Courtesy of ideachampions.com

Today is Albert Einstein’s birthday and Pi =(3.1415926535…) day one of the most famous days named after a mathematical constant! As we remember this genius scientist and humanist responsible for the development of theory of relativity, photoelectric effect and Brownian motion.

But there is also the odd story about his famous brain.

Seven hours about an autopsy was performed on Albert Einstein, his brain was surgically removed Thomas Stoltz Harvey, a pathologist who took it without permission.

Mr. Harvey wanted to study Einstein’s brain to see why he was such a genius, but lacked the ability to research it extensively. He took pictures of the brain and then dissected it into 240 blocks, which he put into mason jars.

A few months later, Mr. Harvey was fired from Princeton Hospital because he wouldn’t share the brain. He kept it, took it with him and overtime gave small brain bits to researchers. Finally, he brought what was left of the brain to Dr. Elliot Krauss at Princeton Hospital in 1996, where the fragments remain today.

Five other quick facts about Albert Einstein:

1. In 1952, shortly after the death of Israel’s first president, Einstein was offered the job. He declined. In the letter he wrote to the diplomat who offered him the job, one reason he gave was that he wouldn’t be good at working with people.

2. When Einstein wanted to divorce his first wife, Mileva Maric, he told her he would win the Nobel Prize one day and give her his future winnings if she’d grant him a divorce. Maric accepted, but had to wait three years for the prize money.

3. As a child, Einstein didn’t start talking until he was 3 years old. He continued to have trouble speaking through elementary school, and was still not completely fluent in his own language as a 9-year-old.

4. Einstein’s second wife, Elsa Einstein, was also his first cousin.

5. One of Einstein’s earliest inspirations was a compass. When given one at age 5, he became transfixed by the needle and wondered what gave it the ability to always swing in the right direction.

More on his brain:

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2009/04/17-01.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57330609/parts-of-einsteins-brain-on-display-for-first-time/

More about Pi day

http://www.piday.org/

Courtesy of  www.govloop.com

Virginia Tech has been found liable in the 2007 shooting rampage at the university that left 33 dead. After three and a half hours of deliberation, the jury determined that VA Tech officials’ delayed response to the shootings was an act of negligence.

Although the massacre occurred five years ago, its infamy persists. It is, to date, the deadliest school shooting on record in U.S. history.

Can schools across the nation prevent another tragedy from replacing it?

Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) announced that UMBC is one of 21 graduate schools selected to participate in a study to examine completion and attrition among underrepresented minorities in STEM doctoral programs. The project, is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF.) and will compare data across a diverse set of institutions, including some that have been funded by NSF’s Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program. The purpose of this research is to better understand the factors that promote successful completion and the policies and practices that hold promise for increasing completion and reducing attrition. Each institution will receive $30,000 in funding to participate.

As part of the study UMBC will:

• Collect and report completion and attrition data for all underrepresented minority students entering STEM doctoral programs in academic years 1992-93 through 2011-12.
• Complete and submit data on program characteristics and policies, practices, and interventions that might impact completion and attrition for all STEM Ph.D. programs offered by the institution.
• Field a web-based student survey, developed by CGS, covering a set of topics addressing completion and attrition in STEM doctoral programs.
• Host a two-day site visit for CGS project staff to conduct focus groups with students and interviews with graduate deans, faculty, and other university personnel.
• Highlight the institution’s participation in this effort by taking part in national discussions on the topic of Ph.D. completion (e.g., at CGS Annual Meetings and/or Summer Workshop sessions).

The projected release date of the study’s findings is June, 2014.

artweek:

Remember this post from commonvision about UMBC Photography professor Steve Silberg’s Pixel-Lapse project? Well, it’s confirmed that the booth will be set up during the Art Week 2012 Kick-Off on Monday April 2nd from 12-2. Come out and sit in the booth!