The two groups inde-pendently showed that Ngalis a sensitive marker of renalfailure, and after extensivestudies with mice, the twoindependently found thatNgal was protective.

“Given the fact that Ngalexpression is conserved inmice, rats and human kid-neys after damage, we arehopeful that the protein willbe protective in humans,”said Barasch.

Ngal will be ready for ini-tial human trials after onefurther confirmation inmouse models.

The study is the result ofa collaboration betweenCUMC’s Departments ofMedicine (Mori, CherylKunis and Barasch),Anesthesiology (H. ThomasLee) and Pathology (VivetteD’Agati), as well asresearchers at CincinnatiChildren’s Hospital (JayaMishra, Devarajan) andKyoto University (MasashiMukoyama).

For more information, goto:www.cumc.columbia.edu.

Banners have gone upalong Broadway andAmsterdam this month tocommemorate Women’s

History Month. The theme of thisyear’s celebration, sponsored bythe mayor’s office, is particularlymeaningful to Columbia.“NY LovesWomen: Your City, Your Success,”seeks to recognize the contribu-tions of New York City women as akey component of the success andvibrancy of the city.

Jeanette C. Takamura, dean ofthe School of Social Work, alongwith Lisa Anderson, dean of theSchool of International and PublicAffairs (SIPA), and Jean E. Howard,vice provost for DiversityInitiatives, asked colleagueswhether they would be interestedin participating in the banner pro-gram. The response was over-whelming.

Imprinted with the logos ofColumbia’s various schools, thebanners mark the University’s cele-bration of Women’s History Month,as well as its commitment to hon-oring the enormous achievementsof women at Columbia.

This year marks the 25thanniversary of Women’s HistoryMonth and also the 30th anniver-sary of the New York CityCommission on Women’s Issues,

which initiated the banners proj-ect. The commission invited NewYork City institutions of higherlearning to purchase banners as

part of an effort to underscore theeducational opportunities the cityoffers to women. More than 16schools and offices at Columbia

purchased banners, which willbe on display for two months.

The long history of women’sstruggle for full inclusion inAmerican society is interwovenwith the history of Columbia, astory told engagingly by BarnardProfessor of History RosalindRosenberg in her new book,Changing the Subject: How theWomen of Columbia Shapedthe Way We Think About Sex andPolitics. Richly documenting theaccomplishments and the profes-sional barriers that challenged along list of distinguishedColumbia women—includingMargaret Mead, Zora NealeHurston, Kate Millett and RuthBader Ginsburg—Rosenbergshows the importance of theirwork to the political and socialhistory of modern America.

Through the recent creationof the Office of the Vice Provostfor Diversity Initiatives, theUniversity has reaffirmed itscommitment to promoting diver-sity at Columbia. Among otherpriorities, it is vigorously pursu-ing the recruitment, retentionand promotion of outstanding

women scholars and administra-tors so that the rich history ofwomen at Columbia will have anequally distinguished future.

12 TheRecord MARCH 18, 2005

By Sheri M. Whitley

There’s a noob in the 4X pipeline,and she just found an Easter egg.Grats.

The sentences above may not soundlike English, but they do actually makesense—if you speak gamer slang.To theincreasing number of people aroundthe world who are fluent in gamerslang, the sentences tell them that anewcomer to the video game industryjust found a bonus feature and offercongratulations.

The newcomer, or noob (short for“newbie”), is Jennifer Estaris, a second-year student in the Writing Division atthe Graduate School of the Arts. Estarisis one of 25 students recently awardedan International Game Developer’sConference Student Scholarship.Awarded by the International GameDevelopers Association (IGDA), thescholarship pairs each winner with amentor toward the goal of developingfuture industry innovators.

“The gaming industry is very diffi-cult to break into,” says Estaris. But sheis already well on her way toward thatgoal.

Estaris works part-time at a gamedevelopment company and uses herwriting skills to develop the story linesthat help turn many games into fanfavorites. The seemingly odd pairing ofcreative writing and video games fills animportant void in the evolution of theindustry. As journalist Matthew Sakey

wrote in an essay recently for IGDA,“Technology and creative [elements]are equal and inseparable aspects ofdevelopment. Remove the technology,and the game becomes a novel. Removethe creativity, and the game becomes aspreadsheet.The sum of their collabora-tion requires pure synergy.”

