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Michael Connell’s fascination with “neural networks”–computer programs that simulate the activity of brain cells or neurons and actually learn over time–stems in no small part from a “crystallizing moment” he experienced in ninth-grade trigonometry. His teacher brought in a mathematics journal to show students a picture of a spiraling flower made up of numbers–the result…

Melding the tools of cognitive development, developmental psychology, art, brain-imaging technology, and education, Kim Sheridan is trying to unlock the mystery of artistic taste. It has taken years for Sheridan just to formulate this idea, which reflects the path of her own life’s work. After completing an undergraduate degree in painting, Sheridan received a Fulbright…

“Is the brain shaped and even changed by its experiences with language?” wonders Mary Helen Immordino-Yang. “Does language change the way people think?” A former seventh-grade science teacher, Immordino-Yang is particularly interested in the relationship between language and the brain’s functioning–in part because of what she witnessed in her classroom. “I found myself increasingly interested…

Newly appointed professor of education and incoming director of the Harvard Literacy Laboratory Connie Juel is moving some of the services of the renowned lab into public schools. This is part of her overall plan to broaden the experience of Harvard’s graduate students. “There’s no better way to train reading teachers and reading supervisors than…

Courtney Egelhoff leaned in close, her face just inches from her coach’s blonde, shoulder-length hair. Intent with concentration, Egelhoff combed and snipped. Combed and snipped some more. The scene was a bit unusual and strangely intimate. Five players and coaches were gathered in the Women’s Basketball Office in Lavietes Pavilion. Head Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith sat…

When he was 5 years old, Jesus Aleman ’02 began working in the fields with his family in northern Mexico. He picked cotton and helped grow watermelons, and he learned that separation can ensure survival. “When two plants grow too close together, they’ll both grow really short. But if you have one plant here, and…

The purpose of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) is to promote the welfare of Harvard University and to establish a mutually beneficial relationship between Harvard University and its alumni. The main work of the Association is carried out by standing committees of the Board of Directors, with each director serving on at least one committee.…

Images of natural repairs being made on DNA damaged by oxidation have been captured by chemists at Harvard University. The damage is an inevitable consequence of breathing. Roughly 100,000 times a day in the life of a human cell, highly reactive forms of oxygen attack DNA, thereby scrambling the genetic code. Cigarette smoke is rich…

On Feb. 22, Harvard Police received a report that an individual was robbed at gunpoint near Lowell House just after 8 p.m. The suspect reportedly took personal property and fled down the pathway between Lowell and the rear of Rosovsky, toward Plympton Street. Just over an hour later, another individual reported being robbed at gunpoint…

Editor’s note: Women’s basketball Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith was diagnosed with breast cancer in December. As part of her commitment to education, both of her students and of the broader community, Delaney-Smith has decided to be public about her disease, its treatment, and its effect on her life. This is the first of three articles highlighting…

Cheryl Hoffman has joined the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as the new associate dean for finance. Hoffman managed the finances of major health care organizations for almost two decades. From 1984 to 1995, she served as controller and director of fiscal services and then vice president of finance and chief financial officer at Albany…

Douwe B. Yntema, a retired senior lecturer in the Psychology Department, died suddenly Feb. 13, in his home in Cambridge. He was 74. Yntema graduated from Swarthmore in 1949, followed by a year’s language study in France and Austria. He earned a doctorate in experimental psychology from Harvard in 1955. He joined the Harvard faculty…

Robert Shenton, Ph.D. ’62, who served as Secretary to the Corporation and the Board of Overseers from 1971 to 1991, died on Tuesday, Feb. 29, after suffering injuries in a fall while vacationing with his wife in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was 75. Shenton’s career as a Harvard administrator spanned more than 30 years.…

The ‘Talented Mr. Damon’ led the celebration of arts and culture at Saturday’s 15th Annual Cultural Rhythms Festival.

This year the alumni will elect five members of the Board of Overseers and six directors of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA). A nominating committee comprised of Harvard alumni selects eight candidates for Overseer and nine candidates for HAA Elected Director. This report outlines the process by which the Nominating Committee chose its candidates this…

A memorial service for the Rev. Charles Philip Price ’41, Preacher to the University and Plummer Professor of Christian Morals from 1960-1972, will be held on Friday, March 3, at 3 p.m. Remarks will be given by President Pusey.

The Board of Overseers is one of Harvard’s two governing boards, the other being the President and Fellows, which is more commonly known as the Corporation. The Overseers’ chief roles are: to visit the graduate schools, departments and museums of the University to insure that the University remains true to its Charter as a place…

Under the direction of maestro James Yannatos, the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra will perform its third subscription concert of the season on Saturday, March 4, at 8 p.m. in Sanders Theatre. Thomas Kelly, professor of music and associate of Eliot House, will give a pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m., also in Sanders Theatre. The orchestra will perform…

Callbacks Headed to Semifinals in A Cappella Championships The Callbacks, one of Harvard’s undergraduate a cappella singing groups, are headed to the semifinal round of the Championship of College A Cappella in Northampton on Friday, March 3, after placing first in the quarterfinals in Durham, N.H., on Feb. 27. Callbacks’ Music Director Derek Smith won…

The future of Christianity will be the subject of a three-part lecture series by the Right Rev. John Shelby Spong, author, theologian, and former Episcopal bishop of Newark, N.J. Spong, who is well known for his controversial views on human sexuality, the virgin birth, and the physical nature of Christ’s resurrection, will give the 101st…

Kao is New Curator of Photography Deborah Martin Kao has been appointed the first Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography at the Fogg Art Museum. The curatorship was made possible by a gift of $2 million by longtime supporter of the Harvard University Art Museums, Richard Menschel. Menschel’s funding enabled Kao and the Museum to…

Professor of Medicine Eva J. Neer ’59 died at her home on Sunday, Feb. 20, from complications of breast cancer. She was 62. Family members say Neer battled the disease for the past 11 years but kept her condition hidden from many colleagues. A prominent heart researcher at the Medical School, Neer is being remembered…

Hans J. Massaquoi, author of Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany, (Morrow, 1999) will give a talk about his memoir on Monday, March 6, at 6 p.m. in the Fong Auditorium at Boylston Hall. The son of a well-to-do African diplomat and a white German nurse, Massaquoi’s early life in Germany was…

Marijuana can be hard on the heart. In the first hour after smoking pot, a person’s risk of a heart attack could rise almost five times, according to a Harvard University researcher. As baby boomers born in the late 1940s and early 1950s reach the age at which heart disease is the leading cause of…

This year eligible alumni voters will elect five members of the University’s Board of Overseers and six directors of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA). Ballots will be mailed during the first week of April, and completed ballots must be received by noon on June 2, the Friday before Commencement. Election results will be announced on…

To many, the most remarkable element of Harvard’s extensive athletics program – and its high level of success – is that its athletes must be just as dedicated to excellence in academics as in competition. Competing in the Ivy League, and especially for Harvard, brings a dual responsibility for each member of Harvard’s 41 varsity…

Harvard Provost Harvey Fineberg has announced two initiatives to help faculty and staff with child and elder care. He has approved an increase in the University’s child-care scholarship fund, which is open to eligible faculty and exempt staff, and he has approved the increased availability of the back-up child- and elder-care services offered. “Finding ways…