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May 20, 2009

May People Notes

Frank Ackerman, a senior research fellow with the Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE) and a senior scientist with the Stockholm Environment Institute, recently had his review of Nicholas Stern’s new book, A Blueprint for a Safer Planet, published online in Nature Reports: Climate Change at http://www.nature.com/climate/2009/0905/full/climate.2009.34.html.

Nalini Ambady, professor of psychology, received an Outstanding Faculty Contribution to Graduate Studies Award from the Graduate Student Council during the 11th annual presentation of Graduate Student Awards on May 1.

Sawkat Anwer, a professor and associate dean for research at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, was invited to present a seminar titled “Role of Protein Kinase C-delta and P31 MAPK in the Translocation of NTCP and MRP2” at Yale University School of Medicine’s division of gastroenterology on March 3. Anwer was also a faculty panelist for the workshop “Managing the Teaching-Research Juggle” at Tufts’ 22nd annual Conference on Teaching and Learning on March 25 on the Grafton campus.

Ashleigh Baber, G10, a chemistry graduate student, has been selected to attend this year’s Nobel Laureate Meeting. Each year since 1951, Nobel Prize winners in chemistry, physics and physiology/medicine have met with students from around the world to discuss the important issues facing their fields of study. Baber is one of 74 doctoral students from the United States selected to attend this distinguished gathering of scholars, which will take place in Lindau, Germany, from June 28 to July 3.

Peggy Cebe, professor of physics, received the National Science Foundation’s “Special Creativity Award,” and was also named a fellow of the American Physical Society.

Jennifer Coates, an assistant professor at the Friedman School, recently returned from Kenya, where she initiated data collection on a new three-country project studying how to sustain the benefits of food aid programs after the programs have shut down. She is working with Elizabeth Hackett-Kegode, J90, N94. The project will follow communities for two years after food programs end to determine what implementing agencies can do to ensure the program benefits are sustained.

Antonio Donini, a senior researcher at the Feinstein International Center, finds that humanitarian efforts are endangered in Afghanistan because of the perceived association of aid agencies with the U.S.-led intervention. Building on data collected from interviews in the aid community as well as with Afghan citizens, his report concludes that some humanitarian efforts should be insulated from political and military agendas or the consequences could be dire for Afghans and the future of humanitarianism worldwide.

Mark S. Drapkin, a professor of medicine, was named a 2009 Community Clinician of the Year. The Community Clinician of the Year Award was established in 1998 by the Massachusetts Medical Society to recognize a physician from each of the society’s 20 district medical societies who has made significant contributions to his or her patients and community. Drapkin, representing the Charles River District Medical Society, is associate chief of the Infectious Disease Service at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, where he has been on staff since 1975. A graduate of the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, he is a fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America. He has received three awards from Newton-Wellesley Hospital: the George L. White Award for outstanding service to the hospital, the Locke Teaching Award and the Lawrence I. Stellar Award for Excellence in Teaching. At Tufts School of Medicine, where he began teaching in 1975, he has received 17 awards for teaching excellence from graduating students, and was the 2007 recipient of the Milton O. and Natalie V. Zucker Prize for clinical teaching.

Yannis Evrigenis, assistant professor of political science, is a recipient of the Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Fellowship at Princeton, which is awarded annually to outstanding scholars interested in devoting a year in residence at the university to write about ethics and human values.

Michael Foley, assistant professor of medicine and a gastroenterologist at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, received the 2009 Distinguished Alumni Service Award from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Alumni Association during a luncheon at the State House on April 16. He was a member of the first graduating class of UMass Medical School in 1972. He was a member of the UMass Board of Trustees from 1988 to 2003, and served as vice chair of the board. Foley has also served as president of the medical staff at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, and from 1979 to 2003, was the internal medicine consultant to the Boston Red Sox and physician in attendance at Fenway Park.

Laura Fong, A09, a political science major and Neubauer Scholar who is pursuing her interest in Internet and data security, was asked in January by the chief information officer at the U.S. Army’s Fort Monmouth in New Jersey to provide a briefing on technology and security to senior Department of Defense leadership at the base. She was so well received that she was asked to deliver the briefing to a larger audience, and the Department of Defense brought her back for a second visit.

Kevin P. Gallagher, a senior researcher at the Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE), was in Washington on March 27 for a presentation titled “Rethinking U.S. Trade Policy in Latin America: Environment, NAFTA and Beyond.” The talk was part of a one-day workshop on the future of U.S. trade policy in Latin America sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars.

