Trachtenberg
to Become President Emeritus and University
Professor in 2007 | Former
President, First Lady to Keynote Commencement
2006 | President’s
Medal Awarded to Croatian Minister | Clark,
Team Unearth Oldest Tyrannosaur | Dance
Professors Unveil New Works | Elliot
Hirshman Named Chief Research Officer | World
Leaders Visit GW | Wake-Up
Call | Fostering
Women’s Leadership | Cheney
Cardiovascular Institute Announced | Faculty
Focus | George
Welcomes | At
A Glance | GW
in History | A
Faculty for Writing
Trachtenberg
to Become President Emeritus and
University Professor in 2007
In April, GW President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
announced that he will become president emeritus
and a University professor of public service
when his current contract ends in the summer
of 2007. He has served as president since 1988
and also is professor of public administration.
“Serving as head of this special University
has had my undivided attention for nearly 20
years,” Trachtenberg says. “I’m
now exchanging my first love for my second;
it’s
the American thing to do. I want to test the
hypothesis that those who can do—can
also teach.”
Trachtenberg will be the University’s first
president emeritus. His work and studies in
his new positions will focus on rethinking and
reshaping higher education.
“I expect to study where American universities
are headed in the 21st century,” Trachtenberg
says. “This is not the type of scholarship
that can be undertaken while trying to actively
lead a major university.”
GW Board of Trustees Chairman Charles T. Manatt
expressed enthusiasm that Trachtenberg will continue
to serve the GW community and named several highlights
of Trachtenberg’s presidency, including
the creation of five new schools, a rise in applications
from 6,000 to more than 20,000 per year, and
enhancing the University’s position and
positive reputation as Washington’s center
of scholarship.
“Steve has not only firmly established
the University as a premier institution of higher
education, he has strategically charted the University’s
course for the future,” Manatt says.
The Board of Trustees will acknowledge the
transition at its May 19 meeting. The University
will begin searching for a new president
in the coming months.
Former
President, First Lady to Keynote Commencement
2006
Former President George Herbert Walker
Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush
will be the featured speakers at GW’s
Commencement 2006. The Bushes will receive
honorary degrees in recognition of their
decades of public service. Viacom founder
Sumner Redstone, Motion Picture Association
President Dan Glickman, JD ’69,
and Washington Nationals Manager Frank
Robinson also will receive honorary degrees
during the weekend—Redstone
at Commencement, Glickman at the Law School
ceremony, and Robinson at the Columbian College
of Arts and Sciences celebration. Commencement
will be held May 21 on the National Mall. |
President’s Medal
Awarded to Croatian Minister
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Julie Woodford
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Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, minister of foreign
affairs and European integration of the Republic
of Croatia, received the University’s President’s
Medal in February. GW President Stephen Joel
Trachtenberg and Elliott School
of International Affairs Dean Michael Brown hosted
the event, which took place at 1957 E Street.
The award is the University’s highest honor.
Born in Croatia, Grabar-Kitarovic studied at
GW from 2002 to 2003 as a Fulbright Scholar.
In November of 2003, she was elected to the
Croatian Parliament from the seventh electoral
district as a member of the Croatian Democratic
Union. In December 2003 she was appointed
Minister of European Integration and began
negotiations in 2004 for Croatia to join
the European Union. Grabar-Kitarovic was
confirmed in her current role in February
2005.
Clark, Team Unearth Oldest
Tyrannosaur
A team of paleontologists led by a GW professor
have discovered the oldest tyrannosaur, a distant
ancestor of Tyrannosaurus
rex, in northwestern
China. In February, James Clark, the Ronald Weintraub
associate professor of biology, and colleague
Xing Xu of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology
and Paleoanthropology in Beijing published their
findings in Nature. In 2002, the team found largely
intact fossils of a 12-year-old adult and 7-year-old
juvenile dinosaur in the 160 million year old
rocks at Wucaiwan. After years of research, Clark
and his team now know more about the evolution
of the T. rex than ever before.
Guanlong wucaii, the oldest tyrannosaur
and a distant ancestor of Tyrannosaurus
rex, was discovered in China by a team
led by professor James Clark. The species
is smaller, swifter, and has longer limbs
than its predatory, slow-moving descendant.
Guanlong’s most remarkable feature
is the inflatable, bony crest atop its
snout. Clark theorizes this feature was
used to attract mates or to aid in species
recognition.
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The new species, Guanlong
wucaii, predates T.
rex by more than 90 million years and is remarkably
different from its large, lumbering, short-limbed,
predatorial descendants. It was swift, long-limbed,
mid-sized, and not the dominant predator of its
day. Guanlong wucaii—or “crown dragon
from the land of five colors”—is
so named for the Wucaiwan locality and because
of the unique, inflatable bony crest atop its
snout, an unusual feature in carnivorous dinosaurs.
