Computer scientists from Brown University and the University of Texas–Austin visited NASA’s Johnson Space Center for a week-long hackathon to provide computers and tablets with a simple web interface that can operate complex systems for the remote control of robots.

A new collaboration between sleep researchers and engineers at Brown University, funded by the National Science Foundation, may be the first step toward “smart lighting” that tunes the interior environment — the wavelength, intensity, direction, and other factors of artificial light — to accommodate human biological rhythms of sleep and wakefulness.

Nursing homes that invest in “culture change” can develop a more residential and less hospital-like feel. Culture change also allows residents and front-line care workers more of a say in how homes operate. A new study finds that the practice produces important benefits in quality of care, but only when the changes are implemented extensively.

The National Women’s Studies Association will present its Gloria E. Anzaldúa book prize to Keisha-Khan Perry, associate professor of Africana studies, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, this November.

As parts of Africa continue to battle the outbreak of Ebola virus, protective equipment — masks, gowns, gloves and more — are at a premium for front-line health workers. Infectious disease staff at Brown and The Miriam Hospital have chipped in, purchased supplies, and sent them to health workers in Liberia.

In a letter to the campus community today, President Christina Paxson announced that Beppie Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration, will retire in February 2015 after 12 years of service.

The Guantánamo Public Memory Project is an international traveling exhibition, co-curated by Brown students, that seeks to broaden the public perception and history of the U.S. naval station in Cuba. The exhibition, with a series of corresponding events, opens in Providence Tuesday, Sept 2, 2014.