Football fans will be able to learn more about the meteorite presence in Antarctica during UT’s Pregame Showcase on Saturday, November 14.
Devon Burr, associate professor of earth and planetary science, will present “Searching for Extraterrestrial Rocks in Antarctica” at 10 a.m. during the Pregame Showcase before the UT Homecoming game against North Texas. The event will be in the auditorium of UT’s McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture.
Now in its twenty-sixth year, the Pregame Showcase gives fans an opportunity to hear from some of UT’s exceptional faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences prior to each gridiron matchup. It is sponsored by the college with support from UT Athletics, the McClung Museum, UT Office of Alumni Affairs, and WUOT 91.9 FM.
Free and open to the public, each showcase takes place two hours before kickoff and feature a thirty-minute presentation followed by a fifteen-minute question-and-answer session. A brief reception will follow each program. Door prizes will be awarded.
During her presentation, Burr will detail her recent explorations in a research expedition in which she searched for meteorites on the East Antarctic Plateau. As a result of the rocks found during this trip, the public can better understand the conditions under which these rocks formed and, by extension, the conditions in the early solar system.
Burr has conducted fieldwork in Chile, Canada, Alaska, Antarctica, and Iceland, where she was named a Fulbright Scholar. She also conducts experiments using a high-pressure planetary wind tunnel at the NASA Ames Research Center to investigate how wind moves material and shapes landscapes on other planetary bodies. In addition to her works published in numerous journals, Burr is the lead editor on a Special issue on planetary geomorphology for the journal Geomorphology and Megaflooding on Earth and Mars, a book published by Cambridge University Press.
The final Pregame Showcase of the season is:
November 28—”The Brain Basis of Sleep Health.” Ralph Lydic, professor of psychology, will focus on sleep disorders and ongoing research related to sleep health.
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CONTACT:
Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)
Jeremy Hughes (865-974-0963, jhughe19@utk.edu)