Newsletter Volume 8 Issue 6 - November 17, 2021 |
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Lunch Colloquium - Monday, November 29
Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec
“Bridging Science and Public Health Policy to Control Urban Mosquito-Borne Diseases”
Lunch Colloquium - Monday, December 13
Allan Levey
“Racing For An Effective Treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease: One Person At a Time”
Faculty Governance News
Recent News from Holly York
Faculty Activities
Brenda Bynum - Jordan is so Chilly: An Encounter with Lillian Smith
William Brown - Robot Paintings
Walking the Campus with Dianne
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Reminder to check for Zoom updates. The most recent, as of this writing, is 5.8.4.
If you have any problems in getting the update, please contact Dianne at dianne.becht@emory.edu for more information.
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Lunch Colloquium - Monday November 29, 2021 |
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“Bridging Science and Public Health Policy to
Control Urban Mosquito-Borne Diseases”
Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec
Winship Distinguished Professor in Environmental Sciences
Zoom Lunch Colloquium
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Mosquitoes, considered the world’s deadliest animal, inhabit virtually all corners of our planet. Their need for vertebrate blood has made them perfect vehicles for pathogens such as malaria, yellow fever, Zika, dengue, or West Nile virus (just to name a few). Unfortunately, vaccines are not an option for most of those pathogens, so mosquito control (the use of chemical, environmental, or behavioral tools to prevent human-mosquito contacts) is the primary means to prevent human infection and disease. Dr. Vazquez-Prokopec’s talk will present results from over a decade of work at Emory researching mosquito biology and disease epidemiology, and present major improvements in public health policy emerging from such work (in the US and internationally). He will also outline some new directions in mosquito control with potential beneficial implications spanning from the Emory campus to the whole of the globe.
About Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec:
Dr. Vazquez-Prokopec is the Winship Distinguished Professor in Environmental Sciences at Emory University. His primary research areas are Disease Ecology, Medical Entomology, and Global Health. His research and mentoring programs focus on three central tasks: a) Identify the major determinants of the transmission and geographic propagation of vector-borne diseases of global health significance; b) study the ecology of the insect vectors and reservoir hosts, and the role of human and vector behavior in pathogen transmission dynamics; c) use an evidence-based approach to identify targets that can help improve public health policy and practice. Over the past 15 years Dr. Vazquez-Prokopec has been involved in diverse research projects studying the eco-epidemiology of vector-borne and parasitic diseases, primarily dengue, Chagas disease, and West Nile virus. As a result, he has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and regularly participates in scientific panels for the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the World Health Organization as an expert in vector ecology and control.
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Lunch Colloquium - Monday, December 13, 2021 |
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“Racing For An Effective Treatment for
Alzheimer’s Disease: One Person At a Time”
Allan Levey
Director, Brain Health Personalized Medicine Institute, Emory University
Zoom Lunch Colloquium
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Dr. Levey will provide a brief introduction to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, including the current state of knowledge, treatments, and accelerating progress in research. Given his many years of work as chair of the Department of Neurology and his recent appointment as Director of the newly constituted Brain Health Personalized Medicine Institute—not to mention his continuing roles as The Goizueta Foundation Endowed Chair for Alzheimer’s Disease Research, and Betty Gage Holland Professor and Chair, and director of the Goizueta Alzheimer's Disease Research Center—there may be no one better able to share highlights of Emory’s remarkable record of ongoing research in neurodegenerative disease and information about the initiatives in this area that the Brain Health Center will be pursuing under his leadership.
About Allan Levey:
Dr. Allan Levey, MD, PhD, is the newly appointed Director of Emory's Brain Health Personalized Medicine Institute (BHPMI). The Institute will house a vibrant research program to collect, integrate, and analyze large data sets to inform understanding of the biological, medical, and lifestyle factors impacting brain health and disease. Its mission is to improve brain health patient outcomes through personalized medicine and data science.
