Four Awarded John S. Diekhoff Award for Graduate Teaching and Mentoring

The Diekhoff Award honors John S. Diekhoff, who served Case Western Reserve University in several capacities from 1956 to 1970.

The Diekhoff Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the education of graduate students through advising and classroom teaching. The annual award has been presented to two full-time faculty members who epitomize what it means to mentor graduate students: to connect them with experts in their discipline, engage them academically in a forthright and collegial manner, and actively promote their professional development. In 2009, the award was expanded to also recognize two full-time faculty members who excel in the teaching of graduate students.

This year's winners are Daniel Goldmark, Susan Hinze, Barbara Lewis and Mendel Singer. They will receive their awards during the university's commencement convocation. Read more.

Engineering and Music Major
Named Fulbright Scholar

David Ramsay is a double major in electrical engineering and music, with a minor in biomedical engineering. He'll soon be combining those pursuits with another. He was recently selected to receive a Fulbright Scholarship.

Ramsay will spend the fall at the Dublin Institute of Technology, where he plans to build an interface that will allow a disabled person to play a musical synthesizer.

Really play.

"This is a different approach than most," Ramsay said. "The interfaces out there now are something therapeutic...but not musically complicated."

"I want to enable people to express themselves musically." Read more.

Local Food Being Grown
at University Farm

As part of a new initiative at the University Farm, a SAGES class that recently wrapped up was at the forefront of growing local food.

Harvested produce is now available in all Bon Appetit cafes at Case Western Reserve University.

Discussions on a farming partnership between Case Western Reserve and Bon Appetit began last fall. Members of the class made recommendations to the University Farm.

Ana Locci, University Farm director, said the goal of the farming initiative is to provide new educational opportunities to faculty and students; to study local food production in a sustainable way using mostly organic methods; and to deliver fresh food to the campus community. Read more.

Campus News

The Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities has extended the deadline for applications for the 2011 Spring Baker-Nord Seminar, Globalism and its Origins. The deadline is May 12. Go online and click on "Grant Opportunities" for information and an application.

In celebration of Get Active America Week, 1-2-1 Fitness Center is free to all guests May 3-9. Enjoy more than 50 group exercise classes, fitness contests, health screenings and all the amenities provided by the facility voted "Cleveland's Best Gym.

The Protein Expression Purification Crystallization Core (PEPCC) in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics has purchased a Biacore T-100 on behalf of researchers in the Cleveland area. The Biacore T-100 is a surface plasmon resonance-based instrument that provides label-free protein-protein interaction anaylsis. The T-100 will be housed in the The PEPCC under the direction of Assistant Professor Harry Gill in collaboration with GE Healthcare specialist Eric Roush. A Biacore Basics Lecture is from 3 to 6 p.m. May 20, and hands-on training takes place 9 a.m. to noon May 21, both in the Robbins Building E501. Contact Gill by e-mail or by phone at 368-8962 for more information and to register.

For Faculty and Staff

Adobe software has long been strategic to Case Western Reserve's mission of fostering advancement of relevant, universally accepted digital communication skills and enhancing learning by integrating technology into coursework. A new agreement between Adobe software and the university has allowed for Adobe Production, Web and Design Premium suites to be available on the Software Center at no cost. You need to be wired on campus to perform this download; do not use wireless or VPN/wireless from home. Complete details are available online. The software is now available to faculty and staff beginning today.Case Western Reserve is the second university in the country to make the software available to all faculty, staff and students.

The deadline to submit claims for reimbursement from 2009 Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) is June 30. Claims must be for eligible health care and/or dependent care expenses incurred between January 1 and December 31, 2009.  Completed claim forms and proper expense documentation should be mailed to: Meritain Health, P.O. Box 22033,Lansing, Michigan 48909-2033; alternatively claims can be submitted electronically to the email address flexconveniencecard@meritain.com or by fax to (716) 541-6772. The Health and Dependent Care FSA claim form is available online, as well as information about the spending account programs. Call Benefits Administration at 368-6781 or Meritain Health at (877) 801-1500 with questions.

For Students

The Civic Engagement Summer Fellows Program, made possible through generous support from the John P. Murphy Foundation, provides an intensive, full-time summer service learning opportunity for Case Western Reserve University undergraduates. Students work with Cleveland area nonprofit organizations for six hours Monday-Thursday and participate in seminars on Fridays focusing on community and social issues. The stipend for the eight-week fellowship is $2,200. Go to the Center for Civic Engagement and Learning website for details.

The application deadline has been extended for Summer Short-Term Study Abroad offered by the Department of Bioethics. Courses include August 2-13 in The Netherlands, and July 18- August 7 in India. Contact Michelle L. Champoir, director of International Education Programs for the Department of Bioethics, at 368-5377.

Events

The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage is hosting a panel discussion on Reclaiming Holocaust Art: Past, Present, and Future at 7 p.m., Tuesday, May 11. Panelists include Patty Gerstenblith, distinguished research professor of law at DePaul University College of Law and founding president of the Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation; Steven Litt, art and architecture critic for The Plain Dealer; and Howard Spiegler, partner at Herrick, Feinstein LLP and plaintiffs' counsel in some of the most high profile art restitution cases worldwide. Tickets are $10 for the general public/$8 for museum members.

Hunter Cherwek, medical director for ORBIS International, is coming to campus on Friday, May 7, to discuss his mission of preventing avoidable blindness across the globe. Cherwek joined the ORBIS staff as an ophthalmologist on the Flying Eye Hospital in June 2005. The lecture begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Wolstein Research Building. Suggested donation is $5, and refreshments will be served. Proceeds will benefit ORBIS International. A formal dinner also is taking place later the same evening. Contact the Case for Sight executive committee by e-mail.

University Hospitals is hosting a four-week class on Meditation 101 at the W.O. Walker Building on Euclid Avenue. The classes are led by Francoise Adan, a psychiatrist in the Mood Disorders Program. The next class cycles begin today and Thursday, May 6. Call (216) 844-2400 for cost and registration information.

The views and opinions of those invited to speak on campus do not necessarily reflect the views of the university administration or any other segment of the university community.

Et al.

Support of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE) announces the following 2010 Intersections: SOURCE Symposium & Poster Session winners.

Engineering Poster Competition

• 1st – Samuel Geiger, Synthesis and Properties of Polyetheramine-Based Main Chain Benzoxazine Polymers. Faculty mentors: Professor Hatsuo Ishida and Professor Tarek Agag, Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering. Professor Syed Qutubuddin, Department of Chemical Engineering.
• 2nd - Ashley Gan, Chemical Bath Deposition of CdS and TiO2 Semiconductor Sensitized Solar Cells. Faculty Mentor: Professor Mark DeGuire, Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Nursing Poster Competition

• 1st – Amy Catalani and Emily Konen, Are You Positive You Are Negative: HIV Awareness in Parma, Ohio. Faculty mentor: Professor Rita Sfiligoj, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing.

Weatherhead School of Management Oral Competition

• 1st – Grace Bell, A Catalyst for Change: Impact of Electronic Medical Records and Meaningful Use Policies on American Health Systems. Faculty Mentor: Professor J.B. Silvers, Weatherhead School of Management, Health Systems Management Center.

Outstanding Interdisciplinary Project

• Alex Galante and Theodore Roman, In Silico Modeling of the WNT Signaling Network. Faculty mentors: Professors Mehmet Koyuturk, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Rob Ewing, Center for Proteomics and Bioinformatics.