The crest was a thin membrane covering an air-filled
sac; Clark believes the purpose of these was
probably for visual signaling.
Guanlong does have attributes similar to T.
rex, including similarly shaped cutting teeth
and a variety of bony features on its skull
and hip bones. The discovery of Guanlong also sheds light on the early evolution and
geographical distribution of coelurosaurs,
small theropod (carnivorous, small-limbed
biped) dinosaurs that include tyrannosaurs
and the closest known relatives to birds.
The team found many fossils including Guanlong in the Junggar Basin, an area in the far western
part of the Gobi desert. They chose to search
in that area because Chinese geologists previously
found fossils there in the 1970s while searching
for oil. A Chinese-Canadian expedition later
found intriguing fossil remains there.
“You depend on previous discoveries,” Clark
said at a news conference in February. Clark
has led teams on six expeditions in China since
2000. China has been good to Clark and his colleagues:
In 2004, Nature published their finding of the
most complete skeleton of a land-based crocodilian
from the Middle Jurassic period and also from
the Wucaiwan area. Junggarsuchus
sloani is an
important evolutionary link; the new species
confirmed that crocodilians’ skull and
strong jaws developed while they lived on land,
before evolving into semi-aquatic dwellers. After
that discovery was published, Clark said he still
had “decades of work” left on remaining
samples found in China. Guanlong was just waiting
to be found.
—Laura Ewald
Dance Professors Unveil
New Works
|
Professor Maida
Withers accepts the D.C. Mayor's Arts
Award for Excellence in Dance.
Professor Dana Tai Soon Burgess (standing)
in Images from the
Embers.
Mary Noble Ours
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Professors Dana Tai Soon Burgess, MFA ‘94,
and Maida Withers each premiered new international
works in the spring semester. Withers also received
the D.C. Mayor’s Award for Excellence in
dance in January. A celebration was held for
recipients at the John F. Kennedy Center for
the Performing Arts.
Burgess presented Images
from the Embers, an
evening-length performance about love and loss
during wartime, at GW’s Lisner Auditorium
in March. The work was commissioned by the Washington
Performing Arts Society. Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Co.
will take the piece to Lima, Peru, and Bytom
and Krakow, Poland, this summer.
Withers is the founder of the Maida Withers
Dance Construction Company, which has presented
original dance and multimedia works since 1974.
Withers collaborates with artists internationally,
recently performing in Russia and bringing Russian
artists to Washington to study and perform Thresholds
Crossed. Withers joined GW in 1965 and has
received numerous awards including a Fulbright
Travel Award to Taiwan. She previously directed
the master of fine arts in dance program and
now teaches undergraduates.
Elliot Hirshman Named Chief
Research Officer
GW’s expanding research enterprise took
a giant step forward in January, when Elliot
Hirshman was named the University’s chief
research officer.
Elliot Hirshman, chief research officer.
Julie Woodford
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A cognitive neuroscientist, Hirshman came to
GW in 2002 as chair of psychology and was chosen
last year to serve as interim chief research
officer, a newly created management position.
Earlier in his career, he chaired the department
of psychology
at the University of Colorado at Denver
and spent more than a decade at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, rising steadily
through the ranks to professor of psychology
and special assistant to the provost.
The author of
more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles
and conference presentations, Hirshman specializes
in the cognitive and biological basis of human
memory. He received a BA in economics and mathematics
from Yale University and an MA and PhD in cognitive
psychology from the University of California
at Los Angeles.
As GW’s first chief research officer, Hirshman
is responsible for the University’s extensive
research operations, encompassing more than 70
specialized research centers and institutes and
sponsored research expenditures of $120 million
per year. “Our approximately 1,000-member
faculty is deeply engaged in research and creative
activity,” says Hirshman. “My primary
responsibility is to ensure that the research
enterprise flourishes, with the ultimate goal
of moving GW into the ranks of top-tier research
institutions. This involves procuring a broad
array of resources that are necessary to support
research, as well as fostering a general climate
that is supportive of research.”
Hirshman works collaboratively with the deans
of GW’s schools and colleges, as well as
with a wide range of University offices, to ensure
that faculty researchers secure appropriate resources. “Moving
forward, it will also be critical to solicit
donations to support research from alumni and
other friends of the University,” he says.
According to Hirshman, GW’s sponsored research
enterprise has doubled from $60 million to $120
million since 1997. “This has resulted
from the entrepreneurial energy of our faculty,
the strong support of University leaders and
academic deans, the dedicated efforts of our
research support staff, and a national funding
climate that has been extremely supportive,” he
says.
