Education Summit to focus on math, science ed for pre-K to 12

The third Annual Johns Hopkins Education Summit will focus on mathematics and science education for all students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The one-day conference, which will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23, on the Homewood campus, is sponsored this year by the Center for Social Organization of Schools and the Johns Hopkins Council on K-12 Education.

Educators and policy-makers are invited to take part in the summit, which will look at mathematics and science education from a big-picture, philosophical perspective and from a more practical approach of what works with various groups of students. Mathematics and science professionals will participate in two panels during the morning program, and the afternoon will offer a series of breakout sessions, focusing on various mathematics and science programs at Johns Hopkins centers and departments. Among those sessions will be developing math readiness in preschoolers, closing the achievement gap among high school students and preparing and recruiting high-quality mathematics and science teachers.

The $50 registration fee includes conference materials, continental breakfast, lunch and parking at Johns Hopkins at Eastern with shuttle service. The summit will be at Hodson Hall with lunch in the Glass Pavilion. To register online, go to www.csos.jhu.edu. For more information, contact Jan Danforth at 410-516-8853.

 

JHU team takes top place in Mosh Pit for fifth straight year

A team of four Johns Hopkins students used a concept for drug repurposing to march to victory in the 2006 Mosh Pit, billed as the "world's coolest business plan competition."

The contest, established by the Greater Baltimore Technology Council in 2002, is open to all full-time and part-time students from Maryland colleges and universities. A Johns Hopkins team has won each of the first five years.

The members of this year's winning team, ResuRx Pharmaceuticals, created a business plan that focused on developing a library of 11,000 existing drugs and screening this collection for new uses. The team's findings will be published in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

The team members — who were awarded a $10,000 first prize and a year of free office space at a Baltimore technology incubator — were Joynita Sur, a sophomore in biomedical engineering, and Curtis Chong, Fatemah Mamdani and Tilman Schneider-Poetsch, all in the School of Medicine's Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences.

 

Robert Blum is interim director of Urban Health Institute

Robert Blum, the William H. Gates Sr. Chair of the Department of Population and Family Health Sciences in the Bloomberg School of Public Health, has been named interim director of the Urban Health Institute.

In an e-mail announcing the appointment to the university community, President Brody wrote, "Bob has devoted his career to the health of children and to close cooperation with communities in pursuit of important common goals. As we seek a new UHI director, we are confident that Bob will ensure that the institute continues to address both the health needs of the citizens of Baltimore and the academic mission of the Johns Hopkins community."

Blum, who assumed the post May 1, succeeds Claude Earl Fox, who has accepted a position at the University of Miami.

 

Hopkins-only preview planned for JHU Press Book Sale

The JHU Press Book Sale of hurt and gently used books returns to the Homewood campus for two days this week, and a special preview night will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, May 11, for affiliates of Johns Hopkins only. A Hopkins ID must be presented, and there is a one-box (provided on site) limit on purchases that evening.

Books will be sold for $4 per pound, with proceeds going to the JHU Press Staff Development Fund. Regular sale hours are noon to 8 p.m. on Friday, May 12, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 13. All events are in the Glass Pavilion at Homewood.

 

Seton High alumnae to gather at their former high school

Hundreds of Seton High School alumnae who earned their diplomas in the 1940s and 1950s will gather at their old stomping grounds — now Johns Hopkins' Education Building — for an informal reunion this weekend.

The university's Graduate Division of Education, which occupies the first two floors of the building, is hosting the event on Saturday morning, May 13, to give former students and local residents a chance to tour the newly renovated 73,000-square-foot building on North Charles Street. Memorabilia provided by the Seton High grads will be displayed, and alumnae, some of whom are university employees, will be giving tours of the building.

 

Corrections

The caption for a photograph in the May 1 issue incorrectly identified the installer of an outdoor sculpture at Evergreen as Alison Crocetta. The person working on Crocetta's piece is actually her husband, David Pardoe. Also, the person whose eyes can be seen through an opening in Michelle Rosenberg's bird blind is Jackie O'Regan, Evergreen curator.

Graduate student enrollment figures cited in President Brody's column that appeared on May 1 were incorrect and have been corrected online at www.jhu.edu/gazette/2006/01may06/01brody.html.

GO TO MAY 8, 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS.
GO TO THE GAZETTE FRONT PAGE.