New Superweapon in the Fight Against Cancer

Dr. Paula T. Hammond

TED Talks Live: Filmed November 2015

Dr. Paula T. Hammond is on the nano particle forefront of assembling and developing a superhero-type medical therapy to eliminate cancer in the body safely.  Her groundbreaking research is paving the way for new approaches to neutralizing and eliminating the most potent cancer types known. 

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Professor Hammond is the Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and David H. Koch Chair Professor in Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative CancerResearch, the MIT Energy Initiative and a founding member of the MITInstitute for Soldier Nanotechnology. She has recently been named the new head of the Department of Chemical Engineering (ChemE). She is the first woman and the first person of color appointed to the post. She also served as the Executive Officer (Associate Chair) of the Chemical Engineering Department (2008-2011).

Professor Hammond was elected into the 2013 Class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also the recipient of the 2013 AIChE Charles M. A. Stine Award, which is bestowed annually to a leading researcher in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of materials science and engineering, and the 2014 Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Chemical Engineering Research. She was also selected to receive the Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Teal Innovator Award in 2013. She has been listed in the prestigious Highly Cited Researchers 2014 list, published by Thomson Reuters in the Materials Science category. This list contains the world's most influential researchers across 21 scientific disciplines based on highly cited papers in the 2002-2012 period. She is also included in the report: The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds 2014.

Professor Hammond serves as an Associate Editor of the American Chemical Society Journal, ACS Nano. She has published over 250 scientific papers and holds over 20 patents based on her research at MIT. She was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Institute of Biological andMedical Engineers, and the American Chemical Society PolymerDivision. In 2010, she was named the Scientist of the Year by the Harvard Foundation.

Professor Hammond received her S.B. in Chemical Engineering from MIT (1984), and her M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Tech (1988), and earned her Ph.D. (1993) in Chemical Engineering from MIT.

As shared from TED Talks Live

Image credit: MIT Archives

An Executive Rennaissance Legacy

Cleve L. Killingsworth

Mr. Cleve L. Killingsworth has been in the healthcare industry for more than 30 years. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA), one of the largest independent, not-for-profit Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in the country. From 2005 to 2010, he led the company's efforts to elevate the quality of services and care delivered to its three million members. He worked collaboratively with a variety of healthcare stakeholders to reform and improve the healthcare delivery system. He joined BCBSMA in 2004 as president and chief operating officer.

Prior to heading BCBSMA, Mr. Killingsworth was president and CEO of the Health Alliance Plan (HAP) in Detroit, one of Michigan's largest managed care companies. Under his leadership, HAP provided value to its more than 500,000 members by fostering patient-centered relationships among healthcare delivery systems, practitioners, and health plans. In addition to his HAP leadership, Mr. Killingsworth served as the senior vice president of Insurance and Managed Care for the Henry Ford Health System. Prior to joining HAP, he served as president of Kaiser Permanente's Central East Division, which includes the Mid-Atlantic states and Ohio. In each position, Mr. Killingsworth developed overarching performance strategies to achieve significant improvements and identified growth opportunities.

Mr. Killingsworth earlier served as senior vice president of healthcare operations for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rochester, N.Y., where he oversaw medical affairs, utilization analysis, network development, and provider contracting for the healthcare operations group. While with Blue Cross, he was also president of the Genesee Valley Group Health Association. Additionally, he has served as the executive director of health information and data services with the American Hospital Association and gained hands-on hospital administration experience as associate administrator of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

He is currently a faculty member of the Harvard School of Public Health and serves on the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows. Mr. Killingsworth served as a lecturer at the School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Rochester Medical Center and as an adjunct professor in health services administration at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.
He participates in a variety of industry conferences and has emerged as an articulate voice for healthcare reform, particularly concerning more efficient management practices, information technology in healthcare, and the need to improve the quality and safety of medical care. In 2002, Northwood University honored Mr. Killingsworth as one of America's "Outstanding Business Leaders." In 2003, he received an honorary doctorate (doctor of laws, honoris causa) from Northwood.

He is a founding member of the Executive Leadership Council—an independent, non partisan, non-profit corporation in Washington, D.C., that provides African-American executives with a leadership advisory forum on business, economic, and public policy issues. He serves on the boards of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Carroll School of Management at Boston College, Jobs for Massachusetts, National Center for Healthcare Leadership, National Institute for Health Care Management, The United Way of Massachusetts Bay, and The Travelers Companies, Inc. Mr. Killingsworth is a trustee of Boston University and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He is an overseer of TIAA-CREF. He is also a board member of MITRE. Mr. Killingsworth academic credentials includes a Bachelor's of Science degree from MIT (Management '75) and a Master of Public Health degree from Yale University ('76).

Biography resource: shared from MITRE
Image Credit: Cleve L. Killingsworth

A Tradition of Architectural Superlatives

Diane J. Hoskins

FAIA
Co-CEO, Gensler

Over 120 + years after the pioneering MIT architect Robert R. Taylor became the architectural director and master builder of Tuskegee Institute's signature buildings, Diane J. Hoskins is trailblazing another legacy of her own through leading the prestigious architectural firm - Gensler. Diane's professional accomplishments are exemplified throughout the complex and multi-dimensional arenas of architecture, design, real estate, and business.

Known as a contemporary model of the master architect, Hoskins's career has elevated the field of architecture and design through introducing groundbreaking programs in research, talent development, technology, sustainable design, strategic planning and client performance. She is known throughout the industry as a leading thought leader and innovative thinker, and she has been instrumental in Gensler's growth in becoming the largest architecture and design firm in the world. A sought after speaker and corporate strategist, Hoskins is her industry's authoritative voice on workplace design and research innovation. She is active in her community, and has been honored for her work promoting expanded opportunities for young people throughout her region.

Diane is one of two Gensler Co-CEOs, whose collaborative leadership model sets itself apart in the marketplace as a leading global design firm through its innovation strategies. A hands-on leader, Diane oversees Gensler’s global platform and its day-to-day operations, some 5,000+ people networked across 46 offices, serving clients in 120+ countries. Diane is focused on Gensler’s global talent strategies, performance and organizational development to ensure that we serve our clients with the world’s top talent. She is Vice Chair of Gensler’s Board of Directors and the catalyst for Gensler’s Research program, for which Diane is committed to delivering value to clients through strategies and innovations like Gensler’s Workplace Performance Index® (WPI). A Registered Architect, she graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (S.B. '79, Architecture) and holds an MBA ('87) from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA.

Diane received an Outstanding Impact Award from the Council of Real Estate Women and is both a Regent of the American Architectural Foundation and a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Her insights have appeared in the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, The Washington Post and The Economist; and she was a featured speaker at Bloomberg Businessweek’s CEO Conference. In her role as Co-CEO, Diane is one of the key contributors to what is acknowledged, by its peers, to be the most admired and largest architecture firm in the world, pioneering project types and design innovation strategies for the next century.

Excerpt from LinkedIn and Gensler respectively. Image Credit: Gensler

Distinguished Scholar, Scientist, Engineer, Faculty Member, & Mentor

Dr. James E. Hubbard, Jr.
Samuel P. Langley Distinguished Professor
University of Maryland, College Park
Director, Morpheus Laboratory
Director, Center for Adaptive Aerospace Vehicle Technology
National Institute of Aerospace

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

PhD, Mechanical Engineering, 1982

SM, Mechanical Engineering, 1979

SB, Mechanical Engineering, 1977

In 2009, Hubbard was recognized by American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) as one of the early pioneers of the field of Smart Structures. He has received numerous awards for teaching and mentoring excellence including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) Goodwin Medal for “Conspicuously Effective Teaching,” The M.I.T. Steward Award for “Outstanding Service to the Community,” and in 2002, he was awarded “The Key to the City” of his hometown of Danville, Va. for lifetime achievement and mentoring.

