In 2012, the journal Polymer Degradation and Stability published the second article in a larger project. That article, “Flame retarded poly(lactic acid) using POSS-modified cellulose. 1. Thermal and combustion properties of intumescing composites,” details progress on a project that has as its goal converting cellulose into a flame retardant. 

“Basically, you take cotton, put it in diet cola (which has phosphoric acid), and heat it up,” says Fox. The phosphoric acid reacts with cellulose forming a non-flammable char that, when placed in plastics, can help reduce their propensity for burning. The U.S. government has funded Fox’s research because of its potential usefulness in places such as airliner cabins, which are filled with plastics that give off poisonous gases when on fire. 

Three students assisted Fox: alumni Jieun Lee ‘11 and Christopher J. Citro ‘11, and senior Melissa Novy, who graduated in May. 

Each student worked on different parts of the project. Some would do reactions with cotton, while others would mix char with polymers in an extruder, a machine with screws that melt the plastic, shred the cellulose, and mix them together. Other students would test the char to see whether it would burn. 

“A couple of the students are excited that their work is out there—being able to present their work at a national conference, having their name on the project, getting the opportunity to contribute something new,” says Fox. 

A clear benefit of these research projects is that they give students lab experience that can help them get into graduate school. Fox finds another benefit. 

“I find working with undergraduates to be rewarding. For the students, it is a learning experience, and I can see their growth. One of the reasons I came to AU is that I liked the balance of research and teaching, and the students are adding to the progression of the research,” he says. 

In the lab, students get the chance to take ownership of a project and contribute to the field of chemistry. 

“It’s really great that at AU, I can just go up to a professor and they make themselves available. They want to see us get involved in the work,” says Novy, who plans to pursue a PhD in materials science after graduating. Doing research in Fox’s lab helped her to figure out her interests and gave her confidence. 

The Chemistry Department plans to continue offering students opportunities to get involved in research projects. The success of the flame retardant plastics research has helped encourage the emphasis on hands-on learning in the lab.  

“We want them to have the research experience and see the whole process,” Fox says. “They learn most from trial and error and the issues that come up in the lab.” 

Another important lesson students are learning in the lab is about sustainability. “Not only does this work help benefit students, but it helps us contribute to the field of sustainability,” says Fox. Sustainability is at the heart of much of Fox’s research and he likes making students aware of the impact of what they are learning and how that knowledge relates to protecting the environment. One of Fox’s past projects, for example, in which undergraduate students also conducted research in the lab, used easily available clay materials to develop flame retardants. 

“The Chemistry Department will continue to provide students with research opportunities,” says Fox, “and there is a lot of potential opportunity for American University to grow and to become a leader in undergraduate scientific research.”

American University has been selected as one of the top workplaces for information technology professionals by Computerworld. This honor is part of the bi-weekly IT publication’s 20th annual Best Places to Work in IT survey, and was featured in the June 17, 2013 issue of Computerworld and online. The top 100 organizations are recognized for challenging their IT staffs while providing the most competitive benefits and compensation.

AU ranked among the top 100 Best Places to Work in IT for the first time, with a respectable first-time ranking of 96 among Fortune 500 companies. The university also ranked fifth in the Overall Benefits category.

"It is a great honor for our organization to be recognized as one of the best places to work," explained Chief Information Officer Dave Swartz. "The Computerworld recognition includes all industries, not just higher education. Of the top 100, there are only four that represent higher education, so we are one of an elite group."

Swartz continued, "For me, this recognition really is confirmation that something exciting is happening here. When I walk through the doors each morning, I can feel the positive mojo coming from my group. They are fully engaged and motivated in helping AU to address its most pressing needs. I feel it is an important part of my job to make sure my staff knows that AU truly cares about them. It is also important to provide well defined goals to align with, create a great environment for them to work, and recognize and reward their achievements. When you do all of this, it is a recipe for something great to happen."

"We applaud the organizations on the Best Places to Work in IT list for creating and sustaining dynamic IT work environments," said Scot Finnie, editor-in-chief of Computerworld. "This year, several new names, such as American University, have joined the stalwarts that make the list year after year. It's clear that the best IT workplaces are constantly raising the bar with great benefits, new learning opportunities, access to cutting-edge technologies and challenging business-critical projects."

The Best Places to Work in IT list is an annual ranking of the top 100 work environments for technology professionals by Computerworld. The list is compiled based on a comprehensive questionnaire regarding company offerings in categories such as benefits, diversity, career development, training, and retention. In addition, Computerworld conducts extensive surveys of IT workers, and their responses factor heavily in determining the rankings.

Under the leadership of CIO Dave Swartz, AU has made a firm commitment to building and strengthening a robust, reliable, and secure framework of information and communication technology to support AU’s activities as a world-class university. The central IT organization has transformed the department into a strategic business partner by introducing industry standard best practices for IT service management to other service units. In addition, OIT successfully adopted and constantly strives to mature best practices in strategic planning, project and portfolio management, information security, technology operations, and enterprise infrastructure lifecycle planning.

Computerworld is the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers, providing peer perspective, IT leadership and business results. They lead the industry with an online audience of more than 3.8 million unique, monthly visitors and are recognized as the Best Website by ASBPE and TABPI in 2012.

WASHINGTON – American University has been selected as one of the top workplaces for information technology professionals by IDG's Computerworld. This honor is part of the bi-weekly IT publication’s 20th annual “Best Places to Work in IT” survey, which was featured in the June 17, 2013 issue of “Computerworld” and online at Computerworld.com. The top 100 organizations challenge their IT staffs while providing great benefits and compensation.

American University ranked among the top 100 Best Places to Work in IT for the first time, with a respectable first-time ranking of 96. However, the university ranked number 5 out of 100 in overall benefits. AU is one of only four universities included in the rankings.

"It is a great honor for our organization to be recognized as one of the best places to work," explains Chief Information Officer Dave Swartz. "The Computerworld recognition includes all industries, not just higher education. Of the top 100, there are only four that represent higher education; so we are one of an elite group."

Swartz continues, "For me, this recognition really is confirmation that something exciting is happening here. When I walk through the doors each morning, I can feel the positive mojo coming from my group. They are fully engaged and motivated in helping AU to address its most pressing needs. I feel it is an important part of my job to make sure my staff know, that AU truly cares about them. It is also important to provide well defined goals to align with, create a great environment for them to work, and recognize and reward their achievements. When you do all of this, it is a recipe for something great to happen."

