Featured series 
Month: October 2008
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Campus & Community
Spend an ‘Evening with Champions’ Oct. 10-11
Top world skaters will skate for a cause this weekend (Oct. 10-11) when they gather at Bright Hockey Center for the Jimmy Fund’s annual “An Evening with Champions.” Hosted by 1992 Olympic silver medalist Paul Wylie ’90, the event has raised more than $2.4 million for the Jimmy Fund, which supports adult and pediatric cancer…
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Science & Tech
Arctic ice is thinning steadily
There was a polar bear sighting at Harvard last week. At Pforzheimer House on Thursday (Oct. 2), global warming expert James J. McCarthy delivered a crisp summary of how fast ice is melting in the Arctic — and why we should care. The audience of 80 took in his companion slide show, including images of…
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Campus & Community
This month in Harvard history
Oct. 14, 1763 — At the College library in Old Harvard Hall, Ephraim Briggs, Class of 1764, checks out “The Christian Warfare Against the Deuill World and Flesh” by John Downame, one of several hundred books that John Harvard had bequeathed to the College in 1638.
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Campus & Community
GSD students develop innovative plan for local school for deaf
Stricken with scarlet fever as a young boy, David Wright grew up in a silent world. In his moving autobiography, “Deafness: A Personal Account,” the South African-born author tells that story.
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Campus & Community
Faculty Council
At its third meeting of the year on Oct. 8, the Faculty Council discussed Dean Michael D. Smith’s upcoming letter to the Faculty and considered changes to the procedures for responding to allegations of misconduct in research. The council next meets on Oct. 29. The preliminary deadline for the Nov. 18 Faculty meeting is Nov.…
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Science & Tech
Exelon executive offers regulations, incentives to ‘green’ energy supply
The head of the nation’s largest nuclear power plant owner decried America’s lack of an energy policy Monday night (Oct. 6) and laid out a five-point plan featuring a mix of new regulations and financial incentives for coal, nuclear, and renewable power sources as a way to ‘green’ America’s energy supply.
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Campus & Community
Dowling recipient of Paul Kayser Award
John E. Dowling, Gordon and Llura Gund Professor of Neurosciences of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology as well as professor of Ophthalmology in Neuroscience, recently received the Paul Kayser International Award in Retina Research from the International Society for Eye Research (ISER). He received the award at the 2008 Biennial Congress held in…
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Campus & Community
Giving faculty a leg up the ladder
Harvard University is launching a new initiative for ladder faculty designed to help professors meet their family caregiving needs while succeeding throughout their academic careers.
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Campus & Community
Belfer Center announces research fellows 2008-09
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School announces the following new 2008-09 research fellows. These fellows conduct research within the Belfer Center’s International Security Program (ISP).
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Campus & Community
HUHS Office of Alcohol & Other Drug Services named prevention leader
The Harvard University Health Services (HUHS) Office of Alcohol & Other Drug Services (AODS) was named this year’s “Outstanding Leader in Prevention” by the city of Cambridge. The award recognizes the Cambridge organization/agency that has provided Cambridge with superior service in the prevention of substance abuse.
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Campus & Community
Program allows gifted scholars to kick back and … work
Abena Dove Osseo-Asare studies African medicinal plants, including their fate at the hands of modern science and global patent systems.
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Health
Hansjörg Wyss gives $125M to create institute
Engineer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss, M.B.A. ’65 has given Harvard University $125 million to create the Hansjörg Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
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Campus & Community
The pine beetle’s tale: Destructive insect has pharmaceutical potential
Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, have discovered how beetles and bacteria form a symbiotic and mutualistic relationship — one that ultimately results in the destruction of pine forests. In addition, they’ve identified the specific molecule that drives this whole phenomenon.
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Campus & Community
Harvard China Fund accepting 2010 proposals
The Harvard China Fund, under the Office of the Provost, has announced its fiscal year 2010 grants program for Harvard faculty, programs, and Schools. The purpose of the fund is to support interdisciplinary research and teaching in and about China, focus Harvard’s considerable strengths toward tackling the challenges that China faces, and improve communication and…
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Science & Tech
Hansjorg Wyss gives $125 million to create institute for biologically inspired engineering
Engineer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss MBA ’65 has given Harvard University $125 million to create the Hansjörg Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Investigators at the Wyss Institute (pronounced…
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Science & Tech
Smoking and solid-fuel-burning in homes in China projected to cause millions of deaths
If current levels of smoking and biomass and coal fuel use in homes continues, between 2003 and 2033 there will be an estimated 65 million deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary…
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Campus & Community
Al Gore to celebrate sustainability at Harvard
Former Vice President Al Gore will be coming to campus on Oct. 22 for the first-ever University-wide celebration of sustainability. The event, hosted by President Drew Faust, will mark the official launch of the University’s new greenhouse gas reduction effort and will also celebrate Harvard’s broader environmental initiatives, including the critical role the University plays…
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Campus & Community
Police reports
Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Sept. 29. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu.
