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Press Releases

Feeding tubes may worsen pressure ulcer risk

In the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers report that despite the conventional wisdom that feeding tubes help dementia patients resist pressure ulcers, feeding tubes actually are associated with an increased risk of ulcers developing. The tubes also don’t promote healing. (Distributed May 14, 2012)

Five-limbed brittle stars move bilaterally, like people

Why bother with turns or pivots?: The brittle star doesn’t turn as most animals do. It simply designates another of its five limbs as its new front and continues moving forward.
Brittle stars and people have something in common: They move in fundamentally similar ways. Though not bilaterally symmetrical like humans and many other animals, brittle stars have come up with a mechanism to choose any of its five limbs to direct its movement on the seabed. It’s as if each arm can be the creature's front, capable of locomotion and charting direction. Results appear in the Journal of Experimental Biology. (Distributed May 10, 2012)
Opening June 9 at the Bell Gallery

Rolemodelplaytime explores identity in play

Kent Rogowski, Bears 45  (2006)C-print, 16 x 20 inches
Opening June 9, 2012, at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University, rolemodelplaytime is an imaginative exhibition featuring works in a variety of media that explore the way we create lasting identity through play. Rolemodelplaytime includes works by Hannah Barrett, Caleb Cole, Jane Maxwell, Randy Regier, Kent Rogowski, and TRIIIBE. (Distributed May 8, 2012)

Brown and Exeter agree to closer faculty ties

Fostering a meaningful and sustainable collaboration: Ruth J. Simmons and Sir Steve Smith, presidents of Brown University and the University of Exeter, signed memoranda for faculty exchanges and further strengthening of ties between the two universities. At left is Matthew Gutmann, Brown’s vice president for international affairs.
President Ruth J. Simmons and Professor Sir Steve Smith, president of the University of Exeter, signed two memoranda of understanding, partnering for faculty exchanges under the Brown Global Forums initiative and further strengthening ties between the two universities. (Distributed May 3, 2012)

Chris Matthews Ogden Lecture is postponed

POSTPONED
Chris Matthews, host of Hardball who was to have delivered a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. ’60 Memorial Lecture this evening (May 1, 2012), has been called away on assignment. The lecture will be rescheduled. (Distributed May 1, 2012)
Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture

Pico Iyer to deliver Shearer Lecture

Pico Iyer: The 12th annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture
Pico Iyer, author of The Man Within My Head, The Open Road, and The Global Soul, will deliver the 12th annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture at Brown University on Monday, May 7, 2012. His talk, titled “Honorary Citizens of the 21st Century: Our New Planetary Order of Movement and Stillness,” begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, Martinos Auditorium. (Distributed May 1, 2012)
A Message from President Simmons

Brown builds on its commitment to Providence and Rhode Island

After months of discussion: Success: Mayor Angel Taveras and President Ruth J. Simmons celebrate an agreement that will benefit the University, the state and the city.
On Tuesday, May 1, 2012, Brown President Ruth J. Simmons, Gov. Lincoln Chafee, and Mayor Angel Taveras announced an agreement that will benefit the University, the state and the city. Brown will provide an additional $31.5 million in support for the city over the next 11 years, and the city and state will support and facilitate Brown’s continuing efforts to develop itself as an internationally renowned research environment. The text of President Simmons’s message to the Brown community follows here. (Distributed May 1, 2012)

Single nanomaterial yields many laser colors

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser: Colloidal quantum dots — nanocrystals — can produce lasers of many colors. Cuong Dang manipulates a green beam that pumps the nanocrystals with energy, in this case producing red laser light.
Engineers at Brown University and QD Vision Inc. have created nanoscale single crystals that can produce the red, green, or blue laser light needed in digital displays. The size determines color, but all the pyramid-shaped quantum dots are made the same way of the same elements. In experiments, light amplification required much less power than previous attempts at the technology. The team’s prototypes are the first lasers of their kind. (Distributed April 29, 2012)
The 244th Commencement

Simmons to speak at 2012 Baccalaureate

Ruth J. Simmons: Eighteenth President of Brown University Professor of Comparative Literature and Africana Studies
Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons will deliver the 2012 Baccalaureate address at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 26, 2012, in the First Baptist Meeting House. Simmons, the University’s 18th president, will conclude her term as president at the end of the current academic year and will be presiding at her 11th and final Commencement. (Distributed April 27, 2012)
Watson Institute for International Studies

Cybersecurity and International Relations

Experts on cybersecurity and its role in world politics will come together for a “Cybersecurity and International Relations” conference on Thursday, May 3, 2012. Sponsored by the Watson Institute for International Studies and the Department of Computer Science, the conference will include opening remarks by Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons and U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin. (Distributed April 26, 2012)
Brown Plus One

Trinity College Dublin joins Brown Plus One

A new international partner: Jane Ohlmeyer, left, vice provost for global relations at Trinity College, and Katherine Bergeron, dean of the College, signed the “Brown Plus One” partnership agreement on April 25, 2012.
Brown University has partnered with Trinity College Dublin as part of the Brown Plus One program for students interested in international study. Jane Ohlmeyer, vice provost for global relations at Trinity College, visited Brown to sign a partnership agreement on April 25, 2012. Trinity College is the third international partner in the Brown Plus One initiative. (Distributed April 25, 2012)
Stephen A. Ogden Jr. ’60 Memorial Lecture

Chris Matthews Ogden Lecture is postponed

Chris Matthews: Host of Hardball, Peace Corps veteran, Brown parent, and 86th Ogden Lecturer
POSTPONED
Chris Matthews, host of Hardball who was to have delivered a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. ’60 Memorial Lecture this evening (May 1, 2012), has been called away on assignment. The lecture will be rescheduled. (Distributed April 24, 2012)
The 244th Commencement

Orators to talk of next steps for Brown grads

A tradition since 1764: Student orators: Leor Shtull-Leber, left, and Tara Prendergast will deliver the 2012 orations during Commencement exercises Sunday, May 27.
Tara Prendergast of Crawford, Colo., and Leor Shtull-Leber of Ann Arbor, Mich., have been selected as senior orators, a traditional highlight of Brown’s Commencement Weekend. They were chosen from more than 240 nominations by a group of faculty, deans and graduating seniors. (Distributed April 24, 2012)