For the Phi Delts, an Abrupt Farewell
Dean of Students Marc Wais has booted the Phi Delts out of their Lomita Drive house after the fraternity's second alcohol-related mishap within a year. Alcohol was banned from all Phi Delta Theta functions last spring after a student pledge suffered severe facial injuries during an off-campus retreat where alcohol was served. The ban was still in effect in October, when 21-year-old fraternity member Michael Howard was found unconscious with serious head injuries after he apparently fell 20 feet from the house's second-floor balcony. An investigation by the office of student affairs and campus police found that alcohol had been served at a house event, violating the chapter's probationary status. Stanford's decision to oust the Phi Delts was endorsed by the student Greek Judicial Board, which will now consider whether the University should revoke the chapter's charter altogether. Meanwhile, the house has become a self-operated residence, open to all students.
A Place to Contemplate Buddhism
Although a third of the earth's people have been influenced by Buddhist teachings, only a small percentage of American universities support scholarly research on Buddhism. With the dedication of a Center for Buddhist Studies in October, Stanford joins their ranks. "We think people are ready for a little more accurate image of what is really happening in Buddhist cultures," explains co-director Bernard Faure, professor of religious studies. Funded by a five-year start-up grant from a Buddhist foundation based in Hong Kong, the center already has compiled an extensive library and is planning to host its first international conference, on political aspects of Japanese Buddhism, this spring.
A 'Smart Probe' for Detecting Breast Cancer
Wouldn't it be great if there were a tool that could “see“ a suspicious breast lump, determine whether it's cancerous and then quickly predict how the tumor might progress? Working together, researchers from Stanford and NASA are hoping to test just such a device, perhaps as early as 1999. Guided by ultrasound, the “smart probe“ would permit doctors to make real-time, detailed interpretations of breast tissue through the tip of a needle. Computer software would then analyze the data to predict how aggressive a cancer might be. “More knowledge about the cancer may guide us to better individualizing treatment,“ explains Stefanie Jeffrey, an assistant professor and chief of breast surgery at Stanford. Researchers hope that the probe someday might be used in instruments that diagnose and treat cancers in other parts of the body, such as the prostate and colon.
Stepping Down from SLAC's Helm
Just as a new particle collider begins revving up this summer, the longtime director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center will be gearing down. Burton Richter, winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize for his work on the colliders that now dominate high-energy physics, announced that he will leave SLAC's helm August 31 after 15 years in the job. Under Richter's leadership, SLAC's two-mile accelerator was converted from a machine that fired particles at a fixed target into a collider that steered beams into head-on collisions. The latest collider upgrade, called the B-Factory, was dedicated in October. As director, Richter found that the frequent trips to Washington, D.C., and the constant budget wrangling were very different from being a scientist. The main job, he says, "is to get resources for other people to do great science." Richter, the Paul Pigott Professor in the Physical Sciences, plans to remain on the Stanford faculty, conducting research and working on science policy.
A Genetic Link to Sleeping In
If you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, you might be able to blame it on your genes. That was one of the findings recently published by Stanford scientists in the journal Sleep. Researchers analyzed blood samples and questionnaires from 410 adults, comparing their genetic makeup with self-reported times of peak alertness. Among subjects who had a particular mutation on a Chromosome 4 gene, nearly 90 percent were "morning" people. Among those who had another distinctive variant, more than half were night owls. Chromosome 4 probably isn't the only one that predicts a preference for morning or night activity, says Emmanuel Mignot, associate professor of psychiatry and one of the study's authors. He's now looking at other, nearby genes to see if they might be involved, too.
Wanted: New Community Center Director
A drive to improve services for Stanford's lesbian, gay and bisexual students hit a bump in the road in November with the sudden departure of the group's first official community center director, Gwendolyn Dean. Hired from Emory University just last summer, Dean announced in November that she was leaving her job as part-time director of Stanford's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Community Center to take a similar post -- this one full-time -- at Cornell. Members of the center have been pushing to make the director's job a full-time position. But James Montoya, vice provost for student affairs, says it will likely stay half-time as the University seeks to balance the needs of lesbian, gay and bisexual students with the demand to fund other student services, such as financial aid, graduate student housing and the women's center.
