September 2007

Tuesday, September 18 – Mineral Section Meeting at 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave., in the downstairs Community Meeting Room.  The meeting will be a "Show and Tell" of specimens members have collected and/or acquired this summer.  Each person can give a short talk or description about the specimen(s).  Refreshments and doorprizes. Visitors are always welcome.  For more information call Chuck Hiler at 924-7496 or check the. Mineral Section Web page for possible updates.

 

October 2007

Tuesday ,October 2 Fossil Section Meeting at 7:30 at the Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave., in the downstairs Community Meeting Room.  The program will be a "Show and Tell."  Members who wish to share their favorite finds (fossils, other stones of interest, books, photos, articles, tools of the trade, stories, etc.) from the Spring and Summer collecting seasons will have an opportunity to display and talk about them. Also, members who attended the New York State Geological Association (NYSGA) conference in Cortland may want to share their field trip stories and finds.

Friday, October 5 Astronomy General Meeting at 7:30 PM at RIT, Gosnell Hall, room A300. This month's main speaker is Jason Nordhaus, a graduate student at U of R, speaking on Planetary Nebulae. Plus short talks by members including RIT's Dr. Mike Richmond with his popular "News in Astronomy" series. Visitors are always welcome. For information, contact Carol Latta at 230-9548, or cosmos@rochester.rr.com

Saturay, October 6 Astronomy Star Party 8:00 to 9:30 PM at Northampton Park on Hubbell Road. Join us for views of deep sky objects in members' telescopes.  No need to bring equipment or a deep understanding; just come and enjoy the views.  Dress warm as evenings may be cool and you may want to stay a while. For more information, contact Jim Seidewand at 723-6225 or cell 703-9876

Tuesday, October 9 Life Sciences Meeting 7:00 PM at Henrietta United Church of Christ, 1400 Lehigh Station Road. We will attend the Living in Harmony group for their lecture.  They will be showing a new DVD titled "Green is the New Red White and Blue," narrated by Tom Friedman (columnist for the New York Times).  All interested persons are welcome.  For more information, contact Elizabeth Pixley at epixley@rochester.rr.com or 334-0977.

Tuesday, October 16 – Mineral Section Meeting at 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave., in the downstairs Community Meeting Room.  The program will feature David Bailey, Associate Professor of Geology at Hamilton College, who will talk about the Kimberlites of New York. Refreshments and, door prizes. Visitors are always welcome. For more information call Chuck Hiler at 924-7496, or check the Mineral Section Web page for possible updates.

Wednesday, October 17 – RAS Board Meeting7:00 PM Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave., in the Stage Conference Room. Everyone welcomed.

Tuesday, October 23 – Life Sciences Herbarium Workshop 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, in the basement of the Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC, direction available by request).  No experience needed!  Possible activities include filing herbarium specimens returned from loans, repairing and re-mounting of specimens, and entering data on specimens into our computer. The herbarium contains an amazing variety of plant specimens, some collected in the 1800s.  Plan to come and help with this valuable collection - and learn about plants in the process.  For more information, contact Elizabeth Pixley, herbarium curator (334-0977 or epixley@rochester.rr.com). You can either bring a lunch or purchase food at the RMSC café.

Thursday, October 25 – Anthropology Meeting and Lecture 7:00 PM Memorial Art Gallery, Atrium just inside the Gallery entrance. We will meet before the AIA lecture (see lecture notice elsewhere in this issue). The gallery fee on Thursday is only $2

Saturday October 27 & Sunday October 28 – 35th Annual Rochester Mineral, Fossil, & Gem Show (Co-sponsored by the Mineral Section and the Rochester Lapidary Society)
Saturday – 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Minett Hall at the Monroe County Fair and Expo Center on the corner of Calkins and East Henrietta Roads (Rt. 15A) Henrietta, NY
mineral@rasny.org for more information

November 2007

Tuesday, November 6 Fossil Section Meeting at 7:30 at the Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave., in the downstairs Community Meeting Room.   Steven Mango, Worldwide Technical Manager, NDT Solutions at Kodak, will speak on "CR and Dinosaur CSI: The Leonardo Project."  Steve gave this talk last year at a different venue and received rave reviews.

Saturday, November 10 - 34th Annual Fall Scientific Paper Session of the Rochester Academy of Science will be hosted by SUNY-Geneseo. Call for Abstracts and Poster Format Rules.

Tuesday, November 20– Mineral Section Meeting at 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave., in the first floor Auditorium. Speaker to be announced. Refreshments. Visitors are welcome. For information, call Chuck Hiler at 924-7496 or check the Mineral Section page for updates.

 

December 2007

Tuesday December 4 Fossil Section Meeting at 7:30 at the Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave., in the downstairs Community Meeting Room. Ursula Smith, from Cornell University, will talk about her paleontological research. Her specific topic will be forthcoming.

