This week’s Pre-Game Faculty Showcase is "Growing Electricity" featuring Barry D. Bruce, professor of biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology. Bruce will discuss creating new energy sources through the process of photosynthesis.
The Pre-Game Faculty Showcase begins Saturday, Nov. 8, in the University Center Ballroom before the football game against Wyoming.
The UT Pre-Game Faculty Showcase, now in its 19th year, is held two hours before every home football game. The College of Arts and Sciences selects a top faculty member for each presentation. The programs are free and open to the public.
Most widely known for his work with spinach in alternative energy production, Bruce was recognized as one of the "Ten Revolutionaries that May Change the World" by Forbes magazine. Bruce has been working with spinach to be used in place of silicon to create panels to conduct solar energy. If spinach research is successful, spinach-powered panels could power the lights in buildings one day.
Bruce is a prolific researcher, and his work has appeared in numerous publications. He has received grants from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy. Bruce has won the Scholarly Alliance Research Excellence Award three times and the Scholarly Activity and Research Incentive Funds Award from the UT Faculty Senate Research Council and Office of Research twice.
Each showcase program lasts 45 minutes, including 30 minutes for the presentation and 15 minutes for a discussion period. Light refreshments will be served, and door prizes will be awarded.
The Pre-Game Faculty Showcase is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences with the support of the UT Alumni Association, the UT Knoxville Office of Alumni Affairs and UT Athletics.
The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest college on UT’s campus with 600 faculty and 23 departments and schools encompassing the humanities, fine and performing arts, social sciences, life sciences and physical sciences. The college places special emphasis on academic outreach, and its faculty and students are actively involved with the community through the Faculty Speakers Bureau, service learning and other programs.
The University Center is located at 1502 W. Cumberland Ave., a short walk from Neyland Stadium. The ballroom is in Room 213 on the second floor. For more directions, visit http://www.utk.edu/maps/campus/.