"We applaud the organizations on the Best Places to Work in IT list for creating and sustaining dynamic IT work environments," said Scot Finnie, editor in chief of Computerworld. "This year, several new names, such as American University, have joined the stalwarts that make the list year after year. It's clear that the best IT workplaces are constantly raising the bar with great benefits, new learning opportunities, access to cutting-edge technologies and challenging business-critical projects."

The Best Places to Work in IT list is an annual ranking of the top 100 work environments for technology professionals by Computerworld. The list is compiled based on a comprehensive questionnaire regarding company offerings in categories such as benefits, diversity, career development, training and retention. In addition, Computerworld conducts extensive surveys of IT workers, and their responses factor heavily in determining the rankings.

The Office of Information Technology provides the central IT services and management for the AU community. This one team consists of four distinctive service functions: Enterprise Systems, Information Security, IT Customer Service, and Technology Operations.

Under the leadership of our CIO Dave Swartz, AU has made a firm commitment to building and strengthening our robust, reliable, and secure framework of information and communication technology to support our activities as a world-class university. The central IT organization has transformed IT into a strategic business partner by introducing industry standard best practices for IT service management to other service units. In addition, OIT successfully adopted and constantly striving to mature best practices in strategic planning, project and portfolio management, information security, technology operations, and enterprise infrastructure lifecycle planning.

About Computerworld

Computerworld is the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers, providing peer perspective, IT leadership and business results. Computerworld’s award-winning website (www.computerworld.com), publication, focused conference series, custom solutions and custom research forms the hub of the world’s largest (40+ edition) global IT media network and provides opportunities for IT solutions providers to engage this audience. Computerworld leads the industry with an online audience of over 3.8 million unique, monthly visitors (Omniture, November 2012) and was recognized as the Best Website by ASBPE and TABPI in 2012. Computerworld is published by IDG Enterprise, a subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world’s leading media, events and research company. Company information is available at www.idgenterprise.com.

Note: All product and company names are trademarks of their respective organizations.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will provide seven Washington D.C.-area high school students with scholarships to attend a three-week hands-on workshop that includes all aspects of filmmaking from script to screen through a $10,000 grant supporting the Student Filmmaker Scholars Program.

The program is offered by Discover the World of Communication, an American University School of Communication initiative, which offers high school students an extraordinary summer opportunity to explore the field of communication in a dynamic university setting. The priority of the Student Filmmaker Scholars Program is to identify minority and female budding filmmakers.

DWC Director Sarah Menke-Fish is thrilled that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has chosen to support the program. “This funding will allow us to reach students who have not traditionally been able to participate in DWC. “ She says that the Scholars will reap a range of benefits from the program. “It’s not only an outlet for their creative passion, but also professional development. Students make a real product for a real audience. It can and frequently does serve as a portfolio piece for the student’s college application.”
 
Menke-Fish, a professor of Film and Media Arts, created and launched DWC, which has turned out over 3,000 alumni over the past 18 years. She also directs AU’s University College, a premier living, learning and laboratory experience for first-year college students and serves as associate director for the Center for Environmental Filmmaking.

In the Scholars Program, which is taught by working professionals Steven Holloway and Shannon Schenck with visits by Oscar- and Emmy-winning guest lecturers, participants begin by developing story ideas into scripts, covering topics such as basics of story craft, creating characters, and formatting a screenplay.
Next, the students transition to film production, learning the basic principles of 16mm production, lighting concepts, dual system sound recording, and pre-production planning. They rotate through different roles on set to get the most hands-on experience. This includes director, assistant director, cinematographer, script supervisor, grip, sound mixer, and more.
Finally, post-production topics including editing on Final Cut Pro, sound design and film marketing and promotion are covered. Students present their final projects at a screening attended by peers, instructors, and community members.

During class and after hours, students explore Washington, D.C. and the communication field from a variety of angles. Students view live television and radio broadcasts at local studios such as NBC 4, WTTG Fox 5, NPR and ESPN Radio, cover a Nationals baseball game or WNBA game from a press seat, and tour local attractions including the National Zoo, Newseum, National Cathedral, Georgetown and the Smithsonian museums.

American University often plays host to prominent speakers and noteworthy speeches. Perhaps none in the history of the institution stands out more than President John F. Kennedy's speech at the 1963 Commencement. A number of events have taken place recently to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the occasion.

As the sweltering heat of summer makes its way into Washington, D.C. and across much of the rest of the country, there are some lighter opportunities to celebrate your own relationship with AU. Once again this year, we have a partnership with the Washington Nationals, so you can enjoy seeing your alma mater featured prominently during many games -- and you even have the opportunity for discounted tickets so you can enjoy our national pastime.

Looking ahead to the fall, we'll be welcoming a new freshman class to AU. There will be a number of Summer Sendoff events around the country that bring together these incoming students to celebrate this new chapter in their lives. Alumni are welcome to attend these events to begin the process of welcoming them to the broader community of Eagles.

Finally, be sure to mark your calendars for All-American Weekend in October. I find the opportunity to get together with so many fellow graduates of American University to be an enjoyable and worthwhile experience -- and I'm certain you will too.

I look forward to seeing and hearing from many of you this fall. In the meantime, try to beat the heat and enjoy your summer!

-Chip

“For the first time, we will have more students combined from California and Texas than we do from Virginia and Maryland,” says Director of Admissions Greg Grauman, SOC/BA ’99 when describing the Class of 2017. “We continue to see the shift in our enrolled students from the northeast/mid-Atlantic to the south and west. Overall, nearly 30% of our class is coming from the south and west.”

New admissions staffing positions were added to support enrollment in both California and Florida this year. This allowed admissions personnel to spend more time recruiting students in these regions. “We have seen a year-to-date increase in students from the south and west. Specifically, California (10%), Texas (50%), and Florida (38%),” said Grauman.

The newly enrolled freshmen were selected from an applicant pool of more than 17,000 academically accomplished students. The class of 2017 earned an average GPA of 3.74 and had an average SAT score of 1256 (on a 1600 scale).

