As The Dish mentioned in a post on Monday, the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus rolled into campus over the weekend. Stanford computer science majors joined John Lennon staff on board to help a group of local middle and high school students design and build an iPad app in 48 hours. The teenagers came up with a farming game to promote understanding of agriculture in developing countries. Players have to allocate resources among technology, crop improvement and debt payments to increase the health of the people in their virtual village. STEVE FYFFE, videographer for the Stanford News Service, captured the action.
Archive for February, 2012
John Lennon Bus 2.0
Love and other drugs: Ask Stanford Med
When you ask someone to describe the physical sensation of love, chances are you’ll get an answer like falling head-over-heels, having butterflies in the stomach or walking on sunshine. As it turns out, and as described in a Stanford study, those intense, consuming feelings of love can do more than make you happy: They appear to block pain in ways similar to painkillers or illicit drugs.
In honor of Valentine’s Day, the Medical School’s SCOPE blog asked SEAN MACKEY, associate professor of anesthesia and senior author of that pain study, to respond to your questions about the analgesic effects of love – and he’s happy to answer general questions about pain research, too.
You have until Friday at 5 p. m. to submit your questions. For more information, visit LIA STEAKLEY‘s full SCOPE blog post.
What’s that bus?
You may have noticed a big blue bus parked on White Plaza. It’s not exactly a party bus, but the campus community is invited to get on board this afternoon.
The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, equipped with the latest audio, video and broadcast apparatus, is here for the “Game Jam,” hosted by the university’s Office of Science Outreach and the Stanford Bookstore.
During the weekend, eight local high school students came together on the bus to develop an original game app with the assistance of Lennon Bus producers and Stanford student coders.
The campus community will have an opportunity to check out the bus today, Feb. 13, from noon to 4 p.m. At 4:30 p.m., there will be a “Game App First Peek Event” in the Bookstore.
Visit the Stanford Event Calendar for more information.
Renowned breast cancer expert comes to Stanford
MARK PEGRAM, a renowned clinician and scholar in breast cancer research and a leader in translational medicine, has joined the Stanford University Medical Center to direct the breast oncology and molecular therapeutics programs. Pegram began his new position Feb. 1.
As part of the new Women’s Cancer Center clinic, which opened in June, Pegram will help bring newly developed breast cancer therapeutics to clinical trials, conduct his own research and treat patients. “Our goal is to improve our ability to extend the quality and quantity of life for breast cancer patients,” said BEVERLY MITCHELL, director of the Stanford Cancer Institute. “Mark is going to help accomplish this by bringing together excellent clinical care and new approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.”
Read the full announcement on Pegram on the Medical Center’s news website.
— BY BETH MOLE
‘Turn Off for Break’ campaign nets $266,000 in savings
Susan Vargas
Figures released by SUSAN VARGAS, facilities energy efficiency manager, and FAHMIDA AHMED, associate director of the Office of Sustainability, show that this past year’s winter curtailment was enormously successful. The two report $266,000 in operating savings, which is a 32 percent increase from 2010. Since 2001, the winter curtailment program has saved about $2.5 million.
JUNIPER BUILDING, which houses the Computer Information Systems for Human Resources, won a $1,000 prize for general participation. The BRAUN MUSIC CENTER won $1,000 in the performance improvement category. SCOTT HOFFLANDER, trades and crafts supervisor in the HVAC Shop, won $500 as outstanding individual contributor.
In a recent email, Vargas and Ahmed shared the following facts:
* 13 buildings increased participation levels this year
* 168 buildings participated in the curtailment, 109 of them fully
* 1.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity was saved and 1,033 metric tons of CO2 was avoided.
Learn more at the Sustainable Stanford website.
Exhibit features Medical School faculty art
This Thomas Merigan photo of an Atlantic puffin will be part of a six-month art exhibit at the medical school's Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge.
Wildlife photography, abstract sculpture and world-renowned oil paintings — the creative endeavors of School of Medicine faculty — will grace the halls of the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge (LKSC) through July 26.
The exhibit is the first in a series featuring the works of faculty, students and staff in dedicated galleries on the first and second floors. This inaugural show will include about 20 pieces from three Medical School professors.
THOMAS MERIGAN, the George E. and Lucy Becker Professor of Medicine, Emeritus, started capturing the beauty of wildlife in 2004 as an amateur naturalist. A selection of his photography will be on the first floor of the LKSC. To see more of his work, visit www.pbase.com/merigan/profile.
Surgeon RALPH GRECO began his sculpting career in the late 1980s. His abstract and figurative stone sculptures have been featured in several solo shows.
The artistic expressions of the late JOSEPH KRISS, professor of medicine and of radiology, who died in 1989, spanned oil painting, sculpture and experimentation with digital art and fractals. His work is displayed in collections from the Bay Area to Jerusalem to Kyoto.
A selection of Greco’s table-sized sculptures and Kriss’ oil paintings will be on display on the second floor gallery of the LKSC.
The next exhibit, planned for August, will feature student artists. Students interested in submitting pieces should contact organizer TRAUDI SEDELMAYR at [email protected].
