Campus & Community

Newsmakers

4 min read

Francine Benes receives national award

Professor of Psychiatry (neuroscience) Francine M. Benes, director of the Program in Structural and Molecular Neuroscience at McLean Hospital, has been selected by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to receive a Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award. The award extends the funding for Benes’ research on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder for an additional five years.

Dempster honored for contributions to statistics
Professor of theoretical statistics Arthur Dempster received the Kampé de Fériet Award from the biennial Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty (IPMU) Conference held in July in Annecy, France. Dempster, who presented a lecture titled “Theory of Belief Functions: History and Prospects,” received the award for his “lifelong contributions to the field of mathematical statistics” and for his pioneering work in the development of the field, which has become known as the Dempster-Shafer theory of belief functions.

Harvard researchers named Runyon Fellows
The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named Chad A. Cowan and Steven J. Taylor as two of the 17 recipients of the foundation’s postdoctoral fellowship for cancer research. Both Cowan, whose research deals with the identification of genes and small molecules that regulate stem cell self-renewal, and Taylor, who examines modular synthesis of berberine-based alkaloids that target topoisomerase I, will receive financial support for three years of research.

Jackson named president of Blank Foundation
Ira A. Jackson, director of the Center for Business and Government at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), has been named president of the Atlanta-based Arthur M. Blank Foundation. “We will miss Ira’s creativity and innovation,” said KSG Dean Joseph S. Nye Jr., “but know that he is leaving us with a strong, self-sufficient research center.” Jackson’s tenure as director of the center marked his second engagement at KSG. From 1976 until 1983 he served as associate dean of the school.

Zigler named new director of A.R.T./MXAT Institute
Robert J. Orchard, executive director of the American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) and Anatoly Smeliansky, head of the Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT) School, announced earlier this month that Scott Zigler has been named the director of the A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theatre Training (the teaching arm of A.R.T.). Zigler, who assumed the full directorship on Aug. 1, has held the position of co-director with János Szász since the beginning of the year. Szász will continue on the faculty working as a teacher, director, and mentor to the institute’s students.

Geller wins La Medaille De l’ADION
Margaret Geller, a leading researcher at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, has been awarded La Medaille de l’ADION (Association pour le Développement International de l’Observatoire de Nice) for 2002 by l’Observatoire de la Cote d’Azur in Nice, France. A lecturer on astronomy, Geller received the award in recognition of her “eminent contributions to the study of the structure and evolution of systems of galaxies.”

Monaco honored for pioneering studies
Anthony P. Monaco, M.D., the Peter Medawar Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, has received the Roche Pioneer Award from the American Society of Transplant Surgeons. Monaco was honored for his pioneering studies in experimental and clinical immunosuppression and the use of donor bone marrow to induce tolerance to solid organ transplants.

Harvard Education Letter wins National Press Club Award
For its coverage of the harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students in schools, the Harvard Education Letter has won its second straight National Press Club Award. Assistant editor Michael Sadowski’s article “Sexual Minority Students Can Benefit from School-Based Support – Where It Exists” was awarded first place in the category of Newsletter Journalism, Analytical.

Lombroso is named visiting professor
Cesare T. Lombroso, professor of neurology emeritus at Harvard Medical School, was named Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyusho University, Fukuoka, Japan, for his contributions to the education and research of the medical sciences in Japan. Lombroso, chief emeritus of the Seizure Unit and the Division of Neurophysiology at Children’s Hospital, also delivered a lecture at the 44th annual meeting of the Japanese Society of Child Neurology held in Sendai, Japan, June 27-29.

– Compiled by Andrew Brooks