Lawrence University News

LU Grad, University of Michigan Researcher Discusses Role of Biomolecular “Conversations”

University of Michigan postdoctoral researcher Rebecca Whelan will discuss the challenges of understanding the biological signals that occur within the human body and how those signals are communicated in a Lawrence University Science Hall Colloquium.

Whelan, a 1996 Lawrence graduate, presents “Eavesdropping on Biomolecular Conversations” Monday, Nov. 15 at 4:15 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102. The event is free and open to the public.

Whelan will detail two strategies she is utilizing in her research with biological molecules, particularly proteins, to better understand how molecules communicate with each other and how they ultimately process the information that enables people to see, hear, digest food and even fend off microscopic invaders.

In the treatment of diseases, many therapeutic drugs act by specifically helping biological molecules communicate with one another or by preventing unwanted molecular “conversations” from occurring. Proteins play a critical role in human health and Whelan’s research is helping unravel questions about how proteins function in the body and shed more light on which drugs might be most effective in treating diseases.

After graduating summa cum laude from Lawrence with a degree in chemistry and English, Whelan earned her Ph.D. in chemistry at Stanford University in 2003. She joined the University of Michigan’s chemistry department as a postdoctoral fellow that same year. In January, Whelan will join the faculty of Oberlin College as an assistant professor of chemistry.

Lawrence University Musician Named Lead Trumpet Player for Regional All-Star Jazz Ensemble

Lawrence University’s Jeffrey Ostroski has been named lead trumpet player for the 2005 Midwest Regional Conference Intercollegiate Jazz Ensemble. The 20-member big band, selected from among the top collegiate student musicians from jazz programs in eight Midwestern states, will perform April 15-16, 2005 at the International Association of Jazz Education (IAJE) conference at Columbia College in Chicago.

“Jeff’s appointment as the lead trumpet player is a tremendous honor,” said Fred Sturm, director of jazz and improvisational music at Lawrence. “Jazz program directors from across the Midwest were asked to nominate two students for the All-Star ensemble, understanding that only one would ultimately be selected. The resulting band is a representation of the finest collegiate jazz students from the top university jazz programs in the region. Jeff will be performing and ultimately networking with peers who share his talents and love for jazz.”

A junior from Guilford, Conn., Ostroski is currently a member of the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble, the Lawrence Wind Ensemble and the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra. He also plays with a Lawrence jazz combo and a brass quintet.

Stanford Law Professor Discusses Commodifcation in Opening Address of Lawrence University Biomedical Ethics Lecture Series

Stanford University Law Professor Margaret Jane Radin examines the contradictory nature of commodification — the transformation of relationships formerly untainted by commerce into commercial relationships of buying and selling — in the opening address of Lawrence University’s four-part 2004-05 Edward F. Mielke Lecture Series in Biomedical Ethics.

Radin, the William Benjamin Scott and Luna M. Scott Professor of Law at Stanford, presents “Commodification: Promise or Threat,” Monday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

A specialist in the fields of intellectual property, contracts and e-commerce, Radin will examine the evolving ethical issues associated with commodification, ranging from the solicitation of young women’s eggs in exchange for large sums of money to the international trade of human kidneys to the commercialization of technological methods of creating babies, such as in vitro fertilization.

Radin also will address the ways commodification both raises objections — if everything that human beings value becomes reduced to a dollar value, do we remain human?– and produces opportunities — the promise of technological baby-making can enhance autonomy and “personhood” and make people free to have children.

A 1963 graduate of Stanford and a member of the faculty there since 1986, Radin is currently teaching as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan School of Law. She served as director of Stanford Law School’s Program in Law, Science and Technology from 2001-2004 and co-authored the first standard law-school textbook dealing with Internet commerce.

A nationally recognized scholar on aspects of property as a right and as an institution, Radin is the author of two books on the subject, “Contested Commodities” and “Reinterpreting Property.” Her current research interests focus on contract and commodification in the online environment.

Other speakers and topics scheduled for the Mielke Lecture Series in Biomedical Ethics include:
• Jan. 12 — Angela Fagerlin, research investigator, internal medicine and the Program for Improving Health Care Decisions, University of Michigan, “Pulling the Plug on Living Wills: How Living Wills Have Failed to Live up to their Mandate.”

• Feb. 23 — David Dranove, Walter McNerney Distinguished Professor of Health Industry Management, Northwestern University, “Putting a Price on Life.”

• May 11 — Allen Buchanan, Professor of Public Policy Studies and Philosophy, Terry Stanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, “What Was Really Wrong with Eugenics?”

