@Stanford: A Monthly Newsletter of Campus
News, Research and Events
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March 21, 2004
Stanford News
Sandra Day O'Connor to deliver commencement address
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will be the 2004 Commencement
speaker. O'Connor earned her bachelor's degree from Stanford in 1950 and her
law degree from Stanford Law School in 1952.
Greenspan: Protecting ideas is key to economy
As America's economy shifts from emphasizing the production of material goods
to the creation of ideas, intellectual property rights have assumed increasing
importance, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Feb. 27 at the
inaugural economic summit hosted by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy
Research.
A fresh approach at Tresidder
Sophomore Tom Hurlbutt doesn't mind standing in a long line at Tresidder Union
anymore. After all, it holds the promise of paradise. Paradise Pizza, that is,
one of several new dining options in the newly renovated student center.
Does voting need a paper trail?
Electronic voting machines make David Dill nervous. "If the machine silently
loses or changes the vote, the voter has no clue that that has happened," says
Dill, a professor of computer science. He argues that electronic voting
machines should print a paper copy of the ballot, which the voter can inspect
and which could be used in a recount.
GPS inventor inducted into hall of fame
Professor Bradford Parkinson, co-inventor with the late Ivan Getting of the
Global Positioning System (GPS), will be inducted into the National Inventors
Hall of Fame on May 1 in Akron, Ohio. Parkinson is among 20 honorees whose
accomplishments range from the discovery and identification of HIV to the
advent of advanced electronics.
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Research
In search of the perfect baby
Nowadays prospective parents who rely on in vitro fertilization to conceive
can not only learn the sex of their unborn child but also find out whether it
is at risk to develop breast cancer or Huntington's disease -- all before the
embryo gets implanted into the mother's womb. "What I think the public doesn't
understand is that this technology is not in the distant future," said
Stanford law professor Hank Greely, kicking off a Feb. 27 conference on
pre-implantation genetic diagnosis.
Stanford joins Israel-Jordan partnership
Stanford and Cornell University will collaborate on a research center located
on the Israel-Jordan border as part of an effort to encourage scientific
partnerships between Arab and Israeli students. The governments of Jordan and
Israel have agreed to set aside 150 acres for construction of the
environmental research center, known as the Bridging the Rift Center.
Poor children thrive in quality child care centers, study shows
Poor preschool children enrolled in high-quality child care centers develop
early reading skills faster than those placed in home-based care, a new
Stanford study reveals. The research is based on a multiyear study of the
children of single mothers who entered the workforce after the welfare reforms
of 1996. It was published Feb. 10 in the journal Child Development.
Hormone study halted; patients told to stop treatment
A portion of the national Women's Health Initiative study dealing with
estrogen therapy was halted March 1 by the National Institutes of Health a
year before its scheduled conclusion. Researchers were concerned that the
estrogen increased the risk of stroke while offering no protection against
heart disease. Complete data from the trial will be published in mid-April.
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Features
The Full Monty
Embracing rather than lamenting Stanford's unflinching admission policies,
men's basketball coach Mike Montgomery has built what nobody thought was
possible: a powerhouse program. Not bad for a guy who expected to be a high
school P.E. teacher.
A who's who, on the record
The voices include every U.S. president since Herbert Hoover, foreign leaders
from Charles de Gaulle to Corazon Aquino, scientists like Jacques Cousteau and
Carl Sagan, entertainers like Joan Baez and Cecil B. DeMille. They are all
part of a collection of speeches spanning nearly 100 years recently acquired
from the Commonwealth Club by the Hoover Institution.
New evidence suggests remains may not be Romanovs
A team led by Stanford scientist Alec Knight has cast doubt on a 1994 report
that claims to have identified the remains of the Romanovs, Russia’s last
royal family, executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
Memorial Church, an alternative vision
Jane Stanford had her religious beliefs literally carved into the church's
sandstone walls. Among them are these words: "Whichever form of religion
offers the greatest comfort, the greatest solace, is the form which should be
adopted." So it comes as a shock to see a watercolor sketch of an alternate
version of the church's facade, now on display at the Museo ItaloAmericano in
San Francisco. In the sketch, figures rise from tombstones. A Christ figure at
the top of the scene is surrounded by kneeling figures and raises a hand not
in blessing but in judgment. To his left, damned souls tumble headlong into
flames and the outstretched wings of a fanged dragon while sword-wielding
angels beat them back from Heaven.
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Sports
Stanford women advance
The sixth-seeded Cardinal defeated No. 3-seed Oklahoma in Tempe, Ariz., on
March 22.
Men's team comes up short in NCAA tournament
A magical season ended abruptly March 20 when Alabama stunned Stanford, 70-67,
in the second round.
The latest Cardinal scores
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On the Move
William E. "Bill" Brigham, a professor emeritus of petroleum engineering, died
of liver cancer at his campus home Feb. 15. He was 74.
James N. Rosse, provost from 1984 to 1992, died Feb. 16 in Newport Beach,
Calif., of a pulmonary condition. Rosse, 72, a resident of Irvine, Calif., had
been hospitalized following a sudden illness.
Susan Moller Okin, a renowned political philosopher, was found dead at her
home in Lincoln, Mass., on March 3. She was 57.
Other obituaries: http://news-service.stanford.edu/people/obit.html
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Heard on Campus
"People say it looked off-balance, but I got a good look at it, a good
release, and God caught it and put it in."
Matt Lottich, speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle about his miraculous
3-point shot that gave Stanford a 63-61 victory against Washington State on
March 4.
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Web Watch
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About @Stanford
This newsletter was prepared by the Stanford News Service and the Stanford Alumni Association.
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