Read the original announcement on the School of Medicine’s website.
Linda Darling-Hammond talks to Dan Rather
Last month, the Stanford News Service published a story titled “How the Finnish school system outshines U.S. education.”
The article featured a Jan. 17 lecture delivered by PASI SAHLBERG, a Finnish education expert, about how the previously failing Finnish educational system had become a success story.
“Finland had been traditionally thought of as the lowest achieving country in Scandinavia, and one of the lower achieving ones in Europe for a very long time. It was not a highly developed education system,” said education Professor LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND, who introduced Sahlberg.
Recently, veteran journalist DAN RATHER interviewed Darling-Hammond for a two-part series on Finland’s education system on his show Dan Rather Reports. According to the website for the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, Finnish First Part One “looks inside Finnish schools to examine the practices behind the so-called ‘Finnish miracle.’ Part Two asks, What can the United States learn from Finland’s success?
An excerpt of Rather’s interview with Darling-Hammond is below. The full episodes of Finnish First are available for download from iTunes.
SLAC kicks off golden anniversary
SLAC communications staffers, from left, Thanh Ly, conference and event manager; Lina Ruhlman, tour coordinator; LaPria Genevro, administrative associate; Melinda Lee, outreach manager, and Rod Reape, multimedia services supervisor
SLACers are no slouches when it comes to having fun, and the photos just in from the lab’s recent 50th anniversary kickoff celebration demonstrate that SLAC people work hard and play hard.
The Jan. 26 event started with employees assembling on SLAC’s main green for a variety of photos and videos taken from land, lift bucket and helicopter by BRAD PLUMMER, the lab’s multimedia manager, plus four other professional photographers.
Later, employees enjoyed sumptuous edibles while local band “So Timeless” got funky on stage. There was a photo booth complete with outrageous wigs and shiny shades that staff definitely weren’t shy about putting on for the camera.
Many of these wacky images are online and available now at https://buzzimages.smugmug.com/SLAC.
LAPRIA GENEVRO, administrative associate in SLAC’s communications office, led the party planning. Among the myriad tasks checked off over the two months leading up to the event, she and colleagues selected the menu and band, created 34 reusable centerpieces and assembled the 1,700 “50th Anniversary” and “SLAC” buttons that employees took away.
Genevro said her team especially enjoyed thinking up fun “SLACspeak” names for the drinks: Project M (mock mojito), the Photonic Tonic (faux kir royale), the Accelerator (coffee), Tau Tea (hot water for tea), Synchrotron Cider (hot apple cider) and Cosmic Cocoa (hot chocolate).
The golden anniversary will be a central theme for many of the lab’s outreach activities this year, such as tours and public lectures, said MELINDA LEE, SLAC’s community relations manager. A scientific symposium and special event for VIPs and employees will be held in August and a community event is planned for September.
Read the full story by SLAC science writer MIKE ROSS on the lab’s News Center website.
Stanford football scores on Signing Day
Cardinal football coach DAVID SHAW announced earlier this week that 22 high school seniors have signed official national letters of intent to play football at Stanford.
The 22 student-athletes attend high school in 14 states- three each from California, Texas and Arizona; two each from Florida and Washington, along with one player each from the states of Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia and Utah.
“We are excited to welcome one of the best recruiting classes in school history,” said Shaw, the Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football, who was named the 2011 Pac-12 Conference’s Coach of the Year after guiding the Cardinal to an 11-2 record and a second straight BCS bowl appearance. “We say that not because of how high this class is rated, but instead because of the combination of ability, intelligence, toughness and character in this class. We cannot wait for these young men to join us this summer and have an immediate impact on our team this season.”
According to the announcement on the Athletics website, one of the recruits, Brandon Fanaika of Pleasant Grove, Utah, who is listed as the No. 9 offensive guard in the country and top prospect in his home state, is expected to take a two-year church mission before enrolling at Stanford in 2014.
In the video below, Shaw talks about the recruits as athletes and scholars.
Stanford graduate Eila Skinner named chair of urology
Ella Skinner
Stanford graduate EILA SKINNER, professor of clinical urology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, has been named the new chair of the Department of Urology. Skinner earned a degree in human biology at Stanford in 1976 and graduated with distinction. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
In a press release, Philip Pizzo, dean of the School of Medicine, said, “Dr. Skinner is an active surgeon with a national reputation for her expertise in urology and bladder cancer. In my discussions with leaders around the country about her candidacy, I heard over and over again that she was one of the very best and most highly respected urologic surgeons in the nation. She has been equally committed to the education and training of future surgeons and leaders at USC and nationally. I am very pleased that Dr. Skinner has agreed to accept this important role at Stanford University Medical Center.”
Skinner’s primary research interests are in the area of cancer prevention, bladder cancer and urinary tract reconstruction. She has also served as director of the “Real Men Cook” Foundation since 2003, where she has coordinated education and screening for prostate cancer for more than 1,000 Los Angeles-area African-American and Latino men annually.
Read the full press release.