That synergy is what Estaris workstoward. She fell in love with videogames as a kid, playing Atari systemfavorites. Her fascination with thosearcade-style games quickly piqued aninterest in writing. First-generationvideo games had one objective:Destroy or kill as many bad guys aspossible. After a while, destroying—orfragging, as the industry slang goes—becomes monotonous. But add a clevernarrative, and suddenly the player isenveloped in the mythology of thegame, embarking on a knight’s quest torecover a sacred relic or becoming adiplomat trying to identify spies fromenemy countries.

Who better than a writer to helpfashion the game story lines—especial-ly when the writer brings a differentperspective to the fore?

The original versions of many oftoday’s popular video games, such asAge of Empires: Rise of Rome, had all-male characters. “Designers creategames that appeal to them,” Estarispoints out. “All-male developers of thepast wrote games with no women.”

Roberta Williams was an exceptionto that rule and an inspiration to

Estaris. “She was one of the firstwomen game developers to createfemale characters who were the heroof the game without being overly sex-ual,” Estaris says. Another mentor forEstaris is Bernard Yee, adjunct associateprofessor of computer science atColumbia and the instructor for “VideoGame Design and Technology.”

“Yee’s class is great,” she says.“A lotof people shy away from it becausethey think it requires coding, but youdon’t necessarily need coding knowl-edge for the class. It’s more aboutstudying the aesthetics of the game.What makes it fun? What makes a storycompelling?”

As any gamer will tell you, programswithout a great story line don’t havegameplay—the rush a gamer getswhile playing. Estaris’ favorite games,such as Final Fantasy (versions 7 and10), and her current game flavor of themonth, Katamari Damacy, whichmeans “clumping soul” in Japanese, allhave that element.

Estaris made as much of an impres-sion on Yee as he did on her. After theend of her class with him, he took heron as a teaching assistant and later asan employee at his video game devel-opment company.

Although she isn’t yet sure whethershe’ll pursue video game developmentas a full-time career, Estaris is sure thatshe’ll continue to write narratives,even if just for the gameplay.

A Brief Guide to Gamer Slang4X game where players must execute the four Xs:explore, expand, exploit and exterminate.

AI artificial intelligence

Boomstick shotgun or other weapon capable ofinflicting significant damage.

Boss the main villain in a game; a mini-boss is a lesspowerful enemy.

Brick a powerful player who often protects a weak-er player; an online “big brother.”

Cheat feature built into the game that allows a play-er to gain power or abilities or unlock special gamefeatures. Cheats aren’t usually described in the gamemanual.

CMP cover me, partner.

Easter egg hidden game features included by devel-opers that usually don’t help players in gameplay butare sometimes amusing.

Frag to kill another player or blast something tobits.

Gameplay the rush experienced when playing agame; also, the ability of a game to inspire such feel-ings.

Gamer person for whom games is a primary leisure-time activity.

GJP good job, partner.

Grats congratulations.

High pinger player with a slow Internet connec-tion, which can negatively affect reaction time duringgameplay.

Monster NPC that exists for the sole purpose ofbeing killed by PCs.

Newbie new player who is learning the game; oftenabbreviated as “noob.”

Patch software update, usually available for freedownload.

PC player character controlled by a live player; NPC(nonplayer character) is controlled by the computer.

Pwn to obliterate your opoonents.

RTS real-time strategy game where all players,including computer-controlled AIs, perform actionscontinually and simultaneously. Examples of RTSgames are StarCraft and Age of Empires.

Sims simulation games; players build a city or othermajor construction project.

Sneaker game where players solve a problem usingguile, cunning and intelligence.

Taunt to intimidate opponents with textual insultsor via sound files.

Walkthrough document describing how to beat agame in detail; a hint doc is less explicit.

WTGP way to go, partner.

Couldn’t Script it Better Herself SOA Student Writes Her Way into the Video Gaming Industry

Banners Away: Celebrating Women’s History MonthKidney Researchcontinued from page 1

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The combination of intriguing narratives withadvancements in technology has helped boostthe sales of games like Age of Empires (at left)and Katamari Damacy (above).

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