Spring Sports Retro Friday!

Maybe it's the downright balmy weather we've been having or the fact that it's spring break and my classmates and teachers alike are updating their Facebook pages with messages about travel and relaxation, or maybe it's because I just spent a few hours in the Dana Library thumbing through old Rutgers Newark yearbooks, but I'm feeling  a) like I need to go for a run outside after work today, and b) just a little nostalgic.

So I've dug out these old spring sport photos from our archives for your entertainment.

At left, baseball - unknown date.


Below:basketball, unknown date.

Runners on Bleeker Street (that's NJIT's Eberhardt Hall in the background). 1970s??

Tennis, anyone? This one's from Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries. Taken on Rector St. in the 1940s

Sitar and Tabla Concert in Dana Library

Yesterday afternoon the Dana Library was filled with the sounds of sitar and tabla. Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury and Dibyarka Chatterjee performed an hour long set of classical Indian music. I took a few photos that Mary Grace Oania (who also took these awesome Homecoming photos last year) edited for me.

The concert featured what's called an afternoon raga. A raga is traditional Indian music going back thousands of years. There are ragas for each time of the day. I hope to have a video on our YouTube channel once it's edited and approved.

Indrajit and Dibyarka were really great and down to earth and they taught the audience a few things about the instruments and music. Did you know that the big bowl part of the sitar is not made from wood, but rather from a hollowed out gourd? And that the frets on a sitar move up and down for each tuning?

The tabla is just as fascinating. For one, it can be tuned. Dibyarka played it more like a piano than a percussion instrument; his fingers flying all over the place.

Similar to jazz, there is a lot of improvisation and conversation back and forth between the musicians, which was very impressive and seamless. And all the more amazing when we found out that while Indrajit and Dibyarka are both highly accomplished performers, this was actually the first time they'd ever played together.

This concert was part of the Arts at Newark series; the next concert will be the New York Scandia Quartet performing at the Robeson Gallery on March 31. (More details)

Lessons from Iceland

Law Professor Mark S. Weiner  (pictured below) spent the fall 2009 semester as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Akureyi in Iceland, where he taught U.S. constitutional law and studied the country’s medieval clans, or kinship groups, and their relation to the growth of modern Icelandic law and society.

What he learned about the role of kinship in early Iceland shed light on efforts to develop the rule of law in current clan-based regions of the world, including those that nurture international terrorism. The Fulbright experience, says Weiner, “has fundamentally transformed my thinking about legal history and constitutional law in ways I hope to bring back with me when I return to Rutgers School of Law–Newark.”

Weiner will discuss kinship and the law in his February 23 Chancellor’s Distinguished Faculty Lecture and in a new book on the legal and cultural significance of clans.

He discusses his five-month Icelandic experience in this essay


For a slideshow of more spectacular photos from Iceland, go to
http://law.newark.rutgers.edu/files/u/WeinerIceland.pdf

Something in the way he moves: bringing the science of body language perception to Dr. Oz

[ Today's post is written by Ashley Blanchard, Rutgers University graduate student. Ashley can be contacted at ablanchard@psychology.rutgers.edu ]

To what great lengths will men go to appease their wives or girlfriends? That question was recently answered when three men, in relationships of varying lengths, agreed to be on The Dr. Oz Show. (At left, Arthur Bakai suits up)

In preparation for the show, all three men came to the Motion Capture Lab in the Psychology department at Rutgers-Newark to have their walking motions recorded within our motion capture system. Each man had to wiggle into a tight fitting lycra outfit and stand still while James Thomas, another graduate student in Maggie Shiffrar’s lab, and I carefully attached 30 sensors to the joints of his limbs and head. In this thoroughly uncomfortable situation, each man sighed that he couldn’t believe what he let his partner talk him into. Aaah, what men will do in the name of love. (Below, Joe Zilder stands still while Dr. Schiffrar, John Franchek and Ashley Blanchard arrange the equipment)


After being suited up, the men were asked to walk casually within a 3 x 4 meter capture area while our system measured the 3D locations of each of the 30 sensors several times per second. After collecting these motion capture data, each of the men was freed from the sensors and lycra suit. Let me tell you, after an hour or two, these guys were happy to be done with motion capture technology. Our lab manager and technician extraordinaire, John Franchak, took the motion capture data from each man and used it to construct a point-light movie of each man’s gait. These movies show only the locations of the moving sensors and thus are devoid of the face and bodily form information visible in typical movies. Previous research has demonstrated that naive observers can determine a person’s gender, identity, mood, and even the intention to deceive from the movements of these points. The Dr. Oz Show plans on showing these point-light movies to the partners of these men to determine whether the women could identify their partner, and if so, whether women in longer relationships were better able to identify their partner’s gait. Past research on action perception from our lab suggests that this should be the case. (At right, the last participant of the day, James Davis, has a little fun in his suit)

Above, what the computer sees - these images will be cleaned up and an anonymous 'body' will be overlayed so that it will look like a person walking.

For more information on motion capture technology and our research on the visual perception of body language, please visit the ROAR (Research on Autism at Rutgers) website.

Note: This episode was taped on Jan 12th and has not yet aired. Visit The Dr. Oz Show for more information.

Fed Challenge Team Beats Harvard, Northwestern to Win 2nd Place

On Dec. 2, 2009, students Lakshya Aeri, Sharissa Barrow, Victor Castaneda, Diego LaFuente and Michael Martins scored a second place finish - beating Harvard and Northwestern Business Schools, and winning a $15,000 award from the Moody’s Foundation - at the national finals of the ninth annual College Fed Challenge. Their coach is Economics Department Chair John Graham.

The team is pictured at left on the steps of the the Federal Reserve in Washington DC.

Just before the break, I managed to get in contact with Sharissa Barrow for her thoughts on the experience. (That's her smiling from her perch in Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke's chair!)

This is what she had to say:

"The College Fed Challenge is hard work. Preparation requires extensive and constant reading, analysis of data, and an understanding of both macroeconomic theory and the economic and financial systems. At the beginning of the semester, I knew very little about the Federal Reserve or about the intricacies of the economy. That has certainly changed; changed so much in fact that my daily routine now includes following the release of data for key economic indicators and reading the Wall Street Journal and speeches.

That said, participating in the Fed Challenge has been the most remarkable experience of my college career. Not only have I learned more in two to three months than I would have ever expected, but I was able to work as a part of a team that was made up of some very bright people. Professor Graham was fantastic—his patience and dedication to getting us through the competition were unbelievable.

The team poses in the boardroom of the Federal Reserve before the competition

Then there was Washington. Beating Harvard and Northwestern was certainly a feat. We didn’t win, but we did break a tradition—Harvard and Northwestern are no longer the only schools to have placed first and second in the competition. I am proud to have been a part of that! And being in the very room that the Federal Open Market Committee meets to discuss current economic conditions and sitting in Chairman Bernanke’s chair and shaking his hand weren’t so bad either :) !"

For more coverage of this story, see Rutgers Students Capture 2nd Place in National Contest

The Art In Music

This week the Robeson Galleries celebrated its 30th anniversary with several days of events and openings.

A free lunchtime concert in the gallery yesterday featured music celebrating composer/artists George Gershwin, Paul Hindemith and Edgard Varese, whose artwork can be seen on the poster at left. (you can enlarge the poster by clicking on it)

The concert also featured the world premiere of a piece by our very own Henry Martin called "A Gershwin Mosaic." It was a fantastic piece, and in case you missed it, I'm uploading the video to our YouTube channel as I type this. It's slightly over their 10 minute limit so I may need to cut it down, but I'll add a link here once it's up. [update: in the meantime, you can see Henry Martin explain his process for creating the piece]

Below, the musicians warm up before the concert. Henry Martin is sitting on the bench, listening intently.

Asmira Woodward-Page tells the audience about the first piece, Gerswhin's Lullaby.

Flutist Jill Sokol performs a solo

The musicians: Asmira Woodard-Page, Yuki Numata (violin), Soo Bae (cello) and Miranda Sielaff (viola)

A packed house!!

The artwork on the walls is also part of the gallery's anniversary exhibit, Exquisite Corpse, in which 39 artists from the NY/NJ area participated including several faculty and at least one alumna. The exhibit is up until April 18, 2010. Visit The Robeson Galleries web site for more information.

GlassBook Project Goes to Hollywood

This week I'm giving over the reigns to student (and documentary filmmaker!) Samantha Glovin, who attended the celebrity-studded Voice Awards at the famed Paramount Studios in Hollywood earlier this month.

Sam was in Hollywood to continue filming a documentary about the GlassBook Project, which started right here at Rutgers-Newark last spring, as part of a book arts class offered by Instructor Nick Kline. I was also in that class with Nick and Sam last year, and feel particularly proud of how far we've come with what started as a class assignment.

Sam writes:

What an experience! My trip to Hollywood to film the Voice Awards with the GlassBook Project as the featured exhibit was something I never would have imagined when starting this project in January. The responses from people admiring the books I received from interviews, as well as filming the red carpet and the awards ceremony, although extremely nerve-racking, was a once in a lifetime experience and something I will never forget. Seeing the GlassBook Project in the center of the main foyer immediately next to the red carpet was mind-blowing. To imagine how far we've come in less than a year! The project has become so much more than just an assignment for class that has come and gone. We are truly making an impact with lasting effects. I am so thrilled to be given this opportunity and to be part of something that is truly spectacular.

Sam is pictured below with her trusty camera, filming part of the exhibit:
The project was introduced at the awards by actor Richard Dreyfuss:

GlassBook Project video. Branding was done by Rutgers-Newark professor Ned Drew and Brenda McManus

The people who started it all! Helga Luest, of Witness Justice, and Nick Kline

More photos of the books can be found on the GlassBook Project Facebook Group. Information about the project, including detail photos of individual books, can be found at www.glassbookproject.org

If you're on campus, the books are going to be exhibited at the Dana Library beginning Nov 6.

Latin Caucus Party

Last Wednesday I attended the first Latin Caucus welcome reception at the Robeson Gallery. There was a great Latin jazz band led by Frank Villafañe, and also various latin foods for lunch, though sadly, the flan was all gone by the time I got there.

Amy Ortiz, who works with the MFA program, painted the image that appeared on the cover of the event program (left).

There was a short performance by Miguel Algarin, founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café, which, if you aren't familiar with it, hosts public performances of the many varieties of poetry emerging from New York City's Puerto Rican and African-American literature. (You can check out their website, www.nuyorican.org, for more info). He is also a former chair of the Puerto Rican Studies department at Rutgers. Unfortunately I missed his reading, though I did catch him dancing at the reception before he left.

Below are some photos of the event from Saskia Agustin of the School of Public Affairs & Administration. I'm working on getting some audio/video of the band that Claudio Mir of the MFA program sent me up on our YouTube channel as well. In the meantime, you can go to Frank's mySpace page to hear his music.

Miguel Algarin (right) with Vilma Perez:

Frank Villafañe (on piano) and his band:

One of the guests tries her hand at the conga drums:

Group photo:

At left, Amy Ortiz and Adela Diaz take a break to pose for a photo.

You can see Saskia's full set of photos from the event on Picasa.

Urban Garden

Maybe "sustainable bird garden" isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think about downtown Newark, NJ, but did you know that we have not one, but two of them on the Rutgers campus here?

These gardens were planted and enlarged over the past several Earth Days with the help of student volunteers, the Greater Newark Conservancy, and campus staff. Our very own Professor Claus Holzapfel helped choose plants that would attract and feed the birds that regularly fly over campus on their migratory paths.

Right now both gardens are in full bloom in the Norman Samuels Plaza. Helen Paxton took these great photos of the plants (and bumblebees) this week.

The signage on our first garden, the smaller of the two, describes the project.

Our larger bird garden includes a sign with photos and descriptions of a few of the many bird species (over 100!) that have been spotted on campus.

Close up of a bumblebee on an echinacea plant - if you click on the photo for the larger version, you'll see some amazing detail on the wings. I love this photo (and no, I'm not just saying that because the photographer happens to be my boss!)

Staff Appreciation Day

It takes a lot more than just students and professors to keep the university running, whether it's organizing student life activities, keeping the plaza landscaped, keeping the campus safe, maintaining budgets and records, cleaning your classrooms and offices, running the computer labs, delivering mail, writing grants and everything in between.

Every year the HR department puts together a staff appreciation event for all of these people and Chancellor Steven Diner hands out awards to some of the hardest working folks on campus. To the left, Henry Lionel Anderson holds up his award... can you believe he hasn't called out sick in 30 years?

In the top right photo below, the HR department smiles for the camera... they look relieved that all the planning is over, don't they? Director Elena Serra was so happy she can be seen dancing in the top left photo :)

Aside from the music, bingo, and chance to mingle with people you don't often see on a daily basis, one of the draws is that you get ice cream and food served to you by the bigshots on campus (as you can see from the bottom right photo above). It's a nice break from sitting in front of my computer all day!

You can view all photos from the event on the Rutgers Newark HR website

Staff vs. Students

My office is right next to the athletic field, and yesterday as I was leaving work the annual staff vs. students softball game was just starting. I couldn't stay for very long, but below are some photos I snapped before I had to leave.

While I was there the students were pummeling the staff (sorry guys!) But there was still plenty of time for the staff to catch up after I'd left.

Unfortunately for the staff, I heard afterwards that even though they put up a good fight and managed to close the gap, in the end they still lost (I was told it was only by 1 point though!)

Congrats to the student team! At least everyone got to enjoy the bright sunshine for a few hours! It was a welcome break from this dreary rain we've been having all June.

6th Annual Essex County Walk to End Hunger

On May 1, various Rutgers-Newark student groups, offices and individuals walked from Washington Park to City Hall in Newark to help fight hunger in the city.

The groups included fraternities and sororities, the Chancellor's Office, Alumni Relations, Housing & Residence Life, Athletics, Paul Robeson Campus Center, and Student Health Services.

Rev. Deacon Diane Riley of the Apostles' House sent these photos.

Gerald Massenberg said, "We participated in the walk as part of the university wide initiative to combat hunger, Rutgers Against Hunger (RAH). We partnered with the Apostles' House which is a food pantry and shelter for those in need here in Newark. We've been collecting and donating food to the Apostles' House this year and we were encouraged to participate in the walk because of our relationship with them."

The walk was sponsored by the Emergency Food & Nutrition Network of Catholic Charities and Meeting Emergency Needs with Charity (MEND)