Purdue Best Bets
March 6, 1998
JOURNALISTS: Here's a story idea and details about some Purdue events during the next
two weeks.
Tornado Awareness Week March 9-13
Springtime marks the start of "tornado season" in Indiana and many other parts of
the United Sates, and March 9-13 has been declared "Tornado Awareness Week" by the
National Weather Service. Ernest M. Agee, a Purdue professor of atmospheric sciences
who has studied tornadoes for 30 years, says Doppler radar systems -- first developed for
weather forecasting in 1989 -- have given scientists new insights into how tornadoes
form. The tornado "season" typically runs from March to July in most areas, with
April and May usually producing the most tornadoes. "Spring is a prime time for tornadoes
because the contrast in weather systems can be so great," Agee says. The highest
number of tornadoes recorded for Indiana is 48 in 1973, and the annual average is
21. CONTACT: Ernest Agee, (765) 494-3282; e-mail, agee@thunder.atms.purdue.edu
Events
Saturday, March 14.
Math Counts state competition. 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Stewart Center. Math Counts is a nonprofit
program that aims to foster interest and competency in mathematics in seventh- and
eighth-grade students. Sponsors of this state contest are the Association of Professional Engineers, Purdue's mathematics department, and the School of Engineering. CONTACT:
Jodi Enderson, (765) 494-5926; e-mail, enderson@ecn.purdue.edu
Tuesday, March 17.
Mayors of Lafayette and West Lafayette read a proclamation in support of the Holocaust
Remembrance Conference. 2 p.m. West Lafayette City Hall.
Thursday-Saturday, March 19-21.
Fifth Women's Studies Symposium during Women's History Month. Workshops, exhibits,
lectures and panel discussions will examine the theme of "Women's INterVENTIONS in
Science, Art and Technology." Reception and information table available each day
in Room 107, Stewart Center. Symposium opens at noon Thursday with a welcoming address and
concludes with a roundtable discussion at 4:45 p.m. Saturday. A full schedule is
available on the Web at http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/idis/womens-studies/symp98.html.
Most events will be held on the third floor of Stewart Center. CONTACTS: Kirsten Lindquist, (765) 494-7782; e-mail, lindquis@omni.cc.purdue.edu, and Rachel
Groner, (765) 494-7782; e-mail, rgroner@expert.cc.purdue.edu
Friday, March 20.
Purdue Educators' Conference. Nearly 700 fifth- through 12th-graders and their teachers
from Lafayette-area schools will learn about the Holocaust and human rights through
a workshop conducted by the Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship at Purdue.
The conference, timed to coincide with the Holocaust Remembrance Conference, includes
sessions on "The Holocaust in Children's Literature," "American Indian Literature
and History," "Teaching the Holocaust: Content and Methodology," and "Using the Internet
and Children's Literature to Study the Holocaust." Sessions will run from 9 a.m. to
noon in Stewart Center. CONTACT: Lynn Nelson, director of the Ackerman Center, (765)
494-4755
Friday, March 20.
Participants in the Holocaust Remembrance Conference, including Mel Mermelstein,
Charlotte Opfermann and Richard Weisberg, will be available for media questions at
3 p.m. at the Hillel Foundation, 912 W. State St., West Lafayette. CONTACT: Rabbi
Gedalyah Engel, conference coordinator, (765) 743-1716
Saturday-Sunday, March 21-22.
Holocaust Remembrance Conference at various on- and off-campus locations. All sessions
are free and open to the public. Participants include: Mel Mermelstein, a California
businessman and survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps who sued
the Institute for Historical Review (which denied the truth of the Holocaust) and won;
Richard H. Weisberg, professor of constitutional law at the Cardozo School of Law
of Yeshiva University in New York and author of "Vichy Law and the Holocaust in France"; and Charlotte Guthmann Opfermann, survivor of the Theresienstadt ghetto, playwright
and teacher. CONTACTS: Rabbi Gedalyah Engel, conference coordinator, (765) 743-1716,
and Gordon Mork, professor of history, (765) 494-4123; e-mail, gmork@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
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