These first-year students will come to Washington from all corners of the country and from around the world. They’ll arrive this August from 46 states (including D.C.) and from 54 different countries. Additionally, this class will include 50 U.S. Global Nomad freshmen (U.S. citizens living abroad) who represent 40 countries of residence.

Delighted with the enrollment results for the Class of 2017, AU’s admissions team will soon begin seeking new students for the class of 2018. Over the coming year, staff members will participate in hundreds of recruitment events, such as prospective student interviews, high school visits, college fairs, and regional information sessions.

Over 400 alumni assist with the admissions process as alumni admissions volunteers. The engagement of AU alumni in a variety of admissions activities has greatly assisted the Office of Admissions in recruiting and enrolling top students. Alumni volunteers support admissions staff at interviews, college fairs (national and local), and admitted student receptions. “The alumni who participate in these events answer questions about AU programs and provide invaluable insight into their unique experiences at AU. Alumni admissions volunteers played a significant role in helping to recruit and enroll the class of 2017,” said Grauman.

Find out how you can become an Alumni Admissions volunteer.

A global community may need international courts, but it is difficult for those justice systems to remain free from power influences, according to research by David Bosco, assistant professor of international politics and author of a soon-to-be-published book about the International Criminal Court.

“To be an ethical global community that upholds certain standards, we need to have a system of international justice,” Bosco said.

“What interested me was the question of how one goes about implementing an international justice system when there are disparities between states and power politics and power realities.”

Bosco, who writes the Multilateralist blog for Foreign Policy magazine, interviewed more than 100 diplomats, court officials and senior government officers – both on and off the record – during his three years of research for Rough Justice, which will be published by Oxford University Press. In particular, he was curious about the court’s relationship with non-members, including the United States, China, India and Russia.

“The United States under the Bush administration was very hostile to the court. I think there was hope the court could be killed in the cradle,” Bosco said. “But over the past decade the United States has accommodated itself to the court, realizing it’s an institution that’s going to be here.”

By way of example, he noted that when the court was asked to investigate criminal acts alleged during the war in Darfur, the United States made no effort to block the move.

“The United States didn’t want to be seen as seeming to oppose international justice,” Bosco said. “You’ve seen a real evolution that shows the power, not just of the court itself but of the idea of justice.”

At the same time, he said the International Criminal Court has worked to forge good relationships with non-member states.

“One of the ways they’ve done that is by being extremely careful about taking on cases or investigations that get close to the strategic interests of major powers,” he explained. “Instead, every single investigation has been in Africa. The court has avoided situations like Afghanistan, Palestine and the Russia-Georgia conflict.

“Of course, officials don’t say this is a strategy, but the evidence is very strong,” added Bosco, who is also the author of Five to Rule Them All, a history of the U.N. Security Council.
 

Below is a first person account from Dean's Intern Erica Sanchez-Vasquez on her internship at Current.

The world of public broadcasting is undergoing a great transformation, and as an intern at Current I get to witness the changes from a closer perspective than ever before. I get to learn from media makers themselves how they are responding to the challenges of the ever-evolving technological landscape. I get to report on innovative projects, and ask reporters about their process, the challenges they face, and the impact that they have had.

In the short time I have been in Current, I have learned a few lessons that I will take with me when I go into the professional world. One of the most important is that despite the significance of how the content is presented, the most important thing is still the content itself. One of the projects I reported on was a fairly traditional television report that had great success because it presented a holistic picture of the population problem in the Philippines. It was part of a multi-platform project, which exploited the advantages of the Internet, but it was still the reporting itself that got most of the attention. Good content mixed with the longevity and accessibility of content on the Internet make for a great combination.

Another important lesson I have learned is the increasing importance of participation by the public. Most recently, I had the opportunity to go to a forum about public media and the arts. I was excited to hear about the interactive projects that are being funded by different organizations. Some of them involve the public by providing the tools to participate in content creation. Others involve them through games and lead them to take real world actions. It is interesting to see how in many cases, media producing is becoming a collaboration between the "professionals" and what used to be considered the audience.

One of the great things about working here is that I can pursue some of the topics that I love most. I’ve been able to cover international topics, within the public broadcasting field. As an International Media student, it has been very exciting to write about journalists covering international issues. Interestingly, they were all distributed across platforms, giving these complex reporting projects a longer life than they would have had in traditional broadcasting. Learning about the work of these journalists has given me hope that the type of reporting I want to do is still possible and viable.

Beyond learning about this and other elements of public broadcasting, I have enjoyed the work environment at Current. The bi-weekly pace gives an opportunity to delve deeper into the articles, and to learn from my own mistakes and from the people around me. Over the next few months, I hope that I will become a better journalist through all of these experiences and through my conversations with media professionals in different fields.

The American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center spotlights the art of its hometown with five of its six new summer exhibitions featuring works by Washington, D.C., artists. Exhibitions open Saturday, June 15, with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. and close Sunday, August 11.

The museum has a reputation for showing Washington art, something director and curator Jack Rasmussen initiated when the museum opened in 2005.

"Museums were not showing Washington art except on very rare occasions," Rasmussen said in a recent interview with American magazine. "It’s important to have local artists on your side. They support you, they talk to their friends, the friends come, and all this makes it possible to have a scene in which people want to participate."

Washington Art Matters: 1940s–1980s tells the story of art made here during five crucial decades. As such, this is the first major effort by a museum to present a comprehensive history, representing those times with works by some 80 artists. The exhibition is based on Washington Art Matters: Art Life in the Capital 1940-1990, a book published by the Washington Artists Museum and co-authored by Jean Lawlor Cohen, Benjamin Forgey, Sidney Lawrence, and Elizabeth Tebow.

Tim Tate: Sleep Walker features video installations by Tim Tate, Washington’s best known contemporary glass artist, as well as collaborations with Pete Duvall and Richard Schellengberg. Videos are probably the closest medium we have to experiencing the inexplicable quality of the dream in our waking lives. 

Rich in symbol, metaphor, movement, and mystery, videos—like dreams—enable us to participate in another reality, and, through that participation, to be transformed. Hidden within is the latent content which will give the viewer an understanding of what is happening in the mind of a dreamer.

Raya Bodnarchuk: Form spotlights sculptures by Raya Bodnarchuk, a major artist and influential mentor in Washington for 40 years. Her sculpted animals and people are beautifully and carefully observed, the mature work of a master of many different media. Bodnarchuk trained at the Rhode Island School of Art and Design and the Rinehart School of Sculpture, Maryland Institute College of Art.