Mara Gittleman, A09, won the SustainUS Citizen Scientist Award for her paper on research she conducted last winter in Addis Ababa and will present her work at the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UN CSD-17) when it meets this month at UN headquarters in New York City. Citizen Science of SustainUS is a nationwide youth-led nonprofit committed to providing a platform for young people to engage in policy discourse and share scientific knowledge as it relates to sustainable development. Citizen Science sponsors an annual paper competition based on the discussion topics of the upcoming UN CSD. See http://tuftsjournal.tufts.edu/2009/02_2/features/02/ for a story on Gittleman’s research in Ethiopia.

Brendan Goodwin and Neil Veilleux, graduate students in urban and environmental policy and planning, have been chosen as 2009 Rappaport Public Policy Fellows by the Rappaport Institute at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Goodwin and Veilleux will spend 10 weeks during the summer working in a state or local government agency in the greater Boston area and participating in weekly seminars with leading practitioners and scholars. They each will receive a $7,000 stipend. Goodwin and Veilleux are two of only 12 graduate students chosen for the fellowship. Read more about the fellowship program at http://www.hks.harvard.edu/rappaport/service/fellows/program.htm.

Neva Goodwin, co-director of the Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE), participated in a panel discussion on the Tufts endowment on April 6 at Tufts. Other panelists included Dana Callow, A74, A04P, a member of the Tufts Board of Trustees, and Josh Humphreys, a lecturer at Harvard and founder/director of the Center for Social Philanthropy.

Miranda Hillyard, V10, and Jennifer Zambriski, V06, have been awarded Fogarty Clinical Research Fellowships for zoonotic disease research in Peru for the coming year. The fellowships are highly competitive and very prestigious. Hillyard and Zambriski are the only two veterinarians or veterinary students in the current group of fellows.

Justin Hollander, assistant professor of urban and environmental policy and planning, and Julia Gold, a graduate student in urban and environmental policy and planning, were speakers at the annual meeting of the National Brownfield Associations in Phoenix in March. They reported on research they have been doing on the reuse and redevelopment of abandoned commercial and industrial properties.

Robin Kanarek, professor of psychology, received an Outstanding Faculty Contribution to Graduate Studies Award from the Graduate Student Council during the 11th annual presentation of Graduate Student Awards on May 1.

Alicia Karas, assistant professor of clinical sciences at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, presented three lectures, “Somewhat Less than Local: Efficacy and Safety of Intravenous and Intra-wound Infusion of Local Anesthetics for Postoperative Analgesia,” “Preemptive Analgesia: Controversy Over the Evidence” and “The Difficult Chronic Pain Patient: Hands-On Diagnosis and Management” at the Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists/ECVAA training day and spring meeting in early March in Helsinki, Finland.

Stuart B. Levy, Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology and of Medicine and director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance, has been named co-chair of the Rational Use of Antibiotics project of the World Health Organization’s new patient safety campaign. Levy recently visited Geneva, where his group is putting together a report on new approaches to curtail antibiotic resistance. Levy was the keynote speaker at the American Society of Microbiology’s 2009 Biodefense and Emerging Disease Research meeting in February, when he spoke about preventing infectious diseases by targeting virulence, not growth of the microorganism.

Michelle Long, M09, has been honored as a 2009 Massachusetts Medical Society Scholar. She is among eight scholars, two from each of the state’s four medical schools, who will be honored at the society’s annual meeting on May 7 at the Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center in Boston. The society’s Scholars Awards are presented annually to fourth-year medical students who demonstrate excellent academic performance, community involvement and financial need. Each honoree receives a $10,000 scholarship. Long has been active with the Sharewood Project, volunteering in the Tufts-sponsored clinic, working as a physician’s assistant and on the administrative board, participating in outreach programs and raising funds. She intends to pursue a career in academic internal medicine with a focus on underserved populations.

Gabriel Lopez-Bernal, a student in urban and environmental policy and planning, was awarded the American Planning Association’s Planning Fellowship Program Scholarship for academic achievement, commitment to the planning profession and involvement in other planning-related activities. Read more about the fellowship at http://ase.tufts.edu/uep/news/NewsDetails.aspx?newsTypeId=1&newsId=80.

