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WVU chemistry professor helps organize international research school in India
West Virginia University chemistry professor Kenneth Showalter recently helped organize a two-week school in India for physics students from around the world.
The school – called Hands-On Research in Complex Systems – was supported by the United Nations and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, based in Italy, which fosters advanced studies and research, especially in developing countries. Forty-five male and female graduate students, in addition to students with doctoral degrees, traveled from 21 countries – some as far away as Brazil – to attend.
This was the first of three planned meetings of the school. It took place in Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat, a state in the Republic of India. The 2009 meeting is planned for Brazil, and the school is scheduled to meet in Africa in 2010.
“I have been very fortunate in my life, and it was terrific to help others and give them the same opportunities I had,” Showalter said.
Senior scientists led the school, utilizing tabletop experiments designed to be inexpensive and simple to conduct. The scientists educated the students by showing them that simple, well-planned experiments can address problems at the forefront of science. The experiments were designed to be inexpensive, so the students could easily observe and learn the ideas behind them and then bring those ideas back to their countries to teach others.
The school brought together students from throughout the world to collaborate, learn physics and promote science internationally. What impressed Showalter the most about the event was the camaraderie between the students and the senior scientists.
“It was fascinating to speak with students from all over the world, to listen to their ideas and to see how close they became in such a short period of time,” said Showalter, who organized the school with Rajarshi Roy of the University of Maryland, Harry L. Swinney of the University of Texas at Austin and Abhijit Sen of the Institute of Plasma Research, India. “It was just as much a learning experience for me as it was for them.”
The school taught important laboratory methods to young scientists, who have now returned to their institutions with an increased perspective on science and with new demonstrations and experiments to add to their curricula. Students made the most of their time at the school, attending a one-hour lecture each morning, followed by three hours in the lab and more lectures each afternoon. Lab time included experiments led by a senior physicist and an assistant.
Showalter is the C. Eugene Bennett Professor in WVU’s Department of Chemistry. Last year, he was recognized with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Re-Invitation Award and was invited to the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society of Berlin, one of Germany’s premier research institutions.
The WVU professor is co-writing the book, “Design and Control of Self-Organization in Chemical Systems,” with Alexander Mikhailov, whose research group is one of the world’s leading units studying pattern formation and dynamical behavior in chemical systems. Showalter’s research colleagues at WVU are collaborating with Mikhailov’s group to develop new methods for controlling pattern formation in chemical systems. The research will provide insights into biological processes such as cardiac fibrillation, the rapid, irregular contraction of the cardiac muscle fibers.
Showalter has worked with Mikhailov in the past. The pair wrote “Control of Waves, Patterns and Turbulence in Chemical Systems,” which was published in Physics Reports in 2006.
In 2005, Showalter received a $500,000 grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation for his research in spatiotemporal dynamics and complex systems. His work has been featured in Science, among other national publications, and he received the Alexander von Humboldt Forschungspreis (research prize) in 1999.
The C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences is one of WVU’s major contributors in the areas of learning and discovery, awarding bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in all fields of modern chemistry. Chemistry faculty members have obtained millions of dollars in federal grants for research in areas ranging from the design and control of wave propagation patterns in chaotic systems to the identification of chemical markers indicative of disease in humans. The department also has state-of-the-art equipment, including a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Facility, funded by the National Science Foundation, which serves researchers across the University.