Stanford University has joined a growing number of elite universities to offer free tuition to students from low-income families. The change, announced Wednesday, eliminates required contributions from families with annual incomes of less than $45,000. The university says it will also halve contribution requirements for middle-income parents. Under the new program, families earning from $45,000 to $60,000 a year will be expected to contribute a yearly average of $3,800.

In an article that looks at efforts to educate people about New England’s role in the slave trade, Brown University’s Choices for the 21st Century Education Program is mentioned, as is the upcoming report that the University’s Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice will submit to President Ruth Simmons. The article notes that committee’s report will include an examination of the Brown family role in slavery “and a series of recommendations on how the university should deal with its past.” In the article, Simmons noted that although some consider the committee’s examination to be risky, “I welcome any discomfort this process causes as necessary. It's there on the edge we learn."

President Ruth Simmons will be interviewed live on “The Satellite Sisters,” a nationally-syndicated production of ABC Radio networks and on XM Satellite Radio. The interview will begin around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 22. Simmons was invited to be a guest during Women’s History Month because she “has achieved several accomplishments in her life and is the first African-American to lead an Ivy League institution.” (The Satellite Sisters are five real sisters. One, Liz Dolan, is a graduate of Brown University. Another, Julie Dolan, is the parent of a Brown alumnus.)

The research arm of Microsoft Corp. will invest $1.2 million over the next three years in a pen-based computer research center at Brown University.

The research arm of Microsoft Corp. will invest $1.2 million over the next three years in a pen-based computer research center at Brown University. This wire service article appeared in newspapers across the country, including USA Today and the Portland Oregonian.

The research arm of Microsoft Corp. will invest $1.2 million over the next three years in a pen-based computer research center at Brown University.

Dinosaur locomotion is a tough biomechanical problem because there are a seemingly endless number of ways that leg bones could have been positioned. In an attempt to limit the possibilities, John Hutchinson of London's Royal Veterinary College and Stephen Gatesy of Brown University have developed a computer model of Tyrannosaurus rex movement by modifying animation software with some computational physics tools.

Brown Medical School recently joined a growing number of medical and nursing schools that require students to buy and use PDAs. Faculty and students say the technology saves time and helps them provide better care, in addition to reducing medical errors. Drug references and diagnostic programs can be stored on them, giving physicians information at their fingertips.

Economics Professor Glen Loury is a guest for the “Roundtable” segment of “News and Notes with Ed Gordon,” which airs on National Public Radio. For the wide-ranging discussion on current events, Loury and Gordon were joined by John McWorther, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and Hofstra University journalism Professor E.R. Shipp.

Brown University’s Urban Studies Program co-sponsors a daylong forum about the future of Providence’s waterfront.