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INNS award to CAS prof
Stephen Grossberg, a CAS professor and department chairman of cognitive and
neural systems (CNS) and director of BU’s Center for Adaptive Systems,
has been selected by the International Neural Network Society to receive its
2003 Helmholtz Award for Distinguished Research on Visual Perception at the
society’s annual meeting on July 23.
The award recognizes Grossberg’s
groundbreaking work describing computational theories for how the brain sees;
it is one of three awards presented annually
to established researchers in the field of neural networks. Grossberg is a
pioneer in the modern scientific movement to develop a model for how the brain
and mind work, and his research aims at understanding how a brain gives rise
to a mind, a line of inquiry known as the mind/body problem. Models developed
by Grossberg and his colleagues at CNS have simulated how different types of
behavior, including visual perception, emerge when many nerve cells interact
in different types of circuits.
Jaycees award MED prof and alum for exceptional service
Richard Saitz (CAS’87, MED’87), a MED associate
professor of medicine and the director of the Clinical Addiction, Research,
and Education (CARE) Unit at Boston Medical Center, received one of the
2003 Boston Junior Chamber of Commerce Ten Outstanding Young Leader Awards
in late May.
Honorees are selected by an independent panel of Boston
leaders, who cited Saitz’s clinical, research, and educational
efforts as an academic primary care physician in alcoholism treatment
and prevention.
Saitz serves in leadership positions for local and national
organizations and has been recognized internationally as an expert in
alcohol use.
He has mentored students and physicians in training, received substantial
funding for his work from government and private sources, and written
papers in numerous peer-reviewed publications, including one recently
cited by Congress on how to train community-based physicians to address
alcohol problems.
BU collaborates to promote American studies at international level
To explore what makes Americans tick, Anita Patterson, a CAS professor of English and the director of the American and New England Studies Program, headed a delegation of BU professors to the Netherlands in late May for the first World Congress of the International American Studies Association (IASA), the only internationally chartered association of Americanists from around the globe. The inaugural congress, How Far Is America from Here? reflected the growing appetite for American studies programs, which now number more than 40 outside the United States. “With America’s ‘image’ a contemporary topic of discussion globally, the first IASA World Congress was an opportunity for scholars from the United States to engage in a productive exchange of research and views on American studies with colleagues from other countries,” says Patterson. “This collaboration enhances the American and New England Studies Program at BU and hopefully sheds light on the origins of the American character for scholars and students overseas.”
SSW’s Josephine Lambert receives NASW recognition
The late Josephine Lambert, an SSW associate professor emerita of social work and faculty member with the African-American Studies Program, who died in 2001 at the age of 78, was recently added to the National Association of Social Workers Social Work Roster as a Social Work Pioneer, in honor of her accomplishments and contributions to the social work profession. During her tenure at BU, which started in 1970 and ended with her retirement in 1985, Lambert taught courses in general social work practice, social group work, and the implications of institutional racism for social work practice. She also served as coordinator of the dual-degree program in African-American studies and social work and as a recruiter of minority students for the School of Social Work.
Chelsea High School chess team wins championship
The Chelsea High School chess team won the North Shore Interscholastic Chess League Championship in April. In a letter of congratulations to high school teacher Lewis Warren, who has worked with the team for four years, Chancellor John Silber wrote that “the entire Boston University community, which takes great pride in its partnership with the Chelsea public schools, is today particularly proud of them [the team] and of this fine achievement.”
6
June 2003
Boston University
Office of University Relations