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BU Baroque Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Martin Pearlman, 8 p.m., Monday, April 25, Marsh Chapel

Week of 22 April 2005· Vol. VIII, No. 28
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Chemistry major among country’s top 50 undergrad researchers

Sarah Chobot (CAS’05) uses protein film voltammetry, an electrochemical technique, to study the proteins thioredoxin and thioredoxin reductase, demonstrating how the cellular protein system prevents the proliferation of free radicals, which can harm DNA and cause cells to die or grow abnormally. CAS Chemistry Assistant Professor Sean Elliott (left), Chobot’s mentor, developed the idea of studying this protein system. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

By Brian Fitzgerald
Sarah Chobot’s research into two proteins, thioredoxin and thioredoxin reductase, has shed light on how they fight the damage that free radicals and other compounds inflict on cells.

Dean Wilma Peebles-Wilkins steps down, having reshaped SSW’s research mission

Wilma Peebles-Wilkins (right) is stepping down as longtime dean of SSW in May for a yearlong sabbatical, followed by retirement. Gail Steketee, an SSW professor, will assume the interim deanship for two years until a permanent dean is selected. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

By Tim Stoddard
Wilma Peebles-Wilkins appreciates the value of a practice-oriented education. As a young social worker in Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1960s, her casework with autistic children and families added a critical dimension to her textbook learning.


University Lecture to explore the monarchy and Macbeth

CAS English Professor William Carroll will discuss Shakespeare’s depiction of royal succession in Macbeth at this year’s University Lecture, on Thursday, April 28. Established in 1950 to honor a member of the faculty involved in outstanding research, the University Lecture provides an opportunity for all members of the community and the general public to hear a distinguished scholar address a topic of broad interest. Photo by Vernon Doucette

By Jessica Ullian
The abiding fame of Macbeth, Shakespeare’s celebrated play about the corrupt general who hatches a deadly plot to ascend to the throne of Scotland, is rooted in a complex brew of history and witchery, according to CAS English Professor William Carroll.

Howard Thurman Center will dedicate new facility, honor BU civil rights figure

Howard Thurman Photo by BU Photo Services

By Brian Fitzgerald
With lots of space, light, and windows, including a large serpentine-shaped glass wall inside, the new home of the Howard Thurman Center provides visitors with a feeling of openness.

 

African statesmen: Western media should look at continent’s bright side

Sir Ketumile Masire, former president of Botswana and the current Balfour African President-in-Residence at BU, speaks at a press conference concluding the African Presidential Roundtable 2005. Photo by Vernon Doucette

By Tim Stoddard
Sir Ketumile Masire, former president of Botswana and BU’s current Balfour African President-in-Residence, called upon the Western media to be more fair and balanced in coverage of Africa at an April 13 press conference at SMG concluding the African Presidential Roundtable 2005.

MED researcher identifies genes linked to lung cancer susceptibility

Avi Spira Photo by Vernon Doucette

By Taylor McNeil
It’s a startling statistic: some 170,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with lung cancer each year, and within five years of diagnosis, 85 percent of them are dead.

Journalism department blasts government ‘news’ videos

By David J. Craig
They resemble real television news investigations of such issues as Medicare reform, the war in Iraq, and airport security. In fact, they’re propaganda films produced by U.S. government agencies and narrated by public relations professionals sounding like journalists.
I brake for class. A recent wave of warm weather on the Charles River Campus announced that the long-awaited spring will soon be summer. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky
I brake for class.
 
Heavy metal. Graduate students in Rachel Abercrombie’s geodynamics course test equipment for a seismic refraction experiment on the BU Beach on March 30. The experiment, which the students performed for real on April 2 at a Massachusetts Audubon Sanctuary in Belmont, Mass., involves hitting the ground to create seismic waves, whose measurements indicate characteristics of the rock structure below, such as the depth of bedrock and where the water table rests. Electronic receivers, or geophones, designed to pick up seismic vibrations are planted below the ground in a line, and the results are saved to a laptop computer for subsequent analysis. The test was successful, confirming that BU is built on slow-velocity sediments and landfill. Swinging the hammer is Jennifer Wade (GRS’06), and in the background (from left) are Lean Mehl (GRS’09), Gisela Fernandes (GRS’08), Eric Moore (GRS’09), Abercombie, a CAS and GRS associate professor of earth sciences, and Katherine Murphy (GRS’06). Photo by Kalman Zabarsky
Heavy Metal
       

22 April 2005
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