Working with departments across the University, Brown’s student-facing health care providers developed innovative ways to provide COVID-19 care while protecting the broader community from the infectious disease.
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Featured Headlines
All News Brown President Christina H. Paxson discussed leadership and innovation in a virtual Chronicle of Higher Education event focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-Black racism and threats to democracy in 2020-21.
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The Watson Institute’s one-year master of public affairs program saw a 58% increase in new students in 2021, due in large part to policy issues laid bare during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Dr. Ramu Kharel, a global emergency medicine fellow affiliated with Brown’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, went to Nepal to research emergency medicine and immediately immersed himself in the practice of it.
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The gift from Class of 1976 Brown alumna Shauna Stark, the largest in the Pembroke Center’s history, will establish an endowed directorship and support bold feminist research by scholars from multiple fields of study.
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Recent Highlights
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Health and Medicine
After the FDA’s approval, what to know about the new Alzheimer’s drug
Dr. Stephen Salloway, associate director of Brown’s new Center for Alzheimer’s Research who led clinical trials for the recently approved aducanumab, explained the key takeaways from the FDA’s headline-making decision.
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Marcia Chatelain, who graduated from Brown with a master’s and Ph.D. in American civilization, won the 2021 prize for the history category for her book “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America.”
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Launched five years ago with an ambitious vision, the Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute is bringing together researchers, physicians, students and community partners to transform children’s health in Rhode Island and beyond.
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Over four days, hundreds of employees participated in a slate of programs that combined traditional Staff Development Day favorites with pervasive themes of the past year: care, connection and community.
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Arts and Humanities
Brown MFA students win prestigious Kennedy Center playwriting awards
Graduate student playwrights Nkenna Akunna, Seayoung Yim and Christopher Lindsay were recognized with national awards for writing creative scripts that tackle difficult subjects such as racism, misogyny and “fatphobia.”
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Backed by $150,000 from the Fund for the Education of the Children of Providence, the transformed space offers students reimagined study areas, new technology and furniture, and an expanded collection of books and periodicals.
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A project by two Ph.D. candidates in American studies was awarded $220,000 from the U.S. National Park Service to shed light on the stories of lesser-known Japanese American internment camps from New Mexico to Alaska.
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News and Events
Brown students, recent graduates earn 27 Fulbright scholarships
This year’s student Fulbright winners will begin teaching and research assignments in 17 countries around the world in fall of 2021.
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News and Events
Brown Corporation approves base budget for Fiscal Year 2022
The approved $1.34 billion base budget strikes a deliberate balance between long-term financial sustainability, economic recovery from COVID-19, and continued investments in academic excellence and support for students.
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For two decades, the Nonviolence Institute has been an instrumental force in preventing violence and providing support to victims in Rhode Island; the joint contribution will support its work amid a surge in gun violence.
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Science and Technology
Brown alumni to oversee new NASA robotic missions to Venus
The space agency will send two new spacecraft to Earth’s “evil twin” in the next decade, and both Discovery Program missions will be led by Brown graduates.
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In an effort to achieve near-universal vaccination and return to more traditional operations, Brown will require all faculty, staff and students to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
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The University’s public art collection will host British artist Rebecca Warren’s huge bronze sculpture, a comment on gender, identity and the role of monuments in public space, for the next five years.
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News and Events
Brown Corporation elects three new fellows, seven trustees
Brown’s governing body elected each new member based on their commitment to the University and its mission of education and research.
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About 114 Brown sophomores, juniors and seniors have moved into the new building, where they will reside while enrolled for this year’s summer term; the building’s full opening will coincide with the Fall 2021 semester’s launch.
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The John Hay Library’s new collection policy is intended to support new trends in scholarship on campus and to diversify the personal and community stories told in Brown’s archives and special collections.
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The University responds to COVID-19
In true testament to the University’s mission to serve the community, the nation and the world, Brown students, faculty and staff are addressing the COVID-19 pandemic on multiple fronts. Explore new research, community impact initiatives, expert perspectives and more.
Research News
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Science and Technology
Brown professor wins prestigious computing award named for his late predecessor
Eli Upfal, a professor of computer science, is the winner of this year’s ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award, which is named for a beloved Brown professor who died in 1995.
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A new study led by Brown researchers shows the crucial need for specific attention to be paid to assisted living residences in response to pandemics and other emergencies.
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Science and Technology
New model accounts for the effect of behavior changes to predict COVID-19 cases
A new infectious disease model that accounts for people’s ‘level of caution’ or ‘sense of safety’ accurately captures surges and declines in COVID-19 cases since March 2020 — and could help predict how the pandemic will eventually end.