Over the years, he has received many awards for his application of smart materials including the Charles Stark Draper Engineering Vice Presidents Annual Award for Best Technical Patent and the 2002 Black Engineer of the Year President’s Award. During his career, he has participated on panels, chaired sessions and given plenary and keynote presentations at numerous conferences across the fields. In addition, he has more than 100 technical publications, 24 patents—U.S. and worldwide—in the areas of smart structures and photonics, and has served on numerous technical boards and committees including the American Helicopter Society (AHS), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AISS), and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in a career spanning some 30 years.

Excerpts cited from University of Maryland, A. James Clark, School of Engineering, Department of Aerospace Engineering

Distinguished Career Awards, Memberships, and Honors

National Academy of Engineering (NAE), Member – 2016

About NAE

Founded in 1964, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering is a private, independent, nonprofit institution that provides engineering leadership in service to the nation. Its mission is to advance the well-being of the nation by promoting a vibrant engineering profession and by marshalling the expertise and insights of eminent engineers to provide independent advice to the federal government on matters involving engineering and technology.

International Society for Optics and Photonics' (SPIE) 2016 Smart Structures and Materials Lifetime Achievement Award – 2016

About SPIE

SPIE is an international society advancing an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light.

American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Fellow – 2015

University of Maryland, Department of Aerospace Engineering – 2015

About ASME

ASME is a not-for-profit membership organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing, career enrichment, and skills development across all engineering disciplines, toward a goal of helping the global engineering community develop solutions to benefit lives and livelihoods. Founded in 1880 by a small group of leading industrialists, ASME has grown through the decades to include more than 130,000 members in 151 countries. Thirty-two thousand of these members are students.

Office of Naval Research's (ONR) Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) Award – 2015

University of Maryland, Department of Aerospace Engineering – 2015

About ONR

As an executive branch agency within the Department of Defense, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) supports the President's budget. ONR provides technical advice to the Chief of Naval Operations and the Secretary of the Navy. Three Aerospace Engineering faculty have received over $1.2 million in combined funding through the Office of Naval Research's (ONR) Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP). DURIP supports university research infrastructure essential to high-quality relevant research, providing funding for research instrumentation that is necessary to carry out cutting-edge research.

AmericanInstitute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Fellow – 2012

About AIAA

AIAA is the largest aerospace professional society in the world, serving a diverse range of more than 30,000 individual members from 88 countries, and 95 corporate members. AIAA members help make the world safer, more connected, more accessible, and more prosperous. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org, or follow us on Twitter @AIAA.

Image Credit, Dr. James E. Hubbard - University of Maryland

MIT Major Milestone

Dr. Jennifer N. Rudd is a distinguished internal medicine physician with 40 years of experience. She is an MIT graduate, SB 1968 (Life Sciences) and accomplished a milestone within MIT's illustrious history. Upon her graduation, she was one of two African American women to have been the first to graduate from MIT*, one hundred years after the first graduating class in 1868.**

Jennifer Rudd, SB 1968 (Life Sciences), MIT.   MD 1976, New Jersey Medical School (NJMS), resident in internal medicine NJMS (1976-1979; emergency room physician, 1980 & 1982-1983, and employee health physician, 1982 United Hospitals Medical Center (UHMC), Newark; consulting gastroenterologist, North Jersey Community Union Clinic, 1984-1987; various ongoing staff appointments Since 1983, including at United Healthcare Systems (formerly UHMC), East Orange General Hospital.  

* Extract from Technology and the Dream:Reflections on the Black Experience at MIT,
   1941-1999, Clarence G. Williams, Ph.D.

** https://libraries.mit.edu/_archives/timeline/

     MIT's first graduating class, The Source, Fourth Annual Catalogue and Programme of the
       Course of Instruction of the MIT, 1868-69, p.10.

     MIT Corporation Records (AC 278), box 2, vol. 2, pp. 135-136.

