NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
RESEARCH NEWSLETTER April 2015
Volume 7, Number 7
Features
Northwestern, Adler Have Community Seeing Stars
Northwestern, Adler Have Community Seeing Stars 1
People Golosinski Named Director of Research Communications 4 Six Receive Prestigious Honor for Young Faculty 4
Photo by Roger Anderson
Search Launched for Buffett Institute Leader 5 Kaplan Fellows Named 5 OSR’s Sara Krentz Named STAR Award Winner 6
News NIMSI to Coordinate Manufacturing at University UI LABS Looks to Transform Urban Infrastructure Cancer Genes Turned Off in Deadly Glioblastomas New Funding, Research Advances Buffett Institute Mission Turek Team Part of Year-long NASA Study Feinberg Research Day a Showcase for Science Northwestern maintains AAALAC Accreditation iCAIR Leading Global Implementation of SDX Proposal and Award Report: through February
3 3 3 5 7 7 7 8 11
Events Learn to Communicate Science at RSG Training 6 IRB Brown Bag Features Compliance Analysts 6 Nanotechnology Town Hall on Cancer Therapeutics 8 Q&A with President set for April 16 and 23 8 Solar Fuels Topic of Next Science Café 8 Nobel Laureate to Deliver IPR Lecture 9 Full STEAM Ahead for MetaMedia Youth Center 9 Honors 9 Research in the News 10 Research Around Campus 10
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Laura Trouille, a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, who has a joint appointment at the Adler Planetarium, gives a presentation at the Adler’s Space Visualization Lab.
At 860 degrees Fahrenheit, today’s forecast for Venus is hot enough to melt lead. “Luckily, humans have a few billion years to figure out what to do before Earth becomes that uninhabitable,” says astronomer Aaron Geller. “Right now, the sun is stable, but it is going to change dramatically, growing more than 100 times bigger before it fades,” he tells a group of college students while standing in the Adler Planetarium’s Space Visualization Lab. “So far, we’ve detected thousands of planets beyond our Solar System, and we predict that there are billions of planets like Earth in our Milky Way. In the future, we’ll have to engineer a way to travel the tens of light years to get to one.” A National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA), Geller uses visualizations to turn complicated data into approachable conversations. The Adler, which draws a half-million visitors each year, provides an engaged audience for Geller, an expert on gravitational dynamics among stars and planetary systems. “Our partnership with the planetarium continues to evolve. The visualization work started years ago, before the University had its own NUIT-supported animation services,” says CIERA Director Vicky Kalogera, physics and astronomy. “A major benefit of the collaboration from the museum’s standpoint is that it allows the
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Adler to constantly change its content and remain aware of the most recent discoveries regarding our universe.”
“As a scientist, there is always huge benefit in having a broad network of people to interact with,” Larson says. “There are also advantages to being involved with an informal education space. When talking with an accountant, realtor, or dentist, you have to think carefully about how to explain the universe.”
Vicky Kalogera
Shane Larson Photos by Roger Anderson
While anyone at CIERA can sign up to lead an hour-long open forum with museum visitors within the Adler’s Space Visualization Lab, two CIERA members have an even greater connection. CIERA postdoctoral fellow Laura Trouille and faculty member Shane Larson, physics and astronomy, split their research time between the two institutions.
And communicating results for diverse audiences is something researchers find themselves doing more often today. “More and more big proposals — for organizations like the National Science Foundation — expect a serious education effort,” Kalogera says. “When we develop such proposals, we work with the Adler and its experts in outreach and STEM to enhance our chances.” In her office on the Adler’s lower level, Trouille relies on the continued popularity of the planetarium, and the efforts of a growing population of citizen scientists, to help explain how galaxies evolve. Everyday people, it turns out, are playing a larger and larger role in quantifying and describing the universe. For example, Zooniverse, which began in 2007, has grown to include more than a million volunteers and nearly 30 projects across the sciences, from planet hunting to spying on penguins. The initiative is headquartered at the Adler, Oxford University, and zooniverse.org. Throughout the past decade, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Kepler Space Telescope, and the Hubble Space Telescope have
Planetarium History The Adler Planetarium became the first modern planetarium in the Western Hemisphere when it opened in 1930. Today, it houses one of the world’s finest collections of antique astronomical instruments. Some of the oldest artifacts date to the 12th century.
Top: CIERA postdoctoral fellow Aaron Geller shows off the universe to students at the Space Visualization Lab. Above: Geller with Laura Trouille, a CIERA postdoc who spends half of her research time at the Adler Planetarium.
produced massive amounts of extremely rich data. Citizen scientists sift through these huge data sets, taking advantage of the human ability to identify patterns that computers are not yet able to replicate. “The citizen scientist marks a revolution as to how science can be done,” Trouille says. “The addition of millions of eyes classifying and tagging images has allowed researchers to get to answers much faster.” In 2013, Trouille collaborated with the Zooniverse group to create an online platform allowing amateur astronomers to move beyond the classification stages of a project and into the data analysis and scientific writing of results. An example of this approach was Galaxy Zoo: Quench, a project that involved 3,000 galaxies that had abruptly stopped forming stars. It took 2,500 people just 10 days to classify each of them online. About 250 people then took part in data analysis, with 25 continuing through the writing of a publishable article. “If my appointment was exclusively at Northwestern, I would never have been able to do this kind of research project,” Trouille says. “My experiences and contacts at the Adler, in connection with the research capabilities of the University, have been invaluable.”
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UI LABS Looks to Transform NIMSI to Coordinate Manufacturing at University Urban Infrastructure On the heels of Northwestern’s involvement with the revolutionary Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII) — a $70 million federal investment — the University has launched its own initiative to coordinate research and education efforts associated with manufacturing on campus. The Northwestern Initiative for Manufacturing Science and Innovation (NIMSI) aims to facilitate the translation of ideas to impact both mass production of products and emerging hyper-customized and personalized manufacturing. It will do so across a broad spectrum of areas, including design integration, material innovation, novel processes, computational methods, human-machine interface, logistics, and economic and employment analysis. “NIMSI will link our great institutes in energy and sustainability (ISEN), materials research (MRC), policy (IPR), and more, with the exceptional faculty in McCormick, Feinberg, Kellogg, and elsewhere to create a manufacturing umbrella that enhances our internal structure and external presence,” says NIMSI Director Jian Cao, associate vice president for research. “Our goal is to provide a focal point where Northwestern faculty can come together and where external partners can come to establish important connections,” Cao says. The manufacturing sector has the highest economic multiplier effect among the major sectors in the US economy. The everincreasing complexity of manufacturing and of manufactured products, and the rapid evolution of new materials and new human-machine interface systems results in both unique challenges and unprecedented opportunities. “NIMSI will offer an organizational framework that will enhance our abilities to make a local, national, and global impact,” Cao says. For more information, visit the NIMSI website.
University Industry LABS, a Chicago-based public-private applied research and commercialization collaborative, has announced its second project: CityWorks. Created in collaboration with the city of Chicago, local academic institutions — including Northwestern — and private partners, CityWorks will develop and test urban infrastructure solutions that could lead to transformative improvements in cities throughout the world. “Infrastructure forms the backbone of our cities, our economy and our society,” says Caralynn Nowinski, UI LABS executive director. “The challenges involved are so big that solutions require the combined efforts of the best and brightest at multiple organizations, which is what we have brought together to launch CityWorks.” UI LABS’ first project was the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII). The DMDII was launched 14 months ago to be the nation’s flagship research institute for digital manufacturing and design innovation, applying cuttingedge technologies to reduce the time and cost of manufacturing, strengthen the capabilities of the US supply chain, and reduce acquisition costs for the Department of Defense. UI LABS is governed by a board that includes Henry Bienen, president emeritus of Northwestern. Click here to read more.
Cancer Genes Turned Off in Deadly Glioblastomas Northwestern scientists have identified a small RNA molecule called miR-182 that can suppress cancer-causing genes in mice with glioblastoma mulitforme, a deadly and incurable type of brain tumor. While standard chemotherapy drugs damage DNA to stop cancer cells from reproducing, the new method halts the source that creates those cancer cells: genes that are overexpressing certain proteins. The study, published April 2 in Genes and Development, used a nanostructure called spherical nucleic acids to safely deliver miR-182 across the blood-brain barrier to reach tumor cells. There, it directly targeted multiple oncogenes at once, increasing cancer cell death and reducing cancer cell growth. Click here to read more.