A number of
pressing items top GW’s research
agenda for the near future. “Building a
science building is essential to our ability
to grow the research enterprise,” states
Hirshman. “Similarly, raising or re-allocating
additional funds to support innovative research
projects is essential. It is also critical to
enhance collaboration across schools and colleges
so we can be competitive for interdisciplinary
research funding and to create a critical mass
of faculty members in selected areas so we can
be competitive for large-scale center grants.” Hirshman
says that he’s enjoying the challenge. “It’s
been very exciting to learn about the innovative
research programs that are occurring in all of
our schools and colleges,” he states. “The
research enterprise is a critical aspect of the
life of The George Washington University. Research
raises the prestige and national profile of the
University, exposes our students to cutting-edge
knowledge and technology, facilitates the training
of students for professional opportunities, and
contributes to economic growth through the technology
transfer process. I am honored to serve as GW’s
CRO and excited about the opportunity to work
with our faculty and administrators in supporting
research at GW.”
—Jamie L. Freedman
World
Leaders Visit GW
|
Associate
Vice President for Homeland
Security Frank Cilluffo; Eduard
Kukan, minister of foreign
affairs; School of Medicine
and Health Sciences Dean James
Scott; Prime Minister of the
Republic of Slovakia Mikulas
Dzurinda; Provost John F. “Skip” Williams;
Ambassador to Slovakia Rodolphe
M. “Skip” Vallee;
GW Hospital CEO Richard Becker;
and Rastislav Kacer, ambassador
of the Republic of Slovakia
to the United States.
President George W. Bush, right, is greeted by GW President Stephen Joel
Trachtenberg after delivering a policy address on campus.
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President George W. Bush and Prime
Minister of Slovakia Mikulas Dzurinda
paid separate visits to GW March 13,
drawing international attention to
the University.
Bush spoke at an event of the Foundation
for Defense Democracies, outlining the
work that organization has done to help
rebuild Iraq. Bush also discussed his
administration’s plans to address
challenges in the rebuilding process.
The address, which was held in the Marvin
Center, was attended by Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld; Sen. Richard
Luger (R-Ind.), chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee; and ambassadors
from several countries.
Dzurinda toured GW Hospital and met
with GW Medical Center administrators
to discuss global cooperation and advanced
medical technologies. The talks focused
on implementing medical progress, education,
and health reform in Slovakia. |
Wake-Up Call
GW Developing
Program to Prevent Drowsy Driver Accidents
Each year, driver fatigue plays a role in more
than 100,000 crashes, causing more than 40,000
injuries and deaths, according to the National
Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
The GW Virginia Campus’ Driving Simulator
Laboratory, part of the University’s Center
for Intelligent Systems Research, conducts driving
behavior and vehicle control experiments aimed
at making vehicle travel safer. One such effort
is the Drowsy Driver Detection System, through
which researchers track and classify normal and
drowsy steering behaviors using artificial neural
networks that mimic brain function.
Detecting signs of driver fatigue is
among several projects run in the Driving
Simulator Laboratory at the University’s
Virginia Campus. GW graduate students assist
with gathering data from the simulator.
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Azim Eskandarian, professor of engineering
and applied science, began the project in 1998
under a contract for the Turner-Fairbank Highway
Research Center of the Federal Highway Administration.
The initial phase involved analyzing data gathered
on sleep-deprived drivers by the FHWA and the
Army’s Walter Reed Hospital using a driving
simulator. Driver and vehicle variables that
were measured included braking, speed, acceleration,
lane control, and steering activity. Eye movement
was analyzed in subsequent phases.
Data gathered in simulator and processed by
the artificial neural networks were used to create
a framework for an unobtrusive detection method,
which created steering angle activity during
driving, thus detecting or predicting whether
the driver is drowsy. During the second and third
phases of the project, Eskandarian worked with
his team and with students on the Virginia Campus,
developing its Passenger Car Driving Simulator
Lab and gathering another sleep deprived driver
data set. This set was different from the first
in that it involved a morning session test and
a late evening (or very early morning) session
test which created the sleep deprived condition.
With support from the Federal Motor Career Safety
Administration of the Department of Transportation,
a Truck Driving Simulator Laboratory also was
established. Fourteen commercially licensed drivers
were tested in a similar manner to drivers in
the car simulator experiments. The results of
these experiments were used to further develop,
verify, and validate the detection system.
In all three data sets, the detection system
achieved an 86 to 91 percent success rate in
the detection of drowsy driving patterns. Eye
monitoring in the second and third phases increased
detection accuracy by about 5 percent; however,
Eskandarian hopes to optimize unobtrusive detection
without the use of eye monitoring as much as
possible. If Eskandarian and his team are successful
in gaining additional funding for the project,
the next step will be field/track testing and
working toward increasing the accuracy of the
detection system.
