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Archive for the ‘Heard on Campus’ Category

‘Gangnam Style’ flash mob at the GSB

October 16th, 2012

Last week Stanford Report received a request to encourage members of the Stanford community to show up for a “mystery event” at the Knight Management Center. When the caller would not reveal the nature of the event, we took a wait-and-see attitude. It turns out that the mystery event was the Sloan Management Program’s class of 2013′s take on “Gangnam Style,” the hit song by South Korean rapper Psy.

STEN TAMKIVI, a GSB student, said their version of the video got about 10,000 hits over the weekend. “It has also gone quite viral in China, sporting 36,000 views and a lot of comments on Youku, their version of YouTube,” Tamkivi added in an email. Here’s the action, caught by CNN.

Stanford psychologist partners with ‘30 Rock’ actor

October 12th, 2012
Photo by Jason Anfinsen

'30 Rock' actor John Lutz. Photo by Jason Anfinsen

“Comedian JOHN LUTZ, who plays a sketch writer on the popular TV series 30 Rock, is often the fall guy for others’ mischief and the target of practical jokes on the show. So when I read in a recent Arts Beat blog entry about a new endeavor titled The Lutz Experiment, I naturally assumed he’d be the lead role in some sort of new reality TV show where he would eat strange and unusual foods, perform death-defying acts and, in general, test his emotional and physical limits,” LIA STEAKLEY, a social media producer for the Medical School, posted recently on the school’s SCOPE blog.

Jamil Zaki, assistant professor of psychology at Stanford

As it turns out, Lutz has teamed up with JAMIL ZAKI, assistant professor of psychology at Stanford, for a series of experiments and a book.

In that New York Times Arts Beat piece that Steakley refers to, Zaki describes Lutz as “the perfect lab rat.”

“You see him on 30 Rock and he comes off as this total goofball, a little bit of a doofus, even,” Zaki said. “It’s so strange to then meet him and see this incredibly well-spoken, thoughtful guy in the same body.”

Read Steakley’s full post on the SCOPE blog.

Stanford Libraries to host open house

October 9th, 2012

There’s much more to Stanford Libraries than just books nowadays. So the libraries’ staff is inviting the Stanford community to a Green Library open house from 1 to 4 p.m. today to learn about everything from book-scanning robots to medieval manuscripts to experts who can help researchers organize and preserve massive amounts of data. Coupa Café will provide refreshments for the afternoon.

“People will be surprised, pleasantly surprised, at how much the library has to offer and how many ways we support teaching and research,” said CHRIS BOURG, assistant university librarian for public services. “And, of course, we have lots of books – including plenty of great free books we will be giving away.”

That’s not all they’re giving away. An Apple iPad and a set of Beats Solo HD On-Ear Headphones will be raffled, along with autographed books from the 2012 Saroyan Prize for Writing. In addition to the drawing prizes, other giveaways will include free books from previous Saroyan Prize for Writing winners.

The Stanford Mendicants, Stanford’s oldest a cappella group, will kick off the event at 1 p.m.

Stanford’s radio station, KZSU (98.1 FM), will be broadcasting live outside of Green Library’s east entrance (that is, the one by the red fountain), featuring music from Stanford’s music library and hosting on-air interviews with students and library experts from 1 to 4 p.m. Talisman, which performs a cappella music from around the world, will make a guest appearance, singing live on KZSU at 3:15 p.m.

A curated tour of the Green Library’s current exhibit, “Scripting the Sacred: Medieval Latin Manuscripts,” will begin at 3 p.m. Demonstrations of the page-turning robotic book scanner will begin at 1:15, 2:15 and 3:15 p.m. (limit eight people at a time for the 45- to 50-minute tours). Other tours will show how the libraries preserve and provide access to born-digital media such as computer hard drives, floppy disks and CD-ROMs, and demonstrate how Stanford’s renowned map collections is digitized.

“The bottom line is that libraries, especially the Stanford Libraries, are all about the joy of discovery in all its forms,” said Bourg. “Our open house is a chance for us to show off all the cool stuff we do.”

 

— BY CYNTHIA HAVEN, Stanford Libraries

Scholars awarded grants to explore ecosystem

October 4th, 2012

FIORENZA MICHELI, a professor of biological sciences, and REBECCA BIRD, an ecological anthropologist, were recently awarded National Science Foundation grants of $1.3 million and $250,000, respectively.

Micheli, an affiliate with the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, will study the capacity of natural systems and human communities to adapt to environmental change. Specifically, her project will investigate the impacts of oceanographic variability on coastal marine ecosystems and human communities of the Pacific coast of Baja California, Mexico.

Bird’s project will measure direct effects of indigenous burning practices on woodlands and low-elevation, mixed forests in the Central Valley, Klamath Mountains and Sierra Nevada and indirect effects of these practices on the availability of wild foods and materials used by indigenous peoples that inhabit the woodlands.

Both research projects got their start with funding from the Woods Institute’s Environmental Venture Projects, seed grants for transformative environmental and sustainability research.

