Newsmakers
December 8, 2010 |  by Dale Keiger
Jason Hsu, Engr ’09, ’10 (MSE), Stephanie Huang, Engr ’09, Christopher Komanski, Engr ’10 (MSE), Evan Luxon, Engr ’10, and Nicolas Martinez, Engr ’10 (MSE)—aka Cortical Concepts—rang the closing bell of the NASDAQ stock exchange on Monday,  August 23. The team is in the process of marketing a device they invented, as part of the winning entry in the Wharton Business Plan Competition, to increase the success rate of spinal surgery in patients with osteoporosis.

Jason Hsu, Engr ’09, ’10 (MSE), Stephanie Huang, Engr ’09, Christopher Komanski, Engr ’10 (MSE), Evan Luxon, Engr ’10, and Nicolas Martinez, Engr ’10 (MSE)—aka Cortical Concepts—rang the closing bell of the NASDAQ stock exchange on Monday, August 23. The team is in the process of marketing a device they invented, as part of the winning entry in the Wharton Business Plan Competition, to increase the success rate of spinal surgery in patients with osteoporosis.

David Starobin, Peab ’73, along with Jason Vieaux, was selected to lead the new classical guitar department at the Curtis Institute of Music, one of the world’s leading conservatories, for the 2011–2012 school year. Starobin is an internationally renowned solo guitarist and a Grammy award–winning record producer.

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 Brian Udoff, A&S ’03, received the 2010 Emerging Cinematographers Award given by the International Cinematographers Guild on September 26. Udoff was recognized for his short film Les Mouches.

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Lynn Goldman, SPH ’81, a pediatrician and epidemiologist, received the 2010 Heinz Award in September for her work in reducing children’s exposure to pesticides and toxic chemicals. The Heinz Awards annually honor the late U.S. Senator John Heinz for his long-standing commitment to the environment.

Harley Feldbaum, SPH ’00, director of the Global Health and Foreign Policy Initiative and a professorial lecturer at the Johns Hopkins Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, and Rachel Thornton, Med ’04, SPH ’04 (PhD), HS ’07, a pediatrician and public health researcher who was an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, were selected to serve as 2010–2011 White House Fellows in June.