January 14, 2017
EPIC News and Events
From the President's Desk

I've given up the search for a snappy opening sentence to EPIC's first newsletter of 2017. I suspect that right now we are all longing for a little less snap and lot more clear direction--which is why I am personally so excited to have the opportunity to listen to Professor Andrew Gelman's take on the election. Columbia biostatistician and political scientist, as well as frequent New York Times contributor, Gelman  is our first Tuesday Talk speaker on January 24.

If you can't make it to Faculty House on January 24th, don't despair. Our seminars will now be streaming live online. You can log on and participate. You will be able to see and hear everything and can even be seen by us (but only if you want to). Adobe Connect is the simple-to-use teaching software that lets you ask questions and be heard by the room. Fair warning, though! We'll be in control of the mute button--so you'll just have to wait your turn! I know Professor Jo Shepherd will be joining us remotely from Minnesota, where she is at work on a fascinating project. Jo and I tested the system. It took only a few minutes for her to be up-and-running and feel completely at home on Adobe Connect. So don't be concerned about the technology. If you have a computer, a tablet or a smartphone - we can set you up in no time. You'll need to do it before the 24th, though. Send an email  and we'll walk you through the process. You will be astonished at how close to an in-room experience this is. Gives a whole new meaning to "Turn on. Tune in."

Our second big piece of news is that EPIC's new website is now online. We're still tweaking it and will be adding new features as we move along. Pay us a visit and drop us a line with suggestions and comments. You'll see a directory listing of members who have paid dues. Please send us an email to request any changes to your listing. We are able to publish professional biographical information on each member's page, so feel free to email that text to us as well if you would like to have your bio published on the site. Thank you Kay Achar, EPIC's indomitable Administrator, and the CUIT team  for creating the site. Wow!

Finally, a note of thanks to Professors Susan Boynton and Brad Garton, who walked us through how they use computer visualization of music in the Columbia core class. Click here to see a fascinating illustration of the software. Our Holiday luncheon meeting food was great, fellow EPIC members' company was wonderful, and the talk was enlightening. A fine way to have ended 2016.

Have a good day!
 
Jeanne Mager Stellman, President, EPIC
Professor Emerita & Special Lecturer
Mailman School of Public Health
Tuesday, January 24
"19 Things We Learned
from the 2016 Election"
Join us for the first Tuesday Talk of the Spring 2017 semester on January 24. Professor Andrew Gelman (Statistics and Political Science)  will review various theories current in political science and political reporting, and where they stand, now that this turbulent political year is drawing to a close.

Andrew Gelman is director of the Applied Statistics Center at Columbia University. He has received the Outstanding Statistical Application award from the American Statistical Association, the award for best article published in the American Political Science Review, and the Council of Presidents of Statistical Societies award for outstanding contributions by a person under the age of 40. His books include Bayesian Data Analysis (with John Carlin, Hal Stern, David Dunson, Aki Vehtari, and Don Rubin), Teaching Statistics: A Bag of Tricks (with Deb Nolan), Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models (with Jennifer Hill), Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State: Why Americans Vote the Way They Do (with David Park, Boris Shor, and Jeronimo Cortina), and A Quantitative Tour of the Social Sciences (co-edited with Jeronimo Cortina).
Professor Gelman's research topics include: why it is rational to vote; why campaign polls are so variable when elections are so predictable; why redistricting is good for democracy; reversals of death sentences; police stops in New York City; the statistical challenges of estimating small effects; the probability that an individual's vote will be decisive; seats and votes in Congress; social network structure; arsenic in Bangladesh; radon in your basement; toxicology; medical imaging; and methods in surveys, experimental design, statistical inference, computation, and graphics.

Alternate Tuesday Talks address topics across the academic spectrum as well as issues of particular importance to the retired academic community.  Attendees can continue their discussions in the Faculty Club, at a special EPIC reduced rate.

Guests welcome
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Faculty House, 1754 Board Room

Thursday, February 2
"Geology, History, and Native Americans in Sarah Orne Jewett's Fiction"
Vesna Kuiken, Ph.D., Department of English and Comparative Literature kicks off the Spring 2017 First Thursdays Graduate Student Talk series on February 2.

Dr. Kuiken defended her dissertation, Active Enchantments: Form, Nature and Politics in American Literature, in 2015.

First Thursday Graduate Student Talks are scheduled on the first Thursday of each month during the academic year. They provide advanced Ph.D. candidates and recent graduates an opportunity to make a generalist presentation on their research to a cross-disciplinary audience ready to listen carefully and ask good questions. EPIC members help give the Ph.D. students a useful learning experience and at the same time learn about something that may be well beyond their own scholarly interests.
12:15-2:00 p.m.

Location to be announced

Complimentary lunch provided

Guests welcome.
On EPIC's Horizon

Tuesday Talks
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., Faculty House

February 7: Richard N. Pierson, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Clinical Medicine: "How Can Emeriti Contribute to the Students and Faculty of Columbia Now?"

February 21: Eric Heyer, M.D., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology and Neuroscience, "Can Statins Protect against Cognitive Loss after Surgery?"

First Thursday Graduate Student Talks
12:15 - 2:00 p.m., Location to be determined

February 2: Vesna Kuiken, Ph.D. (2015), Department of English and Comparative Literature: "Geology, History, and Native Americans in Sarah Orne Jewett's Fiction"

March 2: Natalie Brito, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Sackler Institute Parent-Infant Project (CUMC), "Early Environmental Experience and Neurocognitive Development"

April 6: Maeve Sterbenz, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Music: "The Effect of Music-Movement Interactions on the Perception of Ballet--The Case of the "Rose Adagio" in Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty.
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