News Briefs

UNC’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center will host a free public viewing of the solar eclipse from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday (April 8) at the Morehead Building’s sundial.

Dr. Dan Reichart, assistant professor of physics and astronomy in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, will be on hand to answer questions.

This event will replace the Morehead Center’s monthly skywatching session, usually held at Jordan Lake, for April. The event may be canceled if weather conditions do not permit viewing. Any changes will be posted to the Morehead Center’s Web site: www.moreheadplanetarium.org.

Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the sun and the earth, casting its shadow on the earth. Friday’s eclipse is a hybrid eclipse: It is visible as a total eclipse from some areas on earth and as an annular eclipse (in which the moon is directly between the sun and the earth but a ring of the sun is still visible) in other areas on earth.

In North Carolina, this solar eclipse will appear as a partial eclipse, with areas of the sun still visible.

Looking directly at the sun can cause permanent eye damage, making safe viewing practices important. The Morehead Center’s education staff will offer safe viewing opportunities, including pinhole projectors.

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UNC’s Graduate School will recognize outstanding graduate students for their service and research during its seventh annual Graduate Student Recognition Ceremony on Thursday (April 7).

Among those graduate students being recognized are 274 students who received external fellowships and grants, such as Fulbright Fellowships and fellowships from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. These fellowships brought in more than $6 million in research funds to the university during the 2004-2005 academic year, according to Graduate School figures.

At Thursday’s event, students will display their award-winning research projects that have an impact on North Carolina, beginning at 3 p.m. in the George Watts Hill Alumni Center’s Alumni Hall. This presentation of student research is open to the public.

Members of the university community are invited to also attend the 4 p.m. awards ceremony and a reception afterward.

"External fellowships and grants of more than $6 million represent an extremely large contribution that graduate students make directly to the university," said Dr. Linda Dykstra, dean of the Graduate School.

"For comparison, it would take a $120 million private endowment to have the same financial effect on the university on an annual basis. And when these graduate students receive such prestigious national awards, they only add to Carolina’s reputation as an outstanding research university."

Among the graduate students being recognized for their scholarship, leadership and service are Branson Page and Jennifer Bushman, the recipients of the Boka W. Hadzija Award for Distinguished Service. This award was created by Dr. Boka Hadzija, a UNC pharmacy professor, to recognize graduate students who give inspirational service to the greater university community.

Bushman is a medical/doctoral student in the Integrative Vascular Biology Program in the School of Medicine’s department of pathology and laboratory medicine. Page is a medical student.

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Two UNC researchers were among 20 scholars in the United States and Europe selected to give presentations at a recent young investigators forum on functional gastrointestinal disorders.

The Functional Brain-Gut Research Group sponsored the third annual Functional GI Disorders Young Investigators Forum: A Highly Interactive Career Development Workshop.

Dr. Syed Thiwan, a research instructor in medicine and postdoctoral research fellow, gave a presentation on "Factors Predicting Symptom Reports of ‘Side Effects’ When Using Tricyclic Antidepressants."

Thiwan also received the Functional Brain-Gut Research Group’s 2005 Young Investigator Award, which came with a $1,500 stipend.

Additionally, Dr. Ritesh Shah, a fellow in the UNC School of Medicine’s division of gastroenterology and hepatology, presented "Esophageal Symptoms in Patients with Functional Esophageal Disorders (FED) Are Predicted by Psychological but not Physiological Factors."

Dr. Douglas A. Drossman, a professor of medicine and psychiatry and co-director of the UNC Center for Functional GI & Motility Disorders, was among the faculty for the workshop.

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News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu