This Month @ Hopkins Interactive

The Blue Jay Buffet will no longer be posting its “This Month at Hopkins” entries. Instead, please refer to our new page: This Month @ Hopkins Interactive. These monthly posts are a compilation of everything the student-run social media website, Hopkins Interactive, publishes in a given month, and are a great way to learn about life as a Hopkins student.

This Month @ Hopkins Interactive includes featured student blogs, tweets and videos, as well as a new category of blog posts describing campus events called Happenings at Homewood. Stay tuned as a new edition is published every month!

October at Hopkins

October was a busy month at Hopkins. Despite midterms, students turned out for a variety of events including Greek Weekend, numerous sports games (check out our Fall Sports Recap!), several MSE Symposium speakers, and a surprise snowstorm!

JHU Astrophysicist Adam Riess Wins Nobel Prize in Physics

Adam Riess

Adam Riess, the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor in Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins and a scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, was honored for his leadership in the High-z Team’s 1998 discovery that the expansion rate of the universe is accelerating, a phenomenon widely attributed to a mysterious, unexplained “dark energy” filling the universe. Riess, 41, shares this year’s prize with High-z teammate Brian Schmidt, of the Australian National University, and Saul Perlmutter, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, whose Supernova Cosmology Project team published similar results shortly after those published by Riess and Schmidt. Riess is the 35th person associated with Johns Hopkins as a faculty member, fellow or graduate to win a Nobel Prize and he joins three other Nobel laureates on the university’s current faculty.

Read more in the news release here as well as the Baltimore Sun profile of Riess.

October MSE Speakers: Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern, Mayor Cory Booker, Actor Michael K. Williams, and Comedian Aziz Ansari

With a theme this year of ““America’s Boundless Possibilities: Innovate, Advance, Transform,” the MSE Symposium held four events in October. On October 12, Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern, a Hopkins alum and current trustee spoke, followed that weekend by Newark Mayor Cory Booker. The following week, Actor Michael K. Williams (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire) spoke. The last October speaker was comedian Aziz Ansari, who presented a stand-up performance instead of a traditional speech. The series resumes November 8th with David Axelrod, former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama and November 15th with Karl Rove, former Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush.

Sliced Bread Just Got Better

Working on the VitaYeast project

A team of Johns Hopkins University undergraduates hopes to save lives by addressing global malnutrition through synthetic biology, coaxing yeast into producing beta carotene and then baking it into bread rich in Vitamin A. The implications are profound—the bread has the potential to help avert health problems that occur when diets lack essential vitamins and other nutrients. The World Health Organization has described vitamin A deficiency as the leading cause of preventable blindness in children. The team was brought together to compete in the annual International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition, which challenges students to use synthetic biology to manipulate DNA into carrying out new tasks. The students conduct their research in the lab of the School of Medicine’s Jef Boeke, a leading yeast expert who is a professor of molecular biology and genetics, and worked with 10 faculty advisors from engineering and arts and sciences.

Read more in the homepage feature here and learn more about the project here.

State of the Arts 

Johns Hopkins’ John Astin and Craig Hankin talk with Mariet Westermann of the Mellon Foundation. Photo: Will Kirk/Homewoodphoto.jhu.edu

In the battle of right brain vs. left brain, The Johns Hopkins University is asking: Why not use both? The past, present and future of the arts at Johns Hopkins came squarely into focus earlier this month as arts program leaders from other major universities visited the Homewood campus to discuss the merits of blending a full palette of creative endeavors into a traditionally research-heavy environment. The consensus was that the arts are essential.  “We have amazing talent and extraordinarily devoted faculty and students,” Dean Katherine Newman said after the seminar. “What we don’t have in most of our programs is a critical mass of full-time teaching professors and the space to accommodate all of the students who would like to participate, whether they are primarily interested in the arts or interested in adding an arts emphasis to their majors in the humanities, social sciences or science.” Newman’s efforts to make the seminar a reality and focus more attention on the arts were lauded by both Craig Hankin, director of the Homewood Arts Workshops, and Eric Beatty, director of Homewood Arts Programs.

Read more about this event in the Gazette article here.

