Newsmakers

Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology honors HBS professor

Cahners-Rabb Professor of Business Administration emeritus Michael Beer has received the Distinguished Professional Contributions Award from the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. One of the society’s highest honors, the award recognizes longtime and significant contributions to the study of human behavior in the workplace.

Chemistry professor receives honorary doctorate

Theodore William Richards Professor of Chemistry emeritus Martin Karplus was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Faculty of Science of the University of Zurich on its Academy Day, April 29. Translated from the original German text, the citation reads: “In recognition of his fundamental contributions to the development of Molecular Dynamics Simulation, which provide an essential basis for computational approaches to chemistry and structural biology.”

Mello named outstanding scholar by AcademyHealth

Associate Professor of Health Policy and Law Michelle Mello has been named the 2006 winner of the Alice S. Hersh New Investigator Award from AcademyHealth. The award is given annually to the person designated as the most outstanding scholar still in the early part of his or her career. AcademyHealth, the major national professional organization nationally for health services and policy research, has nearly 4,000 members. Mello’s work will be featured in a special session at the annual research meeting of the organization on June 25.

Department of Biostatistics to honor alum, statistician

The Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) has named Daniel Siegel, formerly with the National Institutes of Health, a recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Alum Award. Seigel will deliver a May 31 lecture titled “Outcome Preferences and the Statistician” in Kresge G2 Auditorium at 4 p.m. Now retired, Seigel graduated from the School in 1961.

The department has also named Mitchell H. Gail, chief of the biostatistics branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute, as the recipient of the 2006 Marvin Zelen Leadership Award in Statistical Science. Zelen is a professor of statistical science at HSPH.

Gail will deliver the lecture “Absolute Risk: Clinical Applications and Controversies” on June 2 following the Schering-Plough Workshop at Harvard. This annual award – supported by colleagues, friends, and family – was established to honor Zelen’s long and distinguished career as a statistician and his major role in shaping the field of biostatistics.

Merton delivers Schwartz Lecture at Northwestern

Nobel laureate Robert C. Merton, the John and Natty McArthur University Professor at Harvard Business School, delivered the Nancy L. Schwartz Memorial Lecture at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management on April 5. His address was titled “How to Pursue Both Comparative Advantage and Efficient Diversification of Risk: An Application of Derivative Securities.” The lecture series honors the late Professor Schwartz, the first woman on the Kellogg School faculty to be named to an endowed chair.

– Compiled by Andrew Brooks