Second Homewood Biology Symposium set for Jan. 26

The Krieger School's Department of Biology will hold its second annual Homewood Biology Symposium from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 26, in Mudd Hall auditorium.

This year's topic is "Quantitating Complexity — Engineering a New Biology" and will address the many ways in which engineering and applied physics can be used to help solve biological problems. The purpose of the event is to educate campus scientists about this intersection between engineering and biology.

"A large number of faculty members in different departments on the Homewood campus work on research related to biology. However, the structuring of the university into departments and schools often means that we do not communicate effectively with one another. This annual symposium is one effort to increase communication and scientific collaboration," said Michael Edidin, biology professor, who will give the symposium introduction at 9 a.m.

Also presenting are Andre Levchenko, Denis Wirtz, Justin Hanes, Kalina Hristova and Jennifer Elisseeff. Each will speak for roughly half an hour, giving an overview of their work and attempting to relate it to the work of their colleagues.

The department established the symposium last year in an effort to cultivate a more collegial atmosphere between faculty in the biological sciences. For more details, call the department at 410-516-7330.

 

Egyptian excavation returns to the Web starting Jan. 15

The world is again being invited to watch JHU archaeologists uncover clues to ancient Egyptian life by visiting "Hopkins in Egypt Today," a Web site chronicling the university's fifth annual dig at the Mut Temple. Daily progress reports are anticipated from Jan. 15 through mid-February at www.jhu.edu/~neareast/egypttoday.html.

The project — the university's 12th in Egypt — is led by Betsy Bryan, Alexander Badawy Professor of Egyptian Art and Archaeology and chair of the Near Eastern Studies Department in the Krieger School, and this year's postings will follow the work of at least four projects. Jay VanRenssalaer of Homewood Photographic Services will supply the images; Bryan and her graduate students, the copy.

Visitors to the site will follow Jackie Williamson, on a Fulbright grant, doing research at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo; Elaine Sullivan, excavating at the Mut enclosure behind the Sacred Lake to study residential aspects of Thebes in the New Kingdom; Yasmin El Shazly, studying tombs at Deir el Medina in Luxor as part of her investigation into the supernatural powers the Egyptians believed their deceased friends and family possessed; and Bryan's final research in 11 Theban tombs as she prepares the publication of the tomb of Suemniwet, where Hopkins worked from 1994 to 2001. Bryan and her students will resume their full-scale excavation at the Temple of Mut in winter 2006.

The team's work is supervised by Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, led by its secretary general, Zahi Hawass.

The goal of "Hopkins in Egypt Today" is to educate its visitors by showing them elements of archaeological work in progress. The Web site typically garners more than 50,000 hits every winter when the dig is active.

 

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