Compiled by UTEP’s University Communications Office for members of the media
Story Idea:
• Minerpalooza – The Party of the Century
The annual campuswide pep rally that kicks off the UTEP football season has grown from a picnic-style program to a major campus tradition for UTEP and the El Paso community, attracting more than 30,000 people each year.
Highlights of the Centennial year Minerpalooza include carnival booths, inflatable games, a Kid Zone, musical entertainment, food, and special appearances by student athletes and coaches. The Cataracs will headline, and Tim Gunter, Cristina Eustace, Matt U Johnson, and Fungi Mungle also will lend their talents.
The event begins at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5 in the parking lots near Sun Bowl Stadium, Glory and Kidd Fields.
The event is free and open to the public.
Press Events/Photo Opportunities On Campus:
Thursday, Sept. 4
1 p.m.
Don Haskins Center
One Direction Media Roundtable
News directors and assignment editors are invited to discuss the logistics regarding preview and day-of coverage of the One Direction concert scheduled for Friday, Sept. 19 at Sun Bowl Stadium.
The purpose is to explain how the media can be involved in making this the best stop on the band’s “Where We Are 2014” tour, as well as to discuss positioning for best visuals and fan interviews.
5 p.m.
Health Sciences and Nursing Building
Immigrant Health Care: National Politics, Local Challenges
The Department of Public Health Sciences will host a lecture titled “Immigrant Health Care: National Politics, Local Challenges.”
Lisa Cacari Stone, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of New Mexico and senior fellow at the Robert Wood Johnson Center for Health Policy, will discuss the intersections of health and immigration reform, local policy responses of local governments and safety net systems to federal reforms and the implications on population health.
7:30 – 9 p.m.
Fox Fine Arts Recital Hall
Faculty Concert: Stephanie Meyers, D.M.A. – Violin and Viola
Make plans to join UTEP violin and viola professor Stephanie Meyers, D.M.A., for a magical evening of musical masterpieces by Johann Sebastian Bach. Meyers has performed extensively on both instruments and is excited to share a program exclusively from the Baroque era. The first half of the program will feature Bach’s inspiring Suite No. 6 transcribed for viola. After intermission Meyers will perform Bach’s resplendent Partita No. 2 for solo violin, complete with the famous “Chaconne.”
Tickets are $5 for general admission; $3 for seniors, military and non-UTEP students; and free for children and UTEP students, faculty and staff.
Friday, Sept. 5
7 p.m.
University Field
Women’s Soccer vs. Southern Utah
The UTEP women’s soccer team will face off against Southern Utah.
Saturday, Sept. 6
9 p.m.
Sun Bowl Stadium
Football vs. Texas Tech
The UTEP football team will face off against Texas Tech.
Campus Spotlight:
• Research Could Lead to Enhanced Crop Protection
Findings from a UTEP study on insect ovulation could positively impact pesticide development and eventually be used for public health-related problems including fertility issues in women.
The multidisciplinary study identified for the first time two types of octopamine receptors and the additional molecules they activate, which are crucial for fruit flies to produce offspring.
The findings may lead to the development of effective strategies to eradicate invasive pest species at farms and to combat mosquito-borne diseases around the world.
The findings also have implications for human health. Han’s researchers noted that medications commonly used for hypertension, asthma and depression target adrenergic systems, which could create unwanted side effects on reproduction. This study contributes novel information that will possibly help better understand the fertility-related problems associated with chronic use of adrenergic drugs such as over-the-counter decongestants.
• National Hispanic Science Network Conference to be Held in El Paso Sept. 3–6
A conference of scholars to be held Sept. 3-6 at UTEP will examine the human capacity to recover from adversity during the National Hispanic Science Network (NHSN) annual conference Sept. 3–6.
Titled “Resiliency and Neuroplasticity among Vulnerable Populations,” the National Hispanic Science Network (NHSN) annual conference Sept. 3-6 will present new research and community evidence from multiple perspectives ranging from brain and neural activity to human stress and ways of coping to community capacities that promote resiliency.
Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Nora Volkow, M.D., will be the keynote speaker for the day’s opening session to be held on Thursday, Sept. 4. She will speak on “Opportunities and Challenges in Addiction Research.”
The official conference program with more details can be downloaded at http://nhsn.med.miami.edu/documents/2014programfinal.pdf.
Members of the local El Paso community are encouraged to attend. For registration information, contact National Conference Coordinator Betsy Giaimo at mgiaim@lsuhsc.edu.
Business Announcements:
• Devesh Misra, Ph.D., has been appointed chair of the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at UTEP. He will also be the inaugural holder of the Freeport-McMoRan Distinguished Chair in Metallurgical Engineering. Misra is currently the Stuller Endowed Chair in Metallurgical/Materials Science and Engineering and the Director of the Institute for Materials Research and Innovation at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He is a doctoral graduate in metallurgy and materials science from the University of Cambridge, and he served 12 years in the Defense Metallurgical Research Laboratory in India, eventually serving as its Deputy Director before coming to the U.S. in 1997.
• Anupama Kaul, Ph.D., has been appointed professor of metallurgical and materials engineering (with a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) and associate dean for research and graduate studies in UTEP’s College of Engineering. She will also hold the AT&T Distinguished Professorship. Kaul is currently serving as a program director in the Electronics, Photonics, and Magnetic Devices Program of the National Science Foundation. She has been at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Cal Tech since 2002. She is a doctoral graduate in materials science and engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and also has several years of industry experience at Hewlett-Packard and Motorola.