Health Care Specialist Analyses Bush, Kerry Health Plans in Lawrence University Science Hall Lecture

With health care reform once again near the top of the political agendas in this year’s presidential election, Lawrence University economist Marty Finkler analyzes the programs proposed by the two major party candidates and the feasibility of their implementation in a Lawrence Science Hall Colloquium.

Finkler presents “Health Care Reform: The Tradeoffs Before Us” Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 4:30 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102. The event is free and open to the public.

A specialist in health care economics, Finkler will provide a brief history of health policy reform as well as an overview of the cost and quality of and access to health care services. The talk will examine the tradeoffs that collective decision-making requires and how neither of the two major proposals seriously addresses these choices.

According to Finkler, the Bush proposal might be feasible, but it does little to address the fundamental choices whereas the Kerry proposal, while not likely to be feasible, does at least make a serious effort to address part of the problem. Neither proposal, says Finkler, contains a credible funding mechanism.

Finkler, a member of the Lawrence faculty since 1979, co-founded the Menasha-based consulting firm Innovative Health Associates in 1993. A former Robert Wood Johnson Faculty Fellow in health care finance, he earned a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics at the University of California-San Diego, a master’s degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science and his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Minnesota.

Recently Discovered Mayan Murals Focus of Archaeological Institute Lecture at Lawrence University

University of New Hampshire anthropologist William Saturno will discuss recent discoveries at the San Bartolo excavation site in northeast Guatemala and what those findings reveal about the Mayan culture in an Archaeological Institute of America lecture at Lawrence University.

Saturno presents the slide-illustrated lecture “Murals, Myths and the Origins of Maya Civilization” Monday, Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center auditorium. The event is free and open to the public. An informal reception with the speaker follows the address.

The presentation will focus on Saturno’s serendipitous discovery in March, 2001 of elaborate painted murals on the walls of a room inside a Mayan pyramid. Seeking some shade at an excavation site, Saturno entered a tunnel dug previously by looters. Using a flashlight to guide him, he came upon the first well-preserved Mayan mural discovered since 1946. The lecture will include discussion of kingship and sacrifice, penitential bloodletting and the origins of Mayan writing.

Prominent Researcher, LU Grad Discusses Creation and Uses of Specialized Film Materials in Science Hall Lecture

Gregory Exarhos, a fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington, will discuss the process of creating specialized film materials that are both transparent and able to conduct electricity and the numerous applications for such materials in a Lawrence University Science Hall Colloquium.

A 1970 graduate of Lawrence, Exarhos presents “Conductive Transparent Coatings: Smart Windows for Consumer Electronics” Thursday, Oct. 21 at 4:15 p.m. in Youngchild Hall, Room 115. The event is free and open to the public.

Exarhos will discuss two distinct methods that have been used for more than 100 years to produce film
materials that possess both transparency and conductivity properties and how those materials are used in products ranging from solar cells for energy generation to switches for fiber optic communications to large area panels for lighting applications.

The author of eight patents, Exarhos is an associate director in the Fundamental Science Directorate at PNNL, where his research interests focus on the development of dielectric films, post-deposition modification of films and the preparation of nanocomposite materials.

Prior to joining the PNNL, Exarhos taught in the chemistry department at Harvard University and served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense on the design and development of microwave-absorbing coatings. In addition to his fellow status at PNNL, Exarhos holds an adjunct professor of physics appointment at Washington State University.

After completing his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and physics at Lawrence, Exarhos earned his Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Brown University.

Lawrence University Artist Series Presents the King’s Singers

The Lawrence University Artist Series will start its 2004-05 “Performing Arts at Lawrence” season with a performance by the vocal ensemble, King’s Singers.  The concert will take place on Friday, October 29, 2004 at 8:00 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.  Tickets for this event are available at the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749, and range from $15 for students to $22 for adults.

Founded at King’s College in Cambridge in 1968, the King’s Singers are one of the world’s most sought-after and acclaimed vocal ensembles. Known for presenting diverse programs encompassing a wide range of repertoire, they have performed throughout North America in such prestigious venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Washington’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in the major halls of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Internationally, the King’s Singers uphold a strong presence across most of the globe. The group has performed in the major halls of London, Paris, Rome, Salzburg, Vienna, Amsterdam, Budapest, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Beirut, Taipei, Hong Kong, Macao, Seoul, Tokyo, and Mexico City, among other cities.

This extraordinary vocal ensemble is equally at home singing Renaissance madrigals, transcriptions of orchestral classics, folk music in various languages and popular songs; this wide-ranging repertoire is reflected in the ensemble’s more than 70 recordings, which have won several Grammy nominations. In addition to their sold-out concerts in recital orchestral and festival venues worldwide, the King’s Singers are also familiar to American television audiences through their numerous television appearances, including Evening at Pops with the Boston Pops, their own six-part series broadcast on A&E, and numerous appearances on NBC’s The Tonight Show and The Today Show.