Northwestern Research Newsletter April 2015
Golosinski Named OR Communications Director Matt Golosinski has been
named director of Research Communications.
Photo by Roger Anderson
Golosinski arrives at Northwestern from INSEAD, a top international business school located in Paris, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi, where he played a role in developing the school’s Matt Golosinski strategic and research plans. He previously worked at the Kellogg School of Management from 1999-2011 in several senior editorial capacities: writing speeches, managing print and digital content, and authoring the school’s 100-year history, Wide Awake in the Windy City. “I’m delighted to return to Northwestern. My passion for research and storytelling is rooted in the belief that each of these practices lets us understand ourselves and our world better,” Golosinski says. “Together, narrative and scholarship offer us one of the best, most powerful ways to create meaningful progress — for individuals, institutions, and society. I couldn’t be more happy to support Northwestern in this important mission.” Golosinski received his bachelor of arts degree at the University of Illinois (Urbana), where he studied English literature and psychology, as well as a range of other subjects, including neuropharmacology and music. He went on to earn a master’s degree in composition and literature from Northern Illinois University. He also is a 2006 graduate of the Kellogg Management Institute. “We are thrilled to have Matt rejoin the Northwestern community as a member of the Office for Research,” says Meg McDonald, assistant vice president for research. “A marvelous writer and editor, Matt will add both a creative and strategic voice to our communications efforts.”
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Six Receive Prestigious Honor for Young Faculty Six young Northwestern faculty members have received a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The CAREER award is the NSF’s most prestigious honor for junior faculty members. The CAREER award projects are: Oliver Cossairt, electrical engineering and computer science,
intends to use only commercially available components to build a digital camera with the same resolution as an optical telescope. Nikos Hardavellas, electrical engineering and computer science,
aims to utilize nanophotonics to design novel energy-efficient processor architectures that will enhance computing potential. Kate Juschenko, mathematics, will work to produce several
examples of amenable groups. Amenability theory appears in many fields of mathematics, most notably in operator algebras, functional analysis, ergodic theory, probability theory, and harmonic analysis. James Rondinelli, materials science and engineering, aims to
design electronic properties of materials by controlling material structure at the atomic level. Evan Scott, biomedical engineering, seeks to use synthetic
nanostructures that mimic viruses to study inflammation resulting from viral infection. Keith Tyo, chemical and biological engineering, will investigate
metabolic regulation in non-growing bacteria to better engineer highly productive microbe strains for fuel synthesis. Click here to read more.
An Illinois native, Golosinski grew up on Chicago’s northwest side. Today, he lives in Skokie with his wife and two young children. Previous Director of Research Communications Joan Naper retired on March 12 after nine years at the Office for Research.
Top row, from left: Oliver Cossairt, Nikos Hardavellas, and Kate Juschenko. Bottom row, from left: James Rondinelli, Evan Scott, and Keith Tyo
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New Funding, Research Advances Buffett Institute Mission Thanks to Northwestern University alumna Roberta Buffett Elliott’s most recent gift, the Buffett Institute for Global Studies is building upon many of its successful existing programs. The gift, in excess of $100 million, also introduces new opportunities that support international research and global engagement at Northwestern. “Turning the Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies into an Institute involves much more than just a change in title and stationery,” says Buffett Director Bruce Carruthers. “It means embracing a broader vision and raising our ambitions to new levels.”
that engage important global challenges, such as the study of forced migration and financial literacy in underdeveloped nations. The Institute is currently calling for faculty proposals that address “big ideas” and that possess the potential of transforming scholarly activity at Northwestern and beyond. Click here to read more about the Buffett Institute’s newest initiatives.