September at Hopkins

The new semester is off to a great start, and the Homewood campus has come alive with fall activities and events. The arrival of the freshmen Class of 2015 was celebrated earlier in the month with New Student Convocation, a beloved tradition here at Hopkins. Students commemorated the tenth anniversary of the September 11^th terrorist attacks with a keynote discussion panel, candlelight service and ceremony. The new academic year was celebrated with another Hopkins tradition called Fall Fest – a weekend of festivities including live music, free food and campus wide events. The annual Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium is back with a great line of guest speakers. Happy to be back on campus, students are well on their way to another fantastic year at JHU!

NEW STUDENT CONVOCATION

The Class of 2015 meeting President Daniels after Convocation.

New Student Convocation 2011 on September 19^th was an event to remember for the class of 2015. Students got glamorous in their business casual attire and were welcomed to Johns Hopkins by the Deans and President Daniels. The ceremony, originally scheduled for earlier in the semester, was postponed due to Hurricane Irene.

The night began with a mini-parade featuring the new Class of 2015 banner. Held in the Ralph S. O’Connor Recreation Center, this ceremony celebrated the arrival of the freshman and new students on the Homewood campus. The house was packed, and freshmen were treated to a dessert reception afterwards. A late but great welcome to Hopkins!

9/11 COMMEMORATION

Three student groups – JHU Muslim Association, Johns Hopkins Hillel and S.E.E.D. -teamed together to host a 10^th anniversary commemoration of 9/11. The evening included light food, a commemorative ceremony, keynote discussion panel and candlelight service. Speakers included President Ron Daniels, Vice Dean Steven David and Baltimore Islamic liaison Hassan A. Amin. View a video of the event here.

JHU students help out at local Barclay School during President's Day of Service.

PRESIDENT’S DAY OF SERVICE

President’s Day of Service, an annual Hopkins Tradition started by current President Ron Daniels, took place on Saturday September 12^th as part of Fall Fest Weekend. Coordinated by the Center for Social Concern, this event sends nearly 1000 Johns Hopkins students, faculty, staff and alumni into Baltimore to participate in community service projects.

The theme of this year’s event was once again “One Johns Hopkins, One Baltimore.” The event strove to illustrate the transformative power of collective action and the positive change that Johns Hopkins can generate in the community. Participants worked on over 40 projects. Check out the JHU Gazette’s article for more information.

FALL FEST

Students got to meet members of the Far East Movement before the HOP concert!

Every year the JHU community marks the beginning of a new academic year withFall Fest – a weekend of festivities celebrating the start of fall semester. This beloved tradition features live music, campus wide events and free food.

Fall Fest 2011 was kicked-off on Thursday September 22 by a Far East Movement with Super Mash Bros. concert sponsored by The HOP. Held on-campus in the Ralph S. O’Connor Rec Center, Hopkins students enjoyed top-charting hits including “Like a G6” and “Livin the Dream (I’m On A Float).”

The merriment continued on Friday with the Cultural Block Party, an outdoor screening of Hairspray on the beach, and free activities like Make Your Own Bobble Head, Bumper Stickers and Spin Art at Levering Live!

Saturday September 24 brought another favorite Hopkins tradition, President’s Day of Service. The fun carried on into Saturday evening with the Hopkins Haunted House, Glow-in-the-Dark Mini Golf and Midnight Breakfast in the Rec Center. The weekend commenced with a 2.5K Presidential Fun Run.

The JHU community enjoying Convergence.

CONVERGENCE

Convergence was a community block party that took place on St. Paul Street between 32nd Street and 33rd Street. Students enjoyed free snacks, including popcorn and cotton candy, a jumping castle, a dunk tank, and raffles. Even university President Ron Daniels made an appearance! 

MSE SYMPOSIUM

The annual JHU lecture series MSE Symposium continued this fall with the theme, “America’s Boundless Possibilities: Innovate, Advance, Transform.” The purpose of this year’s Symposium is to address the various strides America must take to strengthen its position in the global landscape and catapult the world towards the future.