Saturday December 8 Mineral Section Annual Dinner: 7:00 p.m. at the St. Louis Church, 64 South Main Street, Pittsford, NY. Setup and social hour before dinner, starting 6:00 p.m.  Please bring a dish to pass.  The speaker is yet to be determined.  Check the Mineral Section Web page for details.  The Rochester Lapidary Club is Invited.  For more information, contact Charles Hiler at 924-7496.

January 2008

Tuesday January 15 Mineral Section Meeting: 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the Community Meeting Room at the Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave. The program will be a talk by Al Mura on "How Crystals Grow." Refreshments and door prizes. Visitors are welcome. For more information, call Al Mura at 227-9931 or check the Mineral Section page for possible updates.

January 20 2008 Rochester Mineralogical Symposium Call for Papers Deadline.

February 2008

Tuesday February 5 Fossil Section Meeting 7:30 p.m. in the downstairs Community Meeting room at Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave. Ursula Smith, from Cornell University, will talk about her research with New Zealand turritellids. Pre-meeting dinner with the speaker, 5:30 at Pomodoro Grill on University Ave. for anyone interested.

Tuesday February 19 – Mineral Section January meeting: 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the Downstairs Conference Room at the Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave.  The program will be a talk on Pseudomorphs by Paul Dudley.  Refreshments and door prizes. Visitors are welcome. For more information, call Al Mura at 227-9931 or check the Mineral Section page for possible updates.

March 2008

Tuesday March 4 Fossil Section Meeting: 7:30 PM in the main lobby at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. George McIntosh, Director of Collections at RMSC has generously offered to give us a specially guided tour of the new "Expedition Earth" exhibit, focusing on the newly designed Devonian diorama. If you'd like to join us for dinner at the Pomodoro Grill, 1290 University Ave, at 5:30 PM, please RSVP by 3/3 to Anne Roth-Blizzard at <Annethefossil@aol.com>

Friday March 7 Astronomy Section General Meeting: 7:30 PM at RIT, Gosnell Hall, room A300. This month's meeting features Alice Quillen, professor of Physics and Astronomy at U of R, plus short talks by members Visitors are always welcome. Come early and socialize. For information, contact Carol Latta at 230-9548, or <cosmos@rochester.rr.com>

Saturday March 15 RAS Bulletin Deadline: Articles and event notices due for the April, 2008 newsletter.

Saturday & Sunday March 15/16 Life Sceiences Open House: 2:00 to 9:00 PM at Karen Wolf's home, 1397 Five Mile Line Road, Penfield NY. This will be a casual time for members to socialize and learn about the opportunities and activities within the RAS that overlap Life Sciences. We would also like your opinion of our field trips, and whether we should attend trips of other Nature-oriented groups. At 2:30 we can walk around Bauman's Farm Market. A dish to pass supper will be around 6:30. For information, contact Karen Wolf, 670-9709.

Tuesday March 18 – Mineral Section January meeting: 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the Downstairs Conference Room at the Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave. Bob Hiler and other Mineral Section members, will review the recent Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. "Mineral of the Month" is Dolomite. Members please bring specimens of dolomite to show.  Refreshments and door prizes. Visitors are welcome. For more information, call Al Mura at 227-9931 or check the Mineral Section page for possible updates.

Wednesday March 19 RAS Board Meeting: 7:00 PM Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave., Stage Conference Room. All are welcome.

Sunday March 23 Life Sciences Field Trip to Letchworth Park. Meet at 9:00 AM at the Double Tree Inn in Geneseo to car pool, or at the Mt Morris entrance to the park. Bring lunch. We plan to attend the 10:00 AM Signs of Sprig walk (3 miles-2 hours). At 2:00 PM, we will meet in the conference room at the Visitor Center for Indoor Ed-Venture-Winter Fungi. Leader, Doug Bassett. Call Karen Wolf at 670-9709 to arrange car pool details.

Non-Academy Events of Interest This Month:

Monday March 24 - PUBLIC FORUM BIOFUELS- PROMISES AND PROBLEMS
7:00 to 9:00 at the Brighton Town Hall Auditorium, 2300 Elmwood Ave. Featured speakers are Jason Masters, President of Northern Biodiesel and Jeff Gutterman, PE, Chairman, Delphi's Next Generation Fuels Forum.  A participatory discussion will follow the presentations. The program is co-sponsored by The Federation of Monroe County Environmentalists and The center for Sustainable Living. For information, contact Carol at <info@fmce.org> or call 585-663-2981.


Wednesday March 26 RMSC Distinguished Scholar Lecture: 7:30 PM in Eisenhart Auditorium at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Kevin Zippel, Ph.D. will speak on 2008 Year of the Frog: Confronting the Amphibian Extinction Crisis. Dr. Zippel is Program Director for the Amphibian Ark. Tickets are $15 for non-RMSC members, $8 for students. Call (585)697-1942 for more information and reservations.

April 2008

Tuesday April 1 Fossil Section Meeting 7:30 p.m. in the downstairs Community Meeting room at Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave. Jorg Maletz, University of Buffalo (by way of University of Berlin), will speak of Radiolarians.

