News from Brown

The University’s newest students completed their ceremonial procession through the Van Wickle Gates, marking their official entry into the Brown community.

The film series, led by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs and by family, friends and classmates of the late Brown alumnus, aims to underscore the importance of documentaries in understanding and confronting challenging social issues.

Americans’ feelings toward members of the other political party have worsened over time faster than those of residents of European and other prominent democracies, concluded a study co-authored by Brown economist Jesse Shapiro.

An acclaimed leader in higher education and race relations, President Emerita of Spelman College Beverly Daniel Tatum will share insights during a moderated discussion on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at Brown.

A collaboration among scientists at the University of Alabama, the Miriam Hospital, Brown and other universities will evaluate a device that monitors what you eat and delivers smartphone prompts.

A four-year Mellon Foundation grant will enable the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and academic centers at three fellow institutions to expand research and teaching opportunities on race and ethnicity.

Postdoctoral researcher Rui Gomes Coelho plans to excavate a trail once trod by WW-II refugees — now a migration route for thousands who are fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.

Dean Andrew G. Campbell will serve as chair-elect in 2020 for the national graduate education and research organization before stepping into the role of chair in 2021.

In a finding that could be useful in designing small aquatic robots, researchers have measured the forces that cause small objects to cluster together on the surface of a liquid — a phenomenon known as the “Cheerios effect.”

Brown junior Ian Ho’s penchant for building things has made him an integral part of a School of Engineering research lab, an experience helping to shape his future.

As the Brown community bids farewell to 2019 and ushers in a new decade, here are 21 highlights from Brown’s most noteworthy and best-loved stories from the last year.

Researchers at the Brown-based, federally funded Advance-CTR program are using Rhode Island’s All-Payer Claims Database to improve health care and train the next generation of health care scholars.

In “Boatbuilding: Design, Making and Culture,” at once a humanities seminar and a hands-on engineering lesson, students from concentrations across the University built and launched a wooden boat.

Class of 2020 student Ryan Saadeh is among the recipients of the Marshall Scholarship, which allows for post-graduate study in the United Kingdom, while three recent alumni will head to Tsinghua University in Beijing as Schwarzman scholars.

Selected from a pool of 4,562 applicants, the Class of 2024’s first members reflect an expanding array of initiatives aimed at making a Brown education more accessible to students from every socioeconomic background.

A three year $2.1 million research agreement with Insight Therapeutics will enable a team of Brown researchers to compare the effectiveness of flu vaccines in approximately 1,000 nursing homes.

A major grant from the Alzheimer’s Association will enable researchers to test a drug that could reduce brain inflammation in Alzheimer’s patients and possibly slow the progression of the disease.

After reaching the midpoint of its 10-year strategic plan in 2019, the University released a report highlighting the many accomplishments that have contributed to fulfilling the plan’s vision.

Brown’s annual Midyear Completion Ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 7, will celebrate the achievements and unique paths of “.5ers,” who complete their degree requirements this month.

Jill Pipher, a mathematics professor, cryptography expert and president of the American Mathematical Society, said quantum technology brings both great scientific potential and threats to security and privacy.

On the 400th anniversary of the start of slave trade in the British American colonies, students and faculty at Brown’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice are engaging in research for a PBS miniseries directed by renowned documentarian Stanley Nelson, hosting a two-day symposium on the lasting effects of slavery and more.

A study at Brown University finds that mindfulness could reduce blood pressure by enhancing attention control, emotion regulation and self-awareness of both healthy and unhealthy habits.

With more than 25 years of experience in higher education, White will lead financial planning and operations for Brown to advance essential growth and ensure long-term financial security.

Dr. Adam Levine, an emergency physician and leader of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, played a key role on a clinical trial evaluating promising new treatments for Ebola virus disease.

Camila Pelsinger, an international relations concentrator from San Francisco, will pursue graduate studies at Oxford through one of the most prestigious awards for international study.

Seny Kamara, an associate professor of computer science, told a U.S. House Financial Services Committee Task Force that there is more that companies could be doing to keep sensitive financial data safe.

The future of Optional Practical Training, a long-standing federal program that enables temporary employment for international students at American colleges and universities, is at stake in a U.S. District Court case.

Brown President Christina H. Paxson discussed college affordability and other opportunities and challenges alongside other leaders at a Boston Globe discussion on the future of Rhode Island.

Two reports released by the Costs of War project, based at Brown, provide a comprehensive estimate of the financial and human cost of America’s post-9/11 wars.

At Brown’s annual Veterans Day ceremony, President Christina H. Paxson announced plans for increased financial aid for student veterans, need-blind and test-optional admission policies and new partnerships to increase the number of veterans at Brown.

