Wednesday, February 5, 2014

THE

BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 11

since 1891

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2014

Faculty talk With recent growth, Harambee House poised for new era skyrockets renovations, Membership just a year after low threatened internship numbers program house status funding

By MARGARET NICKENS

By WING SZE HO SENIOR STAFF WRITER

inside

Three floors of the Sciences Library will likely undergo a renovation in the next few months, said Provost Mark Schlissel P’15 at a faculty meeting Tuesday.

Faculty members and administrators announced the composition of the upcoming provost search committee and discussed the dean of the College search as well as research funding and grants, new undergraduate internship funding and an expansion of the University’s postdoctoral programs.

They also talked about agenda items to be presented to the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, this weekend.

The SciLi renovation is expected to begin in the coming months, and the renovated floors will house the Laboratory for Educational Innovation, the Language Resource Center, a Computing and Information Services instructional classroom, offices for Instructional Technological Group staff and a social science research laboratory. The repurposing will also “free up” additional space, Schlissel added.

Due to the digitization of academic journals, it is no longer necessary to “fill a 14-floor building with books,” Schlissel said.

The language center is a “technologically aided way to reinforce the study of foreign languages,” he said, adding that the center will house CIS and ITG staff as well as two hired language specialists.

The Laboratory for Educational Innovation will be “home for online content for Brown courses,” including those taught online and in traditional formats, Schlissel said. The center will track the progress of the University’s online course content, he added.

The social science research laboratory will invest in advanced computers for experiments in subjects such as behavioral economics and political science, Schlissel said.

President Christina Paxson said the provost search committee will include Iris Bahar, professor of engineering and chair of the Faculty Executive Committee, and Peter Friedmann, professor of medicine and health services, policy and practice and chair of the Medical Faculty » See FACULTY, page 3

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Just one year after the University almost revoked the program house status for Harambee House — a living space for those interested in African culture — the group is hosting its greatest number of residents in recent history this semester. With this growth, Harambee has become a focal point for many black students at Brown that offers a safe space on campus, said Elaina Boutte ’15, co-head of Harambee House.

Through the years Harambee was founded in 1993 after a series of racially charged incidents plagued the University, The Herald reported in 2004.

“Harambee House carried a certain

ASHLEY SO / HERALD

The leaders of Harambee House hope to grow membership to over 50 residents during the spring 2014 recruiting season. Members praised the house’s community but said it lacks aesthetic appeal. symbolism. It’s like a black family moving into a white neighborhood and people having to deal with your presence there,” Kevin Webb ’92 told The

Herald in 2004. “The bastion of white male-dom was being integrated.”

But by the mid-2000s, Harambee began to face difficulties in recruiting

the necessary number of members. The house’s status was previously threatened in 2009, when only 11 students » See HARAMBEE, page 3

Study explores campus alcohol interventions Individualized check-ups and moderation strategies found most effective interventions in first-years

By KIAN IVEY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ALAN SHAN / HERALD

Nirupama Rao, former Indian ambassador to the United States, talked about gender bias and economic conflict in a conversation Tuesday.

Former ambassador speaks on China-India relations Nirupama Rao says China and India must ‘enmesh economies’ to foster cooperation

By HANNAH KERMAN STAFF WRITER

“India has the promise, has the potential,” said Nirupama Rao, the former Indian ambassador to the United States, in a conversation Tuesday on the foreign relations of China and India.

Rao discussed foreign affairs with Richard Locke, director of the Watson Institute for International Studies and professor of political science. The

panel was the first event in the BrownIndia Initiative lecture series.

Professor of Political Science Ashutosh Varshney introduced the speakers to a full room of around 60 students and community members, as well as a group watching on a screen upstairs.

“It is well known that the world of diplomacy is rather male-centric,” and India is no exception, Varshney said. But Rao has broken gender barriers and paved the way for female colleagues, serving as India’s foreign secretary, the high commissioner for India in Sri Lanka and her country’s ambassador to the United States, he said. » See CHINA-INDIA, page 2

Personalized feedback about how students’ drinking habits stack up against those of their peers could be more effective at reducing firstyears’ alcohol intake than bolstering alcohol education programs, according to a scientific literature review written by a team led by University researchers.

The review was published Jan. 20 in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

The researchers compiled all of the primary scientific papers “related to alcohol interventions for first-year college students,” said co-author Kate Carey, professor of behavioral and social sciences. Using a categorization of interventions and statistical analysis, the team compared components of the various studies and examined which intervention elements produced the greatest success, said lead author Lori Scott-Sheldon, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior.

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

Feedback over education The researchers first addressed whether any sort of intervention dealing with first-year college students’ alcohol consumption was useful, Carey

Commentary

Science & Research Professor J. Timmons Roberts recognized for research on climate change in developing countries

Doctor communication with HIV/AIDS patients differs by race and ethnicity

Feldman ’15: Nonprofit needed to protect interests of student-athletes

Johnson ’14: All humans are created equal even if all humans are not the same

SCIENCE & RESEARCH, 4

SCIENCE & RESEARCH, 8

COMMENTARY, 7

COMMENTARY, 7

weather

Faculty meeting also covers search committees, U.’s international reputation

said. The findings suggested any intervention yielded better outcomes than having no intervention.

The researchers found that certain intervention features — including personalized feedback and moderation strategies — were more effective than others, Scott-Sheldon said. She added that challenging students’ perceptions about drinking was also often effective.

“I think personalized feedback is effective in a lot of ways because you may not be fully aware of what you’re doing,” Scott-Sheldon said. She compared personalized checkups to keeping a diary, noting that people may not remember everything they do unless it is written down.

“Writing the information down and being told you’re drinking more than you think you are and more than your peers is useful in general for giving people a sense of how you’re behaving similarly or differently from other people,” she said.

Carey said she has ample experience working with alcohol-related interventions, and this study’s findings are consistent with interventions that have been shown to be effective in primary care or community settings.

The review found that the education component of interventions “not so surprisingly” had little effect on firstyear drinking habits, Carey said, adding that the one part of education that proved somewhat effective involved teaching students about moderation techniques and identification of highrisk situations. » See DRINKING, page 4 t o d ay

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2 university news

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2014

Restriction on NSF-funded political science research repealed Congress previously halted projects that did not promote U.S. security, economic interests

By SANDRA YAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

With last month’s passage of a $1.1 trillion spending bill for 2014, Congress repealed a provision, in effect the previous nine months, that had halted government funding for political science research projects that did not promote U.S. national security or economic interests.

Though political science faculty members at the University applauded the change, they said the provision had not yet begun to affect them by the time of the repeal.

