Dr. James Loving Lichtenstein, Assistant Professor of Biology, Sacred Heart University “Predator Traits and Social Interactions Combine to Shape Meadow Ecosystems”

Quinnipiac Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society 

Seminar Series 

presents 

Dr. James Loving Lichtenstein, Assistant Professor of Biology, Sacred Heart University 

“Predator Traits and Social Interactions Combine to Shape Meadow Ecosystems” 

on 

Tuesday, November 18 at 12:30 PM in EC 101 

Predation shapes ecosystems and informs land management decisions. To better predict the how much predators eat, I have spent the last 10 years replicating the process in miniature in all sorts of different boxes. I have found that how much small predators like mantises and spiders eat depends on three things: 1) their traits (behaviors and size), 2) how much they bully each other, and 3) the complexity of their environments. This talk will introduce these questions of predation ecology and delve into my findings in more depth. We will explore how putting bugs in boxes and watching them fight can help answer some of ecology’s toughest question. 

Dr. James Loving Lichtenstein got his PhD at UC-Santa Barbara, where he researched the ecology of animal personality. Then, he tested predator-prey interaction models as a part of his Post-doctoral work at the Yale School of School of the environment. Next, he taught as a visiting assistant professor of biology at Kenyon college. Currently, he serves as an Assistant Professor of Biology at Sacred Heart University. 

Quinnipiac Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society 

Seminar Series 

presents 

Dr. Shawna Reed, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences 

“Intracellular Masterminds: Pathogen and Host Interactions in Q Fever Infection” 

on 

Tuesday, October 7 at 12:30 PM in EC 101 

Dr. Reed will discuss the mechanisms of intracellular bacterial pathogenesis. She will give a brief overview of her research at Quinnipiac including the development of the intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii and the interactions of bacterial proteins with host membrane trafficking pathways. 

Dr. Reed is passionate about uncovering the molecular interactions between host cells and intracellular bacteria. She has studied primate parasites (undergraduate), papillomavirus genome tethering (post-baccalaureate at NIH), Rickettsia and Listeria actin-based intracellular motility (PhD research at UC Berkeley) and Coxiella genetics and host interactions (Post-doc at Yale).  In her laboratory, she works with undergraduate students to study intracellular pathogens, bacterial genetics, interactions with host immune sensing pathways, and how individual bacterial effector proteins might contribute to virulence by hijacking host cell functions. 

 Congratulations!

• Graduate Student: Alphonce Manje (advisor Lisa Cuchara) 
• “Enhancing Public Awareness and Advocacy for Umbilical Cord Blood as a Key Source of Hematopoietic Stem Cells”

• Undergraduate Student: Molly Barney (advisors - Profs. Goodman, Hodges, Fischetti)
• “Secure Communication through Quantum Cryptography: A Hands-On Educational Tool”

• Undergraduate Student: Michael Bunce (advisor - Prof. Kirby)
• “The Redox Properties of a Holmium Bridged Polyoxometalate”

“Intracellular Masterminds: Pathogen and Host Interactions in Q Fever Infection”

Quinnipiac Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society 

Seminar Series 

presents 

Dr. Shawna Reed, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences 

“Intracellular Masterminds: Pathogen and Host Interactions in Q Fever Infection” 

on 

Tuesday, October 7 at 12:30 PM in EC 101 

Dr. Reed will discuss the mechanisms of intracellular bacterial pathogenesis. She will give a brief overview of her research at Quinnipiac including the development of the intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii and the interactions of bacterial proteins with host membrane trafficking pathways. 

Dr. Reed is passionate about uncovering the molecular interactions between host cells and intracellular bacteria. She has studied primate parasites (undergraduate), papillomavirus genome tethering (post-baccalaureate at NIH), Rickettsia and Listeria actin-based intracellular motility (PhD research at UC Berkeley) and Coxiella genetics and host interactions (Post-doc at Yale).  In her laboratory, she works with undergraduate students to study intracellular pathogens, bacterial genetics, interactions with host immune sensing pathways, and how individual bacterial effector proteins might contribute to virulence by hijacking host cell functions. 