Nan Montgomery: Opposite and Alternate consists of recent oil paintings by Washington, D.C., artist Nan Montgomery. Throughout her career, Montgomery’s basic signature has been the use of color as communication, the interest in the painted surface and a minimalist aesthetic. Large fields of color are painted with many color overlays using a small brush.

Kitty Klaidman: Beneath the Surface highlights recent mixed media paintings by Washington, D.C., artist Kitty Klaidman. In these paintings, richly colored acrylic pigment is applied on wood panels covered with molding paste than has been incised with organic patterns. They are then highly glazed. The over-all impact is to make explicit the subtle rhythms and tensions in seemingly static natural settings.

Chester Arnold: Accumulations and Dispersals showcases large-scale, ecologically relevant oil paintings by San Francisco Bay area figurative artist, Chester Arnold. It is the great pageant of life on earth, as seen and remembered by an individual, mixed with dreaming narrative and fictional riff that speaks of the accumulated travails of an individual and an era. 

The voice and vision, although sparked with critical observation, is orchestrated with an overwhelming love of visual experience. As evidence of an artistic ambition and moral commitment to the human experiment, these paintings celebrate living and art-making and accumulating in a most visible and accessible way.

“I have [therefore] chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived—yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace.”

These were the words of President John F. Kennedy on the occasion of American University’s commencement exercises in June of 1963. The nation’s Commander in Chief visited campus to congratulate AU’s graduates, to encourage them to serve as agents of peace, and to announce that the United States would stop testing nuclear weapons and work for a comprehensive ban treaty.

On Monday, June 10, AU celebrated the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s historic speech, “A Strategy of Peace,” which he delivered during the 1963 American University commencement exercises.

“The speech was one of the greatest by any modern leader,” said Jamil Jreisat, SPA/BA ’63, who is now professor of public administration and political science at the University of South Florida. “For years, I talked about that event as one of the most memorable and the speech by John F. Kennedy as the most responsible and eloquent by any president in modern history. It was a beautiful day where a few hundred people gathered outside at the wonderful American University green lawn.” See other reflections from members of the class of ’63.

As we continue building peace for all time, Kennedy’s words ring as true today as they did 50 years ago. More than 370 news outlets have mentioned the speech in stories this year. “When Presidential Words Led to Swift Action” from The New York Times discussed President Kennedy’s speech at AU. A May 30 story by The Washington Post about whether graduates remember commencement speeches featured alumni Carl Cook, SPA/BA ’63, and Faith Shrinsky Kirk, CAS/BA ’63, who shared memories of the day JFK spoke on campus.

Watch AU’s video commemorating JFK’s speech, see the speech itself, and learn much more about AU’s commemoration of the event at www.american.edu/jfk.

It’s more than numbers that drive Professor Mary Gray—it’s the worlds these numbers unlock when analyzed with a careful eye and with consideration of social realities. The professor of mathematics and statistics and former chair of the department has begun work with the American Bar Association to survey the massive communities of refugees fleeing into Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and other countries in the Middle East as a result of the ongoing civil war in Syria. This work along with her distinguished career as a lawyer, mathematician, and educator have earned Gray recognition as a Fellow with the American Mathematical Society. 

“A great deal of the work in statistics collection comes in designing the survey,” says Gray. “Risk is the reason that many of those we are surveying left Syria. While the fear of immediate harm may have diminished, many still feel in danger. We have to design surveys with consideration for how we can acquire the most accurate answers.” 

When the ABA received funding from the State Department to analyze the status of Syrian refugees it naturally turned to Gray to determine how best to implement this survey. “Surveying under difficult conditions is an entire subfield of statistics,” says Gray. “We not only have to locate those surveyed, but we have to convince them to speak with us and ensure that they are drawing legitimate conclusions from their answers.” 

Gray has specifically been studying the situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon where there are no government-run refugee camps. The refugee camps that do exist are largely run by religious organizations. As a result, Gray and the ABA have worked to understand the organizations as well as the conditions of the refugees. “There are many things that it would benefit us to know about but are difficult for people of any culture to talk about,” says Gray, referring to investigations into sexual assaults and other culturally sensitive crimes that have taken place throughout the conflict. “We have to be conscious of that and design the questions carefully.” 

With the data she and the ABA collect, Gray knows it will be easier to bring the perpetrators of human rights violations, such as those occurring in Syria, to justice. “Without the data all you have is an opinion,” says Gray. “If there is data it makes it easier to take action.” 

Gray says this statistical analysis is not just important overseas but in Washington as well. She cites the recent decision by D.C. Public Schools to close several schools across the city. While the school system asserts that many of these schools are under-enrolled and underutilized, many Washingtonians say closing these schools will harm minority communities. “Unless you know something about the student body as a whole,” says Gray, “you don’t know what the impact is truly going to be. It is much easier to evaluate the fairness of a decision like this when you have all of the facts.” 

Gray’s use of math and statistics in the promotion of social change also extends to her own field. For Gray, it’s not just the collection or analysis of data that is important—it’s also about who is collecting it. “Traditionally the mathematical community was not very receptive to women in mathematics,” says Gray. “There was a feeling that women could not do math or that they were somehow inferior. And while that feeling has drastically changed, there is still a great deal of work to do in this area.” The discrimination Gray felt herself as a mathematician early in her career led her to found the Association for Women in Mathematics, for which she formerly served as president and now serves as legal counsel.  

Consistently recognized as a leader in the field, Gray has also been recognized as a Fellow with the American Statistical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies recently awarded her the Elizabeth L. Scott Award, an award for those working to create opportunities for women in the field of statistics. 

“While there is more acceptance of women in entry-level mathematical positions there is still a very strong ‘glass ceiling’ under which women are able to succeed, but women find it very difficult to be at the top,” says Gray. “The data shows us that women still overwhelmingly bear the responsibility for childcare as well as caring for elderly parents. Improving childcare would do a great deal to help women succeed in math and science as well as other fields.” 

According to Gray, quantitative training can enhance the skills of women and men in a variety of fields. “You need the numbers in order to truly understand the problems you are trying to solve,” says Gray. “Especially for women, quantitative training can give them a key advantage in the modern workplace.”