The initial restriction was introduced in last year’s appropriations bill as a compromise in order to get the budget passed, said John Aldrich, president of the American Political Science Association.

» CHINA-INDIA, from page 1 Locke began the discussion by asking Rao whether she thought the economic rise of India and China would cause international tensions.

“India and China are reemerging,” Rao said, noting that both countries have a long history of participating in Asia’s economy and cultural exchange.

The two countries’ recent economic growth has made Asia the “center of economic gravity,” she said. Looking ahead, “it is important to manage tensions — to see how we can enmesh these growing economies in a mosaic of cooperation.”

Locke asked Rao about tensions

“We were the only program singled out by the (National Science Foundation) to have these restrictions placed,” he said.

The provision prevented researchers from applying for new grants during the time it was in effect, said Amy Carroll, the University’s director of government relations and community affairs.

Political science research accounts for about $10 million of the NSF’s funding each year, she said. In fiscal year 2013, the NSF received almost $6 billion in total funding for research and related activities, according to the White House’s website.

Aldrich said some members of Congress believed “we can save money by not studying social sciences.”

To fight the provision, many organizations teamed up in an effort to make

Congress aware of the importance of this type of research, Aldrich said.

“We’re irrelevant to them electorally,” he said. “The only way we can influence congressmen is through joint efforts.” The APSA worked with various groups, such as the Consortium of Social Science Associations, and hired a private lobbying firm to fight against the provision.

At Brown, a number of faculty members and graduate students in the Department of Political Science have held NSF grants in the past, said Sharon Krause, professor of political science and chair of the department.

“Historically, it has been an important funding stream.”

She said she was “not sure there’s been a direct impact in the specific period of the last nine months, but certainly over the long term, losing NSF funding is a big deal.”

The nine-month provision “didn’t affect me at all,” said Wendy Schiller, associate professor of political science

and public policy.

Krause said the repeal of the provision is “movement in the right direction,” adding that it is important to understand “social and political phenomena in this country and around the world if we want to be a great society.”

The restriction was especially problematic because some of the applications of political science research are not immediately evident, said Jonathan Fansmith, director of government relations at the American Council on Education.

“Why are we funding research into the religious climate in the Middle East?” Fansmith noted as an example of topical political science research.

Legislators “don’t realize practical applications come from our efforts in diplomacy and (establishing) military relationships in foreign areas,” he added.

“You have people super excited and dedicated to studying this field, and to send a message that it is not a national

priority is just really disappointing,” Carroll said. It troubled many universities for Congress to get involved with basic federal agencies, since these agencies typically fund grants through a peer-reviewed, competitive and meritorious process, she said.

Researchers had feared that cuts to funding for other areas of social science, such as public health, would be next, Carroll said.

For fiscal year 2014, Congress was up against a deadline and had to pass the funding bill under tight time constraints, leading to fewer negotiations over funding, Fansmith said. The provison was repealed partially through the efforts of the lobbyists and partially due to the time crunch, Fansmith said.

Aldrich said he hopes lobbying efforts against the provision will remind Congress not to enact similar restrictions on research again.

“The irony of Congress blocking funding to study politics shouldn’t be lost on people,” said Fansmith.

between India and China over border disputes.

Rao referred to the words of Ji Xianlin, a Chinese writer, saying the “India-China relationship was created in heaven and constructed on Earth, and because it has been constructed on Earth, it has deficiencies.”

Locke went on to cite statistics on historical economic differences between the two nations. In 1990, the per capita incomes in China and India were fairly identical, but now China’s per capita income is three times larger, he said.

“India has grown steadily,” Rao said, citing the last decade of 8 percent growth. Though India’s economic rise

has slowed in the past two years, “it is a well-managed economy — there is every possibility of its growth rate picking up,” she said.

The dynamic growth of India’s neighboring country has motivated Indians to keep their economy moving forward, Rao said.

“China serves to us as a spur in many ways, because it is our largest neighbor,” Rao added. “Every morning when we get up, we feel that presence.”

In the question-and-answer session that followed, David Adler ’14 asked about this “presence” of China’s economic success and cultural influence in India.

The United States has “this

disturbing tendency to turn economic rivals into cultural villains,” Adler said, asking how economic tensions manifest themselves in Indian culture.

In polls of the Indian public, opinions of China have become more negative, Rao said. “It’s not that we have Bollywood movies with Chinese villains. But somewhere beneath the surface I think there is this feeling about China, this uneasiness,” she said.

Viveka Hulyalkar ’15 asked Rao if she thought having more women enter the Indian workforce would have positive economic and social effects, noting that women currently make up only 25 percent of India’s labor supply.

The greatest economic growth will be spurred by education and innovation by Indian youth of both genders, Rao responded.

Other students asked about India’s relationship with Japan and a recent diplomatic spat between the United States and India over diplomat Devyani Khobragade, who was recently prosecuted for charges of visa fraud.

Rao is currently writing a book about the relationships between India, China and the United States. She will remain at the University for the rest of the semester as the Meera and Vikram Gandhi Fellow at the Watson Institute, according to the Brown-India Initiative’s website.

university news 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2014

THIS WEEK IN HIGHER ED

BY MAXINE JOSELOW, UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

Tennessee governor calls for free community college Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam called for the state to use lottery revenues to make two years of community or technical college free for all high school graduates, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported Tuesday.

The proposal, called the Tennessee Promise, would be entirely funded by the state’s lottery system, the Chronicle reported.

Haslam presented the Tennessee Promise as part of his higher education agenda at his State of the State address Monday.

Haslam said, “We are committed to making a clear statement to families that education after high school is a priority in the state of Tennessee,” the Chronicle reported.

Several other states — including Arkansas, Georgia and South Carolina — already use lottery money to offer college scholarships, the Chronicle reported. But high school graduates in these states must meet requirements such as certain gradepoint averages to be eligible for them.

U. of Colorado’s philosophy department faces sexism accusations Following allegations of sexism in its philosophy department, the University of Colorado at Boulder announced Friday that it had fired the department’s chair and suspended its admission of philosophy graduate students, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported Monday. The university will also make philosophy faculty members undergo mandatory training about sexual harassment and bystander intervention.

The move came after a September 2013 report by the American Philosophical Association, which found that the “department maintains an environment with unacceptable sexual harassment, inappropriate sexualized unprofessional behavior and divisive uncivil behavior,” the Chronicle reported.

Fifteen different sexual harassment complaints were filed against the department last fall, according to the report.

The university will likely resume its graduate admissions in the 2015-2016 academic year, Bronson Hilliard, a university spokesman, told the Chronicle.

