July People Notes

Frank Ackerman, research and policy program director at the Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE), and Liz Stanton, a GDAE researcher, were in Washington, D.C., in late June for a workshop on climate economics, sponsored by Economics for Equity and Environment (E3), a network of economists that Ackerman helped organize. The participants discussed policy briefs from a dozen economists working on climate issues and presented a progressive perspective on the issues to a large audience of NGO climate activists. Ackerman co-authored an article, “The Carbon Content of Japan-U.S. Trade,” which has been accepted by the journal Energy Policy. The article will appear in the journal this year and is the final product from GDAE’s longtime collaboration with a team of Japanese researchers. Stanton is the co-editor of a new book, Reclaiming Nature, in which leading environmental thinkers from across the globe explore the relationship between the natural world and human activities. They advance a new vision of environmentalism, founded on the link between the struggle to reclaim nature and the struggle for social justice. She also had an article published in the International Poverty Centre journal Poverty in Focus. The article is titled “Adjusting the Human Development Index for Inequality.”

Tufts President Lawrence S. Bacow has been elected the new chair of the executive committee of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts (AICUM), a statewide organization of 56 member institutions. His term runs through May 31, 2008. Bacow has served as vice chair and as an executive committee member of the organization. “We are delighted that President Bacow has assumed the chairmanship of AICUM,” said Richard J. Doherty, AICUM president. “He is a highly regarded national higher education leader and a creative, visionary leader here in the Commonwealth.”

Adrienne Bishop, J77, G78, spent this past year teaching in Rennes, France, on a Fulbright grant. She taught English as a foreign language at a middle school, College les Ormeaux, as part of a teacher exchange program. She assumed all of the classes of a French teacher, who spent the year teaching Bishop’s French classes in the Cranford, N.J., school district. Bishop’s two children, Mark, 14, and Alexander, 12, spent the year in France with her.

Suzanne Bremer, program coordinator of the Social Science Library project at the Global Development and Environment Institute, is a candidate for mayor in Somerville, Mass.

Erin E.G. Casey, V10, received a National Institutes of Health award for her research on “The Effect of Intravenous Morphine, Hydromorphone, Buprenorphine and Butorphanol on Pupil Size and Intraocular Pressure in Normal Dogs.”

Michael Forgac, professor of physiology, chaired a session on “V-type ATPases: Structure, Mechanism and Physiology” at the FASEB Summer Research Conference on Transport ATPases: Structure, Mechanisms, Genomics and Disease, which took place June 9-14 at Vermont Academy in Saxons River, Vt. He presented a talk on “Structure, Function and Regulation of the V-ATPases” at the Gordon Conference on Molecular and Cellular Bioenergetics June 17-22 at Proctor Academy in Andover, N.H. In May, Forgac was awarded the 2006-07 Zucker Family Research Prize by Tufts School of Medicine. As part of the award, he will be presenting a seminar on his work this fall on the Boston campus.

Kevin P. Gallagher, senior researcher at the Global Development and Environment Institute, participated in a workshop on “Future Implications of a Global Biofuel Market on Economic Development, Environment and Trade” on May 9 at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Nihal W. Goonewardene, F73, F74, F75, has been appointed to the Board of Overseers to the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He was the first Sri Lankan to attend the Fletcher School, and received a B.A. in political science in 1972 from Oakland University in Michigan. He is president and CEO of International Science and Technology Institute Inc. in Arlington, Va.

Miranda Hillyard, V10, received a U.S. Army award for her research proposal titled “Investigating the Risk of Food-borne Transmission of Nipah Virus in Bangladesh.”

Dr. Kara Lascola, a third-year resident in large animal surgery at the Cummings School, has passed her large animal internal medicine specialty boards, completing the final requirement for board certification in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM). She received her certificate at the ACVIM Forum in June.

Yuri Lawrence, V10, received a National Institutes of Health grant for his research on “Neospora Infection of Domestic Canids on Cattle Farms in Oregon.”

Colleen McCarthy, V09, received an NIH award for her research proposal titled “Mapping Genes Associated with Mast Cell Tumors in Golden Retrievers.”

Jennifer McRobbie, V10, received a U.S. Army grant for her proposal titled “The Serological Surveillance of Rhinolophus megaphyllus for Hendra Virus and Australian Bat Lyssavirus.”

Lindsey Miller, V10, received an NIH award for her research on “Evaluating Shock Index and Biochemical Markers as Prognostic Indicators in Feline Emergency Medicine.”

Shannabeth Minior, V09, received a U.S. Army grant for her research proposal titled “Prevalence of Brucellosis in Zimbabwean Caprines.”

Eric Mondschein, V07 was profiled in the May 9 issue of The Daily News Tribune in an article in which he mapped out a plan to rescue animals in Newton, Mass., during natural disasters or other emergencies and created volunteer forms and a handbook for the city. Mondschein is looking to recruit volunteers for the Newton Massachusetts Animal Response Team, which will provide shelter and care for animals, assist in the capture and rescue of animals, provide emergency care to injured animals and issue and enforce animal disease quarantines in case of an emergency or disaster situation. The work was done as part of his MPH degree, which he received in May along with his D.V.M.

Corynne M. Mulcahy, V10, received a Morris Foundation grant for her research project on “Genomic Tools for Rhinoceros Conservation.”