 

— ROB JORDAN, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment

Archives of experimental filmmaker Bruce Baillie now in Stanford University Libraries

September 12th, 2012

Bruce Baillie

Two years ago, Stanford University Libraries acquired the archives for Canyon Cinema, one of the leading distributors of avant-garde independent films. Now it also has the archives of Canyon founder BRUCE BAILLIE, a major figure in the development of counter-cultural filmmaking in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Baillie’s films been described as “poetic documentary.” The archives, which document Baillie’s life and work as a filmmaker, strongly reinforce Stanford’s focus on independent, alternative and documentary films and filmmakers. The collection of papers, correspondence, notes, files and other materials will be housed in the libraries’ Department of Special Collections, where it will be permanently preserved and made available to researchers.

“Baillie’s work addresses the impact of experimental filmmaking on techniques and styles that permeate all forms of cinema,” said HENRY LOWOOD, curator for film and media collections.

Baillie, who turns 81 this month, founded Canyon Cinema in 1961, when he started showing new films in his backyard in Canyon, Calif. Canyon became the world’s leading collective of independent filmmakers after its humble beginnings. Later, Baillie also co-founded the San Francisco Cinemathèque with experimental filmmaker CHICK STRAND.

From Baillie's 1961 film "Mr. Hayashi"

One of Baillie’s films, Castro Street (1966), was added to the National Film Registry in 1992. The Registry selects films for the Library of Congress that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” That film documents the sights and sounds on the city of Richmond’s Castro Street, which runs by the Standard Oil Refinery. Other Baillie films document street life in San Francisco, the life and rituals of Native Americans, people Baillie encountered and other topics drawn from his varied interests and observations.

The new collection includes copies of the original notebooks for Castro Street (the originals have been lost), written as Baillie was editing film at the Morning Star Ranch in Santa Rosa. He scribbled in the notebooks by flashlight after what he calls the “singularly complicated editing process, in my homemade tent under the stars with my dog, Mama.”
—Cynthia Haven, Stanford University Libraries

 

 

 

 

On video: ‘Plato, democracy and me’; ‘The positive effects of stress’

August 14th, 2012

During TEDxStanford in May, philosophy Professor KENNETH TAYLOR offered the audience a few challenges that put their beliefs to the test. During TED@Vancouver in June, FIRDAUS DHABHAR, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, gave a primer on how to maximize the positive aspects of stress. Watch and learn.

On video: Tina Seelig gives crash course in creativity

July 30th, 2012

TINA SEELIG, executive director for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, gave a crash course in creativity during TEDxStanford in May.

“Everyone, everyone has the key to their innovation engine. It’s up to them to turn it,” Seelig said.

Need some inspiration? Watch her TEDxStanford talk on video.


 

Baba Shiv: Sometimes it’s good to give up the driver’s seat

July 19th, 2012

In 2007 Baba Shiv’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, and the couple was faced with a host of questions about the course of treatment. Shiv, director of the Strategic Marketing Management Executive Program in the Graduate School of Business, whose disciplinary focus is human decision making, told an audience during TEDx-Stanford in May that sometimes it is best to cede control, because too many choices may be a bad thing.

Video of Shiv’s presentation is currently on Ted.com.

Mark Appel to return to Farm for his senior year

July 17th, 2012

 

Mark Appel, in baseball cap, shares a moment with Andrew Luck, another Cardinal athlete who postponed his professional career to finish up at Stanford.

MARK APPEL, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft, has decided to return to Stanford and earn his degree before pursuing a professional baseball career.

“After much thought, prayer and analysis of both opportunities, I came to the conclusion the best decision is to remain at Stanford continuing my studies, finishing my degree and doing all I can to assist the Cardinal baseball team in our goal to win a national championship,” said Appel.

“I greatly valued the prospect of a professional opportunity and I will pursue a professional baseball career after getting my Stanford degree,” Appel added. “I am blessed that God has given me the opportunity to choose between two great options and the talents to play baseball. I am also thankful for the love, support and guidance from everyone who helped me make this decision.”

“I respect Mark’s decision and obviously we are all excited to have him back at Stanford for his senior season,” said head Stanford baseball coach MARK MARQUESS. “He is one of the premier pitchers in college baseball and will again play an integral role in our quest to get back to the College World Series. I’m sure it was a difficult decision for him and his family, but I know Mark is excited to complete his degree in engineering and then embark on a long and successful pro career.”

 

Read the full announcement on the Stanford Athletics website.

Chris Gerdes video on fast cars achieves elevation

July 12th, 2012

When Stanford embarked on its homegrown TEDxStanford effort in May, the objective was to “share important Stanford discoveries and innovations with the world far beyond campus,” says MELINDA SACKS, director of media initiatives in the Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs. That plan has materialized with the posting of one of the May 19 event’s videos on TED.com. The video features J. CHRISTIAN GERDES, associate professor of mechanical engineering and a senior fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy, discussing the autonomous car.

“The posting of Professor Chris Gerdes’ talk on TED.com will spread this breakthrough work to a tremendous global audience. We look forward to more collaboration between Stanford and TED,” says Sacks.