Dept. of Education aims to reform online information about federal aid The U.S. Department of Education is reviewing allegations by U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., a member of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform, that several colleges give applicants misleading information about federal financial aid, the New York Times reported Monday.

Though students must fill out just one form — the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — to apply for federal aid, Cummings said many colleges’ websites indicate that an additional form is required, the Times reported.

Cummings cited instances in which the websites of Bucknell University and Hamilton College both instruct federal aid applicants to fill out a second form created by the College Board that carries a $25 completion fee, the Times reported.

In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Cummings called for colleges to stop “creating improper and unnecessary barriers to the federal assistance that is so critical to enabling students to pursue their academic and professional dreams,” the Times reported.

» MARKET, from page 8 his area of focus, including courses in entrepreneurship, which he credited for inspiring him in his career.

Six months ago, Martell and Kramer relaunched their website, and their newsletter has continued to garner more subscriptions, growing 500 percent over the past year, Martell said.

In late October 2013, the large-scale financial news services website Motley Fool started syndicating some of MarketSnacks’ content.

Now that their endeavor is collecting revenue from syndication, Martell and Kramer said they have big hopes for the future.

“The way we see it, financial news is broken,” Martell said, noting the incomprehensible presentation of market developments by many other news outlets. “We see it as an opportunity to revolutionize an industry. We want to become the ultimate source of financial news to anyone who’s interested in it.”

» HARAMBEE, from page 1 planned on living in the house.

Last spring, the Office of Residential Life informed Harambee leaders that they were again below the minimum enrollment requirement for program houses. Within a week, an aggressive on-the-ground recruitment push allowed Harambee to expand from 17 to 41 members for fall 2013, surpassing the 22-member threshold required by ResLife. Harambee leaders hope to increase membership further for next semester, said Ahmed Elsayed ’16, a public relations chair for Harambee.

“It’s bringing people of different cultures and a lot of minorities together in one area where people can come and feel welcome,” said Elsayed. “I think that’s something Brown doesn’t really have.”

A number of black student groups — including the Brotherhood, the League and the Black Student Union — host meetings and other events in Harambee.

“It seems most of the time when there is a black event or a party it will have something to do with Harambee,” said Armani Madison ’16, a member of the Brotherhood and former Herald opinions columnist, adding that student groups’ use of the space has increased as Harambee has grown over the last year.

Positive growth To accommodate its recent growth, Harambee expanded its leadership, adding six executive board member positions to the previously existing two house-head positions, Boutte said.

» FACULTY, from page 1 Executive Committee. Eight additional faculty members, one PhD student and one undergraduate will also join the group.

Schlissel announced that Paxson will take over the leadership of the dean of the College search committee after his departure to become president of the University of Michigan in July. The committee has received over 60 applications so far from both internal and external candidates, he said.

Schlissel also gave a report on external research funding and grant volume for fiscal year 2013. External funding declined by about 17 percent, though the University continues to hire laboratory scientists and staff.

The research grant volume increased by nearly 7 percent in fiscal year 2014, but has decreased 20 percent overall since fiscal year 2011, Schlissel said.

The volume is “down more than the federal budget is down,” he added.

Responding to a question from a faculty member, Schlissel said the size of the faculty has grown steadily across all subjects since 2011 despite the research funding decreases.

Paxson also reported on her visit to a White House summit on higher education last month. “Over the next four years, every Brown student will have at least one Brown-supported internship,” Paxson told The Herald.

The University will help students find

They focused on building their internal community last semester, hosting a number of member-only events, she said.

“It’s just a nice little community that you can just go to and feel comfortable talking to people about anything,” Elsayed said.

Going into this recruiting season, Harambee leaders hope to take over the independent portion of the house, a goal that would require the house to host over 50 members, Elsayed said.

He also hopes the house will garner enough interest to require a waitlist.

“There’s enough minorities at Brown where we should be able to do that easily,” he said. “We’re taking steps early. We’re trying to beat the lottery. We’re trying to make sure people make a decision before the lottery even comes out.”

In recruiting, Harambee leaders have to overcome a lack of information available to prospective members and, sometimes, an inability to find committed recruits, Elsayed said. Many prospective members choose to serve as Residential Peer Leaders instead, Boutte said. To this end, Harambee is hosting its first open house Sunday.

In recent weeks, many people have expressed interest in the house, and Elsayed said he is hopeful going into the recruiting season.

“People want to come to Harambee because they feel that sense of support,” he said.

‘Nice to come home’ As it has grown, Harambee has faced a number of issues, including a lack of appealing space and funding problems.

“The place is drab,” said O’Sha Lundan ’16, a public relations chair for Harambee. “People don’t want to live where they can’t see themselves studying, or see themselves cooking or see themselves eating.” House members launched an initiative last spring to renovate spaces in the house, but it was tabled due to costs and the focus on recruitment.

Lundan said she hopes to revamp the renovation effort this semester by painting the house’s basement, allowing members to tag the walls and personalize the space.

House leaders also plan to build a bench outside the building and create artwork for the building, Boutte said.

“We don’t want to do too much because we don’t want to deplete the funds,” she said. “We basically started out with nothing, so we wanted to leave something for people next year.”

The house does not receive funding from the University and has difficulty soliciting funding from alums, she said.

Boutte said the house raises most of its funding from dues, but acquiring funding for projects is difficult because Harambee’s dues are lower than in most other program houses.

Despite some structural issues, Lundan said she has ultimately loved living in the house for its community.

“In most of my classes, I’m one of one or one of two black people. It’s just nice to come home to people who understand my culture without me having to explain it to them,” Lundan said. “If you want to be able to come home to plantains frying and you’re Jamaican, then Harambee’s the place to be.”

internships as well as provide financial support for low-paid or unpaid internships, if necessary, she added.

The University hopes to “expand the pool of internships for all students” and match students to opportunities in their fields of academic interest, Paxson told The Herald. The University will also provide more support to students looking for internships in fields with more limited opportunities, such as the arts, she added.

Paxson also announced plans for a “reputational survey” to investigate perceptions of Brown around the world, which will begin in the next couple of months. The survey will provide “metrics and measures” for the University’s strategic planning initiatives.

The University has hired a planning firm to explore opportunities for expanding performing arts at Brown, Paxson said. Faculty members and students from numerous departments will be involved in the process, which will begin this spring, she added.

The internship initiative, reputational survey and performing arts expansion are among the items that Paxson will present to the Corporation at its meeting this weekend, she said.

Paxson also said she will possibly teach a sophomore seminar next spring. The pilot program for sophomore seminars on diversity and social justice, one of the strategic planning initiatives, began this semester.