SCIENCE Magazine, AAAS Editorial: Einstein v. Roberts, by S.J. Gates Jr.

EDITORIAL

Einstein v. Roberts

S. J. Gates Jr.

Summary

In the recent U.S. Supreme Court hearing on A. Fisher v. the University of Texas about university admission policies regarding minority students, Chief Justice John Roberts asked, “What unique perspective does a minority student bring to a physics class?” As an African-American physicist researching string theory, and a teacher of university students since 1972, I have a response.

Excerpt...

In the recent U.S. Supreme Court hearing on A. Fisher v. the University of Texas about university admission policies regarding minority students, Chief Justice John Roberts asked, “What unique perspective does a minority student bring to a physics class?” As an African-American physicist researching string theory, and a teacher of university students since 1972, I have a response.

Issues related to race in the United States have created barriers since the nation's founding, determining which citizens experience benefits, and which deprivations. This problem is not new for physicists. Albert Einstein's essay “The Negro Question” includes “What…can the man of good will do to combat this deeply rooted prejudice? He must have the courage to set an example by word and deed, and must watch lest his children become influenced by this racial bias.” Einstein described racism as a “disease,” and he recommended principles to end discrimination, aligning with the O. Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, decision by the Supreme Court in 1954 to desegregate public schools.

“…a different perspective is an asset in science…”

Read the full article here in SCIENCE  

Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Author Information:

S. J. Gates, Jr. is a professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD, and a University System of Maryland Regents Professor.

A Legacy of Change

In the words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.....

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.....

The legacy of Dr. King beats within all of us. It lives within the hearts, minds, and souls of those that truly embrace, reference, and follow in his wake. One cannot be a leader unless they are able to follow in the footsteps of those before them. Dr. King's words are remnants of his civil rights work in the global sphere.....

A modern legacy is born every moment... One such soul is Dr. Shirley A. Jackson... She will be honored by President Obama in January 2016 with the nation's highest honor in science and technology.

The Daily Gazette

December 22, 2015

Schenectady, NY

TROY, NY — Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will receive the National Medal of Science, the highest scientific achievement given out by the U.S. government.

President Barack Obama will honor Jackson with the award at a ceremony in January 2016. The award recognizes scientists “deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical or engineering sciences.”

Jackson was the first black woman to earn a doctorate from the fabled Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She worked as a researcher in some of the most famous labs across the globe, including the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Bell Labs. She later became the first woman to head the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, under President Bill Clinton.

“I’m not done yet,” Jackson said at event in Troy earlier this month when asked about the biggest accomplishment in her career. “There are different phases in your career, and you try to leave something behind and do something meaningful in each phase.”

Jackson became the 18th president of RPI in 1999, again the first woman and African-American to hold the position. As president, she has led major fundraising initiatives and has expanded the campus’ physical footprint. She has also turned the school’s academic focus to merging disparate scientific fields.

During a talk with the Troy-area Chamber of Commerce this month, she discussed the school’s focus on bringing students and researchers across disciplines together to address large challenges. She also stressed the importance of a well-rounded education for budding doctors, engineers and scientists.

“With today’s problems there is no progress if one doesn’t bring people together from all disciplines ...” she said. “You can’t do anything if you don’t know anything, so we make sure our students have strong roots.”

The National Medal of Science was established by Congress in 1959 and has been awarded to 487 scientists and engineers since. Each year a panel of 12 scientists appointed by the president evaluate nominees for the award.

Jackson is no stranger to the White House. From 2009 to 2014, she served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. In 2014, Obama appointed her to co-chair his Intelligence Advisory Board, which assesses the nation’s intelligence activities.

But she still calls Troy home and seems intent on continuing the work of strengthening RPI’s reputation as one of the nation’s elite schools for science and engineering.

“If you can educate those who are going to erect our future and support those who through their discoveries and innovations will also create our future, then that’s a privilege,” she said at the chamber event.

Shared from

The Daily Gazette

Zachary Matson

Schenectady, NY