The lecture series was kicked off by cultural icon Jerry Springer on September 21. Speakers scheduled for later in the semester include Red Cross President and CEO Gail McGovern, a Johns Hopkins alumna and trustee, on Wednesday, October 12; Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker, on Saturday, October 15; and actor Michael Kenneth Williams, best known for playing Omar Little on HBO’s The Wire, on Wednesday, October 19; actor and comedian Aziz Ansari, of NBC’s Parks and Recreation, on Wednesday, October 26; David Axelrod, adviser to President Barack Obama, on Tuesday, November 8; and Karl Rove, adviser to President George W. Bush, on Tuesday, November 15.

Check out the JHU Gazette’s article for more information.

August at Hopkins

Johns Hopkins lecturer Matthew Porterfield wins Sondheim Artscape Prize

Matthew Porterfield, an instructor in the Johns Hopkins Film and Media Studies program, recently won Baltimore’s $25,000

Matthew Porterfield in front of his exhibit

Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize for dozens of photos he snapped on his cell phone over the past year or two. The enlarged photos were on display at the Baltimore Museum of Art this summer along with other Sondheim Artscape Prize finalists. The exhibit included enlarged prints of 72 cell phone photos are arranged in a massive rectangular grid. The images, some enhanced with photo-editing software, include quirky shots of friends, pets, loved ones, landscapes and everyday objects such as a soup bowl. Some prints depict exotic locations in other countries where Porterfield, 33, had been invited to screen his movies. It also contained a video screen, flashing a minute-long loop of his cell phone photos. The images speed by at 24 frames per second, a pace so furious that an onlooker’s eyes are fooled into thinking that some of the images are blended together like double exposures. Porterfield is a full-time instructor for the Film and Media Studies program, where he teaches classes on film production, screenwriting, and film theory. He is also currently working on his film I Used to Be Darker, which began shooting last month. You can read more in the Gazette article here.

Public Briefing-Crew Members STS 134 Space Shuttle Endeavour

Members of STS-134 (Credit: NASA)

Members of the last crew to fly aboard the space shuttle Endeavour, the second-to-last flight in NASA’s space shuttle program, discussed their 16-day June mission to the International Space Station on Thursday, Aug. 4, on the Homewood campus. Participating astronauts include Mark Kelly, who commanded Endeavour’s STS-134 mission; pilot Greg H. Johnson; mission specialist Mike Fincke; and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori. STS-134 was the second shuttle mission of 2011 and the last flight for Endeavour. Its mission was to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2—a particle physics detector that searches for various types of unusual matter by measuring cosmic rays—to the space station. Members of the crew of NASA’s second-to-the-last space shuttle mission spoke about their experiences at the International Space Station to an audience of more than 300 last week when they came to the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy for an evening hosted by the Maryland Space Grant Consortium. This clip provided by NASA (begins around 6:30) provides a glimpse of what transpired:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=105515581
You can also read more in the Gazette article here.

Summer in the City

This summer, 25 undergraduates participated in the new Johns Hopkins Community Impact Internships program, run by the university’s Center for Social Concern. The program paired the 25 students with 25 Baltimore nonprofit, community-based organizations or city social service agencies to conduct meaningful, hands-on work. More than 200 applied for the program. The 25 selected were then matched to the projects based on background and personality. The students worked eight 30-hour weeks at such places as the Citizens Planning and Housing Association, the Baltimore City Health Department’s Community Risk Reduction Services, the Parks and People Foundation, My Sister’s Place and the Office of the Public Defender’s Juvenile Court Division.

Read more in the Gazette article here.

Class of 2015 Move-in

President Daniels and upperclassmen Orientation Assistants

The Johns Hopkins University Class of 2015 moved in throughout August 24th and 25th to begin Freshman Orientation, aided by the student-run Orientation Staff, Peer and Family Ambassadors, Orientation Assistants, and the Offices of Housing and Residential Life. Cars, trucks and vans, all stuffed with cargo, lined up in caravan fashion on Wednesday and Thursday as the freshmen moved into Johns Hopkins residence halls. It was a tale of two days: one sunny, one decidedly damp. Just days before Hurricane Irene was expected to knock on the mid-Atlantic’s door, heavy rains hit the area on Thursday, causing move-in volunteers to don clear blue ponchos and wield large sheets of plastic to protect the precious cargo from the elements. The big move-in kicked off a whirlwind four-day period for the 1,245 new students, who begin classes today. After settling in, they took part in a string of orientation events, including campus tours, a movie night (Madagascar, of course), an ice cream social, open houses, and the frenzied and interactive Playfair. Read more about the move-in in the Gazette here and view more photos here.

