astronomy

Linda Ivany

Linda Ivany is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Linda Ivany rather than just read about it. In short: Linda Ivany is a professor in the Earth Sciences department at Syracuse University. Her research focuses primarily on paleoecology and paleoclimatology.

Key takeaways

Linda Ivany belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Linda Ivany to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Linda Ivany from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Linda Ivany is a professor in the Earth Sciences department at Syracuse University. Her research focuses primarily on paleoecology and paleoclimatology.

Education Ivany completed a BS degree in Geology at Syracuse University, and then went on to earn an M.S. at the University of Florida, and a Ph.D. at Harvard University under the guidance of Stephen J. Gould.

Career She worked at the University of Michigan 1997 - 2000, before being hired as a visiting assistant professor at Syracuse University later in 2000. She was promoted to full professor in 2012.

Research She was involved in two seminal papers on large-scale diversity patterns in the Phanerozoic, in which the authors showed that it was very important to correct for the "completeness" of the fossil record, and showed that the increase in taxonomic diversity across the past 540 million years is not as dramatic as had been suggested by Jack Sepkoski and others. She has also published several important studies that involve inferring past changes in global climate, especially in the Cenozoic. Much of Ivany's research revolves around the study of fossil molluscs, including their taxonomy and analyses of stable isotope data. In one recent study, she and her co-authors demonstrated a positive relationship between marine mollusc longevity and latitude. As of November 2019, Ivany's publications had been cited more than 3600 times in the scientific literature. A third major focus of her research involved quantifying a pattern of long intervals of assemblage similarity through time, punctuated by an abrupt shift in assemblage composition. This was referred to as "coordinated stasis." Coordinated stasis was sometimes thought of as a community-level analogue of Gould & Eldridge's Punctuated Equilibria. Although there were apparently substantial environmental changes during a 5.5Ma interval of "stasis" during the Devonian, which is consistent with some biotically driven community stability, Ivany and others caution against conceptually framing coordinated stasis as punctuated equilibra writ large.

Awards In April 2019, Ivany was presented with an Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award in celebration of her outstanding mentorship of graduate students.

References

External links Ivany's website Archived October 24, 2019, at the Wayback Machine at Syracuse University Linda Ivany publications indexed by Google Scholar Ivany's profile on researchgate

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Linda Ivany

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Linda Ivany claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Linda Ivany before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Linda Ivany ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Linda Ivany

In research: Linda Ivany appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Linda Ivany in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Linda Ivany is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century American women, American women academics, American women paleontologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Linda Ivany outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Linda Ivany in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Linda Ivany means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Linda Ivany out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Linda Ivany in simple terms?

Linda Ivany is a professor in the Earth Sciences department at Syracuse University. Her research focuses primarily on paleoecology and paleoclimatology.

Why does Linda Ivany matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Linda Ivany?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Linda Ivany.