Since the Buffett Institute was founded in 1994, supporting faculty-led research has been a cornerstone of its mission and programming. Twenty years later, the Institute is consolidating its strengths and offering additional innovative faculty programs to ensure that Northwestern is at the forefront of global research. The Buffett Institute also seeks to build unique, large-scale, multi-year research programs on topics of long-term significance
Search Launched for Buffett Institute Leader Northwestern is launching its international search for the individual who will lead the newly created Buffett Institute for Global Studies. The Institute was made possible thanks to a historic gift of more than $100 million from alumna Roberta Buffett Elliott earlier this year. The director will lead the Buffett Institute’s transformation into a world-renowned hub of global research, scholarship, and education. The search committee is chaired by Henry Bienen, president emeritus of Northwestern. Other members of the committee include Sally Blount, dean, Kellogg School of Management; Ron Braeutigam, associate provost for undergraduate education; Nim Chinniah, executive vice president; Ivo Daalder, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Brian Edwards, director of the Program in Middle East and North African Studies; Vinayak Dravid, materials science and engineering; Soyini Madison, performance Studies; Hendrik Spruyt, political science and former director of the Buffett Center; Jay Walsh, vice president for research; and Ellen Wartella, chair of communications studies. Click here to read more.
Photo by Bruce Powell
The new programs are the first steps in the Buffett Institute’s mission to broaden the vision, scope, and significance of global studies at Northwestern. The programs are meant to enable undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty to “engage globally.”
From left: Brian Hanson, director of programs, research, and strategic planning at the Buffett Institute for Global Studies, stands beside Roberta Buffett Elliott and Bruce Carruthers, Buffett Institute director.
Kaplan Fellows Named The Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities has announced its 2015-16 faculty fellowships. This competitive award — which is juried by eminent humanities faculty at other universities — allows recipients either a full year of leave or a 50 percent teaching reduction in order to further develop their interdisciplinary research. 2015-16 Kaplan Faculty Fellows and Projects Michael Allen, history, Tug of War: Confronting the Imperial
Presidency, 1966-1992
Mark Alznauer, philosophy, Hegel and the Logic of Self-Constitution Kevin Boyle, history, The Splendid Dead: An American Ideal Aymar Jean Christian, communication studies, Open TV:
Developing Art and Community-Based Networked Television Steven Epstein, sociology, Sexual Health as Buzzword: Histories
of Emergence and Politics of Proliferation
Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, political science, Religion and Global
Politics Beyond Freedom and Violence
Taco Terpstra, classics, The Development of Roman
Intercommunity Trade: Institutional Continuity and Change Marcia Tiede, library fellow, Modibo Keita’s L’Enfant Sarakolle
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OSR’s Sara Krentz Named STAR Award Winner Extraordinary, intelligent, respectful, and responsible are just a few of the words used to describe business systems analyst Sara Krentz. Krentz, who works in the Office for Sponsored Research, was honored March 25 with the spring 2015 Office for Research STAR (Staff Team Award Recognition) Leadership Award during a staff appreciation luncheon in Chicago.
the University’s values and promote a workplace culture that embraces collegiality, communication, compliance, customer focus, efficiency, and planning. The OR STAR Award includes a $300 cash prize. Click here to see more pictures from the event.
“She is an exceptional team player and a collaborative colleague, assisting scrupulously and without complaint on complex projects,” says Jay Walsh, vice president for research, quoting from Krentz’s nomination. “Sara is great at thinking outside the box and is always willing to discuss different approaches to problem-solving.”
Photo by Roger Anderson
During the event, Walsh recognized the accomplishments of each OR STAR Award nominee. They were David Adduci, Angela Brinkley, Krentz, Sean Perry, and Luis Samaniego. Individuals celebrating milestone service anniversaries were Larry Sklar (20 years), Manuel Banes (10), Diana Berger (10), and Sandra Streeter (10). The OR STAR program was designed to recognize OR employees who demonstrate leadership and support the Office for Research goals to achieve excellence at all levels. Nominees reflect
OR STAR Leadership Award winner Sara Krentz, holding check, with Office for Sponsored Research colleagues, from left, Mike Green, Tamar Daskin, Kim Griffin, David Lynch, Ben Dorfman, and Melissa Mizwa.
