Campus & Community

A distinctive signature of genes turned on and off greatly improves predictions of who has the best chance of survival of the most common type of childhood malignant brain tumor, according to a new study by researchers at Childrens Hospital in Boston and their colleagues. If verified by other studies over the next several years, the gene expression profile may help children survive the malignant brain tumor with fewer serious side effects. The study also shows that medulloblastoma has key molecular differences from other brain tumors, which eventually may help researchers find more targeted treatment. The study is published in the Jan. 24 issue of the weekly journal Nature.

Researchers, one of them an undergraduate, have used economic analysis to analyse and predict participation and medal outcomes for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the nations oldest dramatic organization, announced the recipients of the 2002 Woman and Man of the Year awards: Sarah Jessica Parker and Bruce Willis.

Shortly after the Hasty Pudding Club announced its Woman of the Year (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Man of the Year (Bruce Willis) on Monday (Jan. 28), students around campus shared their opinions of the picks with the Gazette.

Exposure to students of several racial, ethnic, and economic groups is preparing Cambridge Rindge and Latin students well to face an increasingly diverse working world, according to a new Harvard…

Stephen Walt is named academic dean at KSG

Teachers learn to survive, prevail

University Professor Robert Nozick, one of the late 20th centurys most influential thinkers, died on the morning of Jan. 23 at the age of 63. He had been diagnosed with stomach cancer in 1994.

Ernest Joseph Brown, Langdell Professor of Law Emeritus, died in Fort Worth, Texas, on Dec. 31. He was 95.

At its eighth meeting of the year, the Faculty Council discussed with Dean Harry Lewis (computer science and Harvard College) proposed changes in the rules for Advanced Standing and Advanced Placement.

Alfred (left) and Georgia, two hungry hawks who haunt the Holyoke Center, perch on their 10th floor lookout ledge keeping their sharp eyes peeled for small game.

Jan. 9, 1943 – To help alleviate a shortage of qualified teachers in mathematics and the physical sciences, the Graduate School of Education opens two 15-week retraining programs for experienced…

Remodeling expenditures by homeowners declined again in the fourth quarter of 2001. The drop in remodeling, according to the Remodeling Activity Indicator (RAI) devised by Harvards Joint Center for Housing Studies, reflects the slowing economy and reduced consumer spending. While spending has not fallen off precipitously, we are in the midst of a modest downturn, remarked Nicolas P. Retsinas, the director of the Joint Center. In light of the reality of the recession, homeowners have begun to defer and cancel major housing renovations.

HBSs Michael Watkins to discuss anti-terror coalition on Jan. 30

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department for the week ending Saturday, Jan. 19.

Catalan government honors Professor Bisson

The world is on the road to becoming a barren, overcrowded, and lonely place for humanity, but famed biologist Edward O. Wilson is optimistic we will alter our path and emerge better stewards of the Earth, its creatures, and by doing so, ourselves.

In the spirit of his signature confessional monologues, Spalding Gray told a nearly full house at Sanders Theatre that not long ago, he thought he was out of stories. He expected to settle down in Long Island, a life-modifying venture that was the subject of his monologue Morning, Noon and Night, which premiered in 1999. The gonzo New Yorker had become a bona fide family man, raising four children with his present wife, Kathie Russo.

Alexander Keyssar, the Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, received the Albert J. Beveridge Award at the 116th annual meeting of the American Historical Association (AHA) on Jan. 4 in San Francisco.

Its not the destination, its the journey.

Hidden away in the storerooms of the Peabody Museum are nearly 5,000 ancient Peruvian textile pieces, perhaps the largest such collection outside Lima.

The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies has awarded 23 grants to Harvard students with research projects in Latin America. These travel grants support academic research to be conducted as part of a regular Harvard thesis degree program, such as a senior honors thesis, dissertation, or a professional school thesis-equivalent.

Environmental epidemiologists from the Harvard School of Public Health (SPH) analyzing tap water samples from 36 surface water systems throughout Massachusetts have found high levels of disinfection by-products (DBPs), which form during water treatment and transport, and a wide range of by-product activity in the water supplies they tested. The study appears in the February issue of Environmental Health Perspectives (http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/allpubs.html).

As the audience questions escalated from softball (How did you start writing?) to hardball (How do you manage multiple points of view in your narrative?) to curveball (Why is there a disproportionate representation of Asian Americans among novelists all of a sudden?), novelist Gish Jen 77 responded thoughtfully, respectfully, insightfully.

If I learn one new thing, it makes my night, Cheryl Haberman, a Waltham kindergarten teacher, said on the roof of the Harvard College Observatory Thursday night (Jan. 17). Ive never walked away disappointed.

Teach For America seeks seniors ready to make an immediate impact

Michael Brenner is one of those rare people who does something different almost every day, and has fun doing it.

Janis Sacco, head of exhibition planning and interpretation at the Harvard Museum of Natural History (HMNH), loves her job.

At a meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on December 11, 2001, the following Minute was placed upon the records.

It is an ancient custom, as ancient as the Roman Empire, to idolize those whom we honor, to make them larger than life, to give their marvelous accomplishments a magical and mystical origin. By exalting the accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr. into a legendary tale that is annually told, we fail to recognize his humanity – his personal and public struggles – that are similar to yours and mine. By idolizing those whom we honor, we fail to realize that we could go and do likewise. As I have said on many occasions, honoring Martin Luther King Jr. would be dishonorable if we remember the man and forget his mission. For those among us who believe in him, his work now must become our own.