Campus & Community

Two of the worlds biggest threats may someday be reduced by wires thousands of times thinner than a hair but capable of detecting a single virus. The specter of worldwide viral epidemics is always with us, so detecting them quickly offers the possibility of saving thousands of lives. The pathogens also can be stealthy biological weapons, making their positive detection a vital national defense requirement.

On Tuesday (Oct. 5) at approximately 3 p.m., a female student reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) that she was the victim of an indecent assault and battery while walking on Harvard Street near Pennypacker Hall. The victim stated that she was approached from behind by a male riding a bicycle who inappropriately touched her before fleeing the area.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has changed its guidelines for flu vaccination because the nation’s major supplier of the vaccine announced Tuesday (Oct. 5) that the supply…

Oct. 24, 1656 – The Great and General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony grants the Corporation discretionary power to punish all misdemenoures of the youth in their Societie, either by fine or whipping in the hall openly, as the nature of the offence shall require, not exceding [sic] ten shilling [sic] or ten stripes for one offence.

Cox to be remembered on Oct. 8 A memorial service for former Harvard Law School Professor Archibald Cox will be held on Oct. 8 at 2 p.m. in the Memorial…

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department for the week ending Oct. 4. 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:

For most academics, scholarship means drilling deep into an area of inquiry that is often tightly focused and highly specific.

Marilyn Hausammann, a human resources professional with a background in the consulting, financial services, and banking fields, is Harvard Universitys first vice president for human resources, Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers announced Tuesday (Oct. 5).

Senior fellow Juliette Kayyem has assumed the role of executive director for research at the Kennedy School of Governments (KSG) Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. For the past three years, Kayyem has been a lecturer and resident scholar at the center, serving both as executive director of the Schools Executive Session on Domestic Preparedness, and as co-director of Harvards Long-Term Legal Strategy for Combating Terrorism.We are fortunate to have someone with Juliettes expertise and energy to fill the gap at the Belfer Center at this critical moment, said Belfer Center Director Graham Allison Jr.

Carter J. Eckert, a longtime faculty member in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, has been named Yoon Se Young Professor of Korean History.

The 2004 Ig Nobel Prizes went off in traditionally wacky fashion Thursday night (Sept. 30), honoring unusual science and questionable social advances and taking a poke at Coke for adding its own pollution to bottled river water.

The Committee to Address Alcohol and Health at Harvard, formed in November 2003, has presented its report to Provost Steven E. Hyman and Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross, recommending a broad series of initiatives – many of them calling for extensive involvement of students – aimed at both reducing dangerous drinking at Harvard and at helping students better understand responsible drinking in the context of overall physical and mental health and college life.

Faculty member and researcher in the Harvard Medical School (HMS) from 1991 until 2002, Linda Buck is this years co-winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (along with Richard Axel of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute). Buck, who was in HMSs Department of Neurobiology, won the Nobel for discoveries in odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system. Since 2002 she has been a full member in the Division of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle.

At the Harvard Museum of Natural History, a backlit wall display of minerals in the exhibit ‘Romancing the Stone: The Many Facets of Tourmaline’ is brought nicely into scale by…

FAS Communications A new version of the my.harvard Web portal has been unveiled for use by all faculty, staff, and students in the University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).…

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) has opened two Humanities Faculty Services (HFS) centers to assist scholars in the humanities with routine tasks such as photocopying, obtaining and returning library books, mailing packages, shredding documents, and preparing letters of reference. The centers are located on the mezzanine level of Boylston Hall, open 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and in Room 119 of the Barker Center, open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The host Harvard mens and womens soccer teams landed on separate sides of the win/loss column this past Saturday (Oct. 2) in a pair of taut, low-scoring affairs against Yale. The Harvard women managed a lone-goal win in the afternoons opening match-up, before the male Bulldogs prevented the Crimson sweep under black clouds with their own 1-0 victory.

Mahon named rookie of the week Freshman volleyballer Laura Mahon earned rookie of the week accolades from the Ivy League for her match-high 16 kills in Harvard’s 3-0 win over…

Zhuang named top innovator Xiaowei Zhuang, assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology, and of physics, was recently named one of 100 leading young researchers in the world by Technology…

REAI to hold upcoming symposium The Real Estate Academic Initiative (REAI) at Harvard will hold its fall symposium, “What Makes Place? Envisioning the Future of Urban Development,” on Oct. 13-15.…

On Sept. 29, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of philosophy and linguistics and longtime activist Noam Chomsky makes brief remarks in Harvard Yard prior to the weekly Wednesday at Noon Peace Walk that circles the Yard. On previous occasions, other notable speakers appearing at the gathering have included historian Howard Zinn and singer-songwriter Catie Curtis.

Theater began as religious ritual – that much is familiar to anyone who has ever taken a theatrical survey course. But Robert Brustein, in a lecture titled The Drama as a Secular Faith, showed how the theaters relationship to religion has evolved from ancient Greece to the present, changing from one of cooperation, to hostility, to a revolutionary schism in which the theater tried to substitute its own gods and theology.

Many of us save too little, but that seems to be a character flaw we can live with.

James S. Reid Jr. of Cleveland has made a gift to Harvard Law School (HLS) to endow a professorship dedicated to the teaching of accounting, statistics, and related subjects. Income generated from the gift – which totals $3 million and includes funds given by Reid and others – will support the salary, benefits, and research endeavors of a tenured HLS professor.

Sam has a lot of people rooting for him. His mother has built a shrine out of his gymnastics trophies, and when he competes, his girlfriend brandishes a poster that says Ghetto Superstar.

Time and money. Few professions offer such a scarcity of both as the early careers of academics and researchers.

The National Science Foundation has awarded a five-year, $2.4 million grant to the Science Education Department (SED) of the

Chemical synthesis is practiced entirely differently by chemists and by cells – and by many measures, cells come out on top. Chemists use something of a brute-force approach, generating vats of superconcentrated chemicals that react through random molecular collisions. Biomolecules are found within cells at concentrations a million times lower, their interactions directed by enzymes that selectively unite sparse biological reactants.

Between the settling of construction dust and the glitter of black-tie celebrations, the Widener Library rededication and ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday afternoon (Oct. 1) struck a distinctly populist balance. As students, faculty, and administrators from around the University gathered on Wideners gracious steps and spilled into the autumn sunshine of Tercentenary Theatre, Harvards leaders applauded the dedication of those who restored the landmark building and those who toiled throughout its five-year renovation. The library remained open throughout the extensive renovations.