In Brief
Geophysicist Peter Olson elected to National Academy of
Sciences
A Johns Hopkins geophysicist was among 72 U.S.
scientists elected to membership in the National Academy of
Sciences last week at the organization's 144th annual
meeting, held in Washington, D.C.
Peter Olson, a professor in the Krieger School's Morton K. Blaustein
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, joins 17
other Johns Hopkins faculty members currently in the
academy, an honorary society that advises the government on
scientific matters.
Olson's research focuses on understanding the dynamics
of the Earth's interior, including both the mantle and the
core. He is especially interested in how these two major
parts of the Earth interact to produce plate tectonics,
deep mantle plumes and the geomagnetic field. He combines
theory, numerical models and laboratory fluid dynamics
models, and uses these to interpret global geophysical data
pertaining to the deep interior.
Olson currently is collaborating with colleagues
around the world and graduate students at Johns Hopkins to
study the dynamics of the Earth's core, particularly the
magnetohydrodynamic processes by which the geomagnetic
field is generated in the fluid outer core, and why and how
it reverses its polarity. He also is investigating magnetic
dynamos in other planets.
Olson, who has been at Hopkins since 1977, was elected
a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in
2005.
Michael Williams is fellow of Academy of Arts and
Sciences
Michael Williams, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor and
chair of the
Philosophy Department in the Krieger School, has been
elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences.
Williams focuses on epistemology — the theory of
knowledge — and on philosophy of language and the
history of modern philosophy. He is currently at work on
his fourth book, "Curious Researches: Reflections on
Skepticism Ancient and Modern." He joined Johns Hopkins in
2000 from Northwestern and previously taught at Yale and
the University of Maryland. He becomes one of 39 Johns
Hopkins fellows of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences.
Middle school students visit APL to learn about exploring
Pluto
More than 100 Maryland middle school students got a
close-up look at NASA's first voyage to Pluto on Friday,
when they visited APL
for Space Academy: Mission to Pluto. The Space Academy
series, sponsored by APL, Comcast and the Science Channel,
takes students behind the scenes of actual space missions
and introduces them to the people who conduct some of
NASA's most exciting projects.
Mission to Pluto focused on New Horizons, the robotic
APL-built and -operated spacecraft en route to Pluto and
the distant, unexplored Kuiper Belt region on the planetary
frontier. New Horizons recently zipped past Jupiter at
50,000 miles per hour, gathering new data on the giant
planet while gaining speed toward its 2015 flyby of Pluto
and its moons.
Diversity Leadership Council is seeking membership
nominations
The Johns Hopkins Institutions Diversity Leadership
Council, established by President William R. Brody in May
1997, is in the process of identifying new faculty, staff
and students to serve on the council. The council serves as
advisory to the president and senior leadership on
diversity issues in both the university and health
system.
The DLC meets once a month. Membership, which is for
one or two years with a time commitment of four to six
hours per month, requires a commitment to diversity and
inclusion, and the ability to communicate across and about
differences.
Nominations, including a short biography and brief
description of the candidate's reason for wishing to serve
on the council, may be submitted by e-mail to
dlcnominations@jhu.edu or by mail to DLC Nomination,
130 Garland Hall, Homewood campus (or 3400 N. Charles St.,
Baltimore, MD 21218). Self-nominations are encouraged from
all levels of the university, including APL, and the health
system. Nominations must be received by Friday, May 25.
More information on the DLC is available at www.jhuaa.org/dlc.
Radiology wins top 'Medical Imaging Magazine'
awards
The Russell H.
Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science
at Johns Hopkins and one of its faculty, Elliot Fishman,
were ranked the nation's best by 600 readers of Medical
Imaging Magazine in its second annual survey of the
specialty field.
Departmental choices were based on reputation and
information related to equipment, patient care and
outcomes, clinical research and staff. Individual
radiologists were judged by their current research, patient
care and outcomes, and industry interaction.
Fishman, professor of radiology and oncology and
director of diagnostic imaging and body CT, pioneered the
development of 3-D medical imaging and continued his work
in this field with Pixar, a spinoff of LucasFilms. His Web
site, www.ctisus.com,
has won numerous awards and is one of the largest medical
Web sites in the world, used by more than 50,000 medical
professionals each month.
David Bluemke, professor of radiology and medicine and
clinical director of MRI, was voted seventh best
radiologist in the nation. Other Hopkins radiologists
recognized in the rankings by specialization were as
follows: nuclear physician/nuclear medicine researcher:
Richard Wahl and Dean Wong, Nos. 1 and 2, respectively;
women's imaging: Nagi Khouri and Katarzyna Macura, tied at
No. 5; imaging informaticist and PACS/RIS administrator:
James Philbin, No. 3; and technologist: M. Robert De Jong
Jr., No. 4.
GO TO MAY 7, 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
GO TO THE GAZETTE
FRONT PAGE.
|