Julie Nelson, senior research associate at the Global Development and Environment Institute, gave a talk on “Economics for Humans: Conscience, Care and Commerce?” at Suffolk University Law School on June 19. She’s published a new book, Introducing Economics: A Critical Guide for Teaching (M.E.Sharpe, 2007), co-authored with Mark Maier.

Linda Ng, V09, received NIH funding for her research on “Determining the Association of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Infection Status of Chickens with HPAI Infection of Ducks in Java, Indonesia.”

Lindsey Nielsen, V09, received an NIH grant for her research on “Blood Chemistry Values in Black and White Rhinoceroses: A Comparison between Immobilized and Non-Immobilized Animals.”

Susan Ostrander, professor of sociology, had her work featured as the basis for a mini-forum on the social relations of philanthropy in the June issue of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.

Alex Reid, a former reporter for the Boston Globe and the New York Times, has joined University Relations as associate director of public relations on the Medford/Somerville campus. He spent 20 years at the Globe as a writer for the Globe North/Northwest, Globe South and the metro desk. He also covered higher education and human services and served as editor and bureau chief at the Globe South bureau. Prior to joining the Globe, Reid spent two years as a staff writer for the New York Times and three years at the Philadelphia Daily News. He has been a guest lecturer or adjunct instructor at Hampton University, Quinnipiac University and Boston University. He earned a B.S. in journalism, with a minor in political science, from Boston University.

Misha Park Robyn, V09, received a U.S. Army grant for her research, “Determining the Sensitivity of the Participatory Disease Surveillance Method for Detection of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Java, Indonesia.”

Heather S. Roscoe, assistant director of institutional research, and Dawn Geronimo Terkla, director of institutional research, gave a presentation on “Students and Sensitive Issues: Disclosing Sexual Orientation and Transgenderism” at a meeting of the Association for Institutional Research, which took place in Kansas City, Mo., in June. At the conference, Terkla and Lisa S. O’Leary, assistant director of institutional research, gave a presentation on “Connecting Action to Attitudes: Linking Participation to Civic Engagement Higher Education in a Flat World: OCW’s Impact on Users.”

Marieke H. Rosenbaum, V10, received a Merck-Merial grant for her research on “Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria in the Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis: A Vector for Zoonotic Pathogens.”

Ya Zhang Rote, V10, received an NIH award for her research proposal titled “Participatory Disease Investigation on Backyard Poultry Production in Chitwan District, Nepal.”

Ken Shadlen, senior research fellow with the Global Development and Environment Institute’s Globalization and Sustainable Development Program, was recently in São Paulo, Brazil, conducting research for his book on the politics of intellectual property in Latin America. Shadlen’s article, “Intellectual Property, Trade and Development: Can Foes Be Friends?” appeared in Global Governance 13, No. 2 (April-June 2007), pp. 171-177.

Jamie Slupe, V09, and Mary Smart, V10, received an NIH grant for research on “Effects of Body Weight and Body Condition on Survival in Dogs with Cardiac Diseases.”

Rebecca Steers, V10, received a U.S. Army grant for her work on “Detection of Mycobacterium bovis in Nasal Mucous and Milk Samples Using Polymerase Chain Reactions.”

Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, executive director of Tufts Hillel and associate university chaplain, received Hebrew College’s highest academic honor, the Dr. Benjamin J. Shevach Memorial Award for distinguished achievement in Jewish educational leadership, during commencement ceremonies June 3 at the school in Newton, Mass. Hebrew College President David Gordis presented the award. Summit also teaches in Tufts’ Judaic Studies program and in the Department of Music.

Karyn Von Iderstein, V09, received NIH funding for her proposal titled “The Role of Bronchioalveolar Stem Cells (BASC) During Chronic Airway Remodeling Following Allergen Exposure in a Murine Model.”

Tierra Wilson, V10, received U.S. Army funding for her research on “Differentiating M. tuberculosis, M. bovis and M. avium in Captive Elephants in Nepal.”

Timothy Wise, deputy director of the Global Development and Environment Institute, participated in the first “Transatlantic Dialogue on U.S., Canadian and European Union Agricultural Policies,” which was convened by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Washington, D.C., May 14-15. Wise gave a presentation on “Agricultural Trade Liberalization: Promise or Peril for Developing Countries?” Wise was quoted extensively in an article titled “Deal or No Deal,” which appeared in the May issue of World Trade magazine. The article focuses on the conflicts over agriculture in the WTO. He also was quoted in the June 4 issue of In These Times newspaper in an article titled “Whose Subsidy Is It Anyway? Farmers Take the Heat, But Big Ag Reaps the Farm Bill Benefits.” The article also cites Elanor Starmer’s work on implicit subsidies to industrial livestock feed.

Dr. Jun Xu has joined the Section of Reproductive Biology at the Cummings School as an assistant professor of biomedical sciences. Most recently, he was an instructor at the University of Washington in Seattle. His areas of expertise include sex differences in brain structure and behavior, sex steroids and the brain, epigenetic regulation of gene expression and brain development and evolution. He received the Young Investigator Award at the first annual meeting of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences, held in Washington D.C., in recognition of his studies of sex chromosome genes (genes on the X and Y chromosomes) and their involvement in sex differentiation of the brain.

Dr. Guilin Yang has joined the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Cummings School as a postdoctoral fellow. A physician and researcher, he had been working at the Shenzhen Institute of Hepatology at Shenzhen Donghu Hospital in China. He will be assisting Dr. Hanping Feng, research assistant professor, on NIH-funded work to determine the innate immune response of mouse and human dendritic cells to the parasite Cryptosporidium.