Press Releases in March, 2011

Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture

Curt Ellis, food activist and filmmaker, to deliver Shearer Lecture

Curt Ellis, FoodCorps founder and documentary filmmaker, will deliver the 11th annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture at Brown University on Friday, April 8, 2011. His talk, titled “Ask Not What Your Country Can Feed You — Ask What You Can Feed Your Country,” will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Stuart Theatre. (Distributed March 31, 2011)

Brown admits 2,692 for Class of 2015

Brunonians all: Every fall, the entering class streams in through the Van Wickle Gates, marking the official start of their Brown careers.

Tonight, 2,692 students from across the country and around the world will learn they have been accepted to Brown’s Class of 2015. They represent 8.7 percent of a 30,948-member applicant pool, Brown’s largest ever. (Distributed March 30, 2011)

Like products, plants wait for optimal configuration before market success

Botanical market testing: Botanists had long thought that new species proliferate soon after plants developed a new physical trait. Stephen Smith and colleagues have shown that plants may bide their time for undergoing major speciation.

An international research team led by Brown University has amassed the largest evolutionary tree (phylogeny) for plants. It has learned that major groups of plants tinker with their design and performance before rapidly spinning off new species. The finding upends long-held thinking that plants’ speciation rates are tied to the first development of a new physical trait or mechanism. Results are published in the American Journal of Botany. (Distributed March 29, 2011)

Taubman Center Public Opinion Survey

Poll finds mixed support for Chafee’s new tax proposal

A new survey of Rhode Island voters gauges public opinion on Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s new tax proposals, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras’s plan to close some public schools, collective bargaining rights, and job performances of federal, state, and local officials. (Distributed March 24, 2011)

BrainGate neural interface reaches 1,000-day milestone

Expanding the power of thought: The implantable BrainGate neural interface can detect and record brain signals, allowing persons who have lost the use of arms and legs to have point-and-click control of a computer. A BrainGate device has remained functional for 2.7 years (1,000 days).

An investigational implanted system being developed to translate brain signals toward control of assistive devices has allowed a woman with paralysis to accurately control a computer cursor at 2.7 years after implantation, providing a key demonstration that neural activity can be read out and converted into action for an unprecedented length of time. (Distributed March 24, 2011)

Stephen A. Ogden Jr. ’60 Memorial Lecture

Colombian President Santos to deliver Ogden Lecture

Juan Manuel Santos: President of Colombia

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos will deliver a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. ’60 Memorial Lecture on International Affairs on April 5, 2011, at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, De Ciccio Family Auditorium. (Distributed March 23, 2011)

Nanomodified surfaces seal leg implants against infection

Nanotubular surfaces: Anodizing the titanium surface of a surgical implant, left, yields a roughened surface of nanotubes, which skin cells colonize more quickly.

Researchers at Brown University have created nanoscale surfaces for implanted materials that mimic the contours of natural skin. The surfaces attract skin cells that, over time, are shown to build a natural seal against bacterial invasion. The group also created a molecular chain that allows an implant surface to be covered with skin cell-growing proteins, further accelerating skin growth. Results are published in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research A. (Distributed March 22, 2011)

Mutant prions help cells foil harmful protein misfolding

Mutant prions help cells: The red color of the the yeast cell colony, upper right, indicates that it has been cured of a prion infection with the help of a beneficial mutant prion. The colony to its left did not receive a dose of mutants. The unhealthy colonies on the bottom row remained infected because researchers hindered the cells' own quality assurance mechanism.

Misfolded proteins are implicated in many incurable neurological diseases. A new and improved understanding of how naturally occurring variants keep proteins from bunching up and spreading provides more options for developing a treatment than scientists had realized. (Distributed March 20, 2011)

Brown to host major exhibition of Haitian art

More than 100 works of Haitian art will be on display as Brown University hosts Re-Framing Haiti: Art, History and Performativity, from Wednesday, March 23, through Thursday, April 21, 2011. In conjunction with the exhibition, Brown will host a series of visiting artist lectures and workshops. (Distributed March 17, 2011)

Brown and Harvard offer conference on slavery and capitalism

Brown University and Harvard University will jointly sponsor a conference titled “Slavery’s Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development,” which will explore the role of slavery in the economic rise of the United States. The conference will take place April 7-9, 2011, on the campuses of both universities. Brown President Ruth J. Simmons will deliver the keynote address at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 7, in the Salomon Center for Teaching, De Ciccio Family Auditorium. (Distributed March 17, 2011)

Inspiration is key in choosing primary care career

Dr. Joshua Fischer: “The place where you really make a difference in caring for adults is
not usually in the hospital once people have reached the dramatic
end-stage of illness, but it’s in the ‘mundane’ things that happen in
the primary care office.”

People often cite low pay and tedious bureaucracy as reasons why young doctors aren’t choosing primary care careers, but role models play a huge role too. A new grant to boost mentoring by primary care physicians will increase the exposure of medical students to inspiring experiences. (Distributed March 17, 2011)

Research at the smallest planet

Orbiting Mercury ‘kind of seals the deal’

An orbital first: After nearly traveling nearly 5 billion miles NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft will enter Mercury’s orbit around 8:45 p.m. Thursday, March 17, 2011.

Nearly four decades after a NASA craft first flew past Mercury, a spacecraft will enter orbit around the smallest planet for the first time. A delegation of Brown planetary geologists will be on hand at mission headquarters near Washington, D.C., for the insertion into orbit, scheduled for about 8:45 p.m. Thursday, March 17, 2011. (Distributed March 17, 2011)

At the Bell Gallery through May 29

Tradition, Trauma, Transformation: Representations of Women

Chitra Ganesh, Melancolia: The Thick of Time (2010): Lambda print, 68 3/4 x 51 1/4 inches

Three leading contemporary Indian artists explore the political, religious, and cultural situations of women in India through a new exhibition at the David Winton Bell Gallery. Tradition, Trauma, Transformation: Representations of Women opens Saturday, March 26, and runs through Commencement/Reunion Weekend. (Distributed March 16, 2011)

Private enterprise

Nursing home boom in China has little government involvement

A rapidly growing elderly population: Demographics are driving enormous growth in China’s nursing home industry. Citizens over 65 will grow from 8.3 percent of the population today to 22.6 percent in 2040 — 329 million people.

A new study of the growth and operation of nursing homes in Chinese cities finds that the industry, while still small, is surging to meet the country’s overwhelming shift toward an older population. The almost entirely private-sector growth has far outpaced government oversight. (Distributed March 15, 2011)

Kennedy named visiting fellow at Brown Institute for Brain Science

Champion and advocate: Patrick Kennedy has been a frequent speaker on issues of health and society, accessibility of mental health care, and the imperative of life science research, particularly neurological and brain sciences.

Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy has accepted a two-year appointment as a visiting fellow at the Brown Institute for Brain Science, through the 2012-13 academic year. Kennedy will deliver two lectures each year and will continue his longtime advocacy for neurological research, wider access to mental health care, and improved care for veterans with brain injuries. (Distributed March 15, 2011)