What do Iron Man, Minority Report, and musical conductors have in common? They’ve all been used to describe the open-source software experiment IRP, short for Infrared Performer, developed by Audio Technology Program senior Ben Mangold. The software allows you to be a DJ, manipulate digital audio, and play software instruments with gestural control simply by moving your hands before a camera affixed to a laptop.

IRP is a musical control surface that uses open-source software developed by audio technology professor William Brent. It communicates with an infrared camera (with an attached infrared light) to track “blobs” of infrared light reflected back at the camera.

By wearing reflector clips on the thumb and forefinger (which are tracked by the camera), the user can pinch and move to “click and drag” across a fully customizable layout of buttons, toggles, sliders, and interactive shapes and instruments.

The buttons and other components of IRP can send MIDI data out of the program, which allows the user to control musical content and interact with digital audio workstations (DAWs), an integral tool for both the recording studio and any musical performance utilizing a computer. In conjunction with Ableton Live, a DAW built specifically for live performance and DJing, Mangold has used the tool he developed to create an innovative audiovisual performance.

The project’s beta was conceived, designed, and completed over the course of two years through classes at AU in digital instrument design, software engineering, and an audio technology capstone under the advice of Brent. In fall 2012, IRP was entered in the Student Design Competition and Exhibition at the 133rd Audio Engineering Society convention in San Francisco. It was selected into the competition through a blind peer review process from a panel of faculty members and professionals from around the world.

View video demonstration of IRP.

The April 23, 2013, event featuring the launch of both the William K. Reilly Fund for Environmental Governance and Leadership and the Reilly Scholarship along with the keynote address by William K. Reilly, Leadership in a Polarized Era, was a very special event for American University.

With nearly 200 attendees representing diverse environmental and public affairs interests, the event honored Bill Reilly, a distinguished environmental leader, recognized leading innovators who have contributed greatly to their fields, Deerin Babb-Brott of the National Ocean Council and Jeffrey Leonard of the Global Environment Fund, and supported future leaders who are currently graduate students in the School of Public Affairs, Kristina Bell, Master of Public Administration (2014), Samuel Cramer, Master of Public Policy (2014), and Zachary Rybarczyk, Master of Public Policy (2014).

Video

4-23 William K. Reilly Lecture and Awards Ceremony from Danielle Miller Wagner on Vimeo.

Event Photos

The Association for Conflict Resolution, Environment & Public Policy Section, in partnership with the American University Center for Environmental Policy held its 2013 Conference, “Dialogue in an Era of Divisiveness” on May 21-22, 2013. The Conference featured speakers Horst Greczmiel, White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty.

Click here for more information about the conference.

Maha Masud is a digital media and non-profit industry professional and a newly-minted iApp designer. She currently works at Americas Society and Council of the Americas producing multimedia content for AS/COA Online. She is pursuing a graduate certificate in Digital Media through American University School of Communication. Maha graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.S. in journalism and lives in New York City. SOC sat down with Masud to ask her a few questions about her work and how the online Digital Media Skills program fits into her career and life.


SOC: Why did you enroll in the Digital Media Certificate Program?

Masud: I've always had an interest in digital media, but never had the opportunity to pursue it professionally. I've worked in non-profit program management but decided it was time to make a shift toward a more digital career. I researched education programs that would give me the nuts and bolts of web development, and grow my design and editing skills in images, graphics and video. I was also in the process of moving so I needed the flexibility to study online. When I came across AU's Digital Media Certificate Program, it seemed like a great fit for my needs. The program offered classes addressing the skills I wanted to learn, and offered the ability to study from anywhere in the country. With American University's great reputation, I felt comfortable applying for an online program.


SOC: What has been your experience so far?  What have you found exciting and what were some of your challenges?

Masud: The program has been great so far, and I have learned do things I never thought I would be able to do. Knowing that I've built a website from scratch and created a mobile app is amazing to me, especially because I'm not the most "techie" person in the world. Although it's online, the program is still rigorous and requires your full attention, especially if you really want to learn and excel. My previous course was probably the most challenging so far because we learned PHP, a logic-based language, to build dynamic content into a website or app.


SOC: You recently completed Dynamic Content where you developed your first iApp.  Can you describe to us what the application does and what inspired you to develop it?

Masud: I was intrigued by the idea of learning to make a mobile app and decided to create an app related to my interest in all things food. While I love to cook and bake, I don't have a lot of my own recipes developed. Luckily, my older sister has a great food blog called Spice's Bites (www.spicesbites.com), and she let me use her recipes to create an app based on the blog, which I called "Bite Me." This app allows a user to search for recipes based on the type of ethnic cuisine she wants to eat. The blog features an array of recipes from around the world, from Bengali/Indian to Mexican and American. When the user opens the application, she's asked to choose which region-specific recipe she wants, and based on her selection, a list of recipes will automatically populate. From there, the user can select whichever dish she's in the mood for and that recipe will appear with a photo, a description of the dish, a preparation guide and step-by-step instructions.


SOC: Recently, you have had new opportunity stem from the certificate program.  What were they?  

Masud: I've already begun to make some strides toward my goal to shift my career since I entered this certificate program. I'm currently a teaching assistant for Professor Brigid Maher's summer online course, New Media Practices and Techniques, where through weekly lab hours I provide technical guidance and advice for the students in the class. They are learning to create Wordpress sites and social media management, among other skills. Recently, I was asked to assist with a project for Professor Patricia Aufderheide, Director for the Center for Social Media. I created a Prezi, which is an online presentation tool, that Professor Aufderheide will use during her talk on fair use and journalism during an upcoming TedX event. Opportunities like these would not have been possible before this program and I'm grateful for the encouragement I receive from program faculty as build my skills and get closer to my professional goals.

SIS Master’s of International Affairs in Comparative and International Disability Policy (CIDP) program alumni Raphael “Raphy” Domingo, SIS/MA ’12, and Mackie Calbay, SIS/MA ’12, have been selected by the Empower Access Program as Fellows by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. 

The CIDP Master’s degree, the world’s first virtual Master’s degree in disability policy, is the centerpiece program of the Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP), which is led by the Center for Research on Collaboratories and Technology Enhanced Learning Communities (COTELCO), a research center at American University.