July at Hopkins

July has been a quiet but busy month at Hopkins. Second term summer classes have been in session, students have been studying and working all over the globe, and construction has continued all over campus. Read more about July at Hopkins here!

Nineteen receive Fulbrights to study abroad in 2011–2012

Fifteen 2011 graduates, two graduate students and two recent alumni from across the university have been given the opportunity to study abroad during the 2011–2012 academic year through the prestigious Fulbright Program. Seventeen have accepted the grants, and two will study abroad through other programs. Johns Hopkins’ latest “Fulbrighters” from the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Peabody Conservatory of Music are among the approximately 2,800 U.S. students and scholars awarded grants this year. The students have a wide

One of the objects in the catalog.

range of majors, including Public Health Studies, Biophysics, Writing Seminars, Psychology, International Studies, and Neuroscience, and will be pursuing a variety of projects including traditional Chinese musical instruments, cervical cancer awareness in Kenya, Jordanian response to female domestic violence, and serving as an English teaching assistant. Read more in the Gazette article here and learn more about the Fulbright program here.

Archaeology of Daily Life

Would you like to learn about some of the artifacts on display at the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum? Check out “Archaeology of Daily Life,” an online catalog of objects designed for daily use or that represented daily life in the Greco-Roman world. The catalog was created during the spring by undergraduates in a research seminar taught by Hérica Valladares, an assistant professor in the Department of Classics in the Krieger School. The objects are grouped into five categories: Childhood, Private Pleasures, Female Beauty, Jewelry, and Tanagras (small terracotta sculptures from the late nineteenth century based on Classical and Hellenistic art). Learn more about the seminar and the objects here.

O students, where art thou?

Mechanical engineering major Andrew Kelly is in Philadelphia, working on antique sports cars.

This summer, some Johns Hopkins students are packing the sunblock and flip-flops and taking a deserved rest from studies and exams, but others are using the warm-weather months to sample the real world and put what they learned in the classroom to use. Here’s a look at what five are up to this summer. Their stories are a mixture of high-octane thrills, hands-on learning and adventures in foreign lands. Andrew Kelly, a rising mechanical engineering junior, is interning at the Simeone Foundation Museum in Philadelphia, where he works with antique sports cars. Jamie Hatches, an accellerated nursing student in the School of Nursing, is studying midwifery at the Corniche Hospital Abu Dhabi. Daniel Wodicka, a sophomore BME major and member of the football team, is studying the effects of concussions in sports injuries at Purdue University. Carolyn Nold, an MBA student in the Carey Business School is studying microfinance in Rwanda through the Kiva Fellowship Program. Chris Cochran, a student at SAIS in Washington DC, is interning at Wal-Mart this summer for their corporate sustainability program. Learn more about their summers in the Gazette article here.

Brody Commons moves along

Construction on the Brody Learning Commons continues: check out two new slideshows on their blog here.

June at Hopkins

Students win Popular Science 2011 Invention Awards

8 Johns Hopkins University Biomedical Engineering students won a 2011 Invention Award from Popular Science for their low cost prenatal screening tool, a marker that can cheaply and accurately identify prenatal diseases. The project was part of a challenge from Jhpiego, a nonprofit organization affiliated with JHU that works to promote better healthcare in developing countries. Currently, the standard prenatal test costs 50¢ per use, a cost that limits its use in developing nations. The marker, however, costs one third of a cent per use, and plans are in the works to create markers for a wide variety of conditions. To use the marker, a line is drawn and drops of urine are placed on the line. A change in color is a positive indicator for the disease. You can read more about the product and awards here.

Summer Outdoor Film Series

The Summer Outdoor Film Series began in June with showings of The Social Network and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. DJ Adam Holofcener entertained the picnicking crowds beforehand, and the movies were all shown on an inflatable screen in front of Gilman Hall. Learn more about the Summer Outdoor Film Series here.