Dr. Levey received his BS from the University of Michigan and both his PhD and MD from the University of Chicago. A visionary leader who is internationally recognized for his work in neurodegenerative disease, he has served as neurology department chair at Emory for the past 18 years. He is The Goizueta Foundation Endowed Chair for Alzheimer’s Disease Research, Betty Gage Holland Professor and Chair, and director of the Goizueta Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. He has also played a pivotal role in the growth and success of the Emory Brain Health Center, partnering with leadership from Neurosurgery, Psychiatry, Rehabilitation Medicine, and the Emory Sleep Center.
Researchers and clinicians from many areas, working together—as it has been possible for them to do at Emory and as will be more possible still under the aegis of the BHPMI—have learned that across the spectrum of brain diseases, there are more commonalities than differences. Dementia, depression, ALS, autism, stroke and other brain diseases have been treated as unrelated conditions. However, data from the integrated research taking place at Emory’s Brain Health Center indicate that all these diseases are more related than previously believed, and data science can help complete the puzzle picture, leading to improved patient care and, ultimately, to prevention as well as treatment of such diseases.
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The Emeritus College sends one representative to serve a three-year term on both the University Senate and the University Faculty Council, each of which meet once a month through the academic year. During these meetings we have the ear of senior Emory administrators, including President Gregory Fenves and Provost Ravi Bellamkonda, so our representation is important not only for our interests, but for our visibility, especially to unretired (I just can’t say “active” here, given how active we all are!) faculty, our future members.
The agendas of the two bodies are often similar and they have the same President: this year, Tavi Ioachimescu of the School of Medicine. It is in the composition of their membership that they diverge, which means that the topics of discussion also diverge as the year goes on. The University Faculty Council consists of faculty representatives from all the schools, while the University Senate includes representation from administration, faculty, staff, and students from all the schools.
Meeting highlights:
The September meeting of both the Senate and the Faculty Council consisted largely of welcomes and introductions, including a reflection by President Fenves on his first months at Emory and the introduction of incoming University Provost Bellamkonda. Michael Elliott, Dean of Emory College and Chair of the Selection Committee, reported on the search for Vice Provost for Libraries and Museum. Finally, Fringe Benefits Committee reports were given by Chair Sidney Stein and Theresa Milazzo, Vice-President for HR. A key feature of this last agenda item was the explanation of the lawsuit settlement regarding retirement plan offerings.
The October meetings of the UFC and the Senate again had similar agendas. Details of the plans for the Emory Graduate and Professional Student Housing Initiative were presented by David Payne, Associate Vice President for Planning and Engagement and Robin Morey, Vice President and Chief Planning Officer of Campus Services. The planned location for this facility is on Haygood Drive, across from Druid Hills High School. Pamela Scully, Vice Provost, gave an update on Undergraduate Affairs, and Kimberly Jacob Arriola was introduced as the new Dean of Graduate Studies. Susan L. Bonifield, Senior Vice Provost for Strategic Finance & Resource Planning, and Belva White, University Vice President for Finance & Treasury, reported on the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you’d like more detail, the minutes of the meetings are available online to the Emory community (Please note: You may need to log in using your Emory ID):
Marilynne McKay, who has done a sterling job as our representative for the past three years, has rotated off and I have begun another term, having also preceded Marilynne. I’m happy to repeat but at the same time a little disappointed that the experience won’t be spread to someone who hasn’t yet had the opportunity. I encourage everyone to consider participating in the Emeritus College this way when the next term comes up in 2024-2025. The schedule isn’t onerous, and it’s a great time to reconnect with colleagues on campus. Meanwhile, if there’s an issue you’d like to propose for discussion in one of these bodies, please let me know hyork@emory.edu .
