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Press Releases in July, 2012

2012 International AIDS Society Conference

Computers can predict effects of HIV policies

Going viral: A visualization generated by an agent-based model of New York City’s HIV epidemic shows the risky interactions of unprotected sex or needle sharing among injection drug users (red), non-injection drug users (blue) and non-users (green).
Policymakers in the fight against HIV/AIDS may have to wait years, even decades, to know whether strategic choices among possible interventions are effective. How can they make informed choices in an age of limited funding? A reliable, well-calibrated, predictive computer simulation would be a great help. (Distributed July 27, 2012)

LEGO robots make great teachers

Building a sumo warrior block by block: LEGO® programmers, from left, Aidan Marinelli, Jose Pagan, and Luke Taylor watch as their team's robot is attacked by a competitor. It was a sumo-style robotic battle.
A partnership between Brown’s Science Center and the Paul Cuffee Middle School gave 10 young student hands-on instruction in the finer points of computer programming and engineering using LEGO® robots as the teaching tool. (Distributed July 27, 2012)
Sayles Hall Swarm

Experiments inform study of crowd motion

Is crowd behavior “self-organized”: William Warren prepares to send a cohort of test subjects onto the floor in Sayles Hall. Helmets with motion-capture markers and an array of infrared cameras recorded the precise movements of individuals as their groups avoided obstacles, crossed paths with other groups, and followed pathways marked on the floor.
To determine how crowd behavior emerges from individual actions, William Warren, professor of cognitive, linguistic, and psychological sciences, assembled his own crowds and engaged them in an unusual four-day experiment in Sayles Hall. The subjects were equipped with motion capture markers affixed like antennae to bike helmets. (Distributed July 26, 2012)

Basal cell carcinoma risk can be chronic

Basal cell carcinoma: a chronic condition?: A six-year study of patients with a history of basal cell carcinoma suggests that who have had multiple instances will continue to have new instances. There is neither preventive medication nor cure. Treatment involves removal of the lesions, above.
A new analysis of factors that predict basal cell carcinoma recurrence in high-risk people finds that for many people it’s more of a chronic disease. High sun exposure before the age of 30 was a major predictor, as was a history of eczema. Martin Weinstock and colleagues reported their findings online July 19 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. (Distributed July 25, 2012)
A University Statement

Visiting fencing coach arrested

Brown University Police detained a visiting fencing coach after a teenage female participant in a summer fencing camp reported inappropriate sexual conduct by the coach. The University has released the following statement. (Distributed July 24, 2012)
Minority students as academic leaders

Leadership Alliance: Two decades of success

20 years developing minorities for academic leadership: More than 30 colleges and universities, from small regional institutions to international research universities have banded together in the Leadership Alliance to support minority scholars through their Ph.D.s and into positions of academic leadership. The Alliance celebrates 20 years — and its first 200 Ph.D.s — this month.
During the last 20 years, the Leadership Alliance has helped more than 200 minority scholars earn doctoral degrees. The organization, a national consortium based at Brown University, will celebrate that milestone at its annual symposium, July 27-29, 2012, at the Hartford Marriott Downtown in Hartford, Conn.  (Distributed July 23, 2012)

Mice have system to handle smell of fear

A separate subsystem for the smell of fear: Experiments in mice suggest neurons that detect odors associated with an instinctive response — like fleeing when an approaching predator is detected — are configured differently than other olfactory neurons. Further research could determine whether this system automatically triggers flight or other primal behaviors.
Mice appear to have a specialized system for detecting and at least initially processing instinctually important smells such as those that denote predators. The finding raises a question about whether their response to those smells is hardwired. (Distributed July 23, 2012)
Commentary: Albert Lo

MS drug disappoints on disability

This week the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study with unfortuate news for the millions of people who suffer from multiple sclerosis. In the large study, a therapy known as interferon beta failed to stave off the progression of the incurable disease. Albert Lo, associate professor of neurology and epidemiology, comments on what the study means for patients, why it was well-designed, and how a new effort to support research on the disease in Rhode Island could help. (Distributed July 20, 2012)

Loury, Rich serve on NAS imprisonment panel

World No. 1: The United States has the world's largest inmate population (2.3 million prisoners) and the highest per-capita incarceration rate (752 inmates per 100,000 residents) — with astounding racial and ethnic disparities. A committee of the National Academy of Sciences is trying to determine why this is so and what can be done about it.
The United States has the world’s highest per capita rate of incarceration, and there are stark racial disparities within those numbers. To study the issue, the National Academy of Sciences has convened a committee that counts Brown professors Glenn Loury and Josiah D. Rich among its members. They argue that imprisonment is often the consequence of society’s failure to address underlying noncriminal problems. (Distributed July 19, 2012)
commentary: Melani Cammett

Violence in Syria: A critical juncture

This week, three top officials in Syria were killed and a number of others were wounded in an explosion at a national security building in Damascus, delivering a blow to President Bashar al-Assad's regime and inciting speculation that this latest event may mark the beginning of the end of the country's 16-month crisis. Melani Cammett, associate professor of political science and the Dupee Faculty Fellow at the Watson Institute, comments on what it will take to bring the Syrian regime down. (Distributed July 19, 2012)
Commentary: Jack R. Wands

Nelson Mandela turns 94

Nelson Mandela celebrated his 94th birthday on Wednesday, July 18. Dr. Jack Wands, who served as a faculty escort when the University awarded Mandela an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2010, extends birthday greetings. (Johnny Moloto, of the Embassy of South Africa, received the degree in absentia on Mandela’s behalf.) (Distributed July 18, 2012)

El Zotz masks yield insights into Maya beliefs

Diablo Pyramid, north side: A tracing of an image found at the El Zotz archaeological site in Guatemala depicts the Maya sun god. “The stuccos provide unprecedented insight into how the Maya conceived of the heavens,” said archaeologist Stephen Houston, “how they thought of the sun, and how the sun itself would have been grafted onto the identity of kings and the dynasties that would follow them.”
A team of archaeologists led by Stephen Houston has made a new discovery at the Maya archaeological site in El Zotz, Guatemala, uncovering a pyramid believed to celebrate the Maya sun god. The structure's outer walls depict the god in an unprecedented set of images done in painted stucco. Researchers believe the pyramid was built to link the deceased lord to the eternal sun. National Geographic named this one of the Top 10 discoveries of 2012. (Distributed July 18, 2012)
A University Statement

University reviews honors named for Joe Paterno

In light of the conviction of Jerry Sandusky and the release of the Freeh Report at Penn State, Brown University is reviewing awards and honors named for Joe Paterno. The University has released the following statement: (Distributed July 17, 2012)

Venture training helps entrepreneurs succeed

Helping startups help host cities: By matching recent well-trained college graduates with startups and early stage companies, Venture for America hopes to help the economies of financially strained cities.
Venture for America's first class of 40 fellows is currently on the Brown campus for the program's inaugural five-week training camp. Founded in 2011 by Brown alum Andrew Yang, the program places recent college graduates who have aspirations for entrepreneurship into two-year apprenticeships at startup and early stage companies in economically challenged cities around the country. In the fall, the first class of fellows will be headed to jobs in New Orleans, Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Detroit, and Providence. (Distributed July 12, 2012)