News Archive | Graduate School

El Zotz Masks Yield Insights into Maya Beliefs

Graduate students Sarah Newman, Nicholas Carter, Yeny Gutiérrez, and Boris Beltrán, working with and led by Prof. Stephen Houston, made a new discovery at the Maya archaeological site in El Zotz, Guatemala. The ornately decorated structure is topped by a temple covered in a series of masks depicting different phases of the sun, as well as deeply modeled and vibrantly painted stucco throughout.

Jabbar R. Bennett Promoted to Associate Dean of the Graduate School

Jabbar BennettDean Peter M. Weber announced the promotion of Jabbar R. Bennett, PhD, to Associate Dean of the Graduate School, effective in July 2012. Dr. Bennett continues to serve as Associate Dean for Diversity, Division of Biology and Medicine. He is the Director of the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, Division of Biology and Medicine.

Brown Will Participate in Ivy Plus STEM Symposium

On October 4-6, 2012, the inaugural Ivy Plus Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Symposium & Workshop for Diverse Scholars will take place at the University of Pennsylvania. Brown is one of ten sponsoring Graduate Schools. The following faculty from Brown will be serving as panelists to discuss their research: Wesley Bernskoetter (Chemistry), Eric Morrow (Biology), Alberto Saal (Geological Sciences), and Agnes Kane (Pathobiology).

Brown MFA Alums Win Awards and Support

Christine Evans and Gregory Moss, alums of the Brown MFA program, are two of six who were chosen as Core Writers for the Playwrights' Center. Core writers receive three years of professional and artistic support and are selected by a national panel of theater artists in consultation with the Center's artistic staff.

Maria Salciccioli is first Simmons Scholar

Incoming graduate student in the Urban Education Policy program, Maria Salciccioli, was named the first recipient of the Ruth J. Simmons Urban Education Policy Scholarship.

Brown Alum Part of Team to Discover Frozen Water on Moon

An alum of the Geophysics program, Maria Zuber, PhD '86, was part of a research team to discover the possibility of frozen water within a massive crater on the south pole of the moon.

New Library Publication: Dealing with Data

The Brown University Library recently released Dealing with Data. This new publication covers a range of issues related to data description, management, and preservation, data visualization and the importance of data in research and teaching.

Dealing with Data features contributions by Library staff and Brown faculty including Harriette Hemmasi, Catherine Busselen, Ann Caldwell, Jean Bauer, Julia Flanders, Amanda Rinehart, John Cayley, Sue Alcock, and Jan S. Hesthaven.

Selenium Controls Staph on Implant Material

Qi Wang, graduate student in Chemistry, is first author on a paper showing how selenium, a naturally occurring element in the body, can help combat the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus.

When selenium nanoparticles are used to coat polycarbonate, the material of catheters and endotracheal tubes, the results were significant reductions in cultured populations of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, sometimes by as much as 90 percent.

Recreational Fishing Brings Salt Marsh Die-off

Postdoc Andrew Altieri worked with a team of researchers, including Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department chair Mark Bertness, to determine why salt marshes are rapidly declining along Cape Cod.

Recreational fishing is major contributor because it strips top predators such as striped bass, blue crabs, and smooth dogfish out of the ecosystem, according to new research by Brown University ecologists.

Graduate School Alumna Madeline Miller Wins Orange Prize

Madeline Miller was awarded the Orange Prize for fiction this week for her first book, The Song of Achilles. Miller earned her BA and MA in Classics at Brown. She currently works as a Greek and Latin teacher. The Orange Prize is open to any novel by a woman published in English. Read more.