Johns Hopkins Students Invent New Cord Blood Collection Device

Johns Hopkins graduate students have invented a system to significantly boost the number of stem cells collected from a newborn’s umbilical cord and placenta, so that many more patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood disorders can be treated with these valuable cells. The prototype is still in the testing stage, but initial results are promising. The student inventors have obtained a provisional patent covering the technology and have formed a company, TheraCord, to further develop the technology, which may someday be used widely in hospital maternity units. The students are all masters students in the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design. To read more in the Gazette, click here.

New Buildings on Campus

The KSAS honorees

Great Professor Recognition

Professors from various Hopkins divisions were recognized for their commitment for teaching and the academic community. On the Homewood campus, the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences honored Emily Fisher (biology), Imtiaz Billah (chemistry), and Sunil Vaswani (political science) and the Whiting School of Engineering honored  Lester Su (mechanical engineering). Read more about their teaching in the Gazette article here.

May at Hopkins

May marked the end of the 2010-2011 academic year and the beginning of summer at Hopkins. Students finished classes, wrote papers, completed final projects, and took final exams, and the campus celebrated the commencement of the Johns Hopkins University Class of 2011.

Engineering Students Wheel Out Their Capstone Projects

During design showcases at the beginning of May, biomedical and mechanical engineering students described the many months they had spent brainstorming, designing and testing their prototypes. They also displayed and demonstrated their creations, which ranged from mammoth machines to tiny medical device components. Read more in the Gazette article here.

Homewood Residence Halls Steal Spotlight on “Parks and Recreation”

“Chatter about Johns Hopkins University dorms” – or more specifically, talk of students’ penchant for lofting beds in Wolman and McCoy  – was a scene stealer on the May 12 episode of the hit show on NBC. You can view the episode on Hulu (the Hopkins reference begins at 3:43).

Johns Hopkins University Commencement 2011

Over 6,600 degrees were awarded this year, with over 1200 awarded to students from Homewood’s Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering. The University-wide Commencement Ceremony was held on Thursday, May 26th, with commencement speaker Fareed Zakaria. In addition to the University-wide ceremony, there were also events for different schools in the Johns Hopkins community and for Masters/PhD recipients at Homewood.

You can view photos from the event here and here and read some of the graduates’ stories here.

April at Hopkins, Part Two

Earth to Hopkins – Earth Week at Hopkins

Earth Week, an annual week of events and activities organized by the Hopkins Sustainability Network celebrating Earth Day and sustainability in our community, was held from Monday April 18th- Saturday April 23rd, 2011 at different locations in the Johns Hopkins community. Events included a tour of the JHU Homewood Power Plant, e-recycling, an eco-crafts workshop, an Earth Day Happy Hour, a Farmer’s Market Trip, and a discussion on biking in Baltimore. The JHU Environment, Energy, Sustainability and Health Institute also had its kick-off event during Earth Week. Check out more information about Earth Week 2011 here and find out more about Hopkins Sustainability programs here.

Johns Hopkins Deans and Faculty Member Named AAAS Fellows

Among the 212 fellows named to the 231st class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences are Katherine S. Newman, James B. Knapp Dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and professor of sociology; Chi Van Dang, vice dean for research, Johns Hopkins Family Professor in Oncology and research professor of medicine, cell biology, oncology and pathology at the School of Medicine; and Gabrielle M. Spiegel, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of History at the Krieger School. Read more here.

JHU Presents Wiz Khalifa

On Thursday, April 28, Johns Hopkins sponsored the Homecoming Concert with Wiz Khalifa at the Pier Six Pavilion in the Inner Harbor. The event was run by the Student Government Association (SGA) and the Hopkins Organization for Programming (HOP). Tickets were discounted for Hopkins students, and there was school provided transportation to and from the event.

Relay for Life

On Friday, April 29, Johns Hopkins held its annual Relay for Life, a 12-hour fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Participants raised over $68,000 for the cause through both individual fundraising and events at the Relay, such as the “Miss Relay” drag pageant.

Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Poster Session

On Friday, April 29th, the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Seniors participated in the Senior Poster Session, held in the Glass Pavilion. The Woodrow Wilson Fellowship provides $10,000 of research funding for incoming freshman recipients, and $7,500 worth of funding for rising sophomore recipients. Projects presented at the poster session included an analysis of high-speed rail, Chinese attitudes towards sexual health, healthcare in Baltimore, and terra cotta tiles at the Archaeology Museum. Read more about the poster session in the Gazette article here and read more about the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship here.