Wednesday April 2 RAS Spring Lecture: 7:00 PM at Nazareth College Art Center, room 183. The speaker will be Don Siegel, and his talk is titled The Scientist in the Courtroom: Sex, Lies and Videotape. Look for more information in the April Bulletin.

Thursday 10–Sunday 13 April – 35th Annual Rochester Mineralogical Symposium. The opening lecture at 8:00 on Thursday evening is free to all RAS members. The speaker is mineral dealer, John Betts, and the title of his talk is "Diamonds: Myths and Misconceptions."  Complete Symposium schedule and registration forms are available here.
Please Note: There is no regular Mineral Section meeting this month due to the Symposium.

 

May 2008

Friday May 2 Fossil Section Meeting: (Note change of meeting day and location), 7:30 p.m. Dr. Gordon Baird, SUNY Fredonia, will talk of "Unraveling the great Taghanic mystery in New York and Pennsylvania: ongoing discoveries relating to a global Late Middle Devonian biotic crisis." Meeting location is the Multipurpose Room in the Brookside Recreation Center on 220 Idlewood Drive (off Winton Road just north of rt. 390) in Brighton.

.Friday May 2 ASTRONOMY GENERAL MEETING
7:30 PM at RIT, Gosnell Hall, room A300. This month's meeting features Marty Pepe speaking on "Life at the Extremes" plus short talks by members. Marty's talk asks: "What if the competition for basic food and lodging forced us into living at the extremes of the elements on this little blue marble we call home?" He'll look at examples of life at extremes of temperature, moisture and pressure, along with some potential conditions beyond the "Third Rock from the Sun." Visitors are always welcome. Come early and socialize. For information, contact Carol Latta at 230-9548, or <cosmos@rochester.rr.com>

Saturday May 9 ASTRONOMY STAR PARTY
9:30 - 11:00 PM at Northampton Park on Hubbell Road. Join us for views of Saturn and deep sky objects in members telescopes. No need to bring equipment or a deep understanding; just come and enjoy the views. Dress warm as evenings may be cool and you may want to stay a while. For more information, contact Jim Seidewand at 723-6225 or cell 703-9876

Tuesday May 13 LIFE SCIENCES MEETING
6:30 PM at Karen Wolf's home, 1397 Five Mile Line Road. Bring a dish to pass for dinner and help prepare salad for SED the following 2 days. All Sections of RAS are still looking for help on these two very interesting days at St. John Fisher. Karen Wolf 670-9709.

Wednesday, May 14 & Thursday May 15 - Science Exploration Days - This annual event at St. John Fisher College provides us with an opportunity to demonstrate and talk about minerals to area junior (Thursday) and senior (Wednesday) high school students. Volunteers will be needed to work at section tables on both days from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and during the public program Wednesday evening from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Tuesday, May20 - Mineral Section Meeting: 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Downstairs at the Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave. The program will be a talk by Dr. Rick Batt from Buffalo State College entitled "Fire Mountains and other Volcanic Features of the Pacific Northwest...with a Look at Hawaiian Volcanoes Too."  Refreshments and door prizes. Visitors are welcome. For more information, call Al Mura at 227-9931 or check the Mineral Section page for updates.

Thurday May 22 LIFE SCIENCES HERBARIUM WORKSHOP
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the RAS Herbarium, in the basement of the Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC). We will work on filing herbarium specimens returned from loans and repairing and re-mounting of specimens. We may also work on entering plant data into the computer database. No experience needed! If you plan to attend, please RSVP to E. Pixley. Then, at RMSC, go to the front desk and ask a person there to call ext. 368, which rings in the Herbarium. You can either bring a lunch or purchase food at the RMSC café. For more information, contact Elizabeth Pixley, herbarium curator (334-0977 or epixley@rochester.rr.com).

Friday 25 ASTRONOMY STAR PARTY
9:30 - 11:00 PM, off Hopkins Point Rd. in Mendon Ponds Park. Cloud date Saturday. Join us for views of Saturn and deep sky objects in members' telescopes. Members will be on hand to answer questions and show how to navigate in the sky. Dress warm as evenings may be chilly! For more information, contact Jim Seidewand at 723-6225 or cell 703-9876.

Thurday 29 LIFE SCIENCES HERBARIUM WORKSHOP
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the RAS Herbarium, located in the basement of the Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC). We will work on filing herbarium specimens returned from loans and repairing and re-mounting of specimens. We may also work on entering plant data into the computer database. No experience needed! If you plan to attend, please send an RSVP to E. Pixley. Then, at RMSC, go to the front desk and ask a person there to call ext. 368, which rings in the Herbarium. You can either bring a lunch or purchase food at the RMSC café. For more information, contact Elizabeth Pixley, herbarium curator (334-0977 or epixley@rochester.rr.com)

June 2008

 

July 2008

 

August 2008

 


Last Updated May 2, 2008