Paleonet: Free QP Short Course May 12-13, 2011 @ Univ. of Minnesota : Quantification, Analyses, and Applications of 3D surface Textures

[Laura Vietti]

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to invite you all to take part in this year’s University
of Minnesota Quaternary Paleoecology Short Course: ‘Quantification,
Analyses, and Applications of 3D surface Textures’. The free event
will be taking place over May 12-13 on the main campus in Minneapolis.
This year’s presenters will be Dr. Ellen Schulz (University of
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany) and Dr. Christopher Brown (Worcester
Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA). All students and faculty from
any department/ school/ university are invited to participate.


This year’s topic is dedicated to exploring the theory, methods, and
application of 3D surface texture analysis. 3D surface texture
analyses can be performed on anything with a solid surface and are
currently used to address interesting questions on objects ranging
from hard drives, cutting tools, skin, teeth, food, rocks, skis,
pills, pavements, tires, bullets, and industrial diamonds.
Furthermore, surface texture analyses have found their mark in
paleoenvironmental and paleoecological research through the study of
fossil bones, plants, teeth, artifacts, and geologic specimens.


We bring to you two of the foremost researchers using 3D surface
texture analyses to discuss the theory of surface texture analysis and
provide exciting examples of application of the data. Dr. Ellen Schulz
will open the short course on May 12th with a presentation on the
theory of 3D surface analyses, process of data collection, and will
discuss the types and significance of different surface texture
parameters. In the afternoon, she will present her research utilizing
3D surface texture analysis on fossil bone and teeth to assess the
origin of bone scavenging marks and infer fossil mammal diets. On May
13th, Dr. Christopher Brown will give us an in-depth look at the
utility and methods of exploiting scale for making discoveries from
surface texture measurements and analyses including its application to
ski base textures, dinosaur footprints, and to determination of diet
variability of fossil hominins via dental microwear. During the
afternoon portion, attendees will gain hands-on experience working
with the software Sfrax (www.surfract.com) developed by Dr. Brown to
perform scale based fractal analyses on surface texture data.


For registration or more information about this FREE short course
please contact Laura Vietti (Lvietti at gmail.com). Registration deadline
is set for April 26th. We hope to see you there!

All the best,
Laura Vietti and the QP coordinators

Speakers

Dr. Ellen Schulz: http://webapp5.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/mammals/eng/mitarbeiter.php

http://webapp5.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/mammals/eng/1525_8_1.php

Dr. Christopher Brown: http://www.wpi.edu/academics/facultydir/cab.html
 http://www.me.wpi.edu/research/SurfMet/Research/index.html
More information about the Quaternary Paleoecology Seminar Series and
future details about the course can be found at
http://lrc.geo.umn.edu/qpminor-sem.html



--
Laura Vietti
University of Minnesota
Dept. of Geology and Geophysics
Lvietti at gmail.com
viett004 at umn.edu
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