Autumn and our October Bulletin have arrived! We are so excited to share the exciting events we have planned for this month, as well as sneak peaks of future events. Our study groups span a range of topics from literature, tours, legal puzzles, and cultural appreciation through food. This month we would like to introduce a new study group for fiber-craft enthusiasts: a Quilting Bee every month! Details, registration, sneak peaks, chapter news, and contact information can all be found in the bulletin.
Announcement: Awards
October 17, 2018 By
We are very excited to announce that the BNC Northern Virginia chapter has won a Financial Goal Award and a Membership Goal Award for 2018. These awards recognize that BNC NoVa has achieved their financial and membership goals. Through a wide array of study groups ranging from walking tours to literature groups to luncheons featuring Brandeis lecturers, BNC NoVa offers it all.
We would like to thank all of our members and chapter leadership for their support of Brandeis University and enthusiastic participation in chapter activities. We look forward to spending another wonderful year learning, exploring, and supporting Brandeis together.
Event: Brandeis Fall Showcase – September 6th
August 22, 2018 By
Join us for the continuation of an annual tradition! The Fall Showcase is a wonderful way to reconnect with other BNC NoVa members and learn about the offered study groups and events. There will presentations, food and drink, and the chance to sign up for study groups at the event.
No matter which activities you end up registering for, you can be sure you will expand friendships, be exposed to new ideas, and know that you are helping BNC’s MAGNIFY THE MIND campaign to further neuroscience research.
We can’t wait to see you there!
Please RSVP by August 31st. Further details are in bulletin.
Event: Book and Author – September 30th
August 15, 2018 By
BNC North Virginia invites you to our Fall Book and Author Event! This event, which some of you may remember from last year, is anticipated to be just as exciting and enlightening. Moderated by Robert Siegel, we will be hosting authors Steve Israel, Dina Gold and Ron Balson.
Robert Siegel has made his mark over the radio waves as a long-time presence on National Public Radio. His illustrious career includes acting as host for NPR’s All Things Considered from 1987-2017.
Congressman-turned-novelist Steve Israel takes on guns and politics in his book Big Guns. When an arms manufacturer CEO feels threatened by a national handgun ban campaign he convinces legislature to introduce a bill mandating every American own a gun. But when the gun issue comes to the CEO’s backyard, a local election turns a small town into a national battle ground for pro- and anti-gun partisans.
Dina Gold’s Stolen Legacy is a non-fiction historical narrative of the legal battle to reclaim family property. In the 1930s the building her mother’s family business resided in was taken from them as part of the Nazis’ campaign against Germain Jews. In 1990, Gold walked into a German ministry to reclaim the family building and set off a long-running legal case, the likes of which have never been written about before. In the process of writing this book Gold delved into archives and brought to light shocking discoveries.
Attorney, educator, and writer Ron Balson brings us his novel The Trust. Set in Northern Ireland, Private Inspector Liam Taggart returns to an estranged family for his uncle’s funeral. Upon discovering his uncle was shot and of a secret trust, Liam must confront old family grievances and catch the killer. Little does he know he is about to step into the middle of a firestorm.
Please see the Bulletin for further information.
Announcement: Magnify the Mind
July 2, 2018 By
Brandeis has long had one of the best neuroscience programs in the country. Nobel Prize winner Michael Rosbash, MacArthur “genius” grant recipient Gina Turrigiano and world-renowned neuroscientist Eve Marder are all pioneers in the field. Their breakthroughs have helped transform our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and autism.
But to remain cutting edge — and continue to make advances in our understanding of human health — Brandeis needs to upgrade its microscopes. The university currently owns an aging fluorescence microscope that uses a technique called two-photon excitation to image intact brain circuitry in the living brain. This technique has allowed Brandeis researchers to study how genes and experience interact to produce functioning brain circuits. However, this equipment is no longer state-of-the-art because it uses old and slow scanning technology that takes only one image per second. This speed severely limits the type of research questions that can be answered.
The Brandeis National Committee would like to provide Brandeis with a next generation resonant scanning two-photon microscope. This new technology would enable Brandeis researchers to take 30 to 50 images per second. This increase in speed can be used to observe the brain much closer to its native processing speed, or can be used to take many photographs of the same tissue that can be averaged together to create very high resolution views, allowing Brandeis researchers to study structures as small as single synapses in the living brain.
Brain plasticity — how neurons react to changes in the environment — is one of the most important areas in brain research, understanding what brings about changes in behavior. When the processes responsible for plasticity malfunction, it can give rise to neurodegenerative illnesses. Resonant scanning will generate a trove of new insights and data to understanding why this happens.
Researchers at Brandeis will further be able to explore the role of molecules, dendrites and synapses in the brain and reveal operating principles. The Brandeis National Committee’s campaign to raise $500,000, launches July 1, 2018. Contact 781-736-7588 to donate today.
Brandeis News: $1 Million Grant for Science
June 30, 2018 By
Brandeis University has been awarded a $1 million, 5-year grant from The Howard Hughs Medical Institute (HHMI) to aid in fostering undergraduate diversity in the sciences. The funding will help the Brandeis support undergraduates in STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — especially those students who are first generation college students, from low-income backgrounds and military veterans.
Brandeis is one of 33 institutions of higher educations to receive the HHMI Inclusive Excellence award this year for its commitment to increase its capacity for inclusion. Part of the funding will be used to continue the success of the Science Posse program which focuses on attracting and retaining talented, underrepresented student in science. Another part of the grant will go towards the Galaxy Program, a mentoring program intended to provide extra support and guidance to undergraduate students in the early stages of a scientific education.
These programs, as well as initiatives enabled by the grant, will further Brandeis’ commitment to social justice by helping all talent shine through in the sciences field, regardless of background.
We would like to thank all of our BNC members for your continued support of Brandeis’ sciences and libraries. Your generosity makes it possible for students from all walks of life to excel even when grants are not available.
Summer Reading Recommendations
June 28, 2018 By
As we officially enter summer, we hope all our members have some time to kick back and enjoy the sun. What better way to enjoy the warmth (or the AC) than with a good book? Brandeis University has released its list of summer reading recommendations from various professors and librarians. This extensive list ranges from historical and political analysis, to graphic novels and crime thrillers.
Here is the list:
The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker by Kathy Cramer and recommended by Jill Greenlee, Associate Professor of Politics.
No Fire in the Ashes: Coming of Age Black and Free in America by Darnell L. Moore and recommended by Chad Williams, Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Chair in History
The Cold Dish (Walt Longmire Series #1) by Craig Johnson and recommended by Matthew Sheehy, University librarian
In the Skin of a Jihadist: A Young Journalist Enters the ISIS Recruitment Network by Anna Erelle and recommended by Jytte Klausen, Lawrence A. Wien Professor of International Cooperation
Biogea by Michel Serres and Highway Kind by Justine Kurland, both recommended by Peter Kalb, Associate Professor of Contemporary Art on the Cythia L.and Theodore S. Berenson Chair and Women’s, Gender and Sexualities Studies
Mary Astor’s Purple Diary: The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936 by Edward Sorel and recommended by Thomas Doherty, Professor of American Studies
Haifa: City of Steps by Nili Scharf Gold, Black Power, Jewish Politics: Reinventing the Alliance in the 1960s by Marc Dollinger, and The German-Jewish Cookbook: Recipes and History of a Cuisine by Gabrielle Rossmer Gropmand and Sonya Gropman, recommended by Sylvia Fuks Fried, Director of Publications at the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies and Executive Director of the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry
See the original article for further details about each book.
