completion and payment from your department. See attachments for more details.
To register go to: https://www.mq.edu.au/ltc/Workshops/index.php
Email Mariella for an expression of interest
NCC Bushfire Conference May 26-27 – call for abstract
call-for-abstracts-detailed-information-nccmay2015
Academic Wall planer
Hannah has them for you!
Intellectual Speed Dating
Some photos from this week’s speed dating session for professional staff!
New Publications
Signal design and courtship presentation coincide for highly biased delivery of an iridescent butterfly mating signal
White, T. E., J. Zeil, and D. J. Kemp. 2015. Signal design and courtship presentation coincide for highly biased delivery of an iridescent butterfly mating signal. Evolution 69:14-25. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
How will climate change impact little Penguins?
Biologist Gemma Carroll talks to the Sydney Morning Herald about her PhD research on Little Penguins.
Read more »Top 50 Freaks – Feather-legged Assassin Bugs!
Feather-legged Assassin Bugs, studies by Matthew Bulbert, have made it into the New Scientist’s Top 50 Freeks.
See the attached to find out why!