Hagan and Fraden Elected APS Fellows

September 29, 2020 By
Seth Fraden

Seth Fraden

Michael Hagan

Michael Hagan

Michael F. Hagan, Professor of Physics and of Quantitative Biology and Seth Fraden, Professor of Physics have been elected Fellows of the American Physical Society (APS)

Hagan received his honor “For theoretical and computational advances in active matter, and in self-assembly of viruses and colloids.” Fraden received his honor “For leadership in experimental soft matter physics, notably entropy-driven order in phase behavior, structure, and dynamics.”

The fellowship is a distinct honor signifying recognition by one’s professional peers for outstanding contributions to physics. Each year, no more than one half of one percent of the Society’s membership is recognized by this honor. The 2020 Fellows will be added to the APS Fellow Archive and formally recognized at the annual meeting of the unit through which they were elected.

 

Filed Under: labs

Alum, Past Postdoc Receive Awards from Breakthrough Prize Foundation

September 25, 2020 By
Netta Engelhardt

Netta Engelhardt. photo: MIT

Lisa Piccirillo

Lisa Piccirillo. photo: Quanta Magazine.

Lisa Piccirillo, a recent Brandeis postdoc and Netta Engelhardt, a Brandeis undergraduate alumni have received two awards from the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. While the Breakthrough Prizes are intended to help scientific leaders gain financial freedom, the New Horizons award and the Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize focus on young scientists early in their careers.

The Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize is awarded to early-career women mathematicians. Lisa Piccirillo received this prize for her work in resolving the Conway Knot problem. Piccirillo was a postdoc working with Daniel Ruberman, Professor of Mathematics, from 2019 until her recent appointment as Assistant Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Netta Engelhardt, is part of a group that received the 2021 New Horizons in Physics Prize. Netta and three other scientists were awarded for their research in calculating the quantum information content of a black hole and its radiation. Engelhardt is currently an Assistant Professor of Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was a 2011 graduate who majored in Physics. She received a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship prior to graduating from Brandeis.

 

Filed Under: awards, labs, Mathematics, Physics Tagged With: , , , ,

Meet the Science UDRs at the Ultimate Science Navigation Event (9/23)

September 22, 2020 By

Ultimate Science Navigation posterAt The Ultimate Science Navigation event TOMORROW (9/23), students can collaborate with the science UDRs to learn about the different offerings in the sciences, how to navigate each major/minor, what each major/minor has to offer, all with an emphasis on exploring the intersections between different programs in the sciences. We will have UDRs representing biochemistry, biology, neuroscience, chemistry, physics, and biophysics!

Students can join in the morning on Zoom from 9:30-10AM, or for the rest of the day through the new Brandeis science community Slack workspace to discuss their questions related to the majors with the UDRs! Email Lance Babcock (lbabcock@brandeis.edu), Maggie Wang (maki@brandeis.edu) or the other science UDRs for the Zoom link and Slack workspace link.

Filed Under: Biochemistry, Biology, chemistry, events, labs, Neuroscience, Physics, Undergrads Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Working towards diversity, equity and inclusion in the sciences

September 21, 2020 By

Bulbul ChakrabortyBulbul Chakraborty
Enid and Nate Ancell Professor of Physics
Division Head, Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences

This blog is addressed to my colleagues in the division of science. 

As scientists, we pride ourselves on solving problems, often ones that lead to paradigm shifts.  A challenge that we have all grappled with is how to cultivate and nurture a truly diverse community of scientists.  How do we create an environment that is inclusive and accessible to all that seek to enter the sciences and experience the invigorating practice of  science that  we live and breathe?  How do we open our doors and not be gatekeepers? 

I am writing this blog because the many conversations that I have had over this summer has convinced me that this is the right time for a concerted effort to push towards our objectives. As scientists we know that half the battle is going to the core of a problem, and representing it in a way that tells us what actions to take.   What I have become aware of is  that the anecdotal evidence on who leaves the sciences is being made quantitative and rigorous.  Words are being put to our experiences and structures are being offered that we can use to take actions.  We have colleagues at Brandeis and in the broader community of science educators that have thought long and hard about how to bring about change in STEM education. We can all learn from them.  

