Newsmakers

Freeman awarded IZA Prize

It was announced Wednesday (Oct. 10) that the prestigious 2007 IZA Prize in Labor Economics goes to Harvard’s Richard B. Freeman. He was praised by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Germany for “fundamental contributions that have monumentally shaped modern labor economics.”

Freeman is Herbert Ascherman Chair in Economics at Harvard and faculty director of Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program. He is also director of the Labor Studies Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a senior research fellow in labor markets at the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics.

— Corydon Ireland

 

APS selects Holton for prestigious Pais Prize

 

The American Physical Society (APS) has awarded the 2008 Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics to Gerald Holton, Mallinckrodt Research Professor of Physics and Research Professor of History of Science.

Established to recognize and encourage outstanding contributions to the history of physics, this international prize includes a $10,000 award and a certificate. The citation on the certificate reads as follows: “For his pioneering work in the history of physics, especially on Einstein and relativity. His writing, lecturing, and leadership of major educational projects introduced history of physics to a mass audience.”

The Abraham Pais Prize will be presented at a special ceremonial session of the APS meeting, which is scheduled to take place in St. Louis on April 12-15, 2008.

 

Jessica Estep wins Cultural Agents essay contest

 

The Cultural Agents Initiative has announced the winner of the 2007 undergraduate essay contest, “Literature That Changed My Life.” Jessica Estep ’09 penned the winning essay on Rick Bragg’s “All Over But the Shoutin’,” an account of life in rural Alabama.

Estep, who hails from the same town as Bragg, was inspired by his struggle to overcome hardship and eventually attend Harvard as a Nieman Fellow. Estep chose to follow in Bragg’s footsteps and apply to Harvard College, despite personal obstacles.

Estep will be honored at a prize ceremony Oct. 15 in the Barker Center’s Thompson Room. As part of the prize, Estep will receive $500 worth of books from Harvard University Press.

Entries were judged by a panel of professors selected by the Cultural Agents Initiative — a Harvard-based network of academics, artists, educators, and organizations that develop recognition of the arts as resources for positive change — and the dean for the humanities in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

The winning essay, along with information on how to enter the 2008 contest, can be found at http://www.culturalagents.org.

 

Kaelin elected to IOM

 

William G. Kaelin Jr., professor of medicine and researcher at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, recently joined 63 other individuals from various fields to be elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Current active members elect new members from among candidates nominated for their professional achievement and commitment to service. The IOM’s membership now totals 1,692.

Kaelin was elected for his research on tumor suppressor genes, so-called because they help to prevent normal cells from becoming cancerous. The long-term goal of his work is to lay the foundation for the development of new anti-cancer therapies based on understanding the normal functions of such genes.

— Compiled by Andrew Brooks