News

Jazz in July faculty perform July 19

The Jazz in July faculty will present its annual All Star Concert on Thursday, July 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall. Performers will include 2012 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Sheila Jordan, Steve Kuhn, Music professor Jeff Holmes, professor emeritus Frederick Tillis and other improvisational masters from the program’s faculty.

Jazz in July is a concentrated two-week program, allowing participants to study jazz improvisation with some of the nation’s best jazz educators and artists.

Jordan is the pioneer of the bass and voice concept.

Doctoral oral exams for July 23-27

The graduate dean invites all graduate faculty to attend the final oral examinations for the doctoral candidates scheduled as follows:

Joseph Krumpfer, Ph.D., Polymer Science and Engineering. Tuesday, July 24, 10 a.m., A110/A111 Conte Polymer Science Building. Dissertation: “Chemistry at Silicone-Inorganic Oxide Interfaces.” Thomas McCarthy, chr.

Jinyoung Kim, Ph.D., Computer Science. Wednesday, July 25, 10 a.m., 303 Computer Science Building. Dissertation: “Retrieval and Evaluation Techniques for Personal Information.” W. Bruce Croft, chr.

Nan Zhang, Ph.D., Animal Biotechnology and Biomedical

Computer Science doctoral student receives 2012 Google Fellowship

Charles Curtsinger, a doctoral candidate in Computer Science, recently received a prestigious 2012 Google Fellowship in Software Performance, one of only 14 Google PhD Student Fellowships awarded in the United States and Canada this year. With the two-year award, Curtsinger will receive funding for tuition, fees and a yearly stipend, plus access to a Google research mentor.

"Being a Google fellow is an honor and a long-term benefit for me,” says Curtsinger. “The connection with top researchers, innovative people and the experience will be great for my whole career.”

 
Curtsinger’s advisor,

Project involving Public History students receives national award

Several graduate students from the Public History Program helped develop an exhibit at a historic property in the Berkshires that has won a Leadership in History Award from the American Association for State and Local History.
 
The award of merit was given to the Trustees of Reservations for the project “Elizabeth Freeman: A Story of Courage,” at the organization’s Ashley House in Sheffield. History graduate students Jessie MacLeod, Elizabeth Bradley, and John Morton helped develop the exhibit documenting the life of Elizabeth “Mum Bett” Freeman, a black slave at the property in the late 18

Dining Services wins national award from Canadian college food service group

Dining Services on June 30 became the first U.S. food service operation ever to receive a Shine Award from the Canadian College and University Food Service Association. The award was presented during the organization’s annual conference in Ottawa.
 
The award acknowledges teams who demonstrate outstanding dining, hospitality service and teamwork to reach a major accomplishment, enhance the food service business or improve the quality of campus life.

Students win another national award for permaculture gardens

The student-led Permaculture Committee has won more national recognition, this time the first-ever Gold Sustainability Award given by the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS), in the “outreach and education” category. Ken Toong, executive director of Auxiliary Services, and Ryan Harb, now a sustainability manager who brought the permaculture concept to campus as a graduate student in 2009, will collect the honor during the NACUFS national convention on July 11–14 in Boston.

 
NACUFS says the Dining Services project demonstrates outstanding leadership in the

Microbiology researchers unravel secrets of parasites' replication

A group of diseases that kill millions of people each year can’t be touched by antibiotics, and some treatment is so harsh the patient can’t survive it. They’re caused by parasites, and for decades researchers have searched for a “magic bullet” to kill them without harming the patient. Now, a team of Microbiology Department researchers has made an advance that could one day lead to a new weapon for fighting parasitic diseases such as African sleeping sickness, chagas disease and leishmaniasis.
 
In the cover article of the current issue of Eukaryotic Cell, parasitologist Michele Klingbeil,

Norden delivers plenary at bioethics conference in Rotterdam

Communication professor Marty Norden gave a plenary presentation at the Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (FAB) conference held in Rotterdam,  Netherlands, during the last week of June. 

His talk dealt with the representation of abortion, birth control and eugenics in the 1916 film, Where Are My Children?  A worldwide hit seen by millions in its day, Where Are My Children? was written and directed by the pioneering filmmaker Lois Weber.

Fountain leads private government session at World Economic Forum


Political Science and Public Policy professor Jane Fountain led a private session on the future of government on June 5 during the World Economic Forum Summit on the Middle East, North Africa and Eurasia in Istanbul.

The meeting brought together heads of state and government, senior ministers, business leaders and key academic experts for productive debate and discussion on how governments can build capacity to meet more effectively the increasing challenges of global and national macroeconomic inequalities and transnational political conflicts in an increasingly inter-connected world.

Doctoral oral exams for July 16-20

The graduate dean invites all graduate faculty to attend the final oral examinations for the doctoral candidates scheduled as follows:

Ufuk Aydemir, Ph.D., Physics. Wednesday, July 18, 2 p.m., 1033 Lederle Graduate Research Tower. Dissertation: “Topics in High Energy Physics Beyond the Standard Model.” John Donoghue, chr.

Ozlem Goner, Ph.D., Sociology. Wednesday, July 18, 10 a.m., W-32 Machmer. Dissertation: “A Social History of Power and Struggle in Turkey: State, Memory, Identity, and Movements of Outsiderness in Dersim.” Joya Misra, chr.

Marta Carlson, Ph.D., Anthropology.

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