The Research Excellence in Administration Certificate at Harvard (REACH) program, a University-wide sponsored training series, is currently accepting applications for the spring 2013 semester in both the Foundations and Intermediate levels. Applications are due January 11, 2013. If you would like more information on the program, we invite you to attend one of our upcoming…

Editor and author James Geary, a 2012 Nieman Fellow, has been selected as the deputy curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism. In this position he will serve as editor of Nieman Reports, oversee other Nieman print and online publications and manage a range of duties related to the Nieman Fellowship program and the foundation’s…

The buzz in the classroom was palpable. About 20 Harvard Law students were huddled in small groups, tasked with formulating an action plan to deal with leaked evidence of the CIA’s sabotage of a North Korean nuclear missile test. The sabotage had claimed the lives of dozens of North Korean scientists and workers; the revelation…

Flame retardants found in furniture, cars, carpet padding, and baby products are supposed to make these products safer. But according to neuropsychologist and epidemiologist Brenda Eskenazi, they may do more harm than good — particularly in children, who are more vulnerable to environmental hazards than adults. Eskenazi, professor of maternal and child health and epidemiology…

In Bangladesh, workers wade into muddy, parasite-infested waters near the Sundarban mangrove forests to catch baby shrimp that will later be processed for export. Elsewhere in rural South Asia, they toil in locked buildings, weaving luxury carpets on filthy, ramshackle looms. These workers, many of them children, often work 14 or more hours a day.…

Harvard President Drew Faust presided at the annual 25-Year Recognition Celebration, held on November 27 at the Harvard Faculty Club. The ceremony honored 140 Harvard faculty and staff members—including 13 Library staff members—who reached the 25-year mark. The event celebrated the employees’ contributions to the University, toasting the honorees and several hundred friends, family members…

Microsoft Surface tables—imagine large tablet computers on table legs—were installed in Lamont, Cabot and Wolbach Libraries to explore their application to research, teaching and learning. Approximately 60 Harvard undergraduates were involved in testing them for ease of use and applicability of the software to research. “The general feedback from students has been positive,” said Christopher…

On Nov. 9 the Harvard Law & International Development Society, an HLS student group, held its annual symposium, this year highlighting the increasingly global nature of anti-corruption efforts. The day-long event, “Development amidst Corruption | Developments against Corruption,” began with vivid personal narratives from the trenches: speakers included undercover agent Robert Mazur, ombudsman of the…

A new report produced by Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and its Youth and Media Project in conjunction with Pew Research Center’s Internet and America Life Project explores issues surrounding parents, teens, and online privacy in an increasingly digital world. The report, “Parents, Teens and Online Privacy,” found that the majority of parents…

When the Harvard Management Company designed new office space to support their dynamic and collaborative organizational model, they also sought to align the renovation with the University’s commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability. The result was a more efficient workspace and a LEED Gold certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). “An important…

John Harwood, chief Washington correspondent for CNBC and a political writer for The New York Times, has been tapped to lead the Nieman Foundation’s Advisory Board. A Nieman Fellow in the class of 1990, he has served on the board since 2006. Harwood takes the reins from William O. Wheatley Jr., NF ’77, who finished…

A two-year-old pilot program that aims to protect the most effective drug for malaria from resistance, through a novel economic strategy that supports the use of combination therapy, is in danger of being discontinued. The goal has been to boost the availability and affordability of artemesinin-combination therapies (ACTs) for treating the disease to assure that…

Although there are notable exceptions, the majority of flowering plants in the Arnold Arboretum’s Living Collection bloom over the course of spring and early summer. While it is normal for some plants like the Franklin tree (Franklinia alatamaha) to flower in early fall, the autumn or winter occurrence of flowers on plants that normally bloom…

Harvard’s Drug & Alcohol Peer Advisor (DAPA) program, a peer education group under Harvard’s Office of Alcohol & Other Drug Services, was recently recognized as a “2012 Outstanding Network Member” at The BACCHUS Network General Assembly. DAPA has received several honors at the regional level, but this was the organization’s first award at the national assembly.…

Joanna Aizenberg, Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). A pioneer in studying how living things create inorganic materials, and what those biological processes might teach engineers, Aizenberg plays many critical roles across Harvard.…