Dan Margalit, assistant professor of mathematics, has been awarded a 2009 Sloan Research Fellowship. The fellowship comes with a $50,000 grant for a two-year period. Sloan fellows are free to pursue whatever lines of inquiry are of most interest to them, and they are permitted to use fellowship funds in a variety of ways to further their research aims.

Moshen Meydani, director of the Vascular Biology Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts, received a five-year subcontract grant from the National Cancer Institute to collaborate with a colleague at the University of Illinois at Chicago on a research project titled “Adiposity and Outcomes of Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer.” Meydani also gave the keynote address at the “Whole Grain Global Summit” in Newcastle, England, where he spoke on the potential health benefits of avenanthramides of oats.

David Munson, M09, has been honored as a 2009 Massachusetts Medical Society Scholar. He is among eight scholars, two from each of the state’s four medical schools, who will be honored at the society’s annual meeting on May 7 at the Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center in Boston. The society’s Scholars Awards are presented annually to fourth-year medical students who demonstrate excellent academic performance, community involvement and financial need. Each honoree receives a $10,000 scholarship. Soon after entering Tufts, Munson volunteered with the Sharewood Project, a student-run free clinic, becoming its coordinator in 2006. He increased the program capacity, trained others in phlebotomy and learned first-hand the challenges and frustrations of access to and continuity of medical care. He plans on a career as a primary-care physician with a focus on HIV medicine or specialization in infectious disease.

Monica White Ndounou, assistant professor of drama, presented her essay titled “Revising Representation in Driving Miss Daisy (1989),” an analysis of Morgan Freeman’s performance and African-American agency in the acting process. The essay was featured as part of a workshop on identity politics and theater scholarship within the Diasporic Imaginations Research Group at the American Society for Theatre Research conference in Boston in November 2008.

Mary Rose Paradis, associate professor of large animal medicine at the Cummings School, received a Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Associate Merit Award on March 21. Paradis also gave a presentation titled “EPM, EHV, CVM, EEE—The Alphabet Soup of Equine Neurologic Disorders” on March 11 as part of the Tufts Horse Owners Health Series.

Brian J.G. Pereira, professor of medicine and president and CEO of AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc., is the recipient of the 2009 David M. Hume Award, the National Kidney Foundation’s highest honor. It is given to a distinguished scientist-clinician in the field of kidney and urologic diseases who exemplifies the ideals of scholarship and humanitarianism. The award was established in memory of one of the kidney foundation’s most distinguished members. Pereira’s two decades of research “has resulted in better-designed policies in dialysis centers and organ transplantation and a better understanding of the transmission and course of hepatitis C in nephrology,” says Bryan Becker, president of the National Kidney Foundation. “His research has emphasized the importance of inflammation in chronic kidney disease and resulted in a greater focus on chronic kidney disease care.” Pereira is the editor of the widely read textbook Chronic Kidney Disease, Dialysis and Transplantation, and he has published more than 200 scientific papers.

A.J. Raczkowski, A09, a mathematics and computer science major, is the winner of the Astronaut Scholarship funded by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, whose more than 70 astronaut members seek to help the United States retain its world leadership in science and technology.

Patrick Ray, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering who is also part of the Water: Systems, Science and Society (WSSS) Program, received a Fulbright Award of $20,000 to study water resources in Amman, Jordan. Ray previously received a three-year National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to study the water and wastewater system in Beirut, Lebanon.

Susan B. Roberts, director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts, professor of nutrition and professor of psychiatry, has been awarded the E.V. McCollum Award of the American Society for Nutrition for being a “creative force” in nutrition research and “actively generating new concepts in nutrition and personally seeing to the execution of studies testing the validity of these concepts.”

Beatrice Rogers, a professor at the Friedman School, recently returned from Bolivia, where she initiated the first round of data collection on a new three-country project studying how to sustain the benefits of food aid programs after the programs have shut down. She is working with Kathryn Houk, N11, who will be traveling with the data collection team.

Analucia Schliemann, professor of education, received an Outstanding Faculty Contribution to Graduate Studies Award from the Graduate Student Council during the 11th annual presentation of Graduate Student Awards on May 1.

Rebecca Steers, V10, was inducted as president of the Student American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA) at the recent SAVMA symposium in Columbus, Ohio. She will serve as president for the coming year and will chair the meeting of the SAVMA House of Delegates at the AVMA meeting this summer in Seattle. Steers is the first Cummings School student to represent the school as national SAVMA president.

