Tag Archives: rhode island

Questions for Rick Benjamin: Rhode Island’s New Poet Laureate

By Guest PostJanuary 19, 2013Cultureadrienne rich, aids project, brown, community service, courtney coelho, daily practice, eliot, environmental studies, hiv, immemorial, intellectual practice, kevin young, langston hughes, lincoln d chafee, lucille clifton, new jersey, nonprofit work, ordinary life, poem, poetry, public humanities, rhode island, rick benjamin, robert hass, rutgers, ruth stone, spiritual practice, state poet, tibetan scholar

Rick Benjamin, adjunct assistant professor of environmental studies and public humanities, was recently appointed state poet of Rhode Island by Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee. A five-year position, the state poet serves as principal advocate for poetry in Rhode Island. Benjamin has dedicated much of his career to the intersection of poetry and community service, a relationship he incorporates into “Poetry and Community Service,” a course he teaches at Brown and other schools. Courtney Coelho spoke with Benjamin about his poetry, his mission of service, and how he intends to incorporate the two in his new position.

Describe your poetry. What is your style? What are your influences?

I have a wide range of influences. I tend to learn everything through the ear. My early influences were always oral and musical, starting with poetry I probably didn’t really understand by Eliot that my mom was reading me. So she would say things like, “So intimate, this Chopin, that I think his soul should be resurrected only among friends some two or three, who will not touch the bloom that is rubbed and questioned in the concert room.” There’s not a lot of that that I would have understood when she said it, but I did hear it and I really loved the sound of it. And Langston Hughes is a poet I became acquainted with really early on and again it was the sound and the rhythm and the music in the poetry that I responded to first. In terms of poets that I read now: Lucille Clifton, Adrienne Rich, Ruth Stone, Robert Hass, Kevin Young. (more…)

Questions for Clyde Briant: What Does the Fiscal Cliff Mean for Research?

By Guest PostDecember 15, 2012Economy, Scienceautomatic, automatic cuts, brain science, brown, brown institute, clyde briant, department of defense, economic development, economic impact, federal government, federal grants, federal spending cuts, fiscal cliff, income tax rates, increase, kevin stacey, million dollars, NASA, policy analysts, research, rhode island, sequestration, treat cancer

The so-called “fiscal cliff” — an increase in income tax rates, expiration of many tax benefits and automatic federal spending cuts known collectively as sequestration — still looms as a possibility come January 2. Unless a deal is reached, universities across the country will face unprecedented cuts in federal funding, including cuts to research and development funding. Kevin Stacey spoke with Clyde Briant, vice president for University research, about the implications of the fiscal cliff.

If no deal is reached, how would the fiscal cliff affect federal research funding?

It could trigger sweeping cuts to agencies across the federal government, including agencies like the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and others that provide the vast majority of the nation’s research and development funding. These are considerable, across-the-board cuts. The American Association for the Advancement of Science estimates that federal research and development spending nationwide could be cut by at least $50 billion over five years. Research universities all depend on those funds to support faculty, staff, postdocs, and graduate students, as well as to provide for equipment and facilities. If the level of support drops as dramatically as is called for under sequestration, it would profoundly change the way in which universities have to approach their research endeavors. (more…)

Women 16–49 at Risk of Multiple Pollutants

By Guest PostDecember 3, 2012Environment, Healthamerican women, babies, blood level, body burden, brain development, brown university, chemical coexposures, chemical pollutant, childbearing age, environmental pollutant, fetuses, harm, kim boekelheide, lead, marcella thompson, median, mercury, nhanes, PCBs, pollutant, polychlorinated biphenyls, research document, rhode island, risk factor, sigma theta tau, university, us women

In a new analysis of thousands of U.S. women of childbearing age, Brown University researchers found that most exceeded the median blood level for two or more of three environmental pollutants that could harm brain development of fetuses and babies: lead, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Nearly 23 percent of American women of childbearing age met or exceeded the median blood levels for all three environmental chemical pollutants — lead, mercury, and PCBs — tracked in an analysis of data on thousands of women by Brown University researchers. All but 17.3 percent of the women aged 16 to 49 were at or above the median blood level for one or more of these chemicals, which are passed to fetuses through the placenta and to babies through breast milk. (more…)