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Campus & Community
Harvard-Yenching Institute names doctoral fellows
Initiated in the 1960s, the Harvard-Yenching Institute’s Doctoral Scholars Program (DSP) now consists of two branches, the Harvard-DSP and Non-Harvard DSP. Each year the institute invites Harvard departments in the humanities and social sciences to nominate candidates for the Harvard doctoral scholarships. To be eligible for this program, candidates must be from Asia.
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Campus & Community
Sports brief
There was not enough rain to keep the women’s golf team from winning its third tournament in three appearances this season at the Fall Intercollegiate at Yale University (Sept. 27-28). Competing against elite teams from the Northeast, the Crimson placed first out of 19. Crimson top performer, junior Claire Sheldon, finished tied for fourth, shooting…
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Arts & Culture
Key statistical ideas celebrate birthdays
University of Chicago statistics professor Stephen M. Stigler, a frequent visitor to Harvard, has a favorite movie — “Magic Town,” a black-and-white flick from 1947. It stars James Stewart as a pollster who discovers a magical place: a heartland town whose citizens have a range of opinions that are a near-perfect composite of the whole…
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Nation & World
Leadership panel to advise on business, human rights
John Ruggie, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s special representative for business and human rights, recently announced that he is convening a leadership panel to advise him on how best to ensure that businesses worldwide respect internationally recognized human rights standards.
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Nation & World
History of human rights declaration is reviewed at CGIS
In September 1948, representatives of 18 nations at the newly minted United Nations were inspired by the tumult and horror of World War II to create a Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
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Science & Tech
Environmental report card grades Harvard A-
Harvard received the highest ranking in a recent “College Sustainability Report Card” that graded the green credentials of 300 colleges and universities. Harvard received high ranks for an array of activities, including recycling, green buildings, energy supply, transportation, and student involvement. Overall, the University was among 15 nationwide that received the top A- grade, earning…
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Campus & Community
President’s office hours 2008-09
President Drew Faust will hold office hours for students in her Massachusetts Hall office on the following dates: Thursday, Oct. 16, 4-5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, 4-5 p.m. Monday, March…
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Campus & Community
Harvard-affiliated gene study receives NIH funding
Two Harvard Medical School (HMS) professors of ophthalmology are co-principal investigators of a gene project that has received funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Lou Pasquale and Janey Wiggs, both glaucoma researchers at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, are leading the grant-winning team of researchers that includes Vincent L. Gregory Professor in…
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Campus & Community
Milton Fund offers unique opportunities for faculty
Voting faculty from all of Harvard’s Schools are eligible to apply for grants from the Milton Fund, which supports original research by Harvard faculty.
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Science & Tech
Technique offers close-ups of electrons and nuclei
Providing a glimpse into the infinitesimal, physicists have found a novel way to spy on some of the universe’s tiniest building blocks. Their “camera,” described this week (Oct. 1) in the journal Nature, consists of a special “flaw” in diamonds that can be manipulated into sensitively monitoring magnetic signals from individual electrons and atomic nuclei…
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Arts & Culture
Du Bois fellow makes ‘Little Fugitive,’ take two
The wonder of Brooklyn’s iconic amusement park Coney Island as seen through the eyes of a young runaway is at the heart of the 1953 classic film “Little Fugitive” by the directing team of Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, and Ruth Orkin. What lies at the heart of Joanna Lipper’s ’94 recent remake is much darker.
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Campus & Community
Herbert C. Kelman receives IPRA Peace Award
Herbert C. Kelman, the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics emeritus and co-chair of the Middle East seminar at Harvard University, has received the 2008 Peace Award from the International Peace Research Association (IPRA). The award, honoring the founders of peace research, was announced this past July at IPRA’s global conference in Leuven, Belgium.