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Campus & Community
Faculty of Arts and Sciences Standing Committees 2008-09
Upon the recommendation of the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), Harvard President Drew Faust has approved and announced the following Standing Committees. Standing Committees of the faculty are constituted to perform a continuing function. Each committee has been established by a vote of the faculty, and can be dissolved only by…
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Campus & Community
College’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter welcomes 48 new members
Forty-eight seniors were recently elected to the Harvard College chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (PBK), Alpha Iota of Massachusetts.
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Campus & Community
Harvard Magazine site revamped
The Web site for Harvard Magazine, Harvard’s alumni publication, has also been revamped to better reflect its glossy and colorful magazine format. The site now features entire issues online, flashing dynamic graphics, and audio and video clips that enhance articles. Alumni who browse the Web site are greeted with the latest-breaking news at Harvard, including…
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Science & Tech
‘Bicycle Environments’ takes HSPH and GSD students for a ride
At a time when the United States scrambles to resolve the country’s obesity epidemic, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, and lessen dependency on foreign fossil fuels, this semester the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Graduate School of Design (GSD) have launched an interdisciplinary course that tackles all three problems (and…
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Campus & Community
Wrestling’s Jantzen to take over the No. 1 spot
There’s a new No. 1 for the 141-pound weight class. Previously unranked, Crimson wrestler Corey Jantzen ’11 took over the nation’s top spot on Dec. 11.
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Campus & Community
Women’s hoops recover on homestand
After a tough loss to Providence by 12 points and another to Boston University by 19, there was one thing the defending Ivy League co-champion Crimson needed: a home game. Nothing proved that more than the way the 4-4 Harvard women’s basketball team bounced back from consecutive losses with consecutive wins to advance to 6-4.…
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Campus & Community
Q&A with Heather Henriksen
Gazette reporter Corydon Ireland recently had a conversation with Heather A. Henriksen, the director of Harvard’s new Office for Sustainability. Some highlights:
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Campus & Community
Marine squad in Iraq wears crimson, thanks to HKS, Coop
A contact drawn by a Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) faculty member’s research has led to the filling of an unmet need for U.S. Marines in Iraq: Harvard-insignia gear.
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Campus & Community
Student-run haven gives shelter — and a boost — to homeless
The song tells us that there is “no place like home for the holidays,” and soon, many on the Harvard campus will be destined for far-flung places, both dear and familiar. The Harvard Square Homeless Shelter (HSHS) helps those who are not fortunate enough to have a home at all.
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Campus & Community
Toys, clothes, and a visit from Santa
Santa came to Harvard a little early last week (Dec. 13). He sat comfortably in a chair on the second floor of Phillips Brooks House, clad in his familiar bright red outfit with white trim, plus the less familiar, yet practical, Merrell hiking shoes. He was taking a brief break between meeting groups of eager…
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Health
Antacid use during pregnancy may increase childhood asthma
Children of mothers who took acid-suppressive drugs during pregnancy had a 1.5 times higher incidence of asthma when compared with children who were not exposed to the drugs in utero, finds a large population-based study by researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston. The findings, accompanied by an editorial, appear online this week in “Early View” in…
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Health
New obesity-related genes identified
A large international consortium has made significant inroads into uncovering the genetic basis of obesity, adding six new genetic variants to the two already linked to higher body mass index (BMI) in previous studies. Most of the newly discovered genes had never before been suspected of having a role in body weight and, curiously, many…
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Health
Pain is more intense when inflicted on purpose
Researchers at Harvard University have discovered that our experience of pain depends in part on whether we think someone caused the pain intentionally. Participants in a study who believed they were getting an electrical shock from another person on purpose, rather than accidentally, rated the shock as more painful than those receiving the same shock…
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Science & Tech
Robotic radical hysterectomy has advantages
New technologies now allow surgery to be performed with less impact on patient quality of life. As the trend toward minimally invasive surgery grows, robotic-assisted surgery has become an appealing tool for gynecologic oncology surgeons. However, to date, there is little data to confirm the benefits of this technology. New research from Brigham and Women’s…
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Science & Tech
Idle computing power may ID candidate molecules for efficient solar panels
The world today uses enough power to illuminate 150 billion light bulbs for a year. According to some estimates, by 2050, demand will double, creating irreversible climate change without reductions in humanity’s carbon output.
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Campus & Community
Algebra, topology expert Lurie named professor of mathematics
Mathematician Jacob Lurie, whose expertise ranges across algebraic geometry, topology, and algebra, has been named professor of mathematics in Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, effective July 1, 2009.
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Science & Tech
Modeling the forest … and the trees
When building computer models of the ecosystems that cover the earth’s surface, it is tempting to incorporate sweeping generalizations in your calculations.
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Science & Tech
Researchers study glaciers on Earth’s coldest desert
It’s December, and undergraduate Jenny Middleton bundles up to face the cold. While all across campus, students, and faculty don their winter gear, Middleton is not preparing for the New England winter; she is preparing for an expedition through the Earth’s coldest desert: the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica.
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Science & Tech
Climate options must include ‘all of the above’
Climate change has so much momentum behind it that “either/or” discussions about options are meaningless because it’ll take all we can do just to arrest carbon dioxide at levels double those in preindustrial times, a top climate scientist said Dec. 11.
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Nation & World
Government of India gives $4.5M to support grad students
The government of India has given Harvard University $4.5 million to support fellowships for graduate students from India. The gift recognizes the accomplishments of Harvard Professor of Economics and Philosophy and Thomas W. Lamont University Professor Amartya Sen and his work for social and economic justice across the globe. It also recognizes the work of…
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Campus & Community
HGSE group brings civics back into curriculum
As schools around the country work to meet academic requirements in reading and math set by the No Child Left Behind Act, some educators worry the trend ignores a critical part of a child’s learning: civic and moral education.
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Campus & Community
Du Bois Institute awards four with medals of honor
The W.E.B. Du Bois Medal, Harvard’s highest honor in African American Studies, was presented on Friday (Dec. 12) to Ingrid Saunders Jones, Richard L. Plepler, Tamara Robinson, and Tavis Smiley, at a ceremony at the Harvard Kennedy School to honor their outstanding “contributions to culture, art, and the life of the mind.”
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Nation & World
Semester’s series ends with daylong panels
Sixty years ago this month, the United Nations released to a war-shocked world the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a catalog of norms understood to apply to all human beings.
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Campus & Community
Lawrence Lessig receives two Harvard appointments
Renowned legal scholar Lawrence Lessig has been appointed to the faculty of Harvard Law School, and as the faculty director of Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics.
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Health
New label-free method tracks molecules and drugs in live cells
A new type of highly sensitive microscopy developed by Harvard researchers could greatly expand the limits of modern biomedical imaging, allowing scientists to track the location of minuscule metabolites and…
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Health
Supply of board-certified emergency physicians unlikely to meet projected needs
The number of physicians with board certification in emergency medicine is unlikely to meet the staffing needs of U.S. emergency departments in the foreseeable future, if ever. In the December…
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Arts & Culture
Seidel honored with Crystal Quill Award
Steve Seidel, the Patricia Bauman Arts in Education professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), received the Crystal Quill Award from the Shakespeare Festival/LA Nov. 20 in Los Angeles. The Shakespeare Festival/LA is an arts organization that uses professional theater traditions to “enchant, enrich, and build community.”
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Arts & Culture
Author McGowan is honored as ‘2008 Harvard Humanist of the Year’
Can parents raise moral children without religion? Greg Epstein M.T.S. ’07 thinks so. He’s the Humanist chaplain at Harvard, and has just finished writing a book due out next fall. Its title: “Good Without God.”