Homecoming game: Johns Hopkins Men’s Lacrosse v. Loyola

Hopkins took on Loyola on Saturday, April 30 in front a full crowd at Homewood Field. Following a 14-5 win over Navy the previous weekend, Hopkins beat Loyola in a close game, with a final score of 8-7. The game was preceded by a Homecoming Pre-Game Rally and Barbecue, sponsored by the Student Alumni Society, on the Freshman Quad. Read more about the game here and read more about the Men’s Lacrosse program here.

Johns Hopkins Alumni Weekend

April 29-May 1 was Alumni Weekend (in addition to Homecoming), and Hopkins hosted over 5000  alumni. Events included the Alumni Authors Book Fair, Stargazing with the Bloomberg Telescope, the Young Alumni Tent Party, the President’s Breakfast with President Daniels, the Battle of the A Capella Groups, and a Champagne Brunch at the Hopkins Club. See more information about Alumni Weekend on the Alumni website here.

April at Hopkins, Part One

April was a busy month at Hopkins! Students enjoyed the beautiful spring weather and a variety of events such as Spring Fair and Homecoming. We’ve split up the stories this month – April at Hopkins, Part One features stories from the first part of the month. Check back next week for April at Hopkins, Part Two, for stories from the second half of April.

JHU Arts Festival This Week

The JHU Arts Festival was held from April 6-10 throughout various locations in the Johns Hopkins community. There were over 35 performances, exhibits, presentations, workshops and hands-on sessions, featuring JHU faculty, staff, students and alumni, with events being held on the Homewood campus, the Evergreen Museum, Peabody, and the Medical School. The events included the Festival of Historic Arts at the Homewood Museum, the Digital Media Center Open House, the opening event of the Undergraduate Reading Series, and a Conducting Workshop. Check out their website for more information, and watch this video of some of the highlights of the festival.

Opening of the Johns Hopkins Systems Institute

On April 4, the Johns Hopkins Systems Institute, a new center dedicated to using multidisciplinary approaches to solving problems such as improving patient safety, creating disaster-preparedness protocols, and individualized learning plans for K-12 students. The Systems Institute is currently part of the Whiting School of Engineering, and will be tentatively housed in the San Martin Center until Malone Hall (the new interdisciplinary engineering building) opens. Learn more about the Systems Institute in the Gazette article here.

JHU Holds First Dance Marathon

Johns Hopkins held its first Dance Marathon on April 8^th in the Recreation Center from 10pm to 6am. About 300 students participated, and ended up raising close to $4,000 for the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. The Dance Marathon Executive Board was responsible for funding, in addition to running the event. The Dance Marathon included student and staff DJs, games, free food, and raffles. The Executive Board contacted other successful Dance Marathons around the country to create a successful event this year, and is already planning for next year’s event.

Provost Undergraduate Research Awards Poster and Recognition Ceremony

On Tuesday, April 12, the 2010 PURA (Provost Undergraduate Research Awards) recipients presented the results of their research at the annual PURA Poster and Recognition Ceremony. Read more about the event here and read more about PURA here.

The Civil War at 150: A Johns Hopkins Perspective

To mark the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, the university will be sharing the perspectives of faculty, JHU Press authors and editors, alumni and students through a multimedia project, online here. Read about the Pratt Street Riot now, and check back for more updates. Contributors include alumni, members of the JHU Press, professors, and curators. You can learn more about the Pratt Street riot in this video:

40th Annual Spring Fair

Enjoying food at Spring Fair!

The 40^th Annual Spring Fair was held from April 14-April 17 on the Homewood Campus. Festivities began with Fireworks and a Kick-off party on Thursday, April 14 in the Levering Courtyard. By Friday, the Freshman Quad, Gilman Quad, and Wyman Quad had all transformed for Spring Fair, with food vendors, non-profits, vendors, a Children’s Section, and a stage. On Friday, Chiddy Bang performed, followed by the Blackout Party in the Rec Center. Read more in the Gazette article here () or check out Spring Fair’s website.

