Cheers: September 2016

Cheers is a monthly listing of appointments, promotions, and honors and awards received by faculty and staff. Submissions can be emailed to hubatwork@jhu.edu.

Academic Centers and Affiliates

Jeffrey Kahn, the Robert Henry Levi and Ryda Hecht Levi Professor of Bioethics and deputy director of policy and administration at the Berman Institute of Bioethics since 2011, has been named the Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director of the institute. He succeeds Ruth Faden, founding director. Read more on the Hub.

Applied Physics Laboratory

Clint Edwards, of the Force Protection Sector, and Tim Collins, chief government relations officer, have been named program chairs in the Whiting School's Engineering for Professionals program. Edwards will head the Space Systems Engineering program, while Collins will chair the combined Technical Management and Engineering Management programs.

Suzy Kennedy and Sheri Lewis, both of the Research and Exploratory Development Department, have joined the leadership team for APL's newest mission area, National Health, which launches Oct. 1. Lewis and Kennedy will lead the Research and Applications and the Systems Engineering program areas, respectively. They join National Health mission area executive Sezin Palmer and chief engineer Alan Ravitz, who were appointed earlier this year.

Andrew Merkle has been appointed mission area executive for Research and Exploratory Development, where he'll lead research efforts across a broad range of disciplines to support development of new technologies and capabilities for APL sponsors.

Tom Sokol, of the Air and Missile Defense Mission Area, was named the 2016 Engineer of the Year by the Mid-Atlantic Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Mike White has been named head of the Air and Missile Defense Sector, a role in which he'll oversee all work related to an APL mission that traces its roots to the Laboratory's founding project, the radio proximity fuze. White, who had served as Air and Missile Defense mission area executive since 2005, succeeds Conrad Grant, who led the sector for 11 years before being named APL's chief engineer.

Bloomberg School of Public Health

Elizabeth Selvin, a professor of epidemiology with a joint appointment in Medicine, will serve as a member of the National Institutes of Health's Kidney, Nutrition, Obesity, and Diabetes Study Section, Center for Scientific Review, for a four-year term, 2016–20. Study sections review grant applications, make recommendations on these applications to the appropriate NIH national advisory council or board, and survey the status of research in their fields.

Carey Business School

The Black & Decker Research Fund annually provides up to four grants of $2,500 to Carey Business School faculty members. This year's recipients and their projects are Jacob Cosman and Luis Quintero, assistant professors, "Understanding the Production of New Housing"; Roman Galperin, assistant professor, with Olenka Kacperzcyk of MIT and Kyle Albert of Cornell University, "Perception and Adoption of Occupational Licensure by Entrepreneurs: The Case of U.S. Tax Preparation Industry"; Brian Gunia, associate professor, "The Sleep Trap: Do Sleep Problems Encourage Entrepreneurship but Hurt Entrepreneurs?"; and Stacey Lee, assistant professor, "Putting Compassion in Compassionate Use: A Framework for Companies."

Brian Gunia, an associate professor, and Colleen Stuart, an assistant professor, in spring 2016 received the Faculty Recognition Award from students in the MBA/Master of Public Health program, which is offered jointly by the Carey Business School and the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Alessandro Rebucci, an associate professor, has been appointed a faculty research fellow of the Program in International Finance and Macroeconomics at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The inaugural issue of Carey Business has received an Award of Excellence from the University & College Designers Association. The award was given to Skelton Design for the firm's art direction, and the layout and design of the magazine. Carey Business, which was formerly known as ONE, launched in fall 2015. Artwork for the magazine will be on display Sept. 24–27 at the UCDA Design Conference in San Antonio.

Cross-disciplinary

Paul Ferraro, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor with appointments in the Carey Business School and Whiting School of Engineering, received a grant from the Delaware Watershed Research Fund to analyze consumer behavior and its effect on environmental quality of the Delaware River watershed. Ferraro will collaborate with faculty from the University of Delaware on the research.

Johns Hopkins Medicine

Eloiza Domingo-Snyder, director of diversity, inclusion, and cultural competency for Johns Hopkins Medicine and Health System, was named one of the 100 most influential Filipina women in the world by the Filipina Women's Network. The honor, in the FWN's Builder Award category, recognizes Domingo-Snyder's exceptional impact at a large workplace.

Cynthia Gutierrez-White has been appointed director of strategic communications. She joins Johns Hopkins from the Red Cross, where she was the senior spokesperson for Spanish-language media and worked to develop communications strategies to raise the organization's visibility within the Hispanic community. Previously, she was the senior public and media relations specialist for Miami Children's Hospital.

Ronald R. Peterson, president of the Johns Hopkins Health System, executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine, and recently retired president of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, has been named Business Leader of the Year for 2016 by Loyola University's Sellinger School of Business and Management. The award honors business executives who embody Loyola's Jesuit commitment to community and service in the leadership of their organization.