Being younger than one’s classmates affects academic performance throughout childhood and into puberty and increases children’s risk of being prescribed stimulants for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a study from the University of Iceland and Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) published November 19, 2012 in Pediatrics. In the study of standardized test scores and medical records…

“Cartographic Grounds: Projecting the Landscape Imaginary” will be on display in the Gund Hall Lobby until December 19. The exhibit melds data-driven and experiential depictions of the ground though cartography and landscape architectural drawing. The exhibition features maps from more than 20 Harvard libraries, including the Harvard Map Collection, Frances Loeb Library, Ernst Mayr Library…

Does adding dietary fiber to soda make it healthier than regular soda? Not necessarily, according to two nutrition experts at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). Walter Willett and Lilian Cheung commented in a November 15, 2012 Time.com article about a new soda called “Pepsi Special” that contains the added dietary fiber dextrin, which is found in fiber supplements. The…

  Labrary: A Harvard Library Experiment officially opened on November 15 at 92 Mt. Auburn Street. Labrary, a storefront space envisioned and realized by students in Harvard’s Library Test Kitchen course, explores how innovations in design can help libraries evolve. “We wanted to make this a collaborative endeavor—incorporating students and faculty—to show how libraries can…

Students have always been the driving force behind Harvard’s leadership on sustainability, pushing the University to establish a greenhouse gas reduction goal and launching new programs like the Harvard Community Garden. This year, one of Harvard’s most successful and widely replicated sustainability programs – the Resource Efficiency Program (REP) — celebrated its 10 year anniversary…

Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic and the independent human rights organization Human Rights Watch have authored a report titled “Losing Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots.” The report, released Nov. 19, argues that governments should pre-emptively ban fully autonomous weapons because of the danger they pose to civilians in armed conflict. These future…

HLS Dean Martha Minow received the Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse from the College Historical Society of Trinity College, Dublin at a ceremony on Nov. 13, 2012. The College Historical Society, popularly referred to as “The Hist,” is one of the world’s oldest undergraduate debating societies, established in 1770. It is “built…

A panel of distinguished judges and scholars gathered at Harvard Law School with author David Dorsen ’59 on Nov. 14 to discuss and celebrate his recent biography, “Henry Friendly: Greatest Judge of His Era.” At the event, moderated by Professor Carol Steiker ’86—who is the Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law at HLS—Judges Michael Boudin…

Harvard’s Technology Products and Services announces the start of our holiday promotion! Visit the online shopping site or the Campus Computer Store now through December 21 for great savings, giveaways, and holiday cheer! New workshops added for December and raffles held at exclusively (in-store entries only) at the Campus Computer Store.

On a sunny day in June, seven members of the Sacks club, the team that won the Ames Moot Court Competition in 1959, met on the steps of Langdell library to reminisce over what they called their “unlikely” victory, and to talk about where their lives had taken them in the fifty years since. The reunion…

During the summer of 2012, hundreds of Harvard Law School J.D. and graduate students benefitted from the largest pool of guaranteed funding offered by a law school for the broadest range of public interest summer work. A select group of 26 students worked in 19 countries under the aegis of the Chayes International Public Service…

In October, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg issued two rulings bolstering the rights of persons with psycho-social disabilities. Both cases were brought by Hungarian-Slovakian disability rights activist János Fiala-Butora, LL.M. ’10, an S.J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School and an associate of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, known as HPOD.…

The Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) is leading by example when it comes to promoting workplace wellness and encouraging healthier behavior. The CEO Roundtable on Cancer recently accredited HSPH with the CEO Cancer Gold Standard™ recognizing their efforts to reduce the risk of cancer for their employees and covered family members by promoting healthy lifestyle…

Women in China’s workforce have significantly lower fertility rates than those who are not employed. That is one finding in a new Harvard Kennedy School Faculty Working Paper co-authored by HKS Professor Richard Zeckhauser. “Jobs and Kids: Female Employment and Fertility in China” synthesizes the analysis of data taken from the 2006 China Health and Nutrition…

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) presented Harvard Corporation member William F. Lee A.B. ’72 with its Trailblazer Award during the organization’s 24th annual convention in Washington, D.C., last week. Lee was one of nine recipients of the Trailblazer Award, NAPABA’s highest honor. The award is bestowed annually to individuals who “have demonstrated…