Taubman Center Survey: RI Voters Likely to Approve Casino Gambling

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2012Politicsabel collins, alfred taubman, angel taveras, Barack Obama, benjamin barrett hinckley, brown university, casino gaming, center, cicilline, congressional, david cicilline, district one, doherty, february, gender inclusive, independent candidate, jack reed, james langevin, lincoln chafee, mitt romney, newport, newport grand, policy, president, providence mayor, race, republican, rhode island, right direction, sheldon whitehouse, state operated, twin river, voter, whitehouse

A new Brown University poll of Rhode Island voters finds strong support for state-operated casino gaming at Twin River and Newport Grand. In the hotly contested Congressional District One race, Rep. David Cicilline retains a small lead. The survey, conducted Sept. 26 to Oct. 5 2012, is based on a sample of 496 registered voters in Rhode Island.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new public opinion survey by Brown University researchers finds that Rhode Island voters appear poised to approve questions one and two on the state ballot, which would allow casino gaming in Lincoln and Newport. Despite an approval rating of just 29.7 percent, Rep. David Cicilline appears to have an edge over Republican challenger Brendan Doherty among voters in 1st Congressional District.

Researchers at the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions and the John Hazen White Public Opinion Laboratory at Brown University surveyed a random sample of 496 Rhode Island voters from Sept. 26 to Oct. 5, 2012. The poll has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent. (more…)

A SMART(er) Way to Track Influenza

By Guest PostJune 12, 2012Scienceaartik sarma, amplification, andrew artenstein, anubhav tripathi, biological debris, brown assay, brown university, carmichael ong, DNA, first aid kit, flu detection test, genetic sequence, H1N1, hiv, influenza rna, influenza rna sequence, iPhone, magnetics, memorial hospital, microfluidics, nasba, nucleic acid sequence, pigs, polymerase chain reaction, prototype, rhode island, rna partners, rna probe, rna strand, smart, smart detector, stephanie mccalla, steven opal, swine flu, tb, tracking of influenza, tuberculosis, united states, virus in mexico

Brown University researchers have created a reliable and fast flu-detection test that can be carried in a first-aid kit. The novel prototype device isolates influenza RNA using a combination of magnetics and microfluidics, then amplifies and detects probes bound to the RNA. The technology could lead to real-time tracking of influenza. Results are published in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — In April 2009, the world took notice as reports surfaced of a virus in Mexico that had mutated from pigs and was being passed from human to human. The H1N1 “swine flu,” as the virus was named, circulated worldwide, killing more than 18,000 people, according to the World Health Organization. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States said it was the first global pandemic in more than four decades. (more…)

Dennis Hogan: Understanding Families of Children with Disabilities

By Guest PostApril 22, 2012General, Mediabest job, challenge, children, consequence, courtney coelho, dennis hogan, disability, down syndrome, family, katie beckett, oxygen tank, parent, plethora, raising robbie, rhode island, russell sage foundation, ssi, supplemental security income

In his recently published book, Family Consequences of Children’s Disabilities, Dennis Hogan offers the first comprehensive account of families of children with disabilities. He talked with Courtney Coelho about his findings, including some of the more surprising ways having a child with a disability can affect the family structure.

Families of children with disabilities often face a plethora of challenges, ranging from the financial to the emotional. Still, little research has been done to document exactly how families are affected by a child with a disablity. Dennis Hogan’s recently published book, Family Consequences of Children’s Disabilities (Russell Sage Foundation), is the first comprehensive account of these experiences. Motivated by his own experience of growing up with a brother with Down syndrome, Hogan, the Robert E. Turner Distinguished Professor of Population Studies, merged existing data with interviews with more than two dozen family members of disabled children. He talked with Courtney Coelho about his findings, including some of the more surprising ways having a child with a disability can affect the family structure. (more…)

Aquatics Center: Brown Dives into Solar Energy

By Guest PostFebruary 12, 2012Environmentaquatics center, boston, brown, chris powell, electricity from sunlight, environmental initiative, generate, glycol, hudson, hybrid, hybrid panels, hybrid solar panels, katherine moran coleman aquatic center, michael intrieri, photovoltaic strip, power, renewable energy, rhode island, roof, solar energy, solar installation, sundrum solar, sunlight solar energy, sustainable energy, thermal energy, thomas p, tip o neill, united states

The 168 rectangular panels on the roof of the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatic Center will generate enough power to keep the lights on and enough thermal energy to heat the million-gallon pool. The center, due to open April 13, will be Rhode Island’s first hybrid (heat and power) solar installation — also the largest in the nation and the first on a college campus.

Brown is diving into solar energy. (more…)