The Quad

Earlier this year, Daniel McIntosh (Physics) took three UMKC physics students –Jennifer Nielsen, Andrew Coo­per, and Cory Wagner – to present original research at the 217th American Astronomical Society (AAS) Conference in Seattle, Washington.

One of the students, Nielsen (shown in the photograph), re­ceived a Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award medal for research on the chemical composition of merging galaxies completed with McIntosh during her senior year at UMKC as part of McIntosh’s Galaxy Evolution Group.

The Chambliss awards recognize exemplary research by un­dergraduate and graduate students who present posters at the semi-annual meetings of AAS. Students from around the world exhibit their posters at the Conference’s exhibit halls.

Nielsen, a recent physics graduate, became interested in gal­axy research while taking McIntosh’s Physics 499 Research, which is open to undergraduates of all disciplines who are interested in serious astronomical research while taking undergraduate classes.

“The education provided by the UMKC physics department and the research opportunities the department provides are truly stellar,” she says. “I could not have won the Cham­bliss award without the mentorship and guidance of Dr. McIntosh.”

Books for this award are nominated by a prize selection committee and voted on by a panel consisting of many of the na­tion’s top poets.  The Poets’ Prize comes with a $3,000 cash award for the author.  An award ceremony will take place on Thurs., May 19, 2011, at the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York City. 

For more information about Tongue of War: From Pearl Harbor to Nagasaki visit BkMk Press’ Web site at

 http://cas.umkc.edu/bkmk/catalogue/978-1-886157-71-2.html

To purchase a copy of Tongue of War or other BkMk titles, call (816) 235-2558.

ORS has not been able to keep their site up to date for many reasons so I cannot get the information ordinarily reported in each newsletter. Until their system gets up to date, I will have to rely on self-reporting from departments and/or PIs. I will need a copy of the award letter from the granting agency with all of the details and a copy of the ORS paperwork setting up the award account. I will then be able to report in a fashion consistent with the past.

Jerry Dias (Curators’ Professor, Chemistry) provided these photos from his lecture visit in 1990 and from the sabbatical leave visit of David VanHorn (Chemistry) to the same site in China.

VanHorn 2010

Diaz 1990