This month’s newsletter is available for download in PDF format.
Table of Contents
DC Book Club Discussion
Sunday, January 8, 5-7:45 pm
Silver Spring, Md
The book group will discuss The Garden of the Evening Mists, by Tan Twan Eng. All are welcome to join the discussion and participate in the potluck dinner.
Malaya, 1951. Yun Ling Teoh, the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle-fringed tea plantations of Cameron Highlands. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister, who died in the camp. Aritomo refuses but agrees to accept Yun Ling as his apprentice “until the monsoon comes.” Then she can design a garden for herself. As the months pass, Yun Ling finds herself intimately drawn to the gardener and his art, while all around them a communist guerilla war rages. But the Garden of Evening Mists remains a place of mystery. Who is Aritomo and how did he come to leave Japan? And is the real story of how Yun Ling managed to survive the war the darkest secret of all?
Upcoming book selections:
- February 12th- Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History,by Art Spiegelman
- March 12th- A Man Called Ove: A Novel,by Fredrik Backman
- April 9th- Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World,by Roger Crowley
- May 14th- Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
- June 11th- Democracy in America,by Alexis de Tocqueville
For more information, please contact Jennifer Presley, MA ’78, Ph.D. ’81 at Jenniferbpresley@gmail.com.
Clean Energy R&D
Tuesday, January 10, 12-2 pm
The National Press Club
529 14th Street NW, Washington, DC
Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment will convene a panel session highlighting clean energy innovation as a crucial component of efforts to combat climate change and exploring how the United States can lead global efforts to develop and deploy advanced energy technologies.
Panel
- Sally Benson, Co-Director, Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy; Director, Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP); Professor, School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences
- John Dabiri, Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University
- Michael McGehee, Professor, Materials Science and Engineering; Senior Fellow, by courtesy, Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy
- Moderator: Varun Sivaram, Douglas Dillon Fellow and Acting Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change, Council on Foreign Relations
Lunch will be provided. Please register by January 6, 2017 at https://cleanenergyrd.eventbrite.com.
Directions: The National Press Club is conveniently located two blocks west of the Metro Center Station, on F Street between 13th and 14th St., NW
Please contact Risa Shimoda with questions, risa@theshimodagroup.comor 301-502-6548.
Re-Thinking the Science of Cancer
Thursday, January 19, 6:30-8:30 pm
Stanford in Washington
2655 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC
Join WDCSA for a seminar guided by Stanford alumnus, Henry C. Stevenson-Perez (“Steve”), MA ’73, MD ’75. In 1980, Steve was placed in charge of the first federal government translational research unit with the mission of discovering an immune-system-based cure for cancer. By 1985, they had cured their first advanced metastatic cancer patient utilizing the novel AKM immunotherapy approach. Today, Steve and his cancer research colleagues are using the latest breakthrough cancer immunotherapy discoveries to ‘re-think’ the entire mystery of cancer, with expectations that a new broad-based cancer research agenda will emerge that will rapidly jumpstart a new immune-system based medication that prevents cancer in everyone. Steve will be joined by a group of federal cancer clinicians, researchers and patients that will be propelling this highly-interactive seminar forward.
If you would like to learn more details concerning the exciting field of modern cancer immunotherapy – and the new dimensions of overall 21st Century health that these discoveries are promoting – please register for the event at http://alumni.stanford.edu/goto/event22768. Seating is limited to the first 40 participants, so please register early. Contact Kevin Coyne (kevin.coyne@stanfordalumni.org) with any questions.
Baltimore Book Club New Year Potluck and Book Discussion
Saturday, January 28, 5 pm (NEW DATE)
3512 Newland Road, Baltimore, Md
Bring your family and friends to our New Year Potluck to discuss The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah. This book won the 2015 Goodreads Choice Award for best historical fiction, was on the New York Times bestseller list for 20 weeks and the National Public Radio’s hardcover fiction bestseller list for 45 weeks, and is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars by over 30,000 Amazon readers. TriStar Pictures is doing the screen adaptation of this story. The March selection is Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, by Ashlee Vance.
Questions/RSVP: Helene Myers, Ph.D., P’14, at cedarhouse@comcast.net or at (301)655-5871.
Ivy/Seven Sisters Winter Indoor Mixed Doubles Tennis Party
Saturday, February 25, 6:45-11:45 pm
Four Seasons Tennis Club
3010 Williams Dr, Merrifield, Va
The Harvard Club of Washington DC invites Stanford alumni to join the Ivy schools plus the Seven Sisters for one of its most popular events. Celebrating its 22nd year, the Winter Indoor Mixed Doubles Tennis Party is an enjoyable way to socialize, meet potential partners, and network with alumni members and their guests.
Admission for players with advance registration is $25. Door admission for players is $30 and is payable by cash or check, no credit card. Admission is $10 for non-players. Register at www.harvard-dc.org by February 24 to receive the advance registration rates. Refund requests must be received by 3pm on February 24.
For any questions, please contact Kuni Matsuda (Harvard), 240 294 5736 (w), 703-622-7999 (m), Stardust@smart.netor
David Federbush (Yale), 301 657-4691; federbus@erols.com.
Get Involved
2016 WDCSA Volunteer Awards
Several Washington DC Stanford Association volunteers were recognized for their dedication and service to the organization at WDCSA’s Holiday Party on December 15th. Please join us in congratulating the following recipients of WDCSA’s 2016 volunteer awards:
WDCSA Volunteer Service Award
- Patricia Arty, ’10
WDCSA Cardinal Achievement Award
- Bill Pegram, ’73, MBA ‘77
- Risa Shimoda, ‘77
- Chris Shinkman
WDCSA Award of Merit
- Greg Billings, ‘88
- Brian Burke, ‘99
- Kyle Duarte, ‘05
- Nate Keegan, ‘12
- Sarena McRae, ‘06
Stanford In the News
- The 16th-ranked Stanford football team held off North Carolina for a 25-23 victory on December 30th in the 83rd Hyundai Sun Bowl. It marked the first time in program history the Cardinal has won three straight bowl games.