Holiday fireworks cancelled due to construction

University officials announced earlier this week that the annual July 3 fireworks display over campus has been cancelled due to conflicts with local construction. The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra will still perform at the event, coordinators told The San Jose Mercury News.

The three-inch firework shells normally used in the display require a launch location that is at least 210 feet from spectators, vehicles and buildings. However, because the new Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research is under construction near the event site, coordinators axed the popular fireworks finale that has followed each annual July 3 concert for over a decade.

According to The San Jose Mercury News, the closest alternative for those seeking a fireworks display is an 8 p.m. ticketed event on July 4 at Mountain View’s Shoreline Amphitheatre. Coordinators for the event said the display of 500 to 600 shells will be the largest in the amphitheatre’s history and will feature new patterns and colors in a more rapid succession of launches.

Six faculty elected to American Philosophical Society

Six professors, including University President John Hennessy, have been elected to the American Philosophical Society (APS).

The APS, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743 to promote “purposeful knowledge,” is the oldest learned society in the U.S. and supports research and education through grants, fellowships, lectures, publications, prizes, exhibitions and an internationally recognized research library.

Newly elected APS members from the University include Gretchen Daily, professor of biology, senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, director of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Environment and Resources and director of the Center for Conservation Biology; John Hennessy, University president and professor of electrical engineering and computer science; Roger Kornberg, professor of structural biology, Nobel laureate and professor in medicine; James McClelland, professor of psychology and founding director of Stanford’s Center for the Mind, Brain and Computation; Claude Steele, professor in the social sciences and director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences; and Irving Weissman, director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and professor for clinical investigation in cancer research.

The APS currently has 975 elected members, 809 resident members and 166 international members from more than 24 foreign countries.

Prestigious Blue award given to three staff members

Three University staff members have been honored with the annual Amy J. Blue award.

The award — now in its 18th year — honors staff members who are “exceptionally dedicated, supportive of their colleagues and passionate about their work,” according to the award’s Web site.

The recipients are Deana Fabbro-Johnston, associate director of the Earth Systems Program; Mary Morrison, director of funds management in the Financial Aid Office; and Mary Nolan, grounds supervisor in Grounds Services.

The selection committee — comprised of past award winners, faculty and other staff — received more than 300 nominations for 132 individuals, according to The Stanford Report.

The award comes with a $3,000 prize and an “A” parking sticker for the following year.

Amy J. Blue was an associate vice president for administrative services and facilities who died of brain cancer in May 1988.

County hires prof. for jail retrofitting

Civil and Environmental Engineering Prof. Martin Fischer is working with researchers from the University’s Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency on a $1 million project that will retrofit Santa Clara County’s Main Jail North to be more environmentally friendly.

Fischer’s work, which will be guided by a detailed computer simulation of the jail, is expected to lower the jail’s operational costs and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Stanford has offered to fund up to $1 million for the project and retrofit the 20-year-old, eight-story building, according to The Stanford Report.

The researchers will first install sensors throughout the building to take such measurements such as temperature, airflow patterns and effectiveness of air conditioning and heating systems. The measurements will aid in creating the computer simulation, which will then guide the jail’s new design.

Under its agreement with the county, Stanford has two years to present its retrofit design.