Multidisciplinary

Mike Houck, the Sheridan Libraries' librarian for education and public safety leadership, partnered with the School of Education's Chadia Abras, associate dean for online teaching and learning/IT, and Christina Harnett, an associate professor, to present the keynote address at the World Congress on Special Needs Education, held in August at Temple University. "Discounting Resilience: A Case of Educational Malpractice?" addressed the impact of ignoring the need for resilience training for preservice teachers and explored the benefits of building virtual communities of support using adaptive and assistive technologies.

Peabody Institute

A three-day festival/retrospective of the works of Composition Department Chair Michael Hersch will be presented Sept. 7, 8, and 11 by Spectrum NYC. Hersch, a pianist, will perform along with faculty members Ah Young Hong, soprano, and Gary Louie, saxophonist. Over the past several years, Spectrum NYC has become known for its adventurous contemporary music programming.

The music of Pulitzer Prize–winning composer and faculty member Kevin Puts is featured on a new recording by the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, led by Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and director of Peabody's graduate conducting program. Kevin Puts: Symphony No. 2, released by Naxos American Classics in August, presents both Puts' symphony and his Flute Concerto, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra's celebrated principal flutist, Adam Walker. This marks the first major-label release for the Peabody Symphony Orchestra. The recording entered the Billboard charts at No. 3 for Traditional Classical Albums and at No. 20 for overall Classical Albums, including crossover CDs.

Meng Su, an Artist Diploma candidate, will give a performance, hosted by the New York City Classical Guitar Society, on Sept. 23 at New York's Symphony Space.

School of Medicine

Tina Cheng, the Given Foundation Professor of Pediatrics and director of the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, has received a Women in Business Trailblazers in Healthcare Award from Baltimore's Center Club. Cheng has developed award-winning models of primary care to address the needs of vulnerable children, adolescents, and families.

Daniel Goldman, a postdoctoral fellow in Neuroscience and a research fellow in Molecular Biology and Genetics, was among the 17 new Damon Runyon Fellows named by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. The prestigious four-year Runyon fellowships provide $231,000 to basic scientists and $248,000 to physician-scientists to support innovative projects they are pursuing in the labs of senior investigators that have the potential to impact cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Goldman is working in the lab of Rachel Green, a professor of molecular biology and genetics and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

Jennifer Nickoles has been appointed chief of staff for the School of Medicine. She succeeds Chris White, who retired in June. Nickoles, previously the director of the Office of Faculty Research Resources, will work with Dean/CEO Paul Rothman and other school leaders to coordinate administrative and strategic functions, as well as oversee a broad range of activities within the Dean's Office.

Lillie Shockney, University Distinguished Service Associate Professor of Breast Cancer and administrative director of the Johns Hopkins Breast Center, recently received the Folio: Top Women in Media Award. It recognizes her role as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Oncology Navigation and Survivorship, as well as her work for other journals, her books, and her online writing.

School of Nursing

Sarah Szanton, an associate professor in the Department of Community-Public Health, received the 2016 Excellence in Program Innovation Honorable Mention for her Community Aging in Place—Advancing Better Living for Elders Program, an award given on behalf of the Archstone Foundation and the Aging and Public Health Section of the American Public Health Association. CAPABLE helps older adults live comfortably and safely in their homes through home visits from a nurse and occupational therapist, and small home repairs from a handyman.

University Administration

Susan Baisley, associate vice president for constituent engagement in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, has begun a three-year term on the board of directors of WYPR, the Baltimore National Public Radio station.

Whiting School of Engineering

Muyinatu "Bisi" Bell, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been named to MIT Technology Review's 2016 list of 35 Innovators under 35. Read more on the Hub.

Michael Bevan, a professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, was elected to the 2016 class of fellows by the American Chemical Society. The 57 members of the cohort were honored in August at the ACS national meeting in Philadelphia.

Somnath Ghosh, a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, and KT Ramesh, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, were invited to an event in August at the White House celebrating the five-year anniversary of the government's Materials Genome Initiative. The mission of MGI is to discover, manufacture, and deploy advanced materials "twice as fast and at a fraction of the cost" as at present. Ramesh and Ghosh represented JHU's research efforts through the Center for Materials in Extreme Dynamic Environments and the Center of Excellence on Integrated Materials Modeling.

Jeffrey Gray, a professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has been selected to receive the American Institute for Chemical Engineers' David Himmelblau Award for Innovations in Computer-Based Chemical Engineering Education. The award is presented annually by AIChE's Computing and Systems Technology Division to a person or group making new and novel contributions to computer aids for chemical engineering education. Gray is being recognized for creating the PyRosetta biomolecular modeling and design platform and its teaching materials, including interactive workshops and videos. He will receive the award at AIChE's annual meeting, to be held in November in San Francisco.

Matt Green, an assistant professor of computer science, is an author of the "Keys Under Doormats" report that received a 2016 Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The report discussed data security and backdoors for law enforcement to gain access to digital information and communications. "The authors of the report are all security experts, building the case that weakening encryption for surveillance purposes could never allow for any truly secure digital transactions," stated the award announcement. Other experts contributing to the report were from MIT; Stanford, Columbia, and Cambridge universities; Microsoft Research; SRI International; and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.