May 22, 2014
IIssue: 15

Saying farewell to longtime Salk Institute architectural tour guide  

Kendall Mower

 

After 16 years of guiding
architectural tours at the Salk Institute, beloved volunteer Kendall Mower recently hung up his docent's badge. As a retired architect and longtime Louis Kahn admirer, Mower captivated tour attendees with his wealth of architectural knowledge and passion for the Institute. Mower's departure is bittersweet: he will be missed by the Salk, but he and wife Kathryn Mower are looking forward to moving closer to their two daughters in Orange County.

 

In 1998, after retiring, the couple moved to La Jolla where they both began volunteering in the community. Not long after the taking the Institute's architectural tour in 1998, Mower started guiding tours himself. It didn't take long before Mower was one of Salk's most active and accomplished guides.

 

Mower reveled in the opportunity to talk to a captivated audience about a subject that was near and dear to him. "I think I understood Jonas Salk's idea that the discoveries at Salk belong to humanity," he says. "And in much the same way, I believe that the buildings belong to humanity, and it's my job to educate and promote these fantastic buildings to the public."

 

During his tenure at the Salk, Mower had the chance to meet a number of notable tour attendees. One of the most memorable was Sue Kahn, Louis Kahn's daughter, who was working on the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park in New York's East River at the time. Another was New York Times architecture critic, Michael Kimmelman. Mower's time at the Institute created treasured memories for him as much as the visitors he met through the years. Click here to watch the video� 

 


While Mower will be moving away from La Jolla, he says he plans on staying in touch with his friends at Salk. On behalf of the hundreds of architectural tour attendees who had the opportunity to take his tour, we thank Mower for 16 years of volunteering at Salk!
Annual Salk Alumni Mixer 
Thursday, June 26 
Reception 6:00 p.m.

Dinner 7:00 p.m.   

 

Salk Alumni are invited to reconnect with faculty and former colleagues, learn more about current research, and hear from this year's Alumni-Faculty Fellowship recipient, 
Kevin Curran, Ph.D.
    

 

Contact Megan Shockro at 858.453.4100 x1405 or [email protected]. Visit www.salk.edu/alumni to learn more.  

Honors and Announcements

 

Geoffrey Wahl elected to Academy of Arts and Sciences class of 2014 for outstanding scientific work

 

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) elected Salk Professor Geoffrey M. Wahl to its society, the ranks of which include Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize recipients and Oscar winners, as well as intellectual luminaries such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein. Wahl joins 13 other Salk professors as members into the prestigious AAAS.

 

Salk Education Outreach program wins

AAAS grant

 

The Salk Institute's award-winning Education Outreach
program recently earned national recognition when it received a two-year pilot grant through the AAAS's new National STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Volunteer Program. The grant, one of just seven the association awarded, will help bring San Diego-area high school science teachers together with Salk scientists to develop curriculum based on the state-of-the-art research taking place at the Institute.

 

Click to view the press release� 

 

Salk News

 

Salk Institute receives $3 million gift to support the Glenn Center for Aging Research
 
The Salk Institute has received a $3 million gift from the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research to allow the Institute to continue conducting research to understand the biology of normal human aging and age-related diseases. The gift will support the research of the Glenn Center for Aging Research at the Salk Institute, which was established in January 2009 with a $5 million gift from the Glenn Foundation. The center draws from 11 of Salk's leading laboratories specializing in genetic analysis, stem cell biology and metabolism research.

 

Click to view the press release� 

 
Jared Diamond visits the Salk
 


The Pulitzer Prize-winning Jared Diamond, bestselling author and University of California Los Angeles professor, gave a riveting talk as the Francis Crick Lecturer last month at Salk. The scientist and geographer-perhaps best known for his book, "Guns, Germs, and Steel"-discussed his latest work on crises, and how personal crises can help us learn to understand national crises. After a warm introduction from Professor Inder Verma, Diamond presented to a packed auditorium and ended on the importance of communicating science to nonscientists and politicians to help secure scientific funding and deflect some of today's current pressing crises. 
 

Salk Science in the News

 

Satchin Panda was spotlighted in an in-depth cover story on circadian rhythms for Intelligent Life, a magazine produced by the Economist. 


Sergei Gepshtein was featured in Pacific Standard, Scientific American (blog) and Fast Company for his work on neuroscience and film.

 

Martyn Goulding received international mentions on his recent paper detailing the identification of neurons in the spinal cord responsible for a key output of motor activity. His work was featured in Zee News, Business Standard and Red Orbit and others. 

 

The work of Geoffrey Wahl, Peter Gray and Benjamin Spike on a new way to grow breast tissue stem cells also received a host of mentions, including News Medical and Bioresearch Online.

 

Work from  Rusty Gage's lab showing strange behavior from early brain cells with schizophrenic traits was also highlighted across the web, in Red Orbit, Medical News Today, e! Science News and Times of San Diego.


Scientific discovery at the Salk Institute is made possible through annual contributions from individuals, organizations, corporations and foundations. Your support will accelerate the pace of breakthroughs in understanding disease and pave the way to new drug therapies.

Donate Now 

Save the date for

Symphony at Salk, August 23

 


Mark your calendars for the 19th Annual Symphony at Salk featuring San Diego Symphony guest conductor, Thomas Wilkins and actor, singer-songwriter Matthew Morrison. Tickets go on sale July 7. 

 


The first annual Salk Science and Music Series wrapped up this past weekend with a terrific
performance by pianist Fei Fei Dong and a fascinating scientific talk by Salk professor Clodagh O'Shea. After a resoundingly successful first season, the series will continue with six new concerts for the 2015-2016 season, featuring artist such as the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano competition winner, Ching-Yun Hu, and the Brubeck Brothers Quartet, in a tribute concert to jazz great, Dave Brubeck. Stay tuned for more information about performers, concert dates and tickets.
Science Images

 

 

V2b interneurons, responsible for a key locomotion circuit, appear as green with yellow nuclei in a spinal cord while all other neurons are red. Click here�


Image: Courtesy of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies


Looking for previous issues of Salk Central? 

Upcoming Events

 


 

Alumni Mixer

 June 26, 2014  

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Symphony at Salk

August 23, 2014



Pedal the Cause
September 20 & 21, 2014
  

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Salk Institute for Biological Studies

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La Jolla, CA 92037 

858-453-4100
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