Schlissel announced a Presidential Management Fellows pilot program, which aims to enhance competitiveness in the University’s graduate education. The program includes 20 three-year doctoral fellowships with stipends of $30,000 per year, which will be awarded to the Graduate School’s top admitted students.

While the fellowship’s stipend is lower than normal graduate stipends, the program will free up resources that “can be used at the discretion of the program director,” Schlissel said.

The fellowship applies to all graduate programs on campus, he added.

Dean of the Faculty Kevin McLaughlin P’12 announced a new three-phase postdoctoral program aimed at diversifying the faculty. The University is currently working toward hiring more faculty members in the early parts of their careers to increase diversity, The Herald previously reported.

McLaughlin said this program is a “seed experiment” in various centers and programs. The University will seek to obtain support for up to eight postdoctoral fellows from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, an organization that provides higher education grants.

The initiative will support twoyear postdoctoral fellowships, and departments will be responsible for finding financial support to keep the fellows in tenure-track positions at the University, McLaughlin said.

www.browndailyherald.com

4 science & research

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2014

Researcher wins award for work on climate change in developing countries J. Timmons Roberts merges environmental studies, sociology and community engagement

By SOPHIE YAN STAFF WRITER

J. Timmons Roberts, professor of environmental studies and sociology, will travel to Japan this July to receive the 2014 Frederick H. Buttel International Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Environmental Sociology. Given out once every four years, the award is presented by a branch of the International Sociological Association and intended for “outstanding contributions of scholars to the study of environment-society relations,” according to the ISA website.

The ISA is “the most important international, professional association in sociology,” said David Lindstrom, professor of sociology and chair of the department, adding that it is “based on long-term contributions to a particular field of study.”

Environmental sociology “studies how the way society is organized makes it difficult for us to protect the environment,” Roberts said. It also examines trends such as social and environmental movements, public opinion toward the environment, what people care about and their actions, he added.

“What I study is climate change, and especially developing countries and how they’re coping with climate change, … something for which they

» DRINKING, from page 1 The main reason for the ineffectiveness of an additional educational intervention is likely that most schools already provide some level of alcoholrelated education, Scott-Sheldon said.

The review also found that “decisional exercises, where you list the pros and cons of engaging in a particular behavior, were ineffective,” Scott-Sheldon said.

Carey said the researchers also found that different components of interventions have a cumulative effect, with interventions with more components proving more effective. “If you

have not been responsible for, hardly at all,” Roberts said.

He said his interdisciplinary lab group, the Climate and Development Lab, does a lot of work with the 48 poorest countries in the world — the global south. He studies its interactions with wealthy industrialized countries in the north.

Roberts said his group researches each region’s contributions and ideas for solutions to climate change. In general, nations such as Brazil, South Africa, India and China do not want binding limits on their emissions, regardless of their potential impact on climate change. But, Roberts added, European nations are more friendly to emission restrictions. Small island states, which often bear the brunt of the effects of global warming, want other countries to fund efforts to reverse climate change and to implement green infrastucture, he added.

“I look a lot at that foreign aid, and what effect that’s having on climate change,” Roberts said.

He is also researching the politics and funding of climate change legislation internationally, “trying to understand which countries are most able to lead the way on dealing with climate change,” he said. He added that some of the world’s role models are in Latin America, noting that countries in the region are neither the heavy-duty industrial polluters nor the most impoverished and helpless states.

“Some of them have really efficient economies,” he said. “Some have been

really innovative on public transportation and urban planning.”

Moving forward, Roberts said he will continue to work with students in his lab, as well as on an experimental teaching project. For this project, students work on climate change legislation for the state of Rhode Island.

The Center for Environmental Studies, where Roberts teaches classes and conducts research, also takes part in various “outreach activities and engagement activities,” said Dov Sax, director of the center.

Roberts said he works with Rhode Island legislators locally and collaborates with other scholars internationally. He regularly brings students to United Nations conferences and works with many sociologists, politicians and scientists worldwide, he added.

“What’s interesting about Timmons is that he does that engagement really well,” Sax said.

It is not atypical for professors in the Center for Environmental Studies to do interdisciplinary work in the way that Roberts combines environmental studies with sociology, Sax said, adding that nearly all of the faculty members are a part of more than one department.

Roberts said he enjoys the interdisciplinary nature of his work and sees the award as “a big validation” of it.

He added that the award “affirms that people in my discipline internationally respect collaborative work … and that means a lot to me because that’s the kind of work I love doing.”

combine them, it doesn’t really matter how you combine them,” Carey said of intervention components.

research could involve examining the timing of potential follow-up interventions.

“It would be nice to see if there’s a small subset that works for the majority of students that could be tweaked” for individual campuses or groups of students, Scott-Sheldon said.

“A lot of universities already provide education, though many students will anecdotally tell you that it’s not that enjoyable,” Scott-Sheldon said. She said an ideal implementation would involve a “screening process right off the bat, so we can find out who needs help.”

School officials could then reach out to students identified as needing help and give them the opportunity to talk to a health professional about their drinking, Carey said.

Carey and Scott-Sheldon said they hope their research will enable universities to pursue more effective alcohol prevention methods.

“I don’t know any universities that are doing a stellar job of preventing alcohol use,” Scott-Sheldon said.

Carey noted that there is “room for improvement” at Brown, if both students and administrators “agreed that it would be a worthwhile initiative.”

Future research Both Carey and Scott-Sheldon discussed the potential for future beneficial research on alcohol interventions targeted at first-year students.

Scott-Sheldon said she would like to examine what combinations of intervention components work best in different populations.

“How to match those interventions to campuses is the next big question, because all campuses aren’t the same,” Carey said. She added that future

DAVID BRAUN / HERALD

J. Timmons Roberts, professor of environmental studies and sociology, will receive an award in Japan for his climate change research this July.

Alcohol consumption by class year The Herald’s spring 2013 student poll revealed that the majority of students across all class years consume alcohol, including 79 percent of first-year respondents. In total, 84.7 percent of undergraduates circled alcohol for the following: Question: In the past year, which of the following substances have you used recreationally? (Circle all that apply) 100 percent

80

60

40

20

0 First-year

Sophomore

Junior

Senior JACQUELINE FEILER / HERALD

today 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2014

menu SHARPE REFECTORY

poems in the snow VERNEY-WOOLLEY

LUNCH Chicken Broccoli Pasta Alfredo, Shaved Steak Sandwich with Mushrooms and Onion, Bok Choy

Italian Meatballs with Sauce, Mediterranean Eggplant Saute, Vegan Great Northern Bean Casserole

DINNER Korean Style Marinated Beef, Salmon Teriyaki, Fried Rice, Brazilian Chocolate Cake

Parmesan Baked Chicken, Vegan Paella, Wild Rice Risotto, Italian Green Beans, Garlic Bread Sticks

JOSIAH’S

THREE BURNERS

QUESADILLA OR GRILLED CHEESE

Gnocchi

Grilled Cheese

BLUE ROOM

SOUPS

DINNER ENTREES

Chicken and Wild Rice, Butternut Squash and Apple, Baked Potato

Naked Burritos BRITTANY COMUNALE / HERALD

Poet Jorie Graham hosts a poetry reading Tuesday in conjunction with the Department of Literary Arts’ Writers on Writing Reading Series. Graham won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1996.

sudoku

RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle c rNorris o s sandwJoyce o rNichols d Lewis Edited by Rich ACROSS 1 Really mix up 6 Fashion 10 Alma mater of many gens.

