Event info

The INMS News Letter (for details, please downloard from the link bottom)

News

The Phage hunt paper being offered for the first time this year as part of the larger international HHMI SEA PHAGES program was written about in the New Zealand Herald this week by Science Writer, Jamie Morton. "Kiwis seek out superbug weapon".
If you have undergraduate students who are interested in getting some first hand research experience at the second year level, tell them about this innovative and enquiry based course!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11494538
(Heather Hendrickson)

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The last few weeks has seen the installation and commissioning of our new Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometer! The cold heart of this machine is a 7 Tesla superconducting magnet which sits in a pool of liquid helium, surrounded by liquid nitrogen. Within this huge
magnetic field, the nuclei of molecules reveal their environments and relative arrangements. This is an essential tool for synthetic chemistry.
The spectrometer is working beautifully and seeing heavy use in research and teaching. This is a historic occasion for Chemistry and INMS, and brings us into the modern era of small molecule analysis.
(Thomas Fallon)

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Heather Hendrickson was on Paul Henry Morning show simultaneously broadcast live on Radio Live, and TV3 on Monday August 3rd. Heather was addressing the "5 second rule" about dropped food and floor contact.
As it turns out, bacteria adhere to your food immediately when they hit the ground and are not "waiting" 5 seconds.
She managed to convince Paul Henry that he was wrong about several aspects of microbiology and he conceded that she knows more about the topic than he does. However, there was a small "Fail" in that at the end of the interview he stated that she worked at "a university". Go team.
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/paulhenry/is-there-such-thing-as-the-five-second-rule-2015080312#axzz3hiR1SvXM

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Anne Wignall gave a wonderful presentation at Nerd Nite on the evening Tuesday Aug 4th. Nerd Nite is a gathering of "nerdy" lay people who gather to hear two or three talks by academics or experts to normal folks at a pub in Auckland.
Anne talked about Spider communication through the web and did a great job.
Nerd Nite takes place on the first Tuesday of every month in Galbraith's
pub and if you are interested in participating at a future event you should contact Heather Hendrickson.
http://auckland.nerdnite.com
(Heather Hendrickson)

Overseas cinference report

International Congress of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM)

Professor Emeritus Graeme Wake was the only person from Massey University among the 3100 attendees at the quadrennial ICIAM meeting in Beijing, China in the week concluding 14th August. This was held in the China National Convention Centre (Front photo) on the site of the recent Olympic Games in China. He was the co-organiser of a series of eight Mini-symposia on the theme of Industrial Mathematics around the World, and was involved in leading a long session on activities from the East Asia and Western Pacific region. The latter was focused on the developments and activities in the 20-plus countries in the recently formed Asia Pacific Consortium of Mathematics for Industry. Both Graeme and recent PhD graduate Ali Zaidi (now an Assistant Professor at the Comsat University of Science and Technology in Islamabad Pakistan) also gave contributed papers at the Congress. (Note: Associate-Professor Winston Sweatman was prevented from attending by a recent family bereavement. and would have also contributed to the Industry Activities Session.)
(Graeme Wake)

INMS Seminar

Friday 14th Aug, 3 pm, SNW300

Barry McDonald
"Cars and Polls"
How does a statistician go about buying a car? (The answer is in the question). I will show some practical insights from applying my professional skills to this task. How reliable are the public opinion polls leading up to an election? Do all the polls tell you the same thing? We will have a look at the evidence.

Luis Ortiz-Catedral
"One flew over the parrot's nest"
I will present advances in the race to save one of the rarest parrots of the world: the Tasman parakeet. In July 2013, I started a research project aimed at improving its conservation status. Since then, the world’s only population of Tasman parakeets has increased at least two-fold, and reached a record number of chicks produced. My graduate students and I have also advanced the knowledge about this rare species by conducting research on its demography, diet, and behaviour. Come along to hear the good news!
(Marti, Luis, David, Carlo & Heather)