President Clinton honors outstanding young scientists

Three assistant professors in the schools of Engineering and Medicine were among the 60 young researchers named by President Clinton last week as recipients of Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. These awards, established by Clinton in 1996, represent the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers.

The recipients are Gert Cauwenberghs, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Geraldine C. Seydoux, Molecular Biology and Genetics; and Xiaoquin Wang, Biomedical Engineering.

Eight federal departments and agencies join together annually to nominate the most meritorious young scientists and engineers who will broadly advance the science and technology that will be of the greatest benefit to fulfilling the agencies' missions. Cauwenberghs was nominated by the Department of Defense; Seydoux and Wang, by Health and Human Services. The recipients receive up to a five-year research grant to further their study in support of critical government missions.

"They will do much to shape our society and advance our national interests in the 21st century," Clinton said.

The awards were presented April 12 in a White House ceremony.

New page on JHUniverse lets users tune in to events

Missed that lecture? Wanted to see the cast and crew from the hit show E.R. but you were out of town? JHUniverse just might be able to help.

Debuting this week is a new page called "VirtuallyLive@Hopkins," which contains a selection of Hopkins-related events that were recorded and can be seen at www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/audio-video.

AllNighters head to collegiate a cappella nationals

The AllNighters, a male a cappella group, is heading to New York City's Lincoln Center on April 30 in the hopes of singing its way to the national collegiate championship. The AllNighters, representing the mid-Atlantic, will be facing the South (William & Mary's DoubleTake), the Northeast (Harvard's Callbacks), the Midwest (University of Illinois' Other Guys), New England (TBA) and the defending champions, Men's Octet from the University of California, Berkeley.

The event takes place at 4 p.m. at Avery Fisher Hall. For more information, log on to the AllNighters' website at www.jhu.edu/~allnight/.

Hopkins, Howard universities sponsor forum on school reform

More than 100 policy-makers are expected today at a presentation titled "Comprehensive School Reform: Research and Development at CRESPAR," which will take place in Washington, D.C.

The program will consider the broad issues of the effectiveness and future of whole-school reform, particularly that research conducted through the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk. CRESPAR is a Johns Hopkins and Howard University center funded by the federal Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

The whole-school reform movement has been greatly accelerated by the passage of the Obey-Porter Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration, which is now funding more than 1,800 schools in all 50 states.

Success for All is one of the comprehensive reforms that will be a focus of the day.

Hillel announces donors of $1 million gift for Jewish center

In honor of the donors of a $1 million gift to Hillel of Greater Baltimore that will pave the way toward a new facility at 3109 N. Charles St., the building will be named Smokler Center for Jewish Life at Johns Hopkins.

The names of the donors, psychologists Irving and Carol Smokler, of Ann Arbor, Mich., were announced April 12 at a luncheon held in the Bunting-Meyerhoff Interfaith Center.

Irving Smokler and one of his three sons, Kevin, are Hopkins alumni.

Visiting prof in Writing Sems to give poetry lecture at hospital

Thomas R. Sleigh, a visiting professor in The Writing Seminars, will give the Sidney Ann Wilson Memorial Poetry Lecture--a poetry reading--at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 20, in the Doctors' Dining Room of the hospital.

Sleigh's many honors include the 1999 Shelley Award from the Poetry Society of America, the Writer's Award from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. His most recent book of poetry, The Dreamhouse, is a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Sidney Ann Wilson was a victim of severe cerebral palsy affecting both her motor control and speech and later compounded by cervical arthritis. She was able to communicate through her indomitable faith in poetry.

In appreciation to the physicians at Hopkins, Wilson willed her estate to the hospital's Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, which created an endowment to support an annual program devoted to poetic readings.

The event, sponsored by the Office of Cultural Affairs, is free and open to the public.