14 Manitoba natives 15 Other, to Diego 16 “Cool!”

17 Glass-half-empty sort 18 Polite refusal, in Nuremberg 20 Resistance units 21 Bottom row key 22 “A Death in the Family” author 23 North __ 24 “Fall on your knees” carol 27 Mammoth traps 30 “Hometown proud” supermarket chain 31 “How relaxing!”

32 Fighting stats 33 She dedicated Imagine Peace Tower to Lennon 34 Roy Rogers’ birth name 35 Somewhat 39 Mudbath offerers 42 Clear (of) 43 Ball honorees 46 Tulsa sch. named for a televangelist 47 __ leaves 48 Hardly the latest buzz 51 Only just broke the tape 54 Through 55 Symbol for Macy’s 56 Prime time rating 57 Give a darn?

58 “You gotta be kidding!”

60 Big Apple restaurateur 61 Go-getter 62 Remedy 63 See 44-Down 64 Duel tool 65 “My word!”

66 Until now

DOWN 1 Confront boldly 2 Arizona climate 3 Where Lego headquarters is 4 Luau neckwear 5 Top row key 6 Quite a while 7 New Mexico county 8 Boring activity 9 Quite a while 10 Eel, at sushi bars 11 Mali neighbor 12 Seize the opportunity, sunshine-wise 13 Had a bite 19 Comical Carvey 21 Private bed 25 “Son of Frankenstein” role 26 Everyday article 28 Supplies on TV’s “Chopped” 29 Prefix with bar 33 Multivolume ref.

34 Witnessed 36 Locale 37 Carnation genus 38 Byrnes who played Kookie

39 Piglet’s mother 40 Place to have a racket restrung 41 Opie’s guardian 44 With 63-Across, city whose zip code is suggested by the starts of 18-, 24-, 35-, 51- and 58Across 45 Shortchange 47 Newbie

48 Taloned predator 49 Cut of lamb 50 Inhumane person 52 Dance studio fixture 53 __ barrel: in hot water 57 Bordeaux “but” 58 Dedicated lines 59 Cable co. acquired by AT&T in 1999 60 __ Na Na

BRITTANY COMUNALE / HERALD

After a warm weekend, the University was blanketed with a layer of snow Monday. More snow is projected this week, including two to four inches today.

comic Eric & Eliot | Willa Tracy

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02/05/14

FEBRUARY 5

5 P.M. ELI FRIEDMAN — PERIPATETIC REPRODUCTION: URBANIZATION, EDUCATION AND URBAN CHINA’S SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS

Eli Friedman, assistant professor in the Department of International and Comparative Labor at Cornell, discusses issues facing the rapidly growing Chinese population in cities. Watson Institute, McKinney Conference Room 7 P.M. 2014 MID-YEAR ACTIVITIES FAIR

Students will have opportunities to interact with leaders of over 120 student groups and organizations and learn how to become more involved. Alumnae Hall Auditorium TOMORROW

FEBRUARY 6

12 P.M. WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY? ANIMAL SOUNDS AND SIGNIFICANCE IN GRECO-ROMAN CULTURE

As part of the Brown Bag Series in Archaeology, post-doctoral fellow Susan Curry will discuss her research, which focuses on the relationship between non-human animals and human cultures. Free pizza provided. Rhode Island Hall 108 8 P.M. APPLES TO APPLES WITH APPLES/CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY WITH HUMANITY

By C.C. Burnikel (c)2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

02/05/14

Take a break from studying and play fun card games like Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity while enjoying some apples. Harkness House, Tech House Lounge

6 commentary

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2014

EDITORIAL

Sherman’s importance As of Sunday night, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman is officially the proud owner of a Super Bowl championship ring. That might dismay many of his detractors, a group that certainly grew in number following his infamous post-game interview with Erin Andrews two weeks ago. The interview occurred minutes after the Seahawks’ victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game, in which Sherman and his fellow members of the Seattle defense were instrumental in leading their team to the Super Bowl.

Sherman evidently agreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment, declaring himself “the best corner in the game” in the interview. He also offered a handshake to the wide receiver he’d been covering, Michael Crabtree — a handshake that many have interpreted as mocking Crabtree on national television.

Sherman’s actions and statements were met with a sharp backlash from the general public, with many deeming the cornerback classless, a poor sport and a “thug.” Conversely, Sherman also had some defenders in the public eye, like Jon Stewart, who highlighted the racial implications of the country’s response to Sherman. Stewart made a point of asking why we deem Sherman — a Stanfordeducated football player who was merely expressing his enthusiasm after a massive victory — a thug, yet give more leeway to public figures like Toronto mayor Rob Ford and Justin Bieber, who actually have committed criminal acts. Much of the discussion since has revolved around race and the question of whether a white football player in Sherman’s shoes would have received quite the same level of criticism.

We believe this is an important conversation and that Stewart is indeed correct in his interpretation. These types of comments concerning Sherman’s behavior are racist and further perpetuate a false stereotype of the American black man.

This, of course, is nothing new. Many have outlined the role of media in creating a stereotypical image of a criminal as a black man, especially during news cycles that judge three men — two white criminals and a black man on an ego trip — and deem the black man a “thug.”

There’s another side of Sherman’s interview that still needs to be addressed yet has received far less media attention: the question of our sports culture in general. Children are raised in this culture from the first time that they sign up for a T-ball league. Winning is everything. The “winners” can gloat over the “losers” and denigrate them to their heart’s content. Sports have become a source of ego magnification for the physically gifted, and ego reduction for those who are not so fortunate.

It’s often said of the greatest athletes that they are able to accomplish spectacular feats because of an immense belief in themselves and their abilities; in short, an ego is necessary if you want to be the best. This is worrisome only when we cross that line into respecting arrogance and egotism, particularly when these traits leave the field and enter society. The debate over Sherman seems misguided in this respect; cultural commentators have singled him out as an individual rather than viewing him as part of a wider sports culture that is problematic. Stewart and other commentators are right in recognizing that criticism of Sherman referring to him as a “thug” or similar slurs is fundamentally racist, but what they have thus far ignored is that his conduct was indeed indicative of the harmful nature of sports culture and masculinity in America.