“Reliable, robust, and error-free detection” remains
the project’s primary goal, Eskandarian
says. Once the detection method has been perfected,
the team might move on to develop a warning system
to alert the driver—or the vehicle itself—that
drowsy steering patterns are being displayed.
“When an unobtrusive detection method
is developed and integrated with the appropriate
warning strategy, a complete system can be
envisioned. Such a system would be installed
in the vehicle and use the vehicle variables
such as steering angle and, based on the developed
algorithms, anticipate a potentially hazardous
situation and execute the warning to alert the
driver,” Eskandarian
says. “In more critical situations when
a crash is eminent, warning could take the
form of active control for stopping or steering
the vehicle to safety—yet another area
of active research. However, the legal issue
concerning taking vehicle controls is a totally
larger challenge—and
sometimes the main showstopper—in collision
avoidance technologies.”
—LE
Fostering Women’s
Leadership
The personal and professional challenges facing
women in the 21st century took center stage at
the 2006 Women’s Leadership Conference, “Listen,
Speak, Act,” on April 7 at GW’s Mount
Vernon Campus.
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Attendees at this year’s Women’s
Leadership Conference, held at the Mount
Vernon Campus, experienced a day of motivational
dicussions on topics such as career building
and development and leadership skills.
Julie Woodford
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The fourth annual intergenerational conference
celebrating women leaders brought together speakers
and presenters from various professions and backgrounds
to discuss topics such as career building and
development and developing leadership skills.
Janis Karpinski, the author of One
Woman’s
Army, kicked off the forum with a keynote speech
on her experiences as a brigadier general in
the U.S. Army Reserve. Now retired, Karpinski
was the commanding officer in charge of Abu Ghraib
Prison in Iraq. She has accused the government
of interfering with her command, concealing the
torture of prisoners from her, and of scapegoating
her during the ensuing scandal.
The keynote speaker at the conference luncheon
was Laura A. Liswood, co-founder and secretary
general of the Council of Women World Leaders
and senior advisor to Goldman, Sachs & Co.
From 1992 to 1996, as director of the Women’s
Leadership Project, Liswood interviewed 15 current
and former women presidents and prime ministers
for her book and video documentary, Women
World Leaders.
Other featured presenters included Linda S.
Paulk, MVC ’84, former president of the renowned
staffing firm Snelling and Snelling, who led
a professional development session titled “Getting
the Next Job,” and prominent researchers
Gail Derrick, MA ’88, EdD ’01, Ronald
R. Bernier, and Amanda Konradi, who discussed
their findings on women’s leadership.
“We’re excited that the conference
took on a more scholarly bent this year,” says
Rachelle Heller, associate dean for academic
affairs on the Mount Vernon Campus. “For
the first time, we offered research presentations
on women’s leadership. They were a great
addition to an already exceptional program.”
Another highlight of the conference was a coffee
house panel discussion on women’s issues,
featuring Allida Black, PhD ’92, GW professor
and director and editor of the Eleanor Roosevelt
Papers; Stephanie Jason, MVC ’93, principle
at the International Forum Institute; Anne Whiteman,
air traffic controller at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport;
and Leslie Harris, MVC ’99, co-founder
of Sojourner Truth Charter High School for Humanities
and Technology.
According to Heller, the springtime conference
is now an eagerly anticipated annual tradition
on the Mount Vernon Campus. “I’m
exceptionally proud that this is quickly becoming
a world-class conference on issues of women leadership,” she
says. “Thanks to our unique position of
being able to look backwards and forwards at
the same time, the forum is getting better and
better each year.”
—JLF
Cheney Cardiovascular
Institute Announced
David R. Bohrer
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GW’s Medical Faculty Associates has received
a $2.7 million charitable contribution from Vice
President Richard B. Cheney and Lynne V. Cheney
to establish a cardiovascular institute. The
mission of the Richard B. and Lynne V. Cheney
Cardiovascular Institute is the advancement of
research, education, and the clinical care of
cardiovascular diseases. Directed by Dr. Richard
Katz, the institute unifies clinicians and scientists
in departments including cardiology, radiology,
cardiovascular surgery, biochemistry, molecular
biology, and pharmacology. One of the institute’s
first initiatives will be identifying the significance
of genomics and proteomics in cardiovascular
disease.
“Lynne and I have been grateful for the
first-rate care provided by the doctors at The
George Washington University Medical Faculty
Associates and we are pleased to support their
efforts to advance the treatment of cardiac disease,” Cheney
said.
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