Marcy Brink-Danan, Assistant Professor of Anthropology & Judaic Studies, $14,650   brink-danan
Professor Brink-Danan is organizing a day-long conference to bring together outstanding social scientists who study Jewish life through ethnographic methods. The conference will have three components, including a presentation of new research, a discussion of disciplinary theory and a major public presentation.
   
Erika Edwards, Assistant Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, $11,010   edwards
Professor Edwards' work combines molecular phylogenetics with anatomical and eco-physiological field studies. She will utilize the award to initiate collaborations with two institutions in South Africa and Madagascar for a research project that will focus on succulent lineages of plants that are endemic to arid regions of South Africa. Erika will also travel to Brazil to speak at the Latin American Botanical Congress and the International Organization for Succulent Plant Study.
  • Grants
  1. NESCent Catalysis Meeting Award (NSF-NESCent Evolutionary Synthesis Center) "Toward a New Synthesis of the Evolutionary History and Ecology of C4 Grasses". I was lead PI on this grant to organize a one?time meeting of world experts in C4 grass ecology and evolution. The grant was awarded in September 2008, and we held the meeting just this past April 9-11, 2009.
  2. NSF - IOS Organism: Environment Interactions. "Collaborative Research: The Evolution of Leaf Form in Viburnum (Adoxaceae)". Lead PI, with co-PI Lawren Sack and Michael Donoghue, $606,307 to Brown. June 2009-May 2012
  3. Brown Seed Award. "The dawn of a new era: deciphering the past climatic and ecological changes using integrated DNA and lipid biomarker fingerprints". Co-PI; Lead PI Yongsong Huang (Geology Department), $80,000.
  • Publication (Limited Access)
  1. Ogburn, R.M., and Edwards, E.J. 2009. Anatomical variation in the closest relatives of cacti: trait lability and evolutionary innovation. American Journal of Botany 96: 1-20.
  2. Butterworth, C.A., and Edwards, E.J. 2008. Investigating Pereskia and the earliest divergences in Cactaceae. Invited paper, Haseltonia 14: 46-53.
  3. Nyffeler, R., Eggli, U., Ogburn, R.M., and Edwards, E.J.. 2008. Variations on a theme: repeated evolution of succulent life forms in the Portulacineae. Invited paper, Haseltonia 14: 26-36.
  4. Edwards, E.J., and Still, C.J . 2008. Climate, phylogeny, and the ecological distribution of C4 grasses. Ecology Letters 11: 266-276.
    
Diane Hoffman-Kim, Associate Professor of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology, & Biotechnology, $14,995   hoffman-kim
Toward the goal of being a multi-dimensional leader in academic biomedical engineering, Professor Hoffman-Kim proposes three interrelated aims: (1) increase the global visibility of her research program on nerve repair technology and tissue engineering; (2) expand her biomedical engineering teaching to the cutting edge of constructivist pedagogy; and (3) accelerate her leadership development to enhance the effectiveness of women scientists and engineers.
  • Grant
  1. Engineering Nerve Repair with Nanoscale Biomimetic Materials.  Veterans Administration Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine Grant. $92,070
  • Publication (Limited Access)
  1. Kofron, Celinda M., Vivian J. Fong, and Diane Hoffman-Kim. Neurite outgrowth at the interface of 2D and 3D growth environments. Journal of Neural Engineering. 6:016002, 2009.
    
Kate Lapane, Associate Professor of Community Health, $15,000   lapane

Dr. Lapane will host a multidisciplinary summit on off-label antipsychotic use. The aims of the summit include: (1) strengthening ongoing collaboration with investigators; (2) bringing together a network of concerned persons; and (3) fostering a mentoring and networking pipeline.

  • Publication (Limited Access)
  1. Jalbert, J.J., Daiello, L.A., and Lapane, K.L. Dementia of the Alzheimer type. Epidemiologic Reviews 2008 30(1):15-34
Carmen Marsit, Assistant Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, $13,000   marsit
Professor Marsit will hold a day-long retreat focused on epigenetics in human diseases beyond cancer. The goals of the event are to bring together members of the BUCKDM (Brown, University of California, Kaiser, Dartmouth, Minnesota) consortium and to expand this group of investigators to include individuals at Brown and its affiliated institutions.
  • Publication (Limited Access)
  1. Wiemels, J.L., Hofmann, J., Kang, M., Selzer, R., Green, R., Zhou, M., Zhong, S., Zhang, L., Smith, M.T., Marsit, C.J., Loh, M., Buffler, P., and Yeh, R-F. Chromosome 12p Deletions in TEL-AML1 Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia are Associated with Retrotransposon Elements and Occur Postnatally. Cancer Research, 2008. 68(23):9935-44.
  2. Christensen, B.C., Houseman, E.A., Yeh, R.F., Godleski, J.G., Bueno, R., Sugarbaker, D.J., Karagas, M.R., Wrensch, M.R., Wiemels, J.L., Zheng, S., Marsit, C.J., Nelson, H.H., Wiencke, J.K., and Kelsey, K.T. Epigenetic Profiles as Biomarkers of Disease, Asbestos Burden, and Patient Outcome in Pleural Mesothelioma. Cancer Research 2009. 69(1):227-34.
  3. Houseman, E.A., Christensen, B.C., Yeh, R.-F., Marsit, C.J., Karagas, M.R., Wrensch, M.R., Nelson, H.H., Wiemels, J., Zheng, S., Wiencke, J.K., and Kelsey, K.T., Model-based Clustering of Methylation Array Data: A Recursive-partitioning Algorithm for High-Dimensional Data Arising as a Mixture of Beta Distributions. BMC Bioinformatics, 2008. 9: p. 365-80.
  4. Marsit, C.J., Christensen, B.C., Houseman, E.A., Karagas, M.R., Wrensch, M.R., Yeh, R-F., Nelson, H.H., Wiemels, J.L., Zheng, S., Posner, M.R., McClean, M.D., Wiencke, J.K., and Kelsey, K.T. Epigenetic Profiling Reveals Etiologically Distinct Patterns of DNA Methylation in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Carcinogenesis 2009.
    
Meenakshi Narain, Associate Professor of Physics, $15,000   narain
Professor Narain will start a new research and development program for future particle physics experiments, specifically for the development of advanced solid state tracking detectors to precisely measure trajectory of charged particles for the proposed super LHC (SLHC) and the International Linear Collider (ILC) projects.
Ben Raphael, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, $11,453   raphael
Professor Raphael proposed a series of meetings with colleagues with the aims of: (1) developing mentoring and collaborative relationships with senior scientists; (2) training two female graduate students in a discipline underrepresented by women; and (3) continuing research collaborations.
Kristi Wharton, Associate Professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, & Biochemistry, $14,315   wharton
Professor Wharton will continue two multidisciplinary collaborations with a focus on obtaining preliminary data necessary to winning large external grants. The research areas include the visualization of signaling molecule movement in vivo in real time and elucidating the molecular underpinnings of a mechanism controlling cell signaling that appears to be at the crux of a crippling bone disease, Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva. Additionally, Kristi will attend the Keystone Symposia Conference and the EMBO Conference.
Jessica Whiteside, Assistant Professor of Geological Sciences, $14,500   whiteside
Professor Whiteside will bring together researchers whose work on lakes and related systems are at the forefront of current work in order to forge a scientific network of colleagues whose synergisms have the potential to catalyze a major leap forward of our understanding of ancient lake systems.