Perhaps we need to reduce the premium we place on sports in our culture in order to step back and see that we ignore, or even encourage, arrogance — as long as it gets the “W.” Parents, coaches and athletes alike participate in this gross overvaluation of what an athletic victory truly means.

And, in fitting irony, Sherman’s response after winning the Super Bowl was nothing short of exemplary. He complimented Peyton Manning as a classy player whom he admired and could learn much from. He gave credit to both his opponents and his teammates while celebrating the victory for what it was: a Super Bowl victory. Nothing more, nothing less.

I VA N A L C A N TA R A

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

CEO salaries deserve acrimony To the Editor: In his Tuesday column (“Empty promises,” Feb. 4), Jay Upadhyay ’15 makes the point that increasing the minimum wage for workers or providing health insurance leads to higher input costs and decreased quantity in the labor market.

He never bothers to mention the increases in salary that CEOs have received over the past few decades.

“The irony of Congress blocking funding to study politics shouldn’t be lost on people.”

— Jon Fansmith, director of government relations, American Council on Education

See political science on page 2.

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Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editors, Matt Brundage ’15 and Rachel Occhiogrosso ’14, and its members, Hannah Loewentheil ’14 and Thomas Nath ’16. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

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In 1980, CEO salary compared to average worker salary was 40:1. In 2010 it had risen to a ratio of 325:1.

I find it amazing how outrageous increases in CEO pay are totally ignored, yet a mention of increasing the minimum wage gets a conservative’s blood boiling.

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commentary 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2014

The union between work and play ANDREW FELDMAN opinions columnist

The rise of labor unions was an essential movement that shaped the American workplace. Unions were formed to achieve safer conditions, more reasonable hours and fair compensation for workers. To this day, unions serve those same purposes in a wide variety of fields. And there may be an increase in unions over the next couple of months.

Recently, Northwestern University’s football team made a push toward bringing unionization to college athletics. Former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter announced the creation of the College Athletes Players Association, which was petitioning Chicago’s regional National Labor Relations Board for union recognition.

The mission of the union is largely to protect player rights. Colter argues that college athletes’ work makes them employees. As employees, they would be eligible for union financial aid to cover injury expenses, due process before any athlete loses a scholarship and independent concussion experts on the sidelines of games to prevent injured players from aggravating injuries.

These demands are extremely reasonable. Student-athletes need protection so that athletic injuries do not jeopardize their education.

An injury like a concussion sidelines a player not only from the field but from the classroom as well. Ensur-

ing that objective physicians are on the sideline so these injuries are not aggravated could be extremely beneficial.

It is also essential that schools fully cover injuries that occur while playing a sport. There is absolutely no reason students should pay for surgical procedures for injuries suffered while wearing a school’s colors. Especially if an athlete is on a scholarship, part of the agreement to play for a school should include protection from consequences of that participation.

realize what a union is — an organization that protects and represents employees. This goes back to the entire question of whether college athletes are employees and even eligible to join a union. The sports they partake in, while extremely demanding and time-intensive, are voluntary. Student-athletes choose to join sports teams, and they do so without monetary compensation. Creating a union to protect student-athletes detracts from the overall message that they should have a safety net, not be rewarded with potential profits.

the table to discuss their own rights and privileges. Granting the students a protective agency does not necessitate that all the demands will be met, just that students will have a chance for their voices to be heard.

But is a union the proper way to reach these goals and have the student-athlete voice heard? It is clear that players need protection, but creating a union could be extremely detrimental to college sports as a whole. In the past few years, the NFL, NBA and NHL have all gone on strike because of conflicts be-

Creating a union to protect student-athletes detracts from the overall message that they should have a safety net, not be rewarded with potential profits.

But is unionization the best way to solve this problem? While money is allegedly not the driving force behind the push for unionization, CAPA wants players to have the cost of living paid for, to receive the profits from commercials they appear in and to get assistance from a fund set up to help former athletes graduate. These demands are more than enough reason for the NCAA to see the push for unionization as purely motivated by profit, regardless of what Colter and CAPA might argue.

A rebranding of their approach is essential if athletes will ever gain any of these rights.

A similar yet different medium must be created. It is important to

The NCAA is a nonprofit organization, but that does not mean individual members are not handsomely profiting. A huge conflict of interest is present because the main organization responsible for protecting student-athletes also benefits from their work. Individual schools that are assigned with protecting their students benefit from wins and will often attempt to achieve them at any cost to their players. The NCAA and athletic departments serve as both the CEO and the union in college athletics, and a distinction must be established.

Regardless of whether one agrees with all of CAPA’s demands, student-athletes do deserve a seat at

tween labor unions and their respective leagues. While none of these strikes were by any means the fault of the unions, it is important to recognize that disputes between parties can get extremely messy.

And unlike each of those individual sports leagues, CAPA is attempting to unite every Division I sport.

The question is not so much whether athletes need protection, but from what source that protection comes. A protective entity could not only benefit students’ health, but also limit their practice time and give them more time to focus on academics. The issue may be fixed by something as simple as semantics. A union is meant for

employees, but that doesn’t mean other protective agencies cannot be formed to aid student-athletes. If this union is not recognized, CAPA can start instead as a grassroots organization at individual colleges and spread from there.

CAPA should focus its attention on becoming a nonprofit organization. It could be financed by both former athletes and Division I universities. All it would take to get this organization running is one or two large donations by professional athletes looking to protect college athletes. This organization would receive dues from universities trying to promote their institutions as being supportive of student-athlete safety. Creating an unaffiliated nonprofit is much less controversial than trying to unionize over 150 universities and is a much more feasible first step toward protecting student-athletes.

The nonprofit could use the funds it receives to work, slowly but surely, on remedying many of the problems college athletes currently face.

Furthermore, this type of organization would earn athletes a seat at the table with the NCAA. From there, anything can happen.

If you are LeBron James, Tom Brady or another interested party looking to donate to or advocate for a nonprofit organization to protect student-athletes, email Andrew Feldman ’15 at andrew_feldman@brown.edu for more information.

Powers ’15 misses the point on equality GARRET JOHNSON opinions columnist

Everyone can agree that we are all different.

Some of us have blue eyes, some have brown.

Some of us are tall, some are short. Some people are born with incredible gifts in math and science, while others suffer from learning disorders. Since its founding, the United States has fought bloody internal struggles over the problem of equality. We still haven’t quite been able to reach full equality of opportunity.

