Cheers is a monthly listing of honors and awards received by faculty, staff and students plus recent appointments and promotions. Contributions must be submitted in writing and be accompanied by a phone number.

Academic and Cultural Centers

William A. Nerenberg has been named managing director of the Shriver Hall Concert Series. In this newly created position, he will be responsible for strategic planning, development and management of marketing, sales, fund raising and outreach programs. Nerenberg has worked in both the nonprofit management field and in the music industry with clients such as Herbie Hancock and the Pointer Sisters.

Arts and Sciences

Michael Beer, professor emeritus, Biophysics, has received the 1999 Ellen Fraites Wagner Award from the Chesapeake Bay Trust. Former governor Harry Hughes presented the award in January at the third Governor's Tributary Teams Conference in Annapolis, noting, "Dr. Beer has engaged thousands of people in Baltimore City in restoring, protecting and celebrating Stoney Run and the Jones Falls.'

Kit H. Bowen, professor, Chemistry, has received a Humboldt Research Award for Senior U.S. Scientists. The award offers the opportunity for an extended research stay in Germany. Bowenıs research interests are centered around cluster ions and ultra-small particles.

Jan M. Corazza, executive director for campaign and development operations in Development and Alumni Relations, has been named to the additional post of interim associate dean for resource planning and development.

Continuing Studies

James Novitzki, chair of the Information Technology program in the Graduate Division of Business and Management, was honored at the International Academy of Information Management Conference in Helsinki, Finland, in December. His paper, "The Management Information Systems Capstone: Development of an Integrating Group Applied Project Course," was first runner-up for best presentation out of 252 submissions at the conference. Novitzki discussed research that highlighted the problems education has providing students with real-life experiences. He explained Hopkins' procedures for preparing students to operate in the real world by describing about 20 examples of how Hopkinsı capstone student teams worked on actual IT problems for such operations as the U.S. State Department Federal Union, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company and General Electric Information Services.

Engineering

Joseph Katz, professor, Mechanical Engineering, has been elected a fellow by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Medicine

Ruben Adler, professor, Ophthalmology and Neuroscience, has been granted a $60,000 Senior Scientific Investigator Award by Research to Prevent Blindness. He is one of 100 senior scientists who have been so honored since the award was established in 1987. Adler and his colleagues at the Retinal Degenerations Center of the Wilmer Institute have been pioneers in the investigation of genetic and molecular factors regulating the survival and specialized function of rod and cone photoreceptor cells.

Gail Jackson, an administrator at the Oncology Center, was one of four Baltimoreans honored by WBFF-TV FOX 45 as Champions of Courage during Black History Month. On News at Ten, Lori Pinson reported on Jackson's work in a youth ministry in a low-income area of the city.

Dace S. Svikis, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, has won the 1998 Dan Anderson Research Award. The award, sponsored by the Hazelden Foundation's Butler Center for Research and Learning, recognizes the distinguished contribution of a researcher who has advanced the scientific knowledge of addiction recovery. Svikis, director of the Center for Addiction and Pregnancy at Bayview, was honored for her work as the lead author of a cutting-edge research article titled "Cost-Effectiveness of Treatment for Drug-Abusing Pregnant Women."

Brian Vastag has joined the JHMI Office of Communications and Public Affairs as a senior media relations representative. He will be responsible for news coverage of AIDS, infectious diseases, urology, pharmacology, allergy and asthma, as well as a variety of basic medical sciences. Immediately prior to coming to Hopkins, Vastag finished a six-month fellowship at the National Cancer Institute.

Elias Zerhouni, chairman of the Department of Radiology and executive vice dean of the school, was recently appointed to the board of scientific advisers of the National Cancer Institute. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of the Academy of Radiology Research.

The National Stroke Association celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Stroke Research Fellowship Program and honored past and present recipients of the award at a recent reception. Among the honorees were Anish Bhardwaj, James Dillman III, Neal Naff and Michael Wang.

Bhardwaj, an assistant professor, is also director of the Neuroscience Critical Care Fellowship Program. Dillman is currently conducting postdoctoral training at Hopkins. Naff is an assistant professor of neurosurgery. Wang, a 1994 Hopkins graduate, plans to continue research in an independent laboratory following his fellowship.

Since the programıs inception in 1989, NSA has awarded more than 30 research fellowships totaling more than $1 million.