March at Hopkins

March was a busy month at Hopkins, and signaled the beginning of spring at Hopkins. Read on for some of the highlights of March at Hopkins!

MESSENGER reaches Mercury

The MESSENGER launch

MESSENGER began its yearlong science campaign to understand the innermost planet. The spacecraft will fly around Mercury 700 times over the next 12 months, and its instruments will perform the first complete reconnaissance of the cratered planet’s geochemistry, geophysics, geological history, atmosphere, magnetosphere, and plasma environment. “MESSENGER’s orbital commissioning phase, which we just completed, demonstrated that the spacecraft and payload are all operating nominally, notwithstanding Mercury’s challenging environment,” says Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. “With the beginning today of the primary science phase of the mission, we will be making nearly continuous observations that will allow us to gain the first global perspective on the innermost planet. Moreover, as solar activity steadily increases, we will have a front-row seat on the most dynamic magnetosphere–atmosphere system in the Solar System.”

MESSENGER’s 12-month orbital phase covers two Mercury solar days (one Mercury solar day, from sunrise to sunrise, is equal to 176 Earth days). This means that the spacecraft can view a given spot on the surface under given lighting conditions only twice during the mission, six months apart, making available observation time a precious resource. “So the surface mapping observations had to be planned for the entire year far in advance to ensure coverage of the entire planet under acceptable illumination and viewing geometries,” says MESSENGER Deputy Project Scientist Brian Anderson, who oversaw the planning for orbital operations.

Read more on the APL website here or read more in the Gazette article here.

University Taps 17 as Inaugural Gilman Scholars

Daniel Coit Gilman

President Ronald J. Daniels and Provost Lloyd B. Minor have tapped 17 eminent Johns Hopkins faculty and professional staff members from across the divisions to serve as the inaugural group of Gilman Scholars, a prestigious designation. The honor is named for Daniel Coit Gilman, Johns Hopkins’ visionary first president, who was interested in establishing a university to promote the highest standards of scholarship and research in the sciences and in the humanities. The 17 individuals, regarded as leading faculty or practitioners within their divisions, were confirmed by the president upon recommendation from the provost and nomination by their deans or directors. The university’s board of trustees approved the nominations last week. Read more in the Gazette article here.

Provost Speaks on the Future of the American Research University

On Thursday, March 3, Provost Lloyd B. Minor’s presented a speech on the future of research institutions, entitled “At What Cost? Charting the Future of the American Research University,” on Thursday, March 3, 5:30 p.m. You can read the text of the speech or view the presentation here.

Kick-off for the Johns Hopkins Film Festival

The 14th annual student-run Johns Hopkins Film Fest returned to the Homewood campus on Thursday, March 31, with a special panel discussion, “Film Fest Forum: Baltimore, Film and the Arts,” with Film and Media Studies lecturer and filmmaker Matthew Porterfield, film and video artist Jimmy Joe Roche, multimedia artist Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrom, musician/photographer Andrew Laumann and multimedia artist, filmmaker and writer Stephanie Barber, who moderated the panel. It will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Gilman Hall’s Marjorie M. Fisher Hall, Room 50.

The festival, hosted by the Johns Hopkins Film Society, continued through Sunday, April 3, with a showcase of student films, five 35 mm feature film screenings and two programs of short films from across the country and around the world, all in Shriver Hall Auditorium.

This year’s festival theme is Intersecting Arts, a concept allowing audiences to explore what it means for film, paint, sculpture, sound, creative writing, graffiti, fashion and all genres in between to coexist. The student organizers say that the theme reflects Baltimore’s arts scene and recognizes the importance of artists of various media uniting to form one true community.

Read more in the Gazette here.

Student-Curated Art Exhibit Opening at the Evergreen

The Art of Diplomacy: The Garretts in Rome, a student curated exhibit, opened at the Evergreen Museum and Library on Sunday, March 6^th. Organized by Museums and Society senior and Evergreen Student Curator Kit Harris, the exhibition focuses on the years that John and Alice Garrett were in Rome while John was the US Ambassador to Italy. The show explores how the Garretts used their status within Roman society to further an exchange between the art worlds of the two nations. Read more about the exhibit on the Evergreen Museum website here.