As part of their fellowship, both were invited to the first-ever Empower Conference on May 22 at the U.S. State Department headquarters. The conference featured 34 disability rights advocates from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Tajikistan and Uganda who have recently completed a month-long Empower fellowship exchange program.

The program invites selected disability advocates from around the world to the U.S. to work with leading disability advocacy organizations on issues such as inclusive education, disability advocacy and capacity building. Domingo and Calbay performed their fellowship with Discovering Deaf Worlds in Rochester, New York, where they received training on organizational development, fund development, strategic planning and advocacy. During their stay in the U.S., they visited Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP) partner National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology, Syracuse University and AU, the first CIDP alumni to do so.

Domingo is co-founder of the Philippine Federation of the Deaf. He is the current adviser of the Federation and two other national Deaf organizations. He also works as the Coordinator of Education Access for the Deaf at the Center for Education Access and Development of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde in Manila, Philippines.

Calbay currently works as the Deaf Advocacy Program Coordinator for the Center of Partnership and Development under the School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde in Manila, Philippines. She volunteers on the Executive Board of the Philippine Federation of the Deaf Youth Section, Deaf Advisory Council of the Philippine National Association of Sign Language Interpreters and the Philippine Federation of the Deaf Sustainability Subcommittee.

What constitutes fair use in journalism? American University’s Center for Social Media and Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, in conjunction with the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, have developed the Set of Principles in Fair Use for Journalism to help answer that question. The principles were released at a TEDx event at the Poynter Institute in Florida.
 
This set of principles, drafted by School of Communication Professor Pat Aufderheide and Washington College of Law Professor Peter Jaszi, helps reporters decide when it is OK to use content from the web, social media, podcasts and beyond, without permission or payment.

When journalists are paralyzed by confusion about what copyrighted material they can use without permission, they self-censor, researchers say. The principles not only improve efficiency and effectiveness in today’s journalism by lowering risk and increasing confidence, but also enable innovation in digital space.
 
“We were honored to work with journalists to overcome the crippling effects of self-censorship,” said Patricia Aufderheide, director of the Center for Social Media. An initial study had shown that self-censorship was a major consequence of copyright confusion. In the arenas of greatest innovation, where journalists are developing web-native journalism, there was the greatest confusion.
 
Dave Cohn, founder/director of Spot.Us and director of news at Circa, agreed. "Every web-native journalist needs to know how to use copyright law, and this set of principles reduces risk while encouraging the highest standards in cutting edge journalism."
 
Like other such community-driven documents facilitated by Aufderheide and Jaszi, the Set of Principles reduces likelihood of copyright infringement by clarifying professional community standards and will be of value to journalists of all kinds.
 
The Set of Principles, noted Sandy Close, Executive Director of New America Media, “will help [journalists] make decisions about their own unlicensed uses more efficiently and with greater confidence, and it will also allow them to understand when they should challenge others’ infringing uses of their journalism.”  
 
The new manual was shaped with the help of chapters of the Society for Professional Journalists, Online News Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. It has endorsement from, among others, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, Association of Alternative Newsmedia, J-Lab, MediaShift, National Association of Black Journalists Digital Journalism Task Force, New America Media, and the Poynter Institute.
 

Jessica Waters, director of SPA’s Politics, Policy and Law Scholars Program, has been named by District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to the 2012 Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll for her remarkable pro bono service to the DC community.

Waters has been an active pro bono attorney since graduation from law school. While in private practice, she performed hundreds of hours of pro bono work a year, much of it representing an Iraq war veteran in federal criminal litigation. Since 2007, she has also been involved with the Children's Law Center (CLC), first doing pro bono legal research, then joining the CLC Advisory Board, and now chairing that board. Through CLC, Waters was also appointed as a pro bono guardian ad litem to represent children in DC Superior Court, and last year represented a two-year-old boy in a family law matter.

With the support of the D.C. Access to Justice Commission and the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program, the Court’s Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll recognizes the contributions of those D.C. Bar members, and others authorized to perform pro bono work in D.C., who complete 50 hours or more of pro bono service over the course of the last calendar year.

Below is a first person account from Dean's Intern Emily Good on her internship at National Geographic.

During my second week of interning at National Geographic, I had the opportunity to hear Cory Richards speak. An editorial, expedition, and cultural photographer, Richards was a National Geographic 2012 Adventurer of the Year for becoming the first American to successfully summit an 8,000-meter peak in winter. Listening to Richards, I was not only inspired but in awe that viewing his photographs and film from a recent expedition to Antarctica was just another typical day at work.

As a Dean’s Intern at National Geographic, this is just one of many unique opportunities I am offered daily. I have laid out 16,407 shoes with NG Kids to set a Guinness World Record for the largest collection of recycled shoes (Taylor Swift’s included), assisted with gathering content for the new photography exhibit at NG Museum, “Beyond the Story: National Geographic Unpublished,” and worked a press event for the opening of the “Real Pirates” exhibit at NG Museum.

While these opportunities have opened my eyes to the different kinds of work at National Geographic and taught me invaluable on-the-job skills, it is my co-workers and assignments within the Communications Department that have provided me with the most experience thus far.

Utilizing what has been taught in my SOC courses at American University, I have been required to assist with media research and lists, press mailings, brainstorming promotional and press materials, and internal events hosted by National Geographic. My supervisors never fail to keep me updated on ongoing projects and discussions in the department, and the department is comprised of hard workers who are more than willing to share their experiences both inside and outside the field.

I hit it off with the one other intern in my department, a senior at University of Maryland, on day one. Discovering our mutual acquaintances and similar ambitions, she has played an integral part in my internship at National Geographic and has become the best lunch buddy I’ve had to date.

I began my internship by reading a packet of letters written by previous interns to the. They reassured me that I would eventually find my groove with the office dress code after most likely being overdressed for my first day, and told me whom in the department I needed to befriend and ask to lunch. Toward the end of my internship, I will write my own letter to the next generation of interns and detail all of the amazing opportunities they have to look forward to at National Geographic.

This internship has been unlike any other, and I know I will never look at the “yellow border” that signifies National Geographic in the same way.

This fall, AU will host the most incoming Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellows of any university in the United States. Three Pickering Graduate Fellows will attend the School of International Service; one will attend the School of Public Affairs.

