Paul Dagdigian of KSAS named Maryland Chemist of the Year

Paul Dagdigian, the Arthur D. Chambers Professor of Chemistry in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, has been named 2007 Maryland Chemist of the Year by the American Chemical Society's Maryland Section.

A former Chemistry Department chair, Dagdigian has been on the faculty at Johns Hopkins since 1974. A graduate of Haverford College, he received his doctorate at the University of Chicago. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and served as chair of its Division of Chemical Physics from 1990 to1992.

John Toscano, chair of Chemistry, praises his colleague for that innovative and important work.

"This is a tremendous honor for Paul and very fitting recognition of his outstanding accomplishments," Toscano said. "Since his arrival at Hopkins in 1974, Paul has been at the forefront of the application of laser spectroscopy to the study of fundamental interactions between molecules in the gas phase. More recently, he has also been involved in the development of new laser analytical techniques for trace explosives detection."

Dagdigian's work could lead to the development of laser-based techniques to detect explosives and explosive-related compounds in very small quantities.

 

Robert Pond's 'Fun With Metals' talks now available on tape

Materials Science and Engineering Professor Robert Pond, who died last month at the age of 89, was known by generations of Johns Hopkins students and faculty--and to untold numbers of others in the region--for an audience-participation talk called "Fun With Metals." He gave his favorite lecture more than 500 times.

For those who missed it--or would like to see it one more time--Digital Video Services at Homewood can help. The office has videos of four of Pond's lectures/demonstrations: "Fun With Metals," taped in 1988 and 1994; "40 Years of Fun in Metallurgy," taped in 1988; and "I Remember Hopkins When...," taped in 1988.

For information, contact Deirdre Hammer at [email protected] or 410-516-5322.

 

Evergreen hosts Baltimore debut of Mexico's La Catrina Quartet

Mexico's La Catrina Quartet will make its Baltimore debut at 8 p.m., on Friday, Nov. 16, as part of the 55th anniversary season of the Music at Evergreen concert series.

Named for a folkloric image of death that honors the departed while celebrating life, La Catrina Quartet is dedicated to commissioning music by Hispanic composers, promoting Mexican and Latin-American art music and performing the masterworks of the string quartet repertoire.

The quartet will perform Latin-American selections by Javier Alvarez, Emmanuel Arias y Luna, Silvestre Revuelta and Miguel Bernal Jimenez; and Franz Schubert's D minor quartet Death and the Maiden. The concert will be followed by a reception with the artists.

Formed in 2001 by alumni of Mexico's Conservatorio de las Rosas, La Catrina String Quartet is the quartet-in-residence at the Western Piedmont Symphony.

The performance will be held in the Carriage House at Evergreen Museum & Library. Tickets are $20, $15 for members, $10 students with ID. Advance tickets are available at www.missiontix.com or by calling 410-516-0341. Cash or check only at the door. Complete concert information is online at www.museums.jhu.edu.

 

No 'Gazette' next week because of Thanksgiving break

There will be no Gazette next week because of the Thanksgiving holiday break. The calendar in today's issue lists events scheduled through Monday, Nov. 26, the date of our next publication; for event updates, check the universitywide online calendar at www.jhu.edu/calendar.

The deadline for calendar and classified submissions for the Nov. 26 issue is noon on Wednesday, Nov. 14.

 

'White House Communications' author to speak at Barnes & Noble

Martha Joynt Kumar will be at Barnes & Noble Johns Hopkins on Tuesday night to discuss and sign her latest book, Managing the President's Message: The White House Communications Operation (JHU Press, 2007).

In the book, Kumar, a professor of political science at Towson University, analyzes the strategies of the past four administrations and takes a historical look at how the Press Office grew from being a one-person operation to an office that employs hundreds.

Her talk is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13.

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