“Edwin Hubble Discovers the Modern Universe, 1923-24: A Centennial Celebration” presentation by Dr. Marcia Bartusiak Wednesday, April 23, 5:15 PM, Burt Kahn Court in the Quinnipiac University Recreation and Wellness Center

  Quinnipiac Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society

Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer

Dr. Marcia Bartusiak, Professor of the Practice, Emeritus

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

“Edwin Hubble Discovers the Modern Universe,   1923-24: A Centennial Celebration”

Wednesday, April 23, 5:15 PM, Burt Kahn Court in the Quinnipiac University Recreation and Wellness Center

Combining her undergraduate training in journalism with a master’s degree in physics, Marcia Bartusiak has been covering the fields of astronomy and physics for four decades. A Professor of the Practice Emeritus in the Graduate Program in Science Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she has written for a variety of publications--including Science, Smithsonian, Discover, National Geographic, Technology Review, and Astronomy--and reviews science books for both The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. She is also the author of seven books, including "Einstein's Unfinished Symphony," her award-winning history of gravitational-wave astronomy, "Black Hole," and "The Day We Found the Universe" on the birth of modern cosmology, which won the Davis Prize of the History of Science Society.

In 1982, she was the first woman to win the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award and five years later was a finalist in NASA‘s Journalist-in-Space competition. She has also received the AIP Gemant Award, the Klumpke-Roberts Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and in 2008 was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, cited for “exceptionally clear communication of the rich history, the intricate nature, and the modern practice of astronomy to the public at large.” 

“Unraveling the Power of Protist-Bacterial Partnerships: Novel Auxin Dynamics in the Rhizosphere” Monday, April 14, 1:00 PM, Carl Hansen Student Center SC 119

  Quinnipiac Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society Seminar Series presents

Dr. Ravikumar Patel, Agricultural Post-Doctoral Research Scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station

“Unraveling the Power of Protist-Bacterial Partnerships: Novel Auxin Dynamics in the Rhizosphere”

Monday, April 14, 1:00 PM, Carl Hansen Student Center SC 119

Protists play a crucial role in shaping rhizosphere microbial communities, often forming symbiotic associations with bacteria enriched for plant-beneficial traits. Using metagenomic sequencing, we identified 61 unique bacterial genomes from maize rhizosphere protists, 70% of which contained phytohormone synthesis genes. We validated the gene annotation predictions by lab testing and found that auxin is the most prevalent trait.  We next asked if protists would respond to exogenously supplemented auxin. Auxin supplementation significantly enhanced protist growth, prompting transcriptomic analysis in Colpoda, which revealed over 1,700 differentially expressed genes linked to auxin signaling and cell cycle regulation. Our findings reveal a diverse array of heterotrophic rhizosphere protists associated with auxin-producing bacteria, exhibiting auxin-dependent growth phenotypes and gene expression. This is the first evidence of auxin-dependent growth in heterotrophic single eukaryotes. These findings highlight auxin's pivotal role in mediating tripartite interactions among plants, bacteria, and protists in the rhizosphere.

Dr. Ravikumar Patel is a postdoctoral research scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, CT, where he devotes his expertise to unraveling the complex interactions between single-cell eukaryotes, bacteria, and plants. With over a decade of research experience in microbiology, molecular biology, plant biology, and analytical chemistry, Dr. Patel specializes in the investigation of plant-associated microbes. His postgraduate work includes the identification of the mechanism of interaction between rhizosphere protists and bacteria and the molecular basis of bacterial pathogen survival against different control treatments. Dr. Patel received his Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Sardar Patel University. Throughout his career, he has published extensively, contributed to multiple prestigious journals, and been recognized with various awards.