Learn to Communicate Science at RSG Training
IRB Brown Bag Features Compliance Analysts
The Ready Set, Go Research (RSG) Communication Training Program is accepting applications through May 18 for its summer session scheduled to begin June 23.
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) Office maintains a robust training and outreach program that includes brown bag sessions and other educational opportunities addressing various human research-related topics. At the next brown bag meeting, compliance analysts Olga Jonas and Piper Hawkins-Green will share their insights about post-approval monitoring and audits.
Northwestern’s wealth of groundbreaking research makes it increasingly important to convey that scholarship clearly and concisely to various audiences. RSG Communication Training is a 12-week program that helps scholars do exactly that. The course is taught by experts in theatre, journalism, and marketing and communications and is open to all Northwestern PhD and postdoctoral students. The program is designed to help great researchers become great communicators, focusing on three important and foundational components of expression: building confidence in all communication roles; enhancing the clarity of the message; and forming a connection with any audience. Learn more and submit an application.
The lunchtime event begins at noon on April 29 in Rubloff 750 on the Chicago campus. RSVP to irbtraining@northwestern.edu or via the IRB website events page. If you missed February’s event led by IRB Director Heather J. Gipson, you can watch it here.
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Feinberg Research Day a Showcase for Science Sometimes the answer is right in front of us, but it just needs to be deciphered.
Robert Schleimer, medicine: allergy-immunology, Jonathan Licht, medicine-hematology/oncology, and David Engman, pathology
and microbiology-immunology received faculty awards during the day’s festivities.
After exploring Northwestern Medicine’s electronic health records, Sara Majewski, dermatology, discovered an increased risk of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer for patients taking two types of antihypertensive drugs.
Click here to read more, watch video.
Photo by Nathan Mandell
“This is an interesting topic because inconsistent findings have been published,” says Majewski, who was awarded the top prize for clinical research at the 11th annual Lewis Landsberg Research Day. “There’s been back and forth on whether these drugs have carcinogenic tendencies.” Hosted by the Feinberg School of Medicine, Research Day featured more than 300 scientific presentations during a poster session that highlighted basic science, clinical research, public health, and more. Rex Chisholm, associate vice president for research, presented
Undergraduate student Mariana Perepitchka, an intern in the laboratory of Vasil Galat, pathology, discusses the team’s investigations into the development of heart defects in newborns with Down syndrome.
Turek Team Part of Year-long NASA Study
Northwestern maintains AAALAC Accreditation
A Northwestern-led research team is one of 10 NASA-funded groups across the country studying identical twin astronauts Scott Kelly and his brother Mark, who will remain on Earth as a control subject for the duration of his sibling’s extraterrestrial experience.
The Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) International has awarded Northwestern continued full accreditation.
Majewski and other poster winners with their awards.
“This accreditation shows that the University is committing itself to the highest standards of humane care when working with laboratory animals,” says Lisa Forman, executive director of the Center for Comparative Medicine (CCM). “Achieving and maintaining accreditation is extremely important, both for our researchers and the institution, and is considered by agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation when funding decisions are made.”
“What we really want to know is what is going to happen to the human body with prolonged time in space and after a return to Earth?” says Fred W. Turek, neurobiology, who is leading the study of how the space environment affects the microbiota “ecosystem” in the human gastrointestinal tract.
Click here to read more.
Northwestern’s Animal Care and Use Program has maintained full AAALAC accreditation since 1985. AAALAC site visits occur every three years. All aspects of the animal care and use program are evaluated, a process that includes inspections of laboratory and facility spaces and review of operations, policies, and records from both CCM and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Photo by Bill Ingalls
The same interdisciplinary research team also is planning a parallel study in mice. NASA recently selected Turek’s team as one of 16 life science projects to be conducted on board the International Space Station in the near future.
The Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft is seen as it launches to the International Space Station with Expedition 43’s NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly on board.
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Nanotechnology Town Hall Q&A with President on Cancer Therapeutics set for April 16 and 23 Nanotechnology’s potential impact is well recognized and could be the driver of meaningful advances in cancer imaging, diagnostics, and therapeutics.
The Northwestern community is invited to participate in Conversations with the President.
