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Independent study Emily Dickinson Lecturer in English Brad Leithauser will lead an open book discussion group at the Odyssey Bookshop on April 7 about the Nobel Prize-winning novel Independent People. The book was written by Halldor Laxness and recalls Iceland's medieval epics. Leithauser, a poet and novelist himself, has just written the introduction to the translation of Laxness's book.

A healthy dose of research Jenny Cui '99 was one of sixty students from across the United States selected to participate in the Introduction to Biomedical Research Program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Maryland. The program aims to encourage science majors from underrepresented minority groups to pursue careers in biomedical research at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the NIH. Cui attended scientific lectures on current research, met with research scientists and NIH officials, and toured the NIH facilities.

A stamp of approval for emeritus professor Vladimir Sajkovic, professor emeritus of Russian and founder of Mount Holyoke's Russian department, has been honored in Finland as part of an eight-stamp series commemorating one hundred years of cinema in that country. While a student of philosophy and theology at the University of Helsinki in 1935, Sajkovic took a year off to earn the money to continue his education. He joined a repertory group of actors and headed for a remote region in northern Finland to play a leading role in the now-classic Finnish film Juha (above). That film will be screened at New York's Museum of Modern Art this month in conjunction with a MOMA exhibition on Finnish architect Alvar Aalto's work.

A purple-tinted stamp shows a scene from the 1937 film, which features Sajkovic (known by his Finnish acting name, Walle Saikko) as the rich merchant Shemeikka and costar Irma Seikkula as Marja, the wife of Juha.

This is not the first time a member of Sajkovic's family has been honored on a postage stamp. His grandfather, the famous Russian nature painter Ivan Shishkin, was featured on a Russian four-stamp set issued in 1948 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of his death.

Celestial honor An asteroid has been named in honor of Ann Merchant Boesgaard '61, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii. The asteroid is known in the International Astronomical Union's official catalog of asteroids as "(7804) Boesgaard." It was "discovered in 1960 by C. J. van Houten and I. van Houten-Groeneveld on Palomar Schmidt plates taken by T. Gehrels," according to text of a citation published in the February Minor Planet Circular. Boesgaard is well known for her investigations of the lithium and beryllium content of stellar atmospheres.

Going solo with Schumann Pianist Gary Steigerwalt, professor of music, will present an all-Schumann recital in Pratt Hall on April 7. The featured pieces, composed by Robert Schumann while in his mid-thirties, are considered his most enduring works for solo piano. Included in the program are Kinderscenen, Op. 15, a collection of short pieces depicting activities and emotions of childhood viewed from an adult perspective; Carnaval, Op. 9, a series of short works portraying the scintillating image of a masked ball to which Schumann has invited his friends (both real and imaginary); and Phantasie Op. 17, a much larger, three-movement work originally intended by the composer as a sonata.

What's new with you? Send news for "New & Notable" to Emily Weir, Office of Communications, or email eweir@mtholyoke.edu.