The 2012 Broadband Connecting Nebraska Conference will feature Vint Cerf, Google Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist.

The conference, coordinated by the AIM Institute, is part of a broadband mapping and planning initiative.

Dr. Kevin Morano, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Medical School at Houston, will present a seminar entitled "Stress and the single cell: understanding cellular roles of the Hsp70 molecular chaperone using yeast". The Hsp70 molecular chaperone is a ubiquitous and powerful protein remodeler that plays critical roles in cellular protein biogenesis, targeting, repair and degradation. A number of human diseases including cancer, heart disease and a broad range of neurodegenerative disorders (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s diseases) result from dysregulation of Hsp70 and other players involved in protein quality control.

Morano is investigating the molecular details of Hsp70 regulation using the model Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or baker’s yeast. In doing so he discovered a novel protein cofactor required for Hsp70 function, and uncovered a new role for Hsp70 as a sensor of environmental stress.

Pi Sigma Alpha will be co-hosting, along with College Republicans and ASUN, a meet and greet with Nebraska State Senator and Republican nominee for the US Senate Deb Fisher. For more information, please email Sergio Wals at swals2@unl.edu

Unique among nations, America is deeply religious, religiously diverse and remarkably tolerant. But in recent decades, the nation’s religious landscape has been reshaped. In his lecture, Putnam will explore his recent book, “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us.” Co-authored with David Campbell of the University of Notre Dame, the book focuses on the role of religion in American public life. Based on data from two of the most comprehensive national surveys on religion and civic engagement ever conducted, the book won the American Political Science Association’s 2011 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award for the best book on government, politics, or international affairs.

Acclaimed author and political scientist Robert D. Putnam has helped influence the way people think about the fabric of American society. Putnam, who is Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, has written more than a dozen books, including “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community,” and “Making Democracy Work.” Both are among the most cited publications in the social sciences in the last half century. Putnam is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the British Academy, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a past president of the American Political Science Association. He has served as an adviser to presidents and national leaders around the world.

Governor’s Lecture in the Humanities, NE Humanities Council