Amy Paller, dermatology, and Alexander Stegh, neurology, will
Hosted by the Northwestern University Staff Advisory Council (NUSAC) and the Office of the President, this year’s events take place on:
The lay-friendly discussions will take place from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on April 27 at Pancoe Hall in Evanston.
Thursday, April 16, 10-11:30 a.m., McCormick Foundation Center, 1870 Campus Drive, Evanston
present at this year’s Town Hall event. Paller will discuss using nanotechnology to develop new gene therapies for skin disorders, while Stegh will talk about precision nanomedicine for the treatment of brain cancer.
An open discussion will follow. Admission is free, but advance registration is required. Click here to register.
Solar Fuels Next Topic of Upcoming Science Café Turning sunlight into stored power will be the topic of next month’s Science Café, Northwestern’s monthly scientific discussion forum. “If realized, solar fuel technology will take sunlight, water, and ambient air (carbon dioxide) and create a carbonneutral fuel,” says Dick Co, chemistry, and co-managing director of the Solar Fuels Institute (SOFI). “We would be able to generate fuel onsite and store the sun’s energy in high-density media. The ability to convert electrons to molecules could present new pathways for customers, utilities, and energy companies to interact with each other and innovate in ways unfathomable today.” Co’s discussion will introduce the science behind solar fuels — a.k.a. artificial photosynthesis — and why it is so simply elegant, yet so complicated and unknown. He also will talk about having co-founded SOFI, an institute meant to bring together researchers from across universities, industry, and national labs to accelerate the discovery and commercialization process for solar fuels. Co will present his research from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13, at the Firehouse Grill, 750 Chicago Avenue, Evanston. To learn more about Science Café, click here.
Morton Schapiro
Thursday, April 23, 10-11:30 a.m., Hughes Auditorium, 303 East Superior Street, Chicago At both events, President Morton Schapiro will report on the state of the University and highlight progress on “We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern.” In addition, University Provost Daniel Linzer and Executive Vice President Nim Chinniah will join the president in a moderated Q&A on noteworthy issues, including diversity and inclusion initiatives and campus development projects. Both events will be webcast live. Questions or comments may be emailed to nusac@northwestern.edu in advance or during the live events. For more information, visit the NUSAC website.
iCAIR Leading Global Implementation of SDX A consortium of universities, led by Northwestern’s International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR), has received a five-year National Science Foundation grant to design, develop, and operate an international Software Defined Networking Exchange (SDX). The StarLight SDX, located in Chicago, is part of a global effort to connect research and education networks that support Software Defined Networks (SDN), which are based on an innovative architecture that enables application communities, scientists, and engineers to directly program their networks to meet their precise requirements. “The next generation of advanced communications requires much more innovative and powerful capabilities for controlling information flows dynamically,” says Joe Mambretti, iCAIR director. “This SDX will enhance large-scale communications, including information flows on high-performance global research and education networks.”
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Nobel Laureate to Deliver IPR Lecture
Honors
James J. Heckman, economics at
Simons Foundation fellows. The Simons Fellows programs provide funds for up to a semester-long research leave from teaching and administrative responsibilities.
Laura DeMarco, mathematics; Adilson Motter, physics and astronomy; and Mihnea Popa, mathematics, have been named
the University of Chicago, will deliver this year’s Institute for Policy Research Distinguished Public Policy Lecture.
Lee M. Jampol, ophthalmology, has been awarded the Macula
Society’s highest honor, the Michaelson Medal. He also gave the Michaelson lecture at the 38th Annual Macula Society Meeting, held in Scottsdale, Arizona, in February
Heckman won the 2000 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics and is an expert in the economics of human development. His James J. Heckman groundbreaking work with a consortium of economists, developmental psychologists, sociologists, statisticians, and neuroscientists has proved that the quality of early childhood development heavily influences health, economic, and social outcomes for individuals and society.
Jonathan Licht, medicine-hematology/oncology, and David Engman,
pathology and microbiology-immunology were named Medical Faculty Council Mentors of the Year at Feinberg’s Research Day.
