Campus & Community

Douglas Melton has been named one of Scientific Americans 50 national leaders in science and technology for 2004. The Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of Natural Sciences was recognized for his work over the past year in developing 17 new lines of human embryonic stem cells, part of a long career researching the pancreas and its role in diabetes.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation recently named Assistant Professor of Geochemistry Ann Pearson of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences as one of its 16 new Packard Fellowship recipients for science and engineering. Each fellow will receive an unrestricted research grant of $625,000 over five years.

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) has named Joshua B. Plotkin, a junior fellow of the Society of Fellows, as one of the 11 recipients for its Career Awards at the Scientific Interface (CASI). These awards encourage research at the interface between the physical/computational sciences and the biological sciences, recognizing the vital role cross-trained scientists play in furthering biomedical research. Plotkin received the award for his research on novel methods to compute selection pressures on proteins at the genomewide scale.

Last Friday afternoon (Nov. 5), the winds off the Charles River sent swarms of leaves swirling by the windows of the Ceramics Program Studio, while inside a group of about 30 people sat in tranquil silence. Some sketched or scribbled notes, some leaned forward, rapt, for a better look. The center of attention was Yo Akiyama – more specifically, his hands and the slab of clay he was working with as it spun on a potters wheel. With the nimble fingers of a masseur and a concentrated gaze, he manipulated the clay until its shape bore a vague resemblance to a lamp shade.

Timothy Johnson, medical editor for ABC News, will deliver the prestigious William Belden Noble Lectures in three parts on Nov. 15, 16, and 17 at 8 p.m. in the Memorial Church. The series is titled Finding God and the topic for Nov. 15 will be Finding God in the Universe on Nov. 16 Johnson will discuss Finding God in Jesus and on Nov. 17, Finding God in Everyday Life.

A memorial service in honor of John E. Mack, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School since 1972 and founding chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge Hospital, will be held at the Memorial Church on Saturday (Nov. 13) at noon. Mack was struck by a car and killed on Sept. 27 in London. He was 74.

President Lawrence H. Summers will hold office hours for students in his Massachusetts Hall office on the following dates:

The sun shines through an arched window in the Memorial Church, silhouetting a figure climbing the stairs.

Daniel Kahne is not so much a self-made man as a mentor-made man.

In a gathering marked by friendly exchanges of thanks and praise, the first recipients of the Ashford Dissertation Fellowship and Ashford Graduate Fellowship in the Sciences met the family that made their awards possible. A luncheon at the Harvard Faculty Club on Nov. 1 celebrated the occasion.

Harvard School of Public Health nutrition experts are looking to bring their fight for healthier eating to restaurants, cafeterias, and other food service establishments through an annual retreat with food service industry leaders.

As the annual Community Gifts Through Harvard Campaign gets under way toward its goal of raising $1 million, many Harvard faculty, staff, and retirees will no doubt direct their gifts toward the United Way of Massachusetts Bay (UWMB), which consistently receives more than half the donations from Community Gifts.

At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences October 19, 2004, the following Minute was placed upon the records.

Atoms do weird things when they crowd together and get very cold.

The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is revealing deep spaces globular clusters, nebulas, and galaxies to the general public, opening the galactic skies with a new 25-inch outreach telescope that promises to bring smaller instruments distant blurs into astonishing clarity.

A voter passes in front of other participants in the democratic process at Gund Hall, which served as a polling location for the city of Cambridge during the presidential election on Tuesday (Nov. 2).

Harvard University Health Services (HUHS) transferred 2,000 doses of the flu vaccine Fluzone to the Boston Public Health Commission Friday (Oct. 29), announced HUHS Director David Rosenthal. The additional doses will help local communities ensure that their most at-risk residents are vaccinated against influenza.

Nov. 6, 1770 – Rumblings of Revolution: Joseph Avery, Class of 1771, orates on “Oppression and Tyranny” before the Speaking Club. Nov. 1791 – A writer in the Boston press…

A memorial service in honor of John E. Mack, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School since 1972 and founding chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge Hospital, will be held at the Memorial Church on Nov. 13 at noon. Mack was struck by a car and killed on Sept. 27 in London. He was 74.

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department for the week ending Nov. 1. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor.

President Lawrence H. Summers will hold office hours for students in his Massachusetts Hall office on the following dates:

Once again, the staff of the University is pulling together to embark on a succesful campaign to help surrounding communities. This November, as in Novembers past, the Community Gifts Through Harvard Campaign is being launched with an ambitious objective. This years campaign has set its sights on a fundraising goal of $1 million. Harvards campaign gives employees the option of donating to the charity of their choice – or to umbrella organizations – through the convenience of a payroll deduction. Pledge cards are being mailed to all employees this week, and this year it is possible to pledge conveniently online. For more information on making donations online, visit http://www.community.harvard.edu/communitygifts.

Like the amorphous Chinese monster Taowu, whose 5,000-year history has been marked by shape-shifting and reinventions, Henderson Professor of Chinese Literature David Der-Wei Wang has undergone transformations and permutations throughout his academic career.

Effective Feb. 1, 2005, Jennifer Leaning, professor of international health at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS), will be affiliated with the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study as a senior adviser in international and policy studies. Leaning will retain her positions at HSPH and HMS during the three-year appointment. As senior adviser, she will join other faculty of the University who devote a portion of their time to Radcliffe Institute program development and administrative leadership.

Kalow to accept HMS community service award Bruce Kalow, a pediatrician at Broadway Health Center in Somerville, Mass., will receive a Dean’s Community Service Award from Harvard Medical School (HMS)…

Summer Urban Program (SUP) seeks directors The Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) is seeking to fill 12 SUP director positions. Located throughout Greater Boston and Cambridge, SUP consists of 11…

A John F. Kennedy School of Government researcher has cast doubt on the widely held belief that terrorism stems from poverty, finding instead that terrorist violence is related to a nations level of political freedom.

Study of cancer trials finds significant safety improvement The chance that patients participating in early-stage cancer research studies will die from the experimental treatments has dropped dramatically over the past…

Richard Holbrooke, the premier architect of the 1995 peace agreement that ended the war in Bosnia and a skillful negotiator credited with resolving the bitter dispute over dues owed in arrears by the United States to the United Nations, has won the 2004 Great Negotiator Award. The former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations received the award, presented by the Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School, at a recent dinner held in his honor.

Harvard sneaks by Big Green, 13-12 The Harvard defense denied a go-ahead two-point conversion with 2:15 remaining in the fourth quarter to slip past host Dartmouth, 13-12, this past Saturday…