Chris Strauber, humanities reference librarian and coordinator of instructional design at Tisch Library, gave a talk on “Widgets for Libraries” at the “Widgets in Education” workshop sponsored by the NorthEast Regional Computing Program at UMass-Amherst on March 24. The talk described the use of simple web technology for library promotion and faculty outreach on Strauber’s website, Humanities at Tufts.

Xingmin Sun was recently promoted to research associate in the department of biomedical sciences at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

Charles Sykes, the Usen Family Career Development Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award. CAREER awards, formally called the Faculty Early Career Development Program, support junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within their organizations. Sykes’ award was for his project, “Investigating and Controlling Molecular Rotation on Surfaces.”

Jeffrey W. Taliaferro, associate professor of political science, published his book  Neoclassical Realism, the State and Foreign Policy, co-edited with Steven E. Lobell of the University of Utah and Norrin M. Ripsman of Concordia University, in February with Cambridge University Press. Neoclassical realism is an important new approach to international relations, and the book offers the first systematic survey of the neoclassical realist approach. The editors lead a group of senior and emerging international relations scholars, who examine the central role of the “state” and seek to explain why, how and under what conditions the internal characteristics of states intervene between leaders’ assessments of international threats and opportunities and the actual diplomatic, military and foreign economic policies those leaders are likely to pursue. Taliaferro and his co-editors participated in a roundtable on the book at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association in New York City in February. Taliafarro, Lobell and Ripsman also co-organized a conference on “Grand Strategy between the World Wars” at the University of Utah in late March.

Grace Talusan, lecturer in English, published “Cheating Fate,” an essay, in Audrey: The Asian American Women’s Lifestyle Magazine. She regularly contributes to TheRumpus.net, and her book reviews and author interviews can be found at http://therumpus.net/author/grace-talusan/. Talusan also presented on the panel Archipelagos of Dust at the annual conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs in Chicago.

Holly Taylor, professor of psychology, received the Faculty Mentoring Award at the 11th annual presentation of Graduate Student Awards on May 1. Taylor also was the recipient of the 2008-09 Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools' award for graduate teaching at the doctoral level.

Dan Teres, A62, professor of medicine, is a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Clinical Effectiveness Research Innovation Collaborative. He is also a senior field medical director with AstraZeneca.

Matthew W. Thoms, E10, has been named a Morris K. Udall Scholar for 2009. Thoms, a junior studying mechanical engineering, was one of 80 students selected from 515 nominees nationwide. He will receive a $5,000 scholarship and attend the Udall Scholars orientation in Tucson, Ariz., in August. Thoms, of La Grange Park, Ill., is currently the engineering director for Team Boston, a group of students from Tufts and the Boston Architectural College who are building an energy-efficient, solar-powered house for this year’s Solar Decathlon competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The Udall Scholars are selected for their commitment to environmental research and issues, demonstrated leadership abilities and interest in careers related to the environment.

Heather Trout, V09, received the John Pitts Award for Distinguished Service, which is awarded annually to a member of the Student American Veterinary Medical Association who has made a significant contribution to veterinary medicine. Trout was recognized for her work with the Group Health and Life Insurance Trust to extend coverage to domestic partners.

Judith Wechsler, the National Endowment for the Humanities Professor in the department of art and art history, will be a fellow at the American Academy in Berlin in spring 2010. She delivered a paper at the College Art Association’s annual conference, “Daumier’s New Women: ‘The Blue Stockings,’ ‘Socialist Women’ and ‘The Divorcees.’ ” For the French Embassy, she served on the jury of the Chateaubriand Fellowships.

Timothy A. Wise, research and policy director, Kevin P. Gallagher, senior researcher, and Kenneth Shadlen, senior research fellow, at the Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE), took part in a one-day workshop titled “The Future of NAFTA: Charting a More Sustainable North American Integration” at Boston University on March 20.

Nella Young, G10, a student in urban and environmental policy and planning, has been awarded a $37,000 German Chancellor Fellowship for Prospective Leaders. This annual award provides recipients with an opportunity to design and implement a leadership project with a German host. Young, who is one of only 10 individuals to receive the fellowship for the 2009-10 academic year, will be part of an initiative to bring new urban redevelopment practices to the Saxony-Anhalt region.