Fellows will all receive financial support from the U.S. Department of State toward a two-year, full-time master’s degree program in their respective fields: international affairs and public policy and commit to at least three years of service as Foreign Service officers.

In addition, José Ramirez-Rivera, SIS/BA ’14, has been awarded a Thomas R. Pickering Undergraduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship.

For Ramirez-Rivera, the "challenging but rewarding" application process was a natural step in his college career.

"My real interest came after my internship during the past fall at the Department of State’s Office of Caribbean Affairs, where I was exposed to the life of a Foreign Service Officer," Ramirez-Rivera said.

Pickering Undergraduate Fellows are awarded monies for tuition and other expenses during their senior year of college and first year of graduate study (up to $40,000 per year) and the opportunity for one domestic and one international internship with the U.S. Department of State.

Upon completion of their master’s degree, they commit to three years of service as a Foreign Service Officer.

Ramirez-Rivera has garnered a number of national awards. Aside from the Pickering Undergraduate Fellowship, he earned a Killam Fellowship to study abroad in Canada and the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Fellowship. Ramirez-Rivera is spending the summer at the Junior Summer Institute at Carnegie Mellon University through PPIA.

Like Ramirez-Rivera, incoming Pickering Fellow and U.S. Foreign Policy student Jack Bisase, SIS/MA ’15, always knew that his future would include the Foreign Service.

"Working in diplomacy is a family calling," Bisase said. "My grandfather was a foreign minister in Uganda for a time. It is work I have long been drawn to."

While Pickering Graduate Fellows have a variety of high-ranking schools of international affairs open to them, Bisase felt strongly that he belonged at AU.

"SIS, more than any other school I was considering, had the atmosphere of inclusiveness that is so critical in our current age," he said. "As a minority student, I felt the school went above and beyond to make me feel wanted. This, coupled with devotion to high-quality academic programs and commitment to practicing what they preach in terms of environmental sustainability and diversity, made it the obvious choice for me."

Bisase’s positive experience applying to SIS is what Rebecca Davis, associate director of Graduate Enrollment Management, aims for.

2013 Pickering Graduate Fellow finalists were offered a merit award in recognition of their accomplishments. But there’s more to enticing prospective SIS students than just the promise of financial assistance.

"Student involvement and more intimate opportunities like our dinner are key components of outreach that we believe are most effective when we’re building relationships," Davis said. "For our students, sharing their experiences and accomplishments with newly admitted students is a chance to pay it forward."

For both Bisase and Ramirez-Rivera, paying it forward is exactly what they intend to do, both at SIS and out in the world.

"I am passionate about human trafficking as an issue," Bisase said. "Not enough people are aware of the thousands who live lives in bondage; many are in our own country. I want to be a part of the solution to that."

When he agreed to teach seminars in Liberia, Rick Rockwell never imagined that just getting to class would be a challenge. And then he experienced the seven-hour drive between Gbarnga and Zwedru in the uplands of Liberia.

“The national highway becomes a one lane road of dirt and mud,” Rockwell said. “You never think about taking all day to cover about 175 miles when you travel. But you learn in Liberia to take nothing for granted.”

Using generators and boxes of pre-printed handouts, Rockwell traveled through Liberia over the course of two weeks conducting multimedia lectures about radio for developing communities. Rockwell’s trip was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and a two-person team from the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia provided support throughout the trip. 

Radio journalists from more than half of Liberia’s 15 counties traveled to the all-day sessions conducted in both Gbarnga and Zwedru. For some of these journalists it was their first-ever training session with an international speaker. For others, it had been almost a decade since similar training sessions were offered. Rockwell, who directs American University's International Media program for the School of Communication, developed a special curriculum on development communication for radio journalists for these sessions. But generating the energy and enthusiasm needed to teach all day in 90-degree heat wasn’t easy.
 
“We had just one fan in Zwedru, and we used that to cool the projector, which still overheated. Luckily the Peace Corps director in town had a spare,” Rockwell said.
 
And then there was the large poisonous centipede that crawled into the seminar in Gbarnga and curled up near Rockwell’s foot. “That was certainly a first for me. One of the radio journalists immediately asked if we could take a break and he swept it out of the room with a stick.”
 

Rockwell says he now wants to offer a similar course - minus the centipede - for students in the AU International Media program, which is a joint degree program administrated between SOC and the School of International Service.
 
“Radio is still the primary medium in Africa and radio journalists are finding ways to extend their programs to cells phones. Students in our programs want to be part of using these evolving media systems to work on improving basics in Africa like education, health, and the environment. So this was an opportunity for me to move beyond development theory and develop some practical course work,” he said. “I hope down the line students will benefit from this opportunity and experience and take these lessons out to the field themselves.”

The curriculum for the seminar program included programming for development with an emphasis on useful content for rural and agricultural areas, along with ideas for sustainability. The Alliance for Liberian Community Radio (which goes by the abbreviation ALICOR) requested the training initiative. In a letter to Rockwell after the seminars, ALICOR’s Secretary General Emmanuel Johnson wrote: “I think all praises should go to you for the passion and concern shown in helping to mold the minds of Liberian journalists, especially at the community radio level.”

“One of our discoveries during the trip was that there are no meteorological reports or zoned weather forecasts for Liberia beyond Monrovia,” Rockwell said. At least a handful of sub-Saharan countries offer such reports, and “of course, this is something we truly take for granted in the United States. This puts Liberia at a competitive disadvantage,” he noted. Rockwell continues to consult with the embassy on ways to provide this basic service for Liberia’s community radio stations.

Joe Bohannon grew up on environmental films.

“I would travel from Antarctica to outer space – all from my seat in the theater. I would get woozy from the aerial shots, but I also fell in love with film and filmmaking,” he recalls.

Now, as a grad student in the School of Communication (SOC), Bohannon, 41, is making his childhood dream a reality.

“This is the next chapter in my career evolution and my personal journey,” said the MFA student.

Bohannon works as an operations manager and producer for NBC News in Washington – a gig that not only informs his work in the classroom, but allows him the flexibility to juggle classes and extracurricular activities.

“I wanted to continue to work while I learned,” said Bohannon, who’s been with the network since 1993, covering everything from the Emmys to the White House. “I wanted to learn the theory, while still refining my skills. You can always learn how to light things or do audio a little better.”