For additional information on this and other “Performing Arts at Lawrence” series concerts, please visit www.lawrence.edu/news/performingartsseries.

Defying Constituents Wishes: Lawrence University Political Scientist Discusses Why Elected Officials Can Do It

Political scientist Christian Grose examines the reasons why elected representatives can support positions contrary to the voters of their district and still get re-elected in a Lawrence University Science Hall Colloquium.

Grose, assistant professor of government at Lawrence, presents “Why do Legislators Deviate from their Constituents’ Preferences” Wednesday, Oct. 13 at 4:30 p.m. in Science Hall Room 102. The event is free and open to the public.

Grose will discuss recent research he has conducted on elected officials’ “valence advantage,” that is, those advantages a representative has that are unrelated specifically to policy decisions, such as personal charisma, constituency service or the delivery of federal largess to district constituents. His findings indicate that the amount of money or “pork” that an elected representative is able deliver to his/her state or district is directly related to the extent to which that representative can take positions that are contrary to the views of his or her constituents.

A specialist in congressional representation and behavior, elections and public opinion, Grose joined the
Lawrence faculty in 2002. The recipient of the American Political Science Association’s 2004 Carl Albert Award for the nation’s best doctoral dissertation in the area of legislative studies, Grose earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and history at Duke University and his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Rochester.

Nobel Laureate Discusses Breakthrough Research on Absolute Zero in Lawrence University Science Colloquium

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Eric Cornell, whose ground-breaking research resulted in cooling atoms to the lowest temperature that had ever been achieved, discusses his work and the bizarre things that occur at these extremely low temperatures in a Lawrence University Science Hall Colloquium.

Cornell presents “Stone Cold Science: Things Get Weird Around Absolute Zero” Thursday, Oct. 14 at 4:15 p.m. in Youngchild Hall, Room 121. The event is free and open to the public.

In 1995, Cornell and his research partner Carl Wieman, used laser light and the process of evaporative cooling to achieve a temperature a few billionths — 0.000,000,001 — of a degree above absolute zero, a temperature far colder than even the farthest depths of deep space. Cornell will explain how and why scientists reach such record low temperatures and the unusual ways atoms behave in this ultra-cold state.

Cornell joined the scientific staff at JILA, one of the nation’s leading research institutes jointly operated by the University of Colorado and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in 1990. He holds Fellow status at JILA, is a senior scientist at NIST and has a faculty appointment in the physics department at the University of Colorado. A graduate of Stanford, he earned his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In addition to winning the 2001 Nobel Prize for Physics, Cornell was the recipient of the 2000 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics from the Franklin Institute, which recognizes outstanding achievement in science and technology, was awarded the 1998 Lorentz Medal by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in recognition of important contributions to physics and the 1997 King Faisal International Prize for Science for significant advances that benefit humanity. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the Optical Society of America.

Lawrence University Art Historian Awarded Prestigious Metropolitan Museum Research Fellowship

Lawrence University Assistant Professor of Art History Alexis Boylan has been named one of 39 international recipients of a 2004-05 fellowship from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Boylan was awarded a Chester Dale Fellowship to support research she is conducting for an article on American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, famous for his civic monuments, most notably those of Civil War heroes, and his bronze bas-relief of author Robert Louis Stevenson.

The fellowship will enable Boylan to spend three months this fall in New York, studying at the Metropolitan Museum, which has two versions of the Saint-Gaudens’ sculpture of Stevenson.

Boylan’s article, “‘Not a Bit Like an Invalid:’ Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson,” examines the relationship between the sculptor and the famed Scottish novelist. She will focus on the artist’s decision to present Stevenson ill and in bed in his 1887 work, exploring the rationale behind Saint-Gauden’s decision to shift from his more typical style of portraying heroic men and instead sculpt Stevenson — a man he admired and considered a good friend — as weak and infirm in this piece.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art awards fellowships to scholars and graduate students from the United States as well as from around the world to undertake research projects at the renowned museum or abroad. Established in 1974, the program supports research in art history, archaeology and art conservation.

Among the 39 recipients, Boylan was the only scholar from a liberal arts college awarded one of the 2004-05 Metropolitan Museum fellowships, which also went to scholars at Columbia, Harvard and Princeton universities, as well as Oxford University and the University of the Sorbonne, among others.

A specialist in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, Boylan joined the Lawrence faculty in 2002. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Bryn Mawr College and a Ph.D. in art history at Rutgers University in 2001.