University Collaborators Engineer Polymers to Change Mechanical Properties
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the departments of macromolecular science and engineering and biomedical engineering at the Case School of Engineering and the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center has published ground-breaking work on a new type of polymer that displays chemoresponsive mechanic adaptability -- meaning the polymer can change from hard to soft plastic and vice versa in seconds when exposed to liquid -- in today's issue of Science, one of the world's most prestigious scholarly journals covering all aspects of science.
Note: Readers may need to install Apple QuickTime to watch the video. Read more.
Case Western Reserve Researchers Identify Colorectal Cancer Gene
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researchers published a study in today's issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics identifying the hereditary components of colorectal cancer (CRC). "Identification of Susceptibility Genes for Cancer in a Genome-wide Scan: Results from the Colon Neoplasia Sibling Study" is the first large linkage study of families with CRC and colon polyps in the country. Because only five percent of CRC cases are due to known gene defects, this NIH-funded study is designed to identify the remaining CRC-related susceptibility genes.
While the overall School of Medicine study looked at families with colon cancer and colon polyps, the study also analyzed families with different clusters of cancer, such as CRC with multiple polyps and CRC with breast cancer. These different phenotypes appeared to link to different chromosomal regions, which the study teams says supports the idea of multiple susceptibility genes causing different types of cancers. These links will be further investigated in the next phase of the study. Read more.
Social Work Students Contribute About 225,000 Hours of Community Service
Students at Case Western Reserve's Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences have tallied up some 224,336 hours of community service for this academic year through their required field education experiences.
When the Office of Field Education began adding up service hours for Grover "Cleve" Gilmore, the school's dean, the final figure staggered him. He had been proudly using the number of 125,000 hours a year from a previous audit of placement service.
Students currently perform community service in nine states, and in Ohio, people in 52 cities benefit from the students' social service activities. Read more.
Campus News
Nominations are now being accepted for the Dorothy M. Pijan Student Leadership Awards. Over 20 different awards are available to recognize outstanding students, advisers and organizations. Deadline is March 18.
Campus community members interested in new or relaxing reading material in time for spring break are invited to browse the CPL@Case-KSL collection of popular magazines, books and audio books. A partnership between the Cleveland Public Library and Case Western Reserve's Kelvin Smith Library, the collection may be borrowed with a Greater Access library card; users can review the collection and apply for the Greater Access card at KSL.
For Faculty and Staff
The Office of Equal Opportunity announces important faculty Affirmative Action procedure changes. Case Western Reserve is required by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) guidelines to maintain specific summary information about the search process, applicants and hires. Effective immediately, the university is updating the manner in which faculty search information is submitted to the Office of Equal Opportunity. The following data requirements must be adhered to and submitted in total to the Faculty Diversity Office for the granting of Affirmative Action approval. Failure to comply could have costly implications for any contracts with the federal government: The information that has been reported on forms #3B and #3B1 will now be submitted in an Excel spreadsheet and sent electronically via e-mail to the office. The full memo of amended instructions can be found on the Affirmative Action forms page. Contact Beth McGee at 368-4299 or Amanda Shaffer at 368-8874 for information or additional assistance with the process.
For Students
Undergraduate students who have participated in undergraduate research, a creative project and/or a capstone experience during the past 12 months are invited to present their research at the Intersections: SOURCE Symposium & Poster Session on April 18. The deadline to register and submit an abstract is March 21. Students who completed their work off campus at another institution also are invited to register.
Volunteer opportunities are available for students interested in tutoring and mentoring high school students. Volunteers will provide free ACT exam tutoring to John Hay High School and Cleveland School of the Arts students for two hours a week through April. If interested, send email to Diane Lui.
Events
Paul Ferguson, the university's director of jazz studies, will lead the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra at 8 p.m., March 8 at the Cleveland Bop Stop. Admission fee. The concert will feature music from his new music CD, Jazz Vespers.
Refer to the Web event calendar for a list of events and activities on campus and in the community today and in the days ahead.
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Professor of Law and Bioethics Sharona Hoffman has been appointed to serve as a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors, Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Senior forward Ashley Horton has been named the University Athletic Association Co-Athlete of the Week this week for women's basketball. She finished her collegiate career as one of the top post-players in Spartan women's basketball history. Read more.
Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges annually recognizes outstanding students at nearly 2,400 higher education institutions. Students were eligible for this honor based on a minimum of 75 credit hours and a 3.4 grade point average, and were selected based on their participation and leadership in academic and extracurricular activities, citizenship and service to the university, and potential for further achievement. Read the list of Case students who are part of the 2008 edition.