But because of the efforts of America’s most significant leaders, we arrived at the collective conclusion that we are all created equal. We decided that differences do not equal imperfections.

In fact, the genius of America, which Andrew Powers ’15 evidently does not understand, is that our differences are what make us great. In a recent column (“Nature matters,” Feb. 3), he claims that the question of equality “is a matter of science, not politics,” and asserts that political correctness keeps us from acknowledging that some people are intrinsically less likely to succeed. Powers cites the theory of evolution to support his claim that some people are just better than others.

But he misses the point of the Declaration of Independence. Our Declaration doesn’t say that we’re all the same, but rather asserts that

all men are equal in worth, and have rights granted to them by God that must never be abridged.

Besides being un-American and offensive, Powers’ column shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the fact that “equal” does not mean “the same.” This view of humans is one in which we are all given quantitative, measurable values of worth. We cannot determine another human being’s worth precisely because one’s worth is not an objective quality.

For example, he calculates that it is “infeasible” that a terminally ill child could be as “successful as a healthy child.” So what? Obvi-

if that child possesses a capacity to love that is greater than that of any healthy child?

On Sunday, Seattle Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman became the first deaf player to win a Super Bowl. His deafness is genetic.

Coleman’s story proves that we are not all the same. It also shows that disabilities do not diminish one’s value as a human being. Coleman was born with a disadvantage and used it as motivation. Now he is an NFL player, a Super Bowl champion and likely very content with being born “unequal.”

What Coleman lacked in hearing, he made up for in drive, determination and intelli-

Powers complains that “modern society is increasingly intolerant of all forms of inequality.” Guilty as charged.

ously an ill child is less likely to reproduce and raise his own kids than a healthy one, but that doesn’t make him any less valuable as a human being. To a mother, there is no person on earth that is worth more than her child — sick or well. While Powers may argue that this child’s disease makes him somehow inferior, proving his assertion that we are not all created equal, how do we define superior and inferior? What

gence. Everyone has strengths and everyone has weaknesses. Each of us has a unique combination of gifts and flaws such that we are all equal as humans. This is the very definition of humanity.

In a different era, ardent defenders of slavery claimed that other races were somehow biologically different in order to fight against abolition. Pseudoscientists claimed that black

people were susceptible to “drapetomania,” a disorder that caused slaves to want to run away from their masters. In the 20th century, pro-segregationist southerners spread falsehoods that black people carried strange and horrible pathogens as an excuse to keep the South segregated. Nazi philosophers sought to create a pure “master” race by exterminating people who did not fit their mold of a perfect human.

I do not want to live in a country that believes some people are simply born as lesser humans. Powers complains that “modern society is increasingly intolerant of all forms of inequality.” Guilty as charged. This country’s founding documents — flawed as they may be — and its centuries-long struggle for progress are based on the intolerance of inequality.

Those of us who care about equality stand up not because it’s trendy or politically correct, but because we have a responsibility to do so.

To explain inequality with genetics and social Darwinism only serves to make America’s widening opportunity gap permanent and to further divide our already polarized country.

Garret Johnson ’14 thanks his friends for channeling his many “thoughts” on this issue into a column.

He can be reached at garret_johnson@brown.edu.

His columns appear on alternate Wednesdays.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2014

THE

BROWN DAILY HERALD science & research Study evaluates patient-doctor interactions Doctor communication skills may contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in HIV/AIDS

By EMILY PASSARELLI STAFF WRITER

The nature of conversations between physicians and their patients regarding HIV/AIDS medication varies with the race and ethnicity of the patient, according to a study published in the journal AIDS and Behavior last month. Michael Barton Laws, assistant professor of health services, policy and practice, who led the study, said the data suggests provider-patient communication plays a role in the quality of health care. The results also identify the variance in conversations between caregivers and patients as a potential factor contributing to disproportionately worse HIV outcomes in blacks and Hispanics.

‘Language of the community’ After discounting for “obvious” differences that explain poorer health outcomes, the causes of racial and ethnic disparities in health status are still unclear, said Ira Wilson, professor of health services, policy and practice and chair of the department.

The framing question of the team’s study was, “How do we explain the fact that blacks and Hispanics have worse HIV outcomes?” he said.

In prior research, the team discovered that, when speaking about HIV/AIDS medication regimens, doctors more frequently use directives — commands — than engage their patients in problem-solving solutions.

Laws and his colleagues studied the nature of doctor-patient discussions about HIV/AIDS medication adherence by recording 404 such interactions and analyzing them with the Generalized Medical Interaction Analysis. This approach works based on the idea that any utterance has two parts — a theme and an implied meaning or locution, Laws explained.

His team classified recorded utterances by “elocutionary act and subject matter,” he said.

While the conversations between

doctors and their patients were recorded with permission, research has found that knowledge of being recorded will not drastically change a subject’s behavior since social actions are habitual, Laws said.

Timothy Flanigan, professor of medicine, praised this methodology’s examination of the role of the community in contributing to blacks’ disproportionate suffering from the disease. In order to understand this issue, “one has to use the language of the community,” Flanigan said.

Conversation disparities While the study sought to identify and describe phenomena that may contribute to blacks’ and Hispanics’ poor HIV outcomes, “it was not designed to explain them,” Wilson said.

The results revealed that conversations with patients of all races and ethnicities were more providerdominated, meaning that caregivers often steered the dialogue in their preferred direction. But the breakdown in doctor-patient communication was slightly more pronounced for patients of certain races and ethnicities. Fewer values and goals were discussed with black patients than with white patients. Discussions with Hispanic patients also included less humor and fewer open-ended questions, according to a University press release announcing the study’s results.

Drug adherence also emerged as a subject in a larger percentage of discussions between medical providers and black and Hispanic patients, regardless of the actual adherence of the patient to an assigned treatment regimen. Even when conversations were longer, they contained not more problem-solving strategies but rather more directives, according to the release.

“We’re not sure exactly what these data mean, but it is the case that (blacks and Hispanics) often have worse health outcomes and are often less satisfied with their relationship with their doctor,” Laws said.

Different methodologies would be necessary to understand deeper implications of the work, Flanigan said.

“This study raises more questions than it provides answers,” Laws said, adding that observers should not

make broad generalizations from the data, as they were taken in only one setting with predominately white and Asian medical providers.

But the study “takes on a challenging area unexplored” by past research, Laws said.

A new medical approach People often assume that proper diagnosis and treatment are the keys to overcoming a disease, but this is not the case, Wilson said. In order for treatment to be effective, one must implement it over time, especially in the case of HIV/AIDS, he added.

