November/December 2016

Holiday Gold

Prospecting for presents? How about dresses for girls, tweed-and-leather shoulder bags, retro pocket watches, or soapstone pendants? Discover these and other creative gift ideas from alumni entrepreneurs in our 10th annual holiday gift guide. Enjoy some discounts offered only to BAM readers.

Obituaries

Obituaries from the November/December 2016 issue.

Rio Diary

Louisa Chafee ’14 competed in sailing at the Rio Summer Olympics, and dad Lincoln Chafee ’75 blogged a play-by-play.

Prick Up Your Ears

Former movie producer Noah Kraft ’09 gave up Hollywood for the audio industry and now  makes an earbud with superpowers.

Scrambling at Crosswalks

In car-mad Los Angeles, Seleta Reynolds ’98 is trying to get people off the freeways and into other forms of public transportation.

Perennial Activist

As an agitator at Brown, John Bonifaz ’87 was put on probation. Now he’s trying to rid elections of big money.

Mind Reader

Albany Medical College neurologist Anthony Ritaccio ’79 has developed software that knows what you’re thinking.

Recognition Awards

At September's alumni fall weekend, the Brown Alumni Association saluted outstanding graduates.

Bruno Likes Ike

Back in 1956, it seemed that even the Brown Bear mascot was excited about re-electing Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Guile, Bluff, and Brains

David Margolis '61, who died in June, was a legend at the State Department, where he worked for a half-century.

What You Thought

Readers weigh in on changes to the SciLi, football scholarships, the death of America's oldest person, and other BAM articles.

Gravitational Pull

When Jessica Meir ’99 was 5, she dreamed of becoming an astronaut. Now that’s come true and she's dreaming of getting to Mars.

Dispatches

As a journalist in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pulitzer winner Alissa Rubin ’80 went places "where nobody else had the guts to go.”

Safe Passage

A look at the World War II heroism of Martha Dickie Sharp ’26 and her husband, the guardian angels of European children.

From the President November/December 2016

Why is Brown so special? President Paxson thinks the answer begins in two pivotal moments in its history.

Undocumented Students

When it comes to need-blind admissions, as of next fall Brown will treat undocumented applicants like everyone else.

Sports Highlights

Hockey standouts from Brown in the NHL; updates for football and men's and women's soccer.

Cadet Bruno

After reaching argreements with two Worcester colleges, Brown ROTC now includes the Navy, Air Force, and Marines.

Newbies

President Paxson and Grad School dean Andrew Campbell gave students advice at Opening Convocation in September.

Will Grad Students Unionize?

A ruling by National Labor Relations Board says that some graduate students have the right to form a union. But will they?

Fresh Ink

A debut novel set in late-1970s, post-Franco Spain; a thriller set in Mexico; and a novel about a rape told in the voice of psychiatrist.

Talk This Way

Brown/Trinity Rep voice and speech director Thom Jones is the guy Hollywood actors turn to for learning a Rhode Island accent.

A Life In War

Documentary filmmaker Ken Carlson ’86 follows classmate Tom Catena ’86 to his Mother of Mercy Hospital in war-torn Sudan.

On the Road Again

New music from Rebecca Pronsky ’02 and Evie Laden ’91, and Mary Chapin Carpenter ’81 releases her evocative 14th album.

Sci-Fi

The blockbuster science fiction movie Arrival is based on a short story from Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang ’89.

A Tale of Prohibitions

In her novel Leaving Lucy Pear, Anna Solomon ’98 tells the story of an abandoned child in 1920s New England.

A Genius Grant

Lauren Redniss ’96 is a new MacArthur Fellow, recognized for the "exceptional creativity" of her "visual nonfiction."

Once in a Lifetime

Producer Jill Furman ’90 saw the potential of Hamilton early and played a key role in getting it to Broadway.

Others Stop Looking

When we encounter someone with a disabling impairment, what do we see? A wheelchair or a human being?

A Nobel for Brown Physics

Professor J. Michael Kosterlitz shares the Nobel Prize in Physics for work in condensed-matter physics.