Stephon Alexander, Brown professor and president-elect of the National Society for Black Physicists, discusses the organization’s annual conference, which comes to Providence for the first time this year.

Matthew Gutmann’s book “Are Men Animals?”, out on Tuesday, Nov. 12, traces the origins of the claim that “boys will be boys” — and refutes it.

In a visit hosted by Brown University’s Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy, the former national security advisor shared crucial — and surprising — insights from her decades-long diplomatic career.

Leveraging expertise across engineering, chemistry and more, Brown physicists are leading four new federally funded research projects in quantum science.

Researchers at Brown will build quantum mechanical magnetic camera to image magnetic fields, which could help in better understanding and manipulating quantum materials.

“Luscious: Paintings and Drawings by Wendy Edwards,” an exhibition of selected works by the Brown professor of visual art, offers an artistic chronicle of 40 years of travel, life changes and perspective shifts.

A study finds that Pollock’s “drip” technique was geared to avoid a classic fluid mechanical instability, whether he was aware of it or not.

A study analyzing the first 1,000 patients from the Rhode Island Consortium for Autism Research and Treatment found that girls receive autism diagnoses an average of 1.5 years later than boys, and people with autism often have co-occurring medical and psychiatric conditions.

A new study from Brown researchers finds that rewards improve performance on a visual perceptual task only if participants sleep after training.

Engineers looking to nature for inspiration have long assumed that layered structures like those found in mollusk shells enhance a material’s toughness, but a study shows that’s not always the case.

Understanding why platinum is such a good catalyst for producing hydrogen from water could lead to new and cheaper catalysts — and could ultimately make more hydrogen available for fossil-free fuels and chemicals.

An analysis led by an Institute at Brown for Environment and Society visiting professor found that oil companies ramp up advertising campaigns when they face negative media coverage or new regulations.

Using a brain-computer interface, a team of researchers has reconstructed English words from the brain activity of rhesus macaques that listened as the words were spoken.

Quantum mechanical calculations show that the melting point of metals decreases at extreme pressure, meaning even high-density metals can have a liquid phase that’s actually denser than its normal solid phase.

Professors Kavita Ramanan and Dr. Jack Wands earned recognition for their distinguished contributions to science by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific body.

Computer models focused on current and potential policy decisions could help shed light on the future of migration caused by sea level rise, concluded a team of scholars that included Brown demographer Elizabeth Fussell.

Researchers using the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope have taken a new and significant step toward detecting a signal from the period in cosmic history when the first stars lit up the universe.

Aiming to reduce treatment gaps and guide state policy, a diverse set of voices from Brown University and the State of Rhode Island developed a cascade of care model for opioid use disorder.

In a finding that reveals an entirely new state of matter, research published in the journal Science shows that Cooper pairs, electron duos that enable superconductivity, can also conduct electricity like normal metals do.

Using orbital instruments to peer into Jezero crater, the landing site for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, researchers found deposits of hydrated silica, a mineral that’s great at preserving microfossils and other signs of life.

Physics professor Brad Marston is part of an international project supported by a $4 million grant from the Simons Foundation to study turbulence, one of the great unsolved problems of classical physics.

A Warren Alpert Medical School and Rhode Island Hospital cancer physician collaborates with molecular researcher to study use of nanotechnology to deliver medicine inside cancer cells.

New research analyzing the diets and microbiomes of 33 large-herbivore species in Kenya yields surprising findings about the interplay between animal evolution, behavior and the gut microbiome.

The Foundation’s award will enable the University to bring new life to research topics in the humanities, expanding Brown’s portfolio of original scholarship presented in enhanced forms.

Study of wave turbulence suggests that highly mobile species and more diverse ecological communities may be more resilient to the effects of changing environmental conditions.

Developed at Brown University, a new augmented reality system places virtual objects within real-world backgrounds on cell phone screens and lets people interact with those object by hand as if they were really there.

New research sheds light on the ages of ice deposits reported in the area of the Moon’s south pole — information that could help identify the sources of the deposits and help in planning future human exploration.

New study spotlights mismatch between number of deaths in children age 1 to 18 and research to understand, prevent and treat the reasons for those deaths.

Brown University researchers, surgeons from Rhode Island Hospital and private partners will develop and test a device aimed at bridging the gap in neural circuitry created by spinal cord injury, in the hope of restoring muscle control and sensation.

A new study shows that graphene sheets can block the signals mosquitos use to identify a blood meal, potentially enabling a new chemical-free approach to mosquito bite prevention.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Humanities scholars at Brown are energizing comparative work that informs a deeper understanding of the most challenging questions of global common concern.