The Fairfax, Va., resident has also honed his skills through SOC’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking (CEF). Along with CEF director Chris Palmer, Bohannon has shot a documentary on the Chesapeake River for Maryland Public TV; mingled with alligators in the Florida Everglades; and shot atop glaciers in the Alaskan wilderness.

“I experienced things I never would’ve imagined – things I couldn’t have learned just sitting in a classroom,” says Bohannon, who also traveled to five states to help a classmate shoot a documentary about parrots, A Place to Land. He served as director of cinematography and sound technician on the film, which won a Student Academy Award.

And while he says it’s tricky to juggle school and work – “it’s difficult to wear so many hats when you’re just one person” – Bohannon wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

“Being able to go to untouched areas of the world to practice your craft is just amazing.”

Before he was one of the 30 coaches at the pinnacle of professional basketball, Ed Tapscott '80 led AU to one of its biggest basketball wins.  

Tapscott, now  head coach of the NBA's Washington Wizards, was on the sideline 26 years ago when his unheralded Eagles shocked the college basketball world by taking down the mighty Georgetown Hoyas.  

Despite coming off back-to-back 20-win seasons, AU was a prohibitive underdog to a Georgetown team ranked fifth in the nation and stocked with future NBA all-stars. Those Hoyas teams didn't just beat their opponents, they scared them into submission. But AU refused to be intimidated.  

"We knew we could play with them," says Gordon Austin, who scored some huge buckets for AU that night. "Coach Tapscott treated it like it was a normal game. He made the point to respect them, but not to fear them. We started off playing very well, and they were not. They were playing right into our hands, shooting long jumpers—and we were getting all the rebounds."  

AU took a double-digit lead into the locker room, but Georgetown mounted an expected second-half comeback that AU scrambled to hold off. When the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read American 62, Georgetown 61. 

 "I was happy to see that clock wind down to zero, that's for sure," says Tapscott, who went on to a long and distinguished career as an NBA executive before taking over the Wizards head coaching job earlier this season. "It was a wonderful moment for our program. I think it gave us some sense of appreciation at AU that basketball could play a significant role on campus."

This is a ghost story that starts with a fishing net that gets loose from its moorings. It drifts in the ocean, entangling sea turtles, trapping seals, snagging fish that act as bait to lure other fish, which are trapped in their turn. Or maybe it damages a fragile coral reef.

Fortunately, that's not the end of the story. Science has its ghostbusters, and they're in pursuit of these derelict nets known as ghost nets, along with the wildlife-killing garbage dumped at sea by freighters and fishing fleets.

The ghostbusters are people like marine biologist and AU environmental science professor Kiho Kim, who goes after marine debris as a member of the Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council. Their weapons are data, meetings, long hours analyzing research, and ultimately, a national report and testimony to Congress on the changes needed in marine policy and regulations.

The sight of marine debris is familiar to Kim, who spots it whenever he dives around the coral reefs that are the focus of his research. "Every time I go diving, I come back up with a pocket full of weights and lines," he says.

Some of it washes into the sea. A plastic bottle chucked into a clump of water weeds by a Georgetown fisherman can end up in a sea turtle's belly. "Plastic can lacerate intestines. Animals can choke, or their intestines can be blocked up so they can't eat any more," Kim says.

On weekend cleanups at a seemingly pristine Georgetown park he's led AU students to do what they can, in practical ways, to stop trash on the shoreline from washing into the seas.

 But the debris problem, particularly in the ocean, is too big to eliminate with weekend actions. That's why Kim and his colleagues have spent almost two years examining the situation and, in the end, proposing specific solutions.

The National Research Council is, in essence, the research arm of the federal government. Its Ocean Studies Board includes experts in a variety of areas, such as lawyers who looked at regulations, along with some leading marine biologists—including Kim.

The council's report called for the United States and the international maritime community to adopt a goal of zero discharge of waste, a goal that could be closer to reality thanks to a series of policy and regulation changes recommended by Kim and his colleagues.

And that could make a real impact in saving the seas from the specter of wildlife-killing debris.

Adapted from the article "Report to Congress: Tackling Marine Debris," American magazine, Winter/December 2008.

 The Dead Sea is dying.

With each passing year the sea's depth drops by 1.2 meters, almost 4 feet, yet Gidon Bromberg refuses to consider its demise inevitable. His goal: the ecosystem will be restored, and it will be done by Jews, Christians, and Muslims working in concert.

In a part of the world with no shortage of problems, the environment often takes a back seat. It has a champion, however, in Bromberg, WCL/LLM '94. Working from a blueprint he developed at AU, he has devoted his life to restoring the Jordan River valley.

"There is no place on the planet similar to the Dead Sea," Bromberg says from his office in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he runs the organization EcoPeace. Stunningly beautiful, the Jordan valley has desert, mountains, green oases, and a heritage 12,000 years old. "For all three religions the river has a high importance, and yet we've completely destroyed it."

The sea's main water source is the Jordan River, today in a great state of peril. Littered with sewage, agricultural runoff, and pilfered of its water primarily for use in farming by Israel, Jordan, and Syria, the river's diversion is directly responsible for 70 percent of the Dead Sea's water level decline. The rest stems from mineral mining.

The Dead Sea was 80 kilometers long a half-century ago, about 50 miles. Today, it's only 31 miles long and shrinking fast.

Bromberg's Washington College of Law thesis on the environmental implications of the Middle East peace process intrigued many people around Washington, leading to a conference on the topic in Egypt and the founding of EcoPeace.

Today, its 38 staff members and hundreds of volunteers work in offices in Tel Aviv, Bethlehem in the Palestinian West Bank, and Amman, Jordan, lobbying governments to adopt environmentally favorable policies and trying to stimulate public awareness of the ecosystems at the grassroots level.

"He's committed to bringing Palestinians, Jordanians, and Israelis together to see how they can cooperate," says Nader Al-Khateeb, EcoPeace's Palestinian director. "He's a citizen of this region and cares for its future."

Like the obstacles to peace, the prospects of rejuvenating the Jordan River and the Dead Sea are daunting, yet Bromberg is convinced both can be achieved.

"The environment is a great impetus for peace building," he says. "What we do in our work is turn things around and look at how we could all benefit if we cooperate."

Adapted from the article "Saving the Dead Sea," American magazine, spring 2007.