There are these amazing distributions called power laws that seem to come up over and over again throughout nature and science, explains newly tenured Professor of Computer Science Michael Mitzenmacher. Under a power law distribution, rare events happen much more frequently than one would expect. They can come about not because of any great design or plan (by humans or by nature), but by, for example, monkeys typing randomly.
HBS professor collects Shingo Prize Harvard Business School Assistant Professor of Business Administration Steven J. Spear has won a 2005 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Prize for his article “Learning…
In response to the deadly tsunami that claimed an estimated 250,000 lives this past December, a dedicated group of students at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), along with students from other Harvard graduate programs, formed the Tsunami Recovery and Rehabilitation group. Aimed to link Harvard students with internships in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, the groups mission is to build resilience in severely damaged communities and restore hope.
The Harvard Crimson Summer Academy has welcomed 60 ready, willing, and eminently able high school freshmen and sophomores to the academic enrichment programs second year. The students represent 25 different public and parochial schools in Cambridge and Boston.
Harvards Murr Center recently played host to the first-ever pro-am and clinic to benefit Tenacity, Bostons leading inner city, youth tennis, and literacy program. NBC-TV sports commentator and Boston Globe writer Bud Collins hosted the April 30 event, imparting his tennis wisdom with the help of several Harvard tennis players.
Women’s crew to compete for crown Radcliffe heavyweight crew has received one of the 12 team bids to the NCAA Championship regatta to be held May 27-29 on Lake Natoma…
Harvard Medical School instructor in medicine Christian Arbelaez has been appointed to the Sullivan Alliance to Transform Americas Health Professions, a national panel working to create a diverse and better-trained health-care workforce.
Eugene Foley, president/CEO of Harvard University Employees Credit Union, was recently invited to testify before the House Financial Services Committee as an expert witness on credit card data security. A series of conversations on this topic between the Massachusetts Credit Union League Inc. and Congressman Barney Frank, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, led to this invitation. Foleys testimony was specifically aimed at explaining how credit unions and their members are impacted by breaches in data security. The hearing, Assessing Data Security: Preventing Breaches and Protecting Sensitive Information, was carried in its entirety on C-Span 2.
Harvards Center for International Development (CID) has announced that it has awarded 25 travel grants to University undergraduates this year. Eleven of these grants will support students undertaking WorldTeach Internships, while the remaining 14 will support students doing research in developing countries. The following students, including their concentrations, will travel to Costa Rica, Namibia, China, or Ecuador as WorldTeach interns. Henry Fienning 07, music and psychology, and Matthew Roller 08, economics, will travel to Costa Rica Nimet Eren 07, Near Eastern languages and civilizations, and Meike Schallert 08, government, will conduct their internship in Ecuador Carina Martin 08, neurobiology, Rabia Mir 07, social studies/Near Eastern languages and civilizations, Maria Nardell 06, social studies, Natalia Rigol 08, government/economics, and Currun Singh 07, social studies/international health and development, will travel to Namibia and Aimee Miller 06, social anthropology/human rights, and Tom Wooten 08, social studies/developing societies, will travel to South Africa.
Lynne Stewart says that she has simply done what any good attorney would do – provide a vigorous defense for her client. But the United States Justice Department disagrees.
The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) has awarded a total of 111 grants to undergraduate and graduate students pursuing research and internship projects in Latin America this coming summer. Fifty-nine undergraduate and 52 graduate students received grants to help fund summer thesis field research and internships in the public and private sectors throughout Latin America, including nine graduate student awards for projects carried out within the United States related to Latin America and/or Latino populations.
Twelve U.S. journalists have been selected for the 68th class of Nieman Fellows at Harvard University. Established in 1938, the Nieman program is the oldest midcareer fellowship for journalists in the world. The fellowships are awarded to working journalists of accomplishment and promise for an academic year of study in any part of the University. More than 1,100 U.S. and international journalists from 79 countries have studied at Harvard as Nieman Fellows.
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Resource Efficiency Program (REP) celebrated its third annual spring celebration May 13 on the Quincy Masters Rooftop Terrace, marking the culmination of the programs third year. A unique peer environmental education program, REP is a collaborative effort between students and the administration. Student REPresentatives communicate messages about sustainable daily habits (resource and energy conservation, waste reduction, sustainable dining issues, and eco-friendly living) to other students in their residential communities.
The following were elected to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Faculty Council for a three-year term (2008): Judith Ryan* (Germanic Languages and Literatures) to the tenured seat in the humanities Elizabeth Spelke (Psychology) to the tenured seat in natural sciences Arthur Kleinman (Anthropology) and Everett Mendelsohn* (History of Science) to the tenured seats in the social sciences J.D. Connor (English and American Literature and Language, and Visual and Environmental Studies) to the nontenured seat in the humanities and Salil Vadhan* (Engineering and Applied Sciences) to the nontenured seat in the natural sciences.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor (left) presented five medals from the Creativity Foundation on May 21 to students of outstanding creativity in the arts, sciences, entrepreneurship, and public service. Among the recipients was Lowell Houses Shaw Natsui 05.
To the strains of We Are Family, 519 students who participated in the Bridge program this year were recognized for their academic achievement at the Horner Room in Agassiz House on Sunday (May 22).
The life and writings of Harvard graduate Henry David Thoreau have for a century and a half spurred writers, artists, naturalists, and everyday citizens to engage more deeply with the natural world. One such person is Scot Miller, a native Texan whose nature photography has taken him all over the United States and Europe.
On a sunny day before the floods of May, a couple of students take a TV kind of attitude to their laptop, while in the background sits a member of that disappearing species, the reader.
For the first time, amateur and professional astronomers have teamed up to discover a new planet circling a distant star. The planet was detected by looking for the effect of…
A new way to administer therapeutic RNA molecules that efficiently guides them to cells throughout the body is being reported by researchers at the Harvard-affiliated CBR Institute for Biomedical Research…
Reporting in the May 12 issue of Nature, astronomers announced that they have penetrated the heart of the universe’s most powerful explosion – a gamma-ray burst (GRB). Using the PAIRITEL…
Exercise plays a role in preventing breast cancer, and research strongly suggests that breast cancer patients who are more physically active improve their self-esteem and body image. Now, a landmark study from the Brigham and Womens Hospital (BWH) finds that exercise after diagnosis may help breast cancer patients live longer. The study appears in the May 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
A group of students at the Graduate School of Design (GSD) have won a competition to design permanent housing for survivors of the December 2004 tsunami disaster.
Boys & Girls Club to honor Capuano, McCluskey The West End House Boys & Girls Club of Allston-Brighton will honor Congressman Michael E. Capuano and Harvard Director of Community Relations…
The Kennedy School of Government (KSG) has announced that Sir Kieran Prendergast has been named Goodman United Nations Fellow for the 2005-06 academic year. Prendergast will be affiliated with the Schools Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
The South Asia Initiative (SAI) at the Asia Center has announced its first completed cycle of Das and Menezes Travel Grants to the Indian Subcontinent. Grants were awarded for research travel to Harvard faculty and graduate students from across all the Schools, and to undergraduates at the College.
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