Teresa Meade, associate professor of history, was a member of the National
Endowment for the Humanities Institute, “Re-thinking Europe/Rethinking World History,
1500-1750” at the University of California at Santa Cruz recently. She also read a
paper, “Marriage and Identity on the Alta California Frontier, 1770-1850” at the
American Historical Association, Pacific Coastal Branch's annual meeting in Maui, Hawaii.
James C. Adrian Jr., assistant professor of chemistry, published a paper titled
“Convenient Synthesis of Bifunctional Metal Chelates” in the Journal of
Organic Chemistry. Co-authors include Matthew Hayward of Harvard University and Alanna
Schepartz of Yale. The paper describes the easy preparation of four reagents useful for
the conjugation of the metal chelator ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) to either
proteins or nucleic acids. These types of molecules have found use in protein and nucleic
acid cleavage experiments to probe biomolecule tertiary structure, drug binding sites and
to investigate interactions with other biomolecules.
Jay Newman, the R. Gordon Gould Professor of Physics, and Rick Scharf '95 have
published an article titled “Mg- and Ca-Actin Filaments Appear Virtually Identical in
Steady-State as Determined by Dynamic Light Scattering.” The article was selected for
publication as a “Rapid Report” in Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, based
on its general interest and timeliness. The work is supported by a National Science
Foundation grant. Their paper describes a series of measurements designed to distinguish
between the two differently prepared filaments of actin. The results are significant
because there have been very few definitive comparison studies.
Sharon Gmelch, professor of anthropology, is the author of “Elbridge Warren
Merrill: The Tlingit of Alaska, 1899-1929” in the journal History of Photography
(Summer 1995). The article, based on archival research and extensive interviewing with
native people in Alaska, examines the life and work of this Alaskan photographer, focusing
on his images of and relationship with the Tlingit.
Hilary Tann, professor of music, had her composition, The Open Field, performed
Oct. 7 at the Kiev International Composers Festival in the Ukraine. While on sabbatical,
she will be completing a large orchestral work, From Afar, commissioned by the Meet
the Composer/Reader's Digest/N.E.A. Consortium. Six orchestras are scheduled to perform
the work. Of Erthe and Air, for flute, clarinet and frame drums, is to be recorded
for a Master Musician's Collective CD.
Joseph B. Board, Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Government, was chairman
of a panel on “The resolution of international trade disputes” at the annual
meeting of the International Political Science Association's Research Committee on
Comparative Judicial Studies held at Sherbrooke University, Quebec, in August. He also was
author of an article, “Sweden: A Model Crisis,” which analyzes in historical
perspective the crisis of the Swedish Welfare State model, and was published by the
Swedish Institute, Stockholm, in four languages. Also, Board was recently elected vice
chair of the Board of Trustees of Schenectady County Community College.
Ellen Sinopoli, adjunct instructor of dance, choreographed two works —
“Clusters” and “Selchie” — which were performed recently by the Ellen
Sinopoli Dance Company at Russell Sage College. Both works were expanded since their
premiere last spring.
Chris Duncan, assistant professor of sculpture, is exhibiting some of his works
at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute in an exhibit titled “Sculpture Space:
Celebrating Twenty Years.” The show honors the contributions to contemporary art that
the Utica-based workshop, Sculpture Space, has made over the past 20 years.
Robert Sharlet, professor of political science on leave at the Rule of Law
Consortium in Washington, recently published “Reinventing the Russian State: Problems
of Constitutional Implementation” in the John Marshall Law Review (Summer
1995); and “Russian Politics on the Eve of the Parliamentary Campaign” in Post-Soviet
Prospects (September 1995). During the summer, he coordinated the Armenian Judicial
Conference of 1995 in Yerevan, Armenia, and worked with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin
Scalia and five senior American judges who participated in the week-long conference.
George Gmelch, professor of anthropology, has published a revised third edition
of the book Urban Life, which he edited with Walter Zenner. The book, published by
Waveland Press, has been a best-selling anthology in urban anthropology. The new edition
is a 600-page book, half of which is new, dealing with urbanism, urbanization, and the
unique demand posed by urban social environments and the ways in which human cultures have
dealt with them.
J. Richard Shanebrook, professor of mechanical engineering, and Lee Johnson
Jr. '94 are co-authors of the article, “Flow Visualization with Air and Smoke in
a Bypass Graft Model Under Steady Flow Conditions,” which appeared in a recent issue
of Journal of Biomechanics. The paper presents a new laboratory technique for
visualizing the flow of blood in model arterial bypass grafts. The technique is
potentially valuable in improving the long-term success of cardiovascular procedures such
as coronary artery bypass surgery.
Jean Sheviak, associate professor in Schaffer Library, was recently elected
president of the New York Library Association's Academic and Special Libraries Section. As
vice president this year, she was conference program chair for the NYLA's annual
conference last week in Rochester. Also at the conference, Cara Molyneaux,
associate librarian, led a seminar titled “Internet Resources for Technical
Services.” Annette LeClair, head of technical services, led a session on
“Coordinated Collection Development in New York State: Programs and
Possibilities.” Gail Golderman, electronic media librarian, moderated a
session on “Z39.50 and Interlibrary Cooperation.” Nearly 1,200 of the NYLA's
3,000 members attended the conference.