JHU scientists introduce city high-schoolers to brain research

Science students at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute explored the wonders of the human brain on March 14, due to a unique collaboration now in its fourth year. Faculty members and students from the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins brought a host of neuroscience-oriented activities to the science and technology public high school in honor of Brain Awareness Week, an effort started by the Society for Neuroscience.

Organized by Amy Shelton, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins, and Lissa Rotundo, a science teacher at Baltimore Polytechnic, this year's event included both talks and hands-on activities, such as viewing brain slices with accompanying microscopy images and conducting simple experiments on the computer.

"Our goal is to show these science-oriented students what scientists really do, and to get students interested in neuroscience," Shelton said. By the end of the day, she and her group had spoken with about 500 students in 17 science classes.

 

ESPNU lacrosse sculpture heads to Homewood Field on Saturday

When a record-breaking 20,180 spectators showed up at M&T Bank Stadium on March 3 for the inaugural Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Classic, they not only saw Johns Hopkins prevail over Princeton and UVA over Syracuse, they saw what is described by its sponsor as an "interactive monument" to the sport. The 24-foot-high sculpture version of the ESPNU logo was created to allow fans to attach lacrosse paraphernalia — sticks, jerseys, pennants, helmets and other gear — to it, creating an ever-changing memorial to the game.

Designed to take road trips, the monument will make two appearances at Homewood Field — this Saturday, March 24 (when the Blue Jays take on Virginia), and May 5 (vs. Loyola) — when fans can add their own personal touches.

 

Middle school girls invited to special engineering program

Middle school-aged daughters of faculty and staff are invited to participate in Ready Set Design! a program for the Greater Baltimore area organized by the Johns Hopkins chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers to introduce girls to engineering in a fun, noncompetitive, all-female environment.

Three-hour workshops for 6th-, 7th- and 8th-graders will take place on two Saturdays, March 24 and April 7, in Homewood's Glass Pavilion. In the program, the girls will be taught about engineering and the design process and then divided into groups to design and build something specific related to the day's topic — on March 24, "Engineering Help for Injuries and Disabilities," and on April 8, "Engineering and Climate Change."

Each day has two sessions, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2 to 5 p.m., and all girls receive free T-shirts and snacks.

For more details and to register, go to www.jhu.edu/~asme/readysetdesign.html.

 

High-schooler working in JHU lab finishes in Intel STS top-10

Baltimore Polytechnic Institute senior Emma K. Call received top-10 honors and a $20,000 college scholarship in this year's Intel Science Talent Search for research conducted in the Johns Hopkins lab of David Gracias, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.

In the prestigious national competition, which involved about 1,700 high school students, Call placed 10th. The honor, announced March 13, marked the third year in a row in which a Baltimore Polytechnic student working in the lab of a Johns Hopkins professor, had been named a top-10 finalist in the Intel contest, which is often referred to as the "junior Nobel Prize."

Under Gracias' supervision, Call, 18, developed a way to fabricate microcontainers at a low temperature, a process that allows researchers to load them with chemicals, gels and cells as they fold into their final shape, rather than afterward, which is more difficult.

 

Get In On It! by putting your video about Baltimore online

The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association has launched a new campaign that takes a cue from YouTube: Participants are encouraged to create videos of their favorite places to eat, visit and have a good time in Baltimore and submit them online to VisitMyBaltimore.com.

BACVA is hoping that Johns Hopkins students will be among those taking up the challenge, sharing their college experience with friends, family and everyone else interested in their view of Baltimore. The concept plays off of BACVA's new marketing slogan, Get In On It! To view a sample video and learn more about how to submit your own, go to www.VisitMyBaltimore.com.

 

Six to be inducted into the JHU Athletic Hall of Fame

A new cohort of Johns Hopkins athletes will be inducted Saturday, March 24, into the Athletic Hall of Fame and will be honored during the Hopkins-Virginia men's lacrosse game, which begins at 1 p.m. on Homewood Field.

The new Hall of Famers are Luke Busby, basketball; Jeff Cook, lacrosse; John Lang, lacrosse, football and basketball; Stu Markley Jr., football and wrestling; Rebecca Savage Keller, lacrosse, soccer and squash; and Eric Steidinger, swimming.

 

Correction

A story about The Triple Helix that ran in the Feb. 12 issue mistakenly included Stanford University as one of the 28 universities with chapters producing their own editions of the undergraduate science journal.

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GO TO THE GAZETTE FRONT PAGE.