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Health and Medicine
The Hassenfeld Study shows how a mother’s data can help countless children
A long-term study of mothers and babies, run by the Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute, engages Rhode Island families in research that has the ability to make an outsize impact on children’s health.
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A new analysis by researchers at Brown University shows the association of Medicare Advantage star ratings with racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in quality of care.
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A study shows that giving the public more opportunities to converse with school board leaders could increase civic engagement and lead to more public trust in officials — especially among low-income groups and people of color.
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Science and Technology
New algorithm could help enable next-generation deep brain stimulation devices
Brown University researchers have developed a technique that could allow deep brain stimulation devices to sense activity in the brain and adjust stimulation accordingly.
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Science and Technology
Study of past South Asian monsoons suggests stronger monsoon rainfall in the future
New research finds that increases in monsoon rainfall over the past million years were linked with increases in atmospheric CO2 and the import of moisture from the southern hemisphere, which suggests stronger rains in the future as CO2 levels rise.
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Science and Technology
Scientific computing technology should benefit all, Brown researcher tells Congress
Speaking before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee, computer scientist Seny Kamara urged lawmakers to make sure computing technology benefits society at large, not just a privileged few.
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An analysis led by Brown University neurologist Dr. Karen L. Furie in partnership with the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, put the post-vaccine risk of CVST in perspective.
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A study led by Willoughby Britton, an associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown, shows the importance of defining and measuring the adverse effects of mindfulness.
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Science and Technology
Researchers use ‘hole-y’ math and machine learning to study cellular self-assembly
A new study shows that mathematical topology can reveal how human cells organize into complex spatial patterns, helping to categorize them by the formation of branched and clustered structures.
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Using a brain-computer interface, a clinical trial participant was able to create text on a computer at a rate of 90 characters per minute just by thinking about the movements involved in writing by hand.
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Social Sciences
Politically polarized brains share an intolerance of uncertainty
A new study on political polarization led by a Brown University team showed how an aversion to uncertainty is often associated with black-and-white political views.
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Science and Technology
NASA to launch new Brown student satellite
NASA has agreed to provide space on a future rocket launch for a new satellite designed and built by Brown University students to test the performance of next-generation solar cells in space.
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Science and Technology
‘Molecular glue’ makes perovskite solar cells dramatically more reliable over time
In a study that could help to bring inexpensive, efficient perovskite solar cells one step closer to commercial use, researchers found a way to strengthen a key weak point in the cells, dramatically increasing their functional life.
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Science and Technology
Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life beneath its surface, study finds
New research suggests that rocks in the Martian crust could produce the same kind of chemical energy that supports microbial life deep beneath Earth’s surface.
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Science and Technology
What a glacial river reveals about the Greenland ice sheet
New research shows that water pressure beneath a glacier influences how fast it flows, a finding that could help in predicting the pace at which glaciers slide into the ocean and drive sea level upward.
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Science and Technology
How Brown neuroscientists are using CRISPR to accelerate brain research — and more
Brown University neuroscientist Kate O’Connor-Giles discusses how the revolutionary gene editing technology can help reveal secrets of the brain’s function and role in disease.
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The Advocate
Champions of Pride 2021 from New England
Highlighting Brown’s Distinction
University Initiatives
Highlighting Brown’s distinction in entrepreneurship
Offering courses, programs and support to students at every stage of the entrepreneurial process, the Nelson Center has become a nexus for entrepreneurship at Brown in just three years since launch.
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Brown’s scholars in international and public affairs are addressing inequality, convening conversations that move the needle on tough issues and connecting students with practitioners on the ground.
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Science and Technology
Highlighting Brown’s distinction in energy and environmental engineering
Researchers in Brown’s School of Engineering are developing next-generation renewable energy technologies, advancing energy efficiency in computing and finding new ways to detect and clean contaminants in the environment.
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Arts and Humanities
Highlighting Brown’s distinction in the arts
The University is advancing its reputation for excellence in the arts by forming new partnerships with artists and scholars and making major new investments in programming and facilities.
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Health and Medicine
Highlighting Brown’s distinction in brain science
Brown researchers are building understanding of the brain, restoring movement for patients with paralysis, unlocking the secrets of devastating diseases and devising new treatments to address brain-related disorders.
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Social Sciences
Highlighting Brown’s distinction in economics
With an increased focus on unearthing novel data sources for analysis, Brown’s economics scholars are bringing new insights to complex problems and teaching the next generation of researchers and policymakers to do the same.
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News and Events
Highlighting Brown’s distinction in educational innovation
Learning at Brown is a collaborative, hands-on experience — one in which students often lead their own research projects or conduct research alongside their instructors.
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Arts and Humanities
Highlighting Brown’s distinction in the humanities
Humanities scholars at Brown are energizing comparative work that informs a deeper understanding of the most challenging questions of global common concern.
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