Xunrong Luo, medicine: nephrology, microbiology-immunology,
and surgery: organ transplantation, has been selected to receive the American Society of Transplantation Basic Science Investigator Award. She will accept the award, which goes to mid-career investigators who have made substantial contributions to the field of transplantation medicine, on May 5 at a ceremony in Philadelphia.
The lecture will take place April 27 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the James L. Allen Center in Evanston. The event is free and open to the public; however, reservations are required by April 22.
Edward Malthouse, integrated marketing communications, has
Register online.
been honored with the Journal of Service Management’s 2014 Robert Johnston Outstanding Paper of the Year award. Malthouse received the award for a paper he co-wrote that provides the first longitudinal examination of the relationship between affective, calculative, normative commitment and customer loyalty by using longitudinal panel survey data. David Mohr, preventive medicine and director of Northwestern’s
Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies, was highlighted in the recent release of the National Institute of Mental Health’s new strategic plan.
Photo courtesy of McGaw YMCA
Robert Schleimer, medicine: allergy-immunology was awarded
Full STEAM Ahead for MetaMedia Chuck Lewis, holding scissors, and Penny Sebring, red glasses, of
the Lewis-Sebring Family Foundation cut a ceremonial ribbon with Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl, red jacket, in front of the McGaw YMCA. The event celebrated the opening of the MetaMedia Youth Center, a collaboration among the YMCA, Youth Organizations Umbrella and Northwestern. A Universitydesigned learning experience to cultivate youth skills in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts/design and math) will be incorporated into center programming. Click here to read more.
Feinberg’s Tripartite Legacy Faculty Prize in Translational Science and Education. Darius Tandon, Center for Community Health, has been selected
to join the 2015 class of Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows. The Ascend Fellowship invests in diverse leaders from a range of sectors who have breakthrough ideas to build economic security, educational success, and health and wellbeing for low-income families in the United States. David Cella, medical social sciences, and Omar Farha, chemistry,
were among those honored at this year’s faculty recognition dinner for their achievements in bringing particular distinction to Northwestern. President Morton Schapiro and Provost Daniel Linzer hosted the event, held November 24. Cella and Farha should have been listed in the Faculty Recognition and Honors section of the 2014 Office for Research Annual Report. We regret the omission.
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Research in the News
Research Around Campus
A study by Steven Belknap, dermatology and medicine: general internal medicine, was featured on numerous websites, including Yahoo. The research questioned the quality of safety reporting in clinical trials of finasteride, a drug used to treat male hair loss.
A study led by Vadim Backman, biomedical engineering, in the emerging field of nanocytology could one day help men make better decisions about whether or not to undergo aggressive prostate cancer treatments. Read more.
John Csernansky, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, was
Using special MRI imaging, James Elliott, physical therapy and human movement sciences, has identified within one to two weeks after an accident which whiplash patients will develop chronic pain, disability, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Read more.
featured in TIME and elsewhere for a study that found that teenagers who smoked marijuana every day for about three years performed worse on long-term memory assessments. Research by Claudia Haase, School of Education and Social Policy, showing that getting older does not necessarily make people cynical and suspicious, was featured on ABC. Donald Lloyd-Jones, preventive medicine was featured in
US News & World Report, NBCnew.com, and elsewhere for a study he oversaw indicating that American children’s diets are putting them on the road to heart disease. Hani Mahmassani, director of the Transportation Center, was
quoted by Forbes regarding the greater connectivity among vehicles, infrastructures, and users.
Teri Odom, chemistry, wrote an article for the Huffington Post
about why altering the powdered donuts at Dunkin’ Donuts may be bad for innovation.
Omar Farha, chemistry, helped develop a robust new material,
inspired by biological catalysts, that is extraordinarily effective at destroying toxic nerve agents. Read more. Parental depression during the first years of a child’s life can put toddlers at risk for exhibiting troubling behaviors, such as hitting, lying, anxiety, and sadness during a critical time of development, according to a study led by Sheehan Fisher, psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Read more. The honeycomb structure of pristine graphene is beautiful. But Franz Geiger, chemistry, led a multi-institutional team that looked beyond the material’s aesthetics to find that if graphene naturally has a few tiny holes in it, a proton-selective membrane is created that could lead to improved fuel cells. Read more.
