Gerald Early joins National Council on the Humanities

Gerald Early, PhD, the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters in Arts & Sciences, has been appointed to the National Council on the Humanities, the 26-member advisory board to the National Endowment for the Humanities. Early is one of five new members nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Olin student team wins prestigious case competition

A team of Olin Business School graduate students recently won the $5,000 first prize in the 18th annual International Case Competition organized by Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. In addition, the team of four MBA students and one master’s in supply chain management student tied with MIT for the “Best Presentation” Award.

Washington People: Tamara Hershey

The brain uses more glucose than just about any other organ in the body, and Tamara Hershey, PhD, uses brain-imaging tools to study the effects of diabetes. She also studies Parkinson’s disease, obesity, Tourette syndrome and Wolfram syndrome, learning about how fluctuations in glucose levels can influence brain function.

Volcano discovered smoldering under a kilometer of ice in West Antarctica

A temporary seismic array in Marie Byrd Land in West Antarctica recorded two bursts of activity in 2010 and 2011. Careful analysis of the events shows they originate from a subglacial volcano at the leading end of a volcanic mountain chain. The volcano is unlikely to erupt through the kilometer of ice that covers it but it will melt enough ice to change the way the ice in its vicinity flows.

Air Force salutes Brown School students

Amanda Moore McBride, PhD, associate dean of the Brown School, was on hand Nov. 11 to congratulate two Brown School students on receiving commissions in the United States Air Force as part of the Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program. The Brown School was the only school with two recipients — only 11 were given nationwide out of 152 applicants. “The military is the No. 1 employer of social workers, and this is real tribute to both our students and the Brown School that it has found the best and the brightest right here,” McBride said.