Information For:

Press Releases

Complex Brain Functions Help Adapt to New Situations and Stimuli

New research by David Badre, assistant professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences at Brown University, and colleagues at the University of California–Berkeley suggests that the frontal cortex may have a larger role in decision-making in unfamiliar situations. Their paper appears in the current edition of Neuron. (Distributed April 28, 2010)
The 242nd Commencement

Nelson Mandela To Receive Honorary Degree in Absentia, One of Eight Candidates

Nelson Mandela: A champion not only of the struggle against apartheid but also of truth and reconciliation, the former president of South Africa will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.).
Brown will confer honorary degrees on Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela and seven other distinguished candidates during its 242nd Commencement exercises, Sunday, May 30, 2010. The eight candidates include actor Morgan Freeman, computer scientist Barbara Liskov, human rights leader Nelson Mandela, author Shahrnush Parsipur, civic leader Cecile Richards, reporter David Rohde, historian Romila Thapar, and historian Gordon S. Wood. The charge d’affaires at the Embassy of South Africa in Washington will be present to accept the degree on Mandela’s behalf. (Distributed April 27, 2010)
news advisory

Accreditation Assessment Team Invites Public Comment

As part of a periodic reaccreditation process, a team of assessors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies will gather information and public comment about Brown University’s Department of Public Safety. The team has scheduled a public meeting and will receive comments by telephone on Monday, May 3, 2010. (Distributed April 27, 2010)

Groundbreaking Celebration Marks New Era for Alpert Medical School

Elected officials and other guests joined Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons and Edward J. Wing, M.D., dean of medicine and biological sciences, for the groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction for the Warren Alpert Medical School’s new home in the Providence Jewelry District. The groundbreaking took place at noon Monday, April 26, 2010, at 222 Richmond St. (Distributed April 26, 2010)
Media Advisory: Groundbreaking

Alpert Medical School to Start Work on New Home

Elected officials and other guests will join Brown President Ruth J. Simmons and Edward J. Wing, M.D., dean of medicine and biological sciences, in a celebration to mark the start of construction for the Alpert Medical School’s new home in the Jewelry District. The ceremony begins at noon Monday, April 26, 2010, at 222 Richmond St. in Providence. (Distributed April 21, 2010)
Lee Lecture on Slavery and Justice

Douglas Blackmon on ‘Grappling With Our Racial History in the Age of Obama’

Douglas Blackmon: Wall Street Journal reporter and author of Slavery by Another Name.
The inaugural Debra L. Lee Lecture on Slavery and Justice will feature Douglas Blackmon, author of Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, on Tuesday, April 27, 2010, at 4 p.m., in Sayles Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public. (Distributed April 19, 2010)

Artist Ann Hamilton to attend opening of installation in Pembroke Hall

“ground”: Ann Hamilton’s new installation in Pembroke Hall is a wool felt carpet inspired by the letterforms once used to set type by hand. The work graphically echoes conversations that will take place in the room.
Ann Hamilton, internationally known for her large-scale installations, will attend a reception at the opening of her work, “ground,” a carpet that graphically represents speaking and listening, on the third floor of Pembroke Hall, 172 Meeting St., on Wednesday, April 21 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. (Distributed April 19, 2010)

Clinical Study Shows Patients Gain Limb Movement Years After Stroke

Albert Lo: Assistant Professor of Neurology
A VA-funded study at four VA medical centers has found that intensive therapy with specially trained personnel and newly created robotic aids can help stroke patients regain limb movement more than a year after a stroke occurs. Results of the study, led at the Providence VA Medical Center by Albert Lo, assistant professor of neurology at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, are published online in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Distributed April 16, 2010)

Brown, Marine Biological Laboratory Announce Expanded Partnership

An expanded academic partnership: Gathered for the signing ceremony at the President’s Residence, from left: Chancellor Thomas Tisch, ecologist Christopher Neill, Phyllis Rosenthal, Charles Rosenthal, President Ruth Simmons, and Gary Borisy, CEO of the Marine Biological Laboratory. (Click photo to enlarge.)
Brown University and the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have announced an expanded partnership to generate joint research opportunities, strengthen graduate education, and enrich academic offerings. A $2-million gift from Charles and Phyllis Rosenthal has endowed a directorship for the project; four more MBL scientists will hold joint faculty appointments at Brown. (Distributed April 14, 2010)

Peter Weber Named Dean of the Graduate School

Peter Weber: Professor of ChemistryDean of the Graduate School, effective July 1, 2010
Peter Weber, professor of chemistry and chair of the department, has been named dean of the Graduate School at Brown University. He will begin his duties on July 1, 2010. Weber is an internationally recognized scholar in chemistry who has helped lead Brown’s initiatives in energy research. (Distributed April 12, 2010)
Stephen A. Ogden Jr. ’60 Memorial Lecture

French Ambassador Vimont to Deliver Ogden Lecture at Brown

Pierre Vimont: Ambassador of France to the United States
French Ambassador Pierre Vimont will deliver a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. ’60 Memorial Lecture on International Affairs on Monday, April 26, 2010, at 2 p.m. in the Watson Institute for International Studies, Joukowsky Forum. His talk, “The Transatlantic Partnership in a New Global World,“ is free and open to the public.
Please note the new venue. (Distributed April 12, 2010)

Civil Rights Activists Gather for 50th Anniversary of SNCC

Come let us build a new world together: The symposium’s theme comes from this iconic SNCC poster, based on a photograph by Danny Lyon.
A national symposium celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee will take place on Thursday, April 22, and Friday, April 23, 2010, at Brown, sponsored by the Department of Africana Studies. The symposium is free and open to the public. (Distributed April 12, 2010)

Brown University Scientists Discover New Principle in Material Science

Atomic Strength: A material science team led by Brown University engineers has found that the deformation of nanotwinned metals is characterized by the motion of highly ordered, necklace-like patterns of crystal defects called dislocations.
A research team led by Brown University engineers has discovered a new mechanism that governs the peak strength of nanostructured metals. The team found that the deformation of nanotwinned metals is characterized by the motion of highly ordered, necklace-like patterns of crystal defects called dislocations. The finding, published in Nature, could lead to stronger and more ductile metals. (Distributed April 7, 2010)