Astrophysicist Charles L. Bennett has won the 2013 Jansky Prize for his work studying cosmic microwave background radiation. A professor in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences' Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bennett is the first Johns Hopkins faculty member to win the prize, which is sponsored by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, an affiliate of the National Science Foundation. CMB is the afterglow from an early stage of the universe's development, and its presence supports the Big Bang theory.
Physics and Astronomy research Professor Holland Ford has received NASA's highest form of recognition awarded to nongovernmental officials, the Distinguished Public Service Medal, for his contributions to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Naomi Levin, an assistant professor in the Krieger School's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, won the Young Scientist Award from the Geological Society of America for her study of the environments of early humans in Africa. Also known as the Donath Medal, the award is given to a researcher for outstanding achievement in contributions to geological knowledge through original research and comes with a $10,000 cash prize.
Adam Seth Litwin, an assistant professor at the Carey Business School, was an inaugural winner of the Emerging Scholar Award in Employee Participation and Ownership. The award is presented by the Academy of Management and sponsored by the Foundation for Enterprise Development. Litwin is an expert in strategic human resources management and employment relations.
School of Nursing Assistant Professor Tener Veenema is one of 32 recipients of the Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest international distinction a nurse can receive. Veenema is an expert in disaster nursing and public health emergency preparedness.
A team of researchers from the Applied Physics Laboratory won Best Medical Robotics Paper honors at the 2013 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Mike Kutzer and Mehran Armand of the Research and Exploratory Development Department, along with postdoctoral fellow Matt Moses and graduate student Hans Mav, won for their work on a novel approach to continuum manipulators with controllable stiffness.
Two Whiting School of Engineering student-built devices—a blood clot detection system and a concealable, hands-free breast pump—won top awards in the annual Biomedical Engineering Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship Award competition. Hosted by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance– Biomedical Engineering, the awards recognize designs that have commercial potential and social impact.
Investigators at the School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health have received a five-year, $5.8 million grant to continue research into the causes of frailty in older adults and potential interventions. The grant is awarded by the National Institute on Aging and renews funding of the Johns Hopkins Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, a federally designated center of excellence that is one of only 14 such university sites nationwide.
A team of School of Medicine neuroscientists has received a five-year, $9.5 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, part of the National Institutes of Health, and has been designated as a Silvio A. Conte Center for Neuroscience Research.
In honor of Peabody faculty member Leon Fleisher's 85th birthday, Sony Classical released Leon Fleisher: The Complete Album Collection, a 23-CD deluxe boxed set spanning 55 years of the pianist's recording career. A central part of the collection is Fleisher's collaboration with George Szell, then conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, to record every major work written for piano and orchestra. Fleisher has taught at Peabody since 1959.
The Peabody Institute has launched the new Pathways to Peabody program. Funded by a renewable $250,000 grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Pathways will enable talented kids ages 12–17 from low-income families from Baltimore City and the surrounding counties to study at Peabody. This fall, the program will provide full-tuition scholarships for 35 singers, pianists, string players, and other classical and jazz instrumentalists.
The School of Education has introduced its new Online Educational Leadership Institute. Leaders of educational organizations, companies, charters, and preK–12 schools can earn graduate credits in four courses: Leadership in Educational Organization; Strategic Systems Change and Action Planning; Power, Politics, and Policy in Education; and Turnaround School Leadership.
Education Assistant Professor Anita Young has published School Counseling Leadership: The Essential Practice (American School Counselor Association, 2013). Co-authored by Marcy Miller Kneale, the book offers a framework for enhancing school counseling leadership capacity.
Stephen Bosworth, former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Korea, has joined the university as the new chairman of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies' U.S.-Korea Institute. Bosworth was formerly dean of Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. During his 30 years in the Foreign Service, he served as U.S. ambassador to Tunisia, the Philippines, and the Republic of Korea as well as director of policy planning at the State Department.
Cardiac surgeon Levi Watkins Jr. **, associate dean for postdoctoral programs and faculty development at the **School of Medicine and the first African-American chief resident in cardiac surgery in the history of Johns Hopkins Hospital, has announced that he will retire, effective December 31.
Julie A. Freischlag, director of Medicine's Department of Surgery and surgeon-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, has been elected the first female president of the Society for Vascular Surgery. Bruce A. Perler, chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery, was elected vice president of the society.
William Egginton, an Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and chair of the Department of German and Romance Languages and Literatures, has been named the Krieger School's vice dean of graduate education. Egginton will continue to teach in the department, though he will step down as chair.
Sara Bennett, an expert in comparative health systems, has been named director of the School of Public Health's Doctor in Public Health program. Bennett, an associate professor in the Department of International Health, researches health financing, the role of the private sector, and the impact of health initiatives on health systems.
