Where You Partly Cloudy Read It First 61/54 THE TUFTS DAILY Est. 1980 VOLUME LXVIII, NUMBER 18 FRiday, OctoBER 3, 2014 TUFTSDAILY.COM Tisch College to host summit on civics with White House by Daniel Gottfried The White House released a fact Daily Editorial Board sheet on Sept. 12 explaining that the summit will address two key topics fac- The Jonathan M. Tisch College of ing higher education: the value of civic Citizenship and Public Service will host engagement and how to measure and a Civic Learning and National Service communicate civic engagement com- Summit in partnership with the White mitment and outcomes. House to discuss civic engagement and “There has been a conversation in active citizenship on Oct. 16. academia about what role higher edu- The White House announced the cation needs to play in trying to fix summit along with a series of initiatives that,” Solomont said. “It banks on a designed to promote community service, simple premise that American democ- civic engagement and active citizenship racy faces significant challenges and during the AmeriCorps 20th Anniversary that citizens are disengaging from Celebration on Sept. 12, according civic life. In the 21st century, higher to Alan Solomont (A '70), the Pierre and education has a huge responsibility to Pamela Omidyar Dean of Tisch College. respond to that and help steer that in a Solomont said he believes that different direction.” Tufts was selected to host the sum- According to Solomont, Tisch mit because of Tisch College’s achieve- College is working closely with the ments in promoting these initiatives. Office of Social Innovation and Civic “A good deal of this is a result of Participation at the White House, MATT SCHREIBER / THE TUFTS DAILY the fact that the research arm of which is run by Tufts alumnus Jonathan The atomic force microscope helps to advance research on nanoscale biology. Tisch College, which is led by Peter Greenblatt (LA '92), as well as groups Levine ... is probably the nation’s lead- from the Department of Education to ing authority on civic engagement,” plan the summit. he said. “We study the benefits, the "We have partnered together Tufts professor receives communities [and] the individuals that to develop an invitation list and to participate in democratic life.” develop an agenda," Solomont said. The purpose of the summit is to "Invitations just went out from the grant for cellular research develop strategies for engaging pol- White House on behalf of both Tisch icymakers and higher education on College and the administration, invit- by Marianna Athanassiou stand the mechanical properties of cells strengthening civics in America, ing folks to this summit." Contributing Writer and their reactions and behaviors to Solomont added. Associate Dean for Research at external conditions such as stress. “We want to answer the questions Tisch College Peter Levine explained Igor Sokolov, the Bernard M. Gordon According to the NSF’s website, there of what higher education can do to that attendees, including college lead- senior faculty fellow and a professor are three key phases of awarding grants: promote civic engagement, what gov- ers, experts on measurement and civic of mechanical engineering, received a proposal preparation and submission, ernment policies can we suggest, what engagement and association leaders, $408,000 National Science Foundation proposal review and processing and practices among universities can we will break into working groups and (NSF) award in August to be used award processing. suggest, how can we measure civic committees to discuss policy. Solomont for research on the mechanics of bio- Sokolov said that when applying for engagement of colleges and universities added that he anticipates approxi- logical cells at the nanoscale. a grant, it is essential to have results to and how can we encourage institutions mately 40-50 attendees at the summit. Sokolov, who started at Tufts in corroborate the idea, especially in times that fall behind and reward institutions October 2013, explained that the grant of financial constraint. Additionally, as that are leaders,” Solomont said. see SUMMIT, page 2 will be used to purchase a piece of science continues to expand, there is equipment needed for mechanical spec- more competition among researchers troscopy that can be used to test the for the same grant proposals. reactions of cells and will facilitate inter- “We received the grant because of our Flashback Friday: Students protest rape departmental research on the topic. preliminary results on cells using atomic “By getting this piece of equipment, force microscopes, but also to some extent culture, 1991 it expands the capabilities of everyone it was a lottery of whether our work would Although many things were different in 1991 — the clothes, the hair, the fact that in this topic," Department Chair and be recognized or not," he said. Tufts had a chapter of the Psi Upsilon fraternity — others seem to have not changed John R. Beaver Professor of Mechanical According to Sokolov, the work that much. On Saturday, Sept. 21, 1991, students gathered in front of the unofficial Psi Engineering William Messner said. "In won him the grant focused on cells’ Upsilon house to protest the spray painting of a rape scene on a car that had been fact, I’ll be collaborating with [Sokolov], reactions using specific microscopes attributed to the fraternity, according to a Sept. 23, 1991 article in the Daily. Tufts' along with other people interested from called atomic force microscopes, which chapter of Psi Upsilon was later suspended for the incident and their charter was the physics, biology and biomedical allow for high visualization of the sur- revoked two years later, according to a Nov. 3, 1993 article in the Daily. engineering departments." face of the cells. These microscopes con- While there are some scientific tain a probe-like needle that can feel the —by Jessica Mow groups and laboratories that have expe- surface of the cells and can measure and rience with cellular modeling, includ- manipulate certain forces. ing groups at Harvard University, He explained that the results obtained Dartmouth College and the University from these experiments proved that of Rochester, Sokolov explained that cells do not behave as expected, war- his research on using a mechanism ranting additional years of research or model for looking at cells at the on their behavior. Since there is no nanoscale is unique. clear model for cell behavior on the According to Messner, vari- nanoscale, Sokolov's ultimate goal is to ous Tufts departments will work together create a map of the cell at the nanoscale to conduct this research over the next that can be used to interpret measure- few years, so the use of this model will ments in an independent way. As a facilitate future collaboration and com- result, cellular measurements and data munication between laboratories. from different labs and places can be Since 2007, Sokolov and his team compared on the basis of this model, have been researching the mechanics Sokolov added. and behaviors of biological cells at the Sokolov received his undergraduate nanoscale, a key area because of the degree in physics from St. Petersburg cell’s role as the fundamental unit of life State University in 1984 and his Ph.D. and the ever-growing presence of cellu- from the D.I. Mendeleev Institute for lar diseases such as cancer. Metrology in St. Petersburg in 1991. Sokolov explained that with the grant, Prior to starting at Tufts, he served as the team at Tufts will conduct research professor of physics and director of the over the course of three years. They aim Nanoengineering and Biotechnology to develop a universal model and instru- Laboratories Center at Clarkson KARL SCHATZ / THE TUFTS DAILY ment which will be used to better under- University in Potsdam, N.Y. Inside this issue Today’s sections Osher Lifelong Learning “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” News 1 Institute hosts second continues its run with installment of “Free hilarious start to sec- Arts & Living 3 Thinker” lecture series. ond season. Sports Back see NEWS page 2 see ARTS, page 3 2 THE TUFTS DAILY NEWS Friday, October 3, 2014 THE TUFTS DAILY ‘Free Thinkers’ lecture series continues Alexander J. Schroeder Editor-in-Chief with famed historian Robin Fleming EditoriaL Justin Rheingold by Joann Kong Lily Sieradzki Contributing Writer Managing Editors Patrick McGrath Executive News Editor The second annual “Free Thinkers” lec- Daniel Bottino News Editors ture series, presented by the Osher Lifelong Jenna Buckle Abigail Feldman Learning Institute at Tufts — a community Shana Friedman membership opportunity for adults seek- Daniel Gottfried Nina Goldman ing intellectual stimulation — began last Dana Guth week by hosting Peter Diamond, a Nobel Stephanie Haven Alexa Horwitz prize winning economist. Audrey Michael Kathleen Schmidt The series continued on Tuesday, Sept. Jei-Jei-Tan 30 with Robin Fleming, a professor of early Denali Tietjen Melissa Wang medieval history at Boston College, who is Sarah Zheng also a 2013 MacArthur "Genius" grant win- Jessica Mow Executive Features Editor ner. Her lecture, entitled “Writing History Maya Blackstone Features Editors from Bones,” focused on the importance Hannah Fingerhut Charlotte Gilliland of utilizing material culture and science to Kendall Todd find out more about the history of the Early Jake Taber Shannon Vavra Medieval Era in Europe. Sophie Dasinger Assistant Features Editors To begin her lecture, Fleming explained Mengqi Sun Annie Gill why material culture is particularly impor- Drew Robertson Executive Arts Editor tant to her research. Veronica Little Senior Arts Editor “I actually write history, not very much Dana Guth Arts Editors Nika Korchok from text, because the period that I’m Timothy Charouk Assistant Arts Editors working in doesn’t have that many texts Abigail Feldman Charlotte Gilliland and the people I’m interested in never Grace Segers appear in texts, so instead I use material ALEX KNAPP / THE TUFTS DAILY Audience members listen during the second installment of Osher Lifelong Learning Alex Connors Executive Sports Editor culture," she said.