14th Annual QU Sigma Xi Conference (2025) Wednesday April 23rd Abstract submission deadline Thursday April 17th (11pm)

 14th Annual QU Sigma Xi Conference (2025) Wednesday April 23rd  

Submit abstract HERE  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SigmaXiQU2025. 

• Abstract submission deadline Thursday April 17th (11pm)

• View the previous 2024 abstract booklet here: https://tinyurl.com/SigmaXiQU2024

• View the 2025 abstract booklet here: https://tinyurl.com/SigmaXiQU2025 to be added later

Posters are 4' long by 3' high. 

You can either have your posted printed or print your poster sheets:

Print the poster as a  large document (Staples or Kinkos Fedex North Haven) and clip it (clips provided) to the trifold

• template1

• template2

OR  Print 8.5x11 inch sheets, bring thumb tacks (come early & tack the sheets to your board)

Poster Hours: 3:00-5:00 pm 

• Students present posters with public attendance (students will be at their poster either 3:00-4:00 or 4:00-5:00, they can visit other posters during the other hour) 

• TBD # posters

• View the abstracts here: https://tinyurl.com/SigmaXiQU2025 (live on 4/22)

• Poster Session 3:00 – 5:00 PM on Burt Kahn Court in the Recreation and Wellness Center (students assigned first or second hour to attend to their poster).  To help out judging, contact Neil Schultes (Neil.Schultes@ct.gov) or me (james.kirby@quinnipiac.edu).

Distinguished Speaker: 5:15pm, followed by Student Awards 

• Sigma Xi Speaker:  5:15 PM also on Burt Kahn Court: 

• Dr. Marcia Bartusiak will present "Edwin Hubble Discovers the Modern Universe, 1923-24: A Centennial Celebration" 

• Dr. Marcia Bartusiak's website: www.marciabartusiak.com 

• Combining her skills as a journalist with an advanced degree in physics, Marcia Bartusiak (pronounced Mar-sha Bar-too'-shack) has been covering the fields of astronomy and physics for four decades. The author of seven books, she is Professor of the Practice Emeritus in the Graduate Program in Science Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her latest books are Dispatches from Planet 3, an essay collection for the armchair astronomer, a revised edition of Einstein's Unfinished Symphony, her award-winning history of gravitational-wave astronomy and its first detections, and Black Hole: How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein, and Gambled on by Hawking Became Loved. 

• Bartusiak is also the author of Thursday's Universe, a layman's guide to the frontiers of astrophysics and cosmology, and Through a Universe Darkly, a history of astronomers' centuries-long quest to discover the universe's composition. Both were named notable science books by The New York Times. More recently published are The Day We Found the Universe, a narrative saga of the birth of modern cosmology and the 2010 winner of the History of Science Society's Davis Prize, and Archives of the Universe, a history of the major discoveries in astronomy told through 100 of the original scientific publications. She was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has won the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Prize three times, and also received the AIP's prestigious Gemant Award for "significant contributions to the cultural, artistic, or humanistic dimension of physics."

• Graduating in 1971 with a degree in communications from American University in Washington, D.C., Bartusiak first spent four years as a TV reporter and anchorwoman in Norfolk, Virginia. Assignments at the nearby NASA Langley Research Center sparked a love for science news, which encouraged her to enter Old Dominion University for a master's degree in physics. Her research involved the effects of radiation on optical materials sent into space as parts of orbiting astronomical observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Ultraviolet Explorer. 

• Starting her science-writing career as an intern at Science News and then as a charter member of Discover's writing staff, she continues to write about astronomy and physics in a variety of national publications. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, Astronomy, Science, Popular Science, Sky & Telescope, World Book Encyclopedia, Smithsonian, and Technology Review. For many years a contributing editor at Discover, she is now on the editorial advisory board of Astronomy magazine. She also reviews science books for The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Bartusiak lives with her husband, mathematician Steve Lowe, in Sudbury, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston.