Bowdoin delivered daily
sign up today—it's free! On This Day2000 — Not-for-profit entrepreneur Ellen Baxter '75 presents a lecture entitled "Homelessness in New York City: The Courts, the Politics and Pragmatic Solutions,” in the chapel. StorePurchase Bowdoin merchandise online. | 
During the fall of 2010, seven students participated in an independent study with Environmental Studies Director Phil Camill and Program Manager Eileen Johnson in response to a request for a municipal-scale sea level rise impact analysis framework for coastal Maine. The project focused on the communities of Brunswick and Harpswell and involved community presentations and feedback throughout the process. Building upon the fall independent study, Maryellen Hearn ’11 and Krista Bahm ’11 worked with Camill and Johnson to refine the analysis, and their study, “Using a Boundary Organization Approach to Develop a Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge Impact Analysis Framework for Coastal Communities in Maine,” was published in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. (The study is available to Bowdoin students, faculty and staff through the Bowdoin Library subscription to JESS.) “Most people think that the rocky, steep coast line of New England is less susceptible to sea level rise,” say Camill. “But, we found that there can be substantial potential impacts to transportation networks, property and intertidal ecosystems.” “The independent study was a great learning opportunity for the students and a valuable service to community, state and local partners” says Johnson. In addition to presenting findings, this work provides a template for other coastal communities in New England and is an example of the kinds of community based scholarship happening at Bowdoin. 
MIT researchers have devised a new way of computing an important algorithm, a discovery that has the potential to speed up much of our technology, from computers to medical equipment, and make it cheaper, too. To do this, they figured out how to speed up the calculation of Fast Fourier Transforms — the “most important algorithm of our lifetime.” FFTs reduce complicated signals, like sound waves, to a fairly short list of numbers. This breakthrough, Fast Company says, could lead to 3-D rendering on tablets, more accurate self-driving cars, highly detailed weather models, and more efficient image, sound and video compression techniques.  Dhiraj Murthy Social media has become a battleground for warring candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination, prompting new research by Assistant Professor Sociology Dhiraj Murthy. Working with Stephanie Bond ’13 and lab programmer Alexander Gross, Murthy is researching urban American responses to Republican primary candidates on Twitter. The team has developed a tool to visualize tweets from the most populous urban American cities. Read more about the research and check out the visualization tool. As part of the redevelopment of the decommissioned Brunswick Naval Air Station, the Town of Brunswick will receive more than 1,000 acres designated for conservation and recreational purposes. In anticipation of this transition, Brunswick is developing an Open Space Management Plan for the area. Environmental studies majors Michael Lachance ’13, Christopher “Woody” Mawhinney ’12 and Francis Joyce ’12 had the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of this experience by working with staff from both the town and the National Park Service. [portfolio_slideshow] The partnership provided a chance for students to be learn more about the redevelopment of the site while bringing valuable resources to the town’s planning process. Continue reading Slideshow: Out Standing in their Field: Environmental Studies Students Get Hands-On Experience Students returning to campus this week should notice that their laptops, iPads, Androids and other wireless gadgets are running more quickly and smoothly—an issue that students made a top priority for the college. Over winter break, Bowdoin’s IT department responded to student wishes by upgrading the college’s wireless system, replacing every access point with the latest technology from Cisco. The new access points, which look like white plastic boxes with small blue, red or green LED lights, connect Bowdoin’s network with wireless devices. They’ve been placed in 95 buildings and at more than 400 locations across campus, a number that will be expanded as the wireless needs of the campus grow and change. [portfolio_slideshow] The initiative to update the system came after students experienced increasing difficulty with the wireless signal. “Students complained that the network was slowing down in dorms and places of a lot of activity,” Bowdoin CIO Mitch Davis says. “What we wanted to avoid was having any downtime when too many people were working on devices.” Continue reading Slideshow: College Listens to Students, Upgrades Wireless System 
Some of the biggest names in business are also those of the philanthropists best poised to make a difference in the coming year. From the third-generation Buffett to the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, see how the charitable giving torch is being passed and how these 10 donors may light the way to a brighter future. Learn how Bowdoin students are making a difference with help from the Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good.  Larry Bock, a member of the Bowdoin College Class of 1981, has long been concerned about the declining number of young Americans entering the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. That’s why he founded the USA Science & Engineering Festival, the nation’s largest celebration of science and engineering. Bowdoin was a partner in the inaugural event in 2010 that attracted over 500,000 people, including neuroscience students from Bowdoin and the College’s acclaimed robotics team, Northern Bites. On this New Year’s Day, Bock is asking Americans from across the country to make a resolution to participate in the 2012 event, scheduled for April.
 What a difference a decade can make! Katie Grote ’02 remembers the days when energy efficiency wasn’t exactly top of mind among Bowdoin students. Today, says Grote, the College has become “a national leader in college campus efficiency” by using time-tested marketing techniques to change behavior.
 What do Steve Jobs, the Arab Spring, the Japanese earthquake, Occupy Wall Street, Penn State, crazy weather, and Osama Bin Laden have in common? They all made headlines in 2011 and they’re all part of a stunning collection of photographs of the year about to end published in three parts by The Boston Globe.
The Year in Pictures – Part I The Year in Pictures – Part II The Year in Pictures – Part III  Photo courtesy of Scandinavian Wildlife Park. The Huffington Post features new pictures of the über-photogenic polar bear cub, Siku. Scandinavian Wildlife Park in Denmark is raising the month-old cub, which was removed from his mother after she failed to feed him. | Bowdoin Athletics 2/3/2012 Women's Track & Field at 1st/4 Maine State Meet (Bates) | Recap 2/4/2012 Nordic Skiing at Vermont Carnival (Trapp Family Lodge) 2/4/2012 Women's Swimming & Diving at Colby 2/4/2012 Men's Swimming & Diving at Colby 2/4/2012 Men's Track & Field at Maine State Meet (Bates) 2/4/2012 Women's Squash Bowdoin at Bates 2/4/2012 Men's Ice Hockey Bowdoin at Hamilton Video2/4/2012 Men's Squash Wesleyan (Conn.) at Bowdoin 2/5/2012 Nordic Skiing at Vermont Carnival (Trapp Family Lodge) 2/10/2012 Nordic Skiing at Dartmouth Carnival (Oak Hill) 2/10/2012 Women's Squash Bates at Bowdoin 2/10/2012 Women's Ice Hockey Bowdoin at Hamilton Video |
