Brody, Snyder tapped for new NIH management review board

President William R. Brody and Solomon H. Snyder, Distinguished Service Professor of Neuroscience, Pharmacology and Psychiatry, were nominated last week by National Institutes of Health Director Elias A. Zerhouni to serve as members of the new Scientific Management Review Board. The SMRB, which was authorized by the NIH Reform Act of 2006 and signed into law by President Bush in January 2007, will conduct ongoing organizational reviews, issue reports and advise the NIH on the use of its management authorities.

"The members represent the brightest, most knowledgeable segment of medical research and management experts," Zerhouni said in announcing his selections for the 21-member panel, to be headed by Norman R. Augustine, former chair of the executive committee of Lockheed Martin Corp.

 

Honor for CTY's cogito.org, site for math and science students

Cogito.org, a Web site targeted to the world's brightest math and science students ages 8-18, has won a prestigious Parents' Choice Foundation Silver Honor Award for Web sites geared to children and young adults. Cogito, developed by the Center for Talented Youth with support from the John Templeton Foundation, gives exceptional students interested in science and math a virtual place to connect with professional scientists and other bright young people like themselves. The selection committee said it was impressed with the site's navigation and the sheer volume of math and science content. Launched in 2007, Cogito now has more than 3,700 members from all 50 states and 56 countries.

 

SoN reaches top spot with 39 returned Peace Corps volunteers

A continuing high enrollment of returned Peace Corps volunteers has positioned Johns Hopkins' School of Nursing at the top of the enrollment rankings for colleges and universities that are Peace Corps Fellows/USA partners.

In 2008-2009, 39 fellows are enrolled at the only nursing school in the country with a baccalaureate Peace Corps Fellows Program. The program provides funding for students who are returned volunteers and participate in the school's Community Outreach Program, working in community nursing practice with the guidance of senior community health nursing faculty.

Since 1991, the school has graduated 347 RPCVs from the baccalaureate program.

 

Double author signing set for tonight at Barnes & Noble

Two critically acclaimed Baltimore-based authors will be sharing the spotlight at 7 p.m. tonight, Sept. 15, at Barnes & Noble Johns Hopkins, located in Charles Commons.

Jessica Anya Blau and Michael Kimball will be reading from, and signing copies of, their latest novels, The Summer of Naked Swim Parties and Dear Everybody, respectively. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Blau received her master's degree from Johns Hopkins, where she now teaches creative writing.

Kimball, who studied at Michigan State and New York universities, is the author of three other novels: The Way the Family Got Away, How Much of Us There Was and Dear Everybody. He is a founding editor of Taint Magazine.

 

Date changed for Will Ferrell appearance in MSE Symposium

The date for a talk by actor/comedian Will Ferrell as part of the 2008 MSE Symposium, originally scheduled for Nov. 4, has been changed to Thursday, Nov. 6.

Unlike the other talks in the series, which are public, this event is open only to Johns Hopkins affiliates and season pass holders. It will begin at 8 p.m. in Homewood's Shriver Hall Auditorium; the doors open at 7:30 p.m.

The theme of the 2008 Symposium, which began last week with a talk by Tucker Carlson of MSNBC, is "A More Perfect Union: Partnership, Progress and Prosperity in a Changing America." Other scheduled speakers are basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, actor/comedian David Alan Grier and Johns Hopkins President William R. Brody, in what is expected to be his final address to the university before retiring Dec. 31. For more information, go to: www.jhu.edu/mse.

 

Help a stranger (or three) by donating blood Sept. 17 or 18

Just one unit of blood can save three lives. New and returning blood donors are urged to "share a pint with a stranger" at the upcoming Homewood campus blood drive, scheduled for 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (last donors at 5:45 p.m.) on Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 17 and 18, in the Glass Pavilion of Levering Hall.

According to the Red Cross, fall drives are critical for replenishing the region's available blood supply, depleted over the summer. Types B-positive, O-positive and O-negative are in especially short supply at this time. September donors are eligible to win a mid-week stay at Caesars Pocono Resorts. Repeat donors also can sign up to become Fast Track donors, to expedite future visits. Information will be available at the drive.

For donor eligibility criteria, go to: www.my-redcross.org or call 800-272-2048.

To schedule an appointment online, go to: www.jhu.edu/outreach/blooddrive.

or contact John Black in the Office of Faculty, Staff and Retiree Programs at jblack1@jhu.edu or 410-516-0138 to schedule or get information about the Fast Track program.

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