[UVTAGG] Press Release for meeting on Saturday 10 Sep 2011

[UVTAGG] Press Release for meeting on Saturday 10 Sep 2011

31 Aug 2011
Journalists, please run this as a news item and/or in your calendar of events. Ward newsletter editors, please include parts of the first two paragraphs, and mention that there are classes for everyone. Email me, if you need further information. Thanks.
Don Snow


UTAH VALLEY TECHNOLOGY AND GENEALOGY GROUP MEETING (UVTAGG)
The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group - UVTAGG (Formerly the Utah Valley PAF Users Group - UVPAFUG) will be on Saturday, 10 Sep 2011, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo. Information about the Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website http://uvtagg.org and the press releases are at http://blog.uvpafug.org/ . With the organization's name change the latter URL will also be changed eventually.

The main presentation for this meeting will be by Dr. Ugo A. Perego on THE POWER OF DNA IN UNLOCKING FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS. This presentation will provide a general overview on how genetic testing can be of great assistance to family historians to trace, verify, expand, and link genealogical records and pedigrees. Particularly, we will cover the paternally-inherited Y chromosome and the maternally-inherited mitochondrial DNA with the purposes of showing how these two markers can play a powerful role in the search for our ancestors. Ugo A. Perego, PhD, is the Director of Operations and a Senior Researcher and Senior Genealogist at the non-profit Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation ( http://www.smgf.org/ ) and a Scientific Consultant for GeneTree ( http://www.genetree.com/ ), both located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Ugo earned a BS and an MS in Health Sciences at Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah) and a PhD in Human Genetics at the University of Pavia, Italy. In his nearly eleven years with SMGF, Ugo has supervised the worldwide collection of more than 110,000 DNA samples and corresponding genealogical records and contributed numerous lectures and publications on DNA and its applications to population genetics, genealogy, and history. He came to the UVTAGG meeting (Then it was the UVPAFUG.) more than 10 years ago when the Sorenson Foundation collected DNA samples and pedigree charts from our members. Some of his recent publications include “The Book of Mormon and the Origin of Native Americans from a Maternally Inherited DNA Standpoint” (in No Weapon Shall Prosper, 2011); “Joseph Smith: The Question of Polygamous Offspring and DNA Analysis” (in The Persistence of Polygamy, 2010); “Expanding the Concept of Family History through DNA” (in Family Chronicle, 2010); “Mitochondrial DNA: A Female Perspective in Recent Human Origin and Evolution” (in Origins as a Paradigm in the Sciences and in the Humanities, 2010). He is married to the former Jenna McAllister and they are the parents of three boys and a girl.

Following the main presentation there will be several classes about family history and technology with something for everyone at any level of expertise. The teachers and classes presently scheduled for this meeting are as follows: (1) Three Wikis: FamilySearch, Ancestry.com and Wikipedia, by Marilyn Thomsen; (2) MAC: Q & A, by Ron Snowden; (3) More Best Practices - Surviving in the Trenches, by Laurie Castillo; (4) Personalized Help, including information for new Family History Consultants, by Don Engstrom and Finn Hansen; (5) Q&A: The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships, by Ugo A. Perego; (6) Video of last month's main presentation: New Family Search Best Practices, by Laurie Castillo; (7) RootsMagic 4, by Sue Maxwell; (8) Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay; (8) Legacy 7.5, by Dean Bennett; and (9) Family Insight, by Andrea Schnakenburg.

All meetings of the Group are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually 100-125 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays. The officers are Gerhard Ruf, President; Laurie Castillo, 1st VP; Don Snow, 2nd VP; Liz Kennington, Newsletter Editor; Kay Baker, Gerry Eliason, and Don Engstrom working with finances and membership; and Bruce Merrill and Marie Andersen, working with the DVD Library. Several of these will be there to answer questions, help with membership, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter TAGGology, and check out DVDs of past presentations and classes to members of the group. Information about the Group, presentations, classes, and class notes can be found at the websites mentioned above. For further information contact President Gerhard Ruf at pres@uvtagg.org (801-225-6106) or 1st VP Laurie Castillo at laurie@everythingisrelative.net, or 2nd VP Don Snow at snowd@math.byu.edu.

Don Snow, 2nd VP of Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group (UVTAGG)


Dr. Donald R. Snow, Retired Professor of Mathematics, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah - snowd@math.byu.edu