Neelesh Patankar, mechanical engineering, was quoted by
A study by Dedre Gentner, psychology, discovered that analogical processing helps children understand a key engineering principle, leading to building stability. Read more…
Mary Patillo, sociology was quoted on NBCnews.com for
Two independent pathways in the human brain evaluate the identity and value of expected outcomes, according to a study by Thorsten Kahnt, neurology. Read more.
PBS in a story about a new product that may reduce waste and even help conquer Ebola. her research on class and race.
Emily Rogalski, Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimers Disease
Center, and a team at Feinberg were featured by Yahoo for research on SuperAgers, a group of individuals in their 80s whose memories are as sharp as those of healthy individuals decades younger.
Middle-aged Americans who show high levels of societal involvement and positive mental health are especially likely to construe their lives as stories of personal redemption, according to new research by Dan McAdams, psychology. Read more.
Eric Ruderman, medicine: rheumatology, was quoted in the
A research team led by Chad Mirkin, chemistry, medicine, chemical and biological engineering, biomedical engineering, and materials science and engineering, is the first to show spherical nucleic acids can be used as potent drugs to effectively train the immune system to fight disease. Read more.
Washington Post regarding his research on rheumatoid arthritis. Stephen Schlesinger, psychiatry and behavioral sciences,
was quoted on Yahoo in a story on depression and Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz.
Jonathan Silverberg, dermatology, was featured by TIME
in an article exploring skin conditions that can signal other health problems. Neil Stone, medicine: cardiology, and Daniel Lloyd-Jones,
preventive medicine, were featured in numerous national and international publications, including the New York Times for their research on heart health.
The Department of Classics and Sara Monoson, political science, are documenting the pervasive — but often overlooked — influence of Greek and Roman history throughout the Chicago area. Read more. The number of childhood cancer survivors in the US has increased, but the majority of those who have survived five or more years after diagnosis face chronic health problems related to their treatment, according to a new study led by Siobhan Phillips, preventive medicine. Read more.
Northwestern Research Newsletter April 2015
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Proposal and Award Report: through February
The dollar volume of awards from federal agencies declined 22 percent ($31 million). Awards from industrial sponsors are down by 39 percent ($22.3 million). Foundation funding has decreased 12 percent ($1.5 million), while State of Illinois funding is down 61 percent ($0.2 million).
Notable Award Total $ Comparison - February (FY to date) 180 160 Dollars in Millions
The total amount of award funding that Northwestern received this fiscal year, through February 2015, is $171.4 million, a 24 percent decrease ($54.2 million) compared with February 2014. The number of awards to date (1,041) is 2 percent lower than last year.
Office for Research Creating New Knowledge™ Published by Northwestern University Office for Research 633 Clark Street Evanston, Illinois 60208 Jay Walsh, Vice President for Research Meg McDonald, Assistant Vice President for Research Matt Golosinski, Director of Research Communications Roger Anderson, Publications Editor Jeanine Shimer, Designer research@northwestern.edu research.northwestern.edu discover.northwestern.edu Northwestern Research Newsletter is published the third Wednesday of every month during the academic year. Please send news tips, questions, and comments to Roger Anderson: roger-anderson@northwestern.edu Phone: (847) 491-7930 research.northwestern.edu/orc
-28%
100 80 60 -38%
20 0
Feinberg
-3%
15%
-59%
-66%
McCormick Res Centers Communication Weinberg & Institutes
SESP
-24% Other
Notable Proposal Total $ Comparison - February (FY to date) 1,000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
15% 2014 2015
Dollars in Millions
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120
40
The dollar volume of proposals submitted through February is $1.34 billion, an increase of 5 percent compared to last year. The number of proposals submitted (1,837) is up 7 percent. The dollar volume of proposals submitted to federal agencies is up 6 percent ($71.8 million), while proposals to industrial sponsors is down 8 percent ($4 million). Proposal activity to voluntary health organizations is up 7 percent ($2.2 million).
2014 2015
140
-1% -32% Feinberg
-7% -34%
McCormick Res Centers Communication Weinberg & Institutes
46%
-54%
SESP
Other