I am urging all of you to share resources that you are aware of that will help us create actionable goals and structural changes.  Towards that, here is a link to an organization called “SEA CHANGE”, within the auspices of the American Association for the Advancement of Science: https://seachange.aaas.org/.  In particular, they are hosting a series of Webinars under the banner “Talking about Leaving Revisited”: https://seachange.aaas.org/events  that I have registered for and I encourage you to do so if you can.

I intend to make this a monthly blog that reflects my thoughts on diversity, equity and inclusion in the sciences at Brandeis.

Filed Under: Biochemistry, Biology, chemistry, Computer Science, events, labs, Mathematics, Neuroscience, Physics Tagged With: ,

Andrea Guerrero and Gina Turrigiano Receive 2020 Gilliam Fellowship

July 31, 2020 By
Gina Turrigiano & Andrea Guerrero

Andrea Guerrero (left) and Gina Turrigiano (right)

Andrea Guerrero, a Neuroscience PhD student working in the Turrigiano lab, a 2020 Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study recipient. The Gilliam Fellowship is awarded to the student and dissertation adviser, therefore Gina Turrigiano will also participate in this fellowship. Turrigiano said, “I am really pleased that Andrea was awarded this fellowship, which recognizes her potential to become a scientific leader.  I am also really excited at the opportunity to improve my mentoring skills that this terrific program provides to me as her PhD advisor.”

The purpose of the Gilliam Fellowship is to increase diversity among scientists who are preparing for leadership roles, particularly as college and university faculty members.  Fellows receive up to three years of support for dissertation research, typically in years three, four, and five of their PhD study. The Gilliam Fellowship is part of HHMI.

In response to receiving the award Guerrero said, “I am honored and excited to be selected as a 2020 HHMI Gilliam Fellowship recipient as it will aid my own advancement in an academic-track career and will importantly promote diversity and inclusion within the Brandeis science community.”

Andrea describes her research as follows:

“The human Shank3 gene is strongly associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Shank3 protein functions as a scaffold that plays a crucial role in synapse formation and maintenance. Prior work in our lab supports the idea that differential Shank3 phosphorylation alters its activity. Phosphomimetic and phosphodeficient mutants show dysfunction in the mechanisms that normally maintain brain circuitry homeostasis. In order to understand how Shank3 is able to do this, I will investigate how the phosphorylation state of Shank3 changes its synaptic localization, protein binding interactions, and cellular signaling pathways in vitro. Additionally, I will assess the effects of overexpression of Shank3 phosphorylation mutants on synaptic plasticity within the rodent primary visual cortex. My research project has the potential to uncover novel cellular pathways that can be targeted for ASD therapeutic development.”

 

 

Filed Under: awards, labs Tagged With: , ,

Applied Mathematics and AI meet Law and Social Justice

May 21, 2020 By

Jonathan Touboul

For the past two years, Applied Mathematics Professor Jonathan Touboul and his team has been working in collaboration with Law Professor Samuel Dahan at Queen’s University (Canada) in modeling legal decisions and predicting court decisions on Canadian labor law. Their academic work covers the determination of a worker’s status or the calculation of a severance package (paper appearing in a forthcoming issue of the McGill Law Journal). With the COVID-19 crisis and nearly 2 million Canadian jobs lost in 2 months, Touboul, Dahan, Prof. Maxime Cohen (McGill) and their colleagues realized that their research could be applied to assist more people, and serve to help democratize legal services, particularly towards those who lack proper access to law and legal information.

Joining their efforts with a team of law and computer science students at Queen’s University, Jonathan Touboul and his team provided modeling and data science expertise to develop predictive algorithms that helped launch MyOpenCourt.org. This is a free AI powered platform that offers easy access to their research and algorithms to provide personalized predictions, explanations, list of most similar situations from the case law, and offers the option to connect the user with a network of pro-bono lawyers for a free consultation.

Learn more:

• “Championing AI for social justice”, Queens University
• “Conflict Analytics Lab launches app for workers laid off during the pandemic”, McGill University
Filed Under: labs, Mathematics, Neuroscience Tagged With: , , , ,

Protected by Akismet
Blog with WordPress

Welcome Guest | Login (Brandeis Members Only)