Motivation to follow a medical regimen depends on the support patients have from the people around them — including the trust and relationships they have with their providers.

Proper trust and understanding between patients and their doctors is key in a successful diagnosis, Wilson said. The study may describe that a poor relationship with a medical provider could contribute to the greater rate of HIV developing into AIDS in black and Hispanic communities and could identify a cause of poor medical regimen adherence, he said.

Expanding the diversity of the health care workforce would change the industry’s environment to be more culturally competent so that doctors would have fewer cultural misunderstandings, and patients would feel more comfortable with their providers, Laws said.

“Doctors and patients speak different languages. Add to this different cultures, and you add another layer of complexity,” Laws said.

Cultural influences on health care delivery are an unfortunate obstacle to delivering equal care, Wilson said.

“But (race) shouldn’t matter,” Wilson said. “You should have the capacity to connect with and make connections with any patient you see.”

Reorganizing the system of teaching in medical school would be beneficial, Laws said. “In medical school, there is not enough about how to behave, how to communicate effectively.”

He added that the larger question at hand to improve health care for all patients may be “how can we get doctors up to speed?”

SCIENCE & RESEARCH ROUNDUP

BY SARAH PERELMAN, SCIENCE & RESEARCH EDITOR

Researchers model new nanomaterial Thirty-six boron atoms in the shape of a flat donut with a hexagonal hole could become an important new nanomaterial if scientists can find a way to produce it in the lab, according to a recent study in Nature Communications.

Lai-Sheng Wang, principal investigator of the study and professor of chemistry, and his research team showed that this structure is theoretically stable and low-energy, according to the study.

“It’s beautiful,” Wang said in a University press release. “It has exact hexagonal symmetry with the hexagonal hole we were looking for.

The hole is of real significance here. It suggests that this theoretical calculation … might be right.”

The structure, termed borophene, is similar to graphene — a strong atom-wide material that can conduct electricity. But unlike graphene, borophene is likely to be fully metallic. This means the new material may be an even better conductor of electricity than graphene, according to the release.

The next step for scientists is to figure out how to assemble this structure, Wang said in the release.

Potential emerges for new diagnostic tool for bacterial infection A team of researchers from the University and Rhode Island Hospital identified components of the bacteria Clostridium difficile that could be used to rapidly diagnose patients with an infection, according to a study published online in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics last month.

Using these components for a test could tell health care providers whether patients with diarrheal symptoms are suffering from a C. difficile infection. It could also distinguish between hyper-virulent and other strains of bacteria, according to a Lifespan press release.

“C. difficile can be a life-threatening infection,” said co-author Leonard Mermel, a professor of medicine and the medical director of the department of epidemiology and infection control at Rhode Island Hospital, in a statement. “We believe that rapid identification of this bacterium will assist in timely initiation of antimicrobial therapy.”

The current methods of diagnosis, such as stool cultures and toxin testing, are effective but relatively slow, according to the release. The researchers also found that this new target for a diagnostic test could provide the rapid results needed for emergency situations.

Health services professor wins investigator award Joan Teno MS’90, professor of health services, policy and practice, is one of 11 researchers to be awarded $335,000 as part of an Investigator Award by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation is based at the Boston University School of Management.

Teno has researched instances of poor care and transitions for elderly patients in hospices, a trend that is more prevalent since Medicare has encouraged senior citizens to live in hospices, according to a University press release.

Teno said she plans to use the grant to further her research of palliative and hospice care with interviews and analysis of Medicare data. She said in the release that the goal of her research is “to envision a future that promotes patient- and family-centered medical care.”

“We are eager to support these new investments in cutting-edge research, especially at a time when the health care landscape is rapidly changing and the way Americans care for their health is changing with it,” said Alan Cohen, director of the RWJF Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research program, in the release.

Website translates financial news into everyday language Nick Martell ’11 designed MarketSnacks to make financial journalism more accessible to public

By GADI COHEN STAFF WRITER

When Nick Martell ’11 and Jack Kramer started their first year at Middlebury College as roommates, they did not know they would end up living in the same apartment six years later, working together on a website and newsletter that break down financial news for the everyday reader.

The venture, called MarketSnacks, aims to provide more creative analysis of market developments to a broad

UNIVERSITY NEWS

range of readers who may not have an in-depth grasp of Wall Street.

It all started when Martell and Kramer noticed they had bought the same brand of protein shake on the first day of college. The future co-founders of MarketSnacks became good friends, keeping in contact even when Martell transferred to Brown at the start of his junior year. Today, they live in an apartment in the East Village of New York, commuting daily to separate finance jobs. Martell works for Endeavor, a nonprofit startup accelerator, and Kramer works at Commerzbank, a German investment bank in Manhattan.

Though they work for different companies, they still write and publish MarketSnacks together, just as they have been doing since founding the venture in 2011.

“It’s been really successful,” Martell said. “There hasn’t been anything like it on the market, and there isn’t anything like it now.”

After graduating, Martell moved to New York to work for the investment bank UBS. During this period, he and Kramer started developing the idea for MarketSnacks, Martell said.

“I realized I was kind of bored whenever I read any type of financial news,” Martell said. “My girlfriend and my roommates kept talking to me about the debt ceiling in Washington, the European debt crisis, the stock market, and I realized it was tough to explain. There was nothing out there that was giving a clear, simple explanation of what’s happening on Wall Street.”

Martell and Kramer started writing market summaries in November

2011, sending their work to friends and family members every day for the next two months. The duo tried to make their voices sound uniform so that the writing had a consistent, “witty” style, Martell said, adding that they invested in a professionally designed logo.

“We were very ambitious,” Kramer said. “The idea was, you know, it’s the market, but it’s just a snack, it’s digestible.”

After the friends launched MarketSnacks to the general public at the beginning of 2012, the list of email subscribers started to grow steadily. Every day, Martell and Kramer would write their summaries, constantly consulting with each other on specific details of the language or content. The entrepeneurs sent out their online newsletter every day at 6:30 a.m., Martell said.

“We really concentrated on growing

our website every day,” Kramer said.

“We reached out to college campuses, we reached out to former professors, we reached out to people interested in finance — and we never stopped sending out the news.”

Martell said his time at Brown, especially his involvement with the lacrosse team, granted him the creative will and encouragement to found and maintain MarketSnacks.

“I’m a very creative person, and the fact that I was encouraged on a daily basis at Brown was fantastic,” Martell said. “It’s unique at Brown how the coach always encouraged me to be creative, be different, try to differentiate myself,” he said.

Martell, who concentrated in history, added that the Open Curriculum allowed him to take classes outside » See MARKET, page 3