--Holly York
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Brenda Bynum
Senior Lecturer Emerita, Department of Theater Studies
Emeritus College member Brenda Bynum stars in a film by Hal Jacobs. The Zoom talkback and Q&A was on November 16 (yesterday), but you can still view the film for free until November 20. Many of us remember the Lunch Colloquium program from the summer of 2020 in which Hal Jacobs discussed his earlier film on the author and activist, Lillian Smith, a film that he'd allowed us to screen, Lillian Smith: Breaking the Silence. Brenda served as a narrator for that film. How great to now have a chance to see Brenda BE this remarkable woman.
Jordan Is So Chilly: An Encounter with Lillian Smith – Miss Lil’s own words brought to life by Brenda Bynum
Free to view online November 7-20:
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William A. Brown
Senior Lecturer Emeritus of Film and Media Studies
The Painting Robots Have Arrived
How does a robot make a painting? With digital technology, of course….
Atlanta artist William A. Brown has employed a painting robot to create his latest series of paintings. “The future of fine art painting belongs to painting robots,” Brown proclaimed. “This development is roughly analogous to the efficiencies gained by writers when they began using computer word-processing technology.” Brown—also a filmmaker, videographer, and emeritus senior lecturer at Emory University—uses Photoshop software to create the images. He leaves the process of rendering them to the new painting robots developed by ArtMatr, a tech startup in Brooklyn, New York.
These finely tuned machines are able, within the span of one hour, to create paintings measuring up to 30 inches in either dimension. More specifically, the robots print out the digital image as an archival oil painting. The process is more akin to photographic printing than traditional painting in that it can theoretically produce endless numbers of identical paintings. Unlike photographic prints, the robotic paintings are truly archival.
Brown believes this new development poses a major challenge to the current gallery system, which depends on selling unique objects to collectors. “This technology will clearly lead to the democratization of painting and the singularity of painting and photography as art media,” Brown said.
In his first series of paintings intended for robotic rendering Brown used a computer to randomly mix photographic images he made over the past twenty years. Known as aleatory mixing, this strategy was first described by composer John Cage in the 1950s and employed in some of his musical compositions and performances. It’s not as easily applied to the more labor-intensive medium of painting. Through its capacity to generate thousands of randomly mixed images, this state-of-the-art film-editing software offers essentially limitless potential for artists to expand their visual vocabularies.
Brown’s second series of pre-paintings employs public-domain art reproductions downloaded from museum sites, sampled, and recombined using familiar photo-montage techniques. “I’m using European paintings made between 1500 and 1900,” Brown said. “These highly detailed works really show off the ArtMatr painting solution.”
One or more paintings from this new series will be included in a group exhibition at Atlanta’s 378 Gallery in March 2022.
For More information contact:
William A. Brown
404 210-1879
Images can be viewed at:
For Information on ArtMatr:
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Walking the Campus with Dianne |
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The BIG piece of art from our last walk can be found in the valet parking area just off Lowergate Drive of the newer section of the Emory University Hospital (the Towers). It's an amazing piece of art and if you are in the area, make sure you stop and take a look.
The sculpture is BCR-ABL1, a monumental double helix hanging in space, which gives us a surreal closeup view of the spiraling composition of a DNA strand. The planar surfaces of the sculpture are encoded with the sequences of the BCR and ABL1 codes. The translocation of these chromosomes creates an abnormality known as the Philadelphia Gene.
It was created by Phil Proctor, who is a professional sculptor practicing in Atlanta, Georgia, since 2003. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from East Carolina University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the University of Southern Mississippi. His permanently installed public art works and private commissions can be found across the United States and Eastern Europe including many large-scale outdoor works in Metro Atlanta and surrounding areas.
For more information on his creations, please click the following link:
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Let's do one more BIG view of something on campus. This musical instrument is huge. And amazing. And beautiful. And did I mention BIG? And bonus points to anyone who can tell me who the person is creating BIG, beautiful music in the photo. |
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Where will you find this on the Emory Campus? |
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Emory University Emeritus College
The Luce Center
825 Houston Mill Road NE #206
Atlanta, GA 30329
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