The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) has given $8.1 million to the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) to support the continuation of the Kuwait Program at HKS’s Middle East Initiative. The gift will be used to develop leaders with the capacity to address the many challenging public policy issues facing the region, as…

The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will cooperate to support innovative policy research on the development challenges confronting the countries of the Lower Mekong Region and promote institutional innovation in higher education. The Ash Center and USAID agreed to work…

Two new studies led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers provide good news for coffee drinkers, as the research links coffee consumption to reduced risk of heart failure and skin cancer. The first study, led by Elizabeth Mostofsky, research fellow at HSPH and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, found that drinking one or…

Living organisms have developed sophisticated ways to maintain stability in a changing environment, withstanding fluctuations in temperature, pH, pressure, and the presence or absence of crucial molecules. The integration of similar features in artificial materials, however, has remained a challenge—until now. In the July 12 issue of Nature, a Harvard-led team of engineers presented a…

Lyme disease is now endemic in Massachusetts, with 2,000 to 4,000 officially confirmed cases and as many as 10,000 additional unconfirmed cases each year, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. But the disease is not spread uniformly across the state, with Cape Cod and the Islands particularly hard hit. In a June 28…

Carmen M. Reinhart, one of the world’s leading experts on international finance, has joined the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) as the Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System. Reinhart’s work has informed the understanding of financial crises for more than a decade. She was co-author of “This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial…

When Myra White issued a charity challenge to the 13 student teams in her Managing Virtual Teams spring course, asking them to raise money for World Bicycle Relief (WBR), she never expected them to raise $40,000 in less than two months. Each semester, groups of five or six students compete in a series of challenges, with the final challenge of…

Ousmane Kane, scholar of Islamic studies and comparative and Islamic politics, has been appointed as the first Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society at Harvard Divinity School (HDS). Kane’s appointment begins in July, and he will begin teaching in the 2013 spring term. “The Alwaleed Chair of Contemporary Islamic Religion…

Oil production capacity is surging in the United States and several other countries at such a fast pace that global capacity is likely to grow by nearly 20 percent by 2020, an event that could prompt a plunge or even a collapse in oil prices, according to a new study by a researcher at the Harvard Kennedy…

Harvard College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds, Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science and of African and African American Studies, announced today the appointment of Vanidy M. Bailey as director of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Queer (BGLTQ) student life. Bailey will begin working in the new position on July 16. Bailey will…

Today, Accel Partners, Breyer Capital, and Polaris Venture Partners join New Enterprise Associates (NEA) as partners of The Experiment Fund (www.Xfund.com), a seed-stage venture capital fund anchored at Harvard and designed to cultivate innovation and bold experimentation in the Boston area. Also announced today are several new advisers to the fund, including former Harvard Law…

Massachusetts was hit with a heat wave in late June and the Harvard community responded by taking action to reduce energy use. Despite the high temperatures on Thursday June 21, Harvard saw a campus-wide reduction in electricity demand of approximately 10% while continuing to support our research and teaching mission. Schools and departments cut energy…

A novel coating that repels almost every type of liquid and solid, from blood and crude oil, to ice and bacteria, has received a 2012 R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine. The annual awards honor the 100 most technologically significant products of the previous year. The winning technology, called SLIPS (Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces), was…

Higher prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a debilitating mental illness that can have life-long negative consequences, has been found in young adult gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and “mostly heterosexuals” compared with completely heterosexuals at considerably younger ages than previously identified, according to a new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Boston…

With a growing number of teens texting behind the wheel, policy makers are looking for ways to combat this risky behavior. One blueprint that could work is the successful “designated driver” campaign attacking drunken driving led by Harvard School of Public Health’s Jay A. Winsten in the 1980s, according to a June 8, 2012 Boston…

Julio Frenk, dean of Harvard School of Public Health, was one of 11 innovators, scientists, volunteers, and world leaders who recently received honorary degrees from Canada’s University of Alberta. Frenk, who received an honorary doctor of science degree at the June 8, 2012 spring convocation ceremony, gave a speech to the graduating class in medicine…

The Arnold Arboretum is pleased to announce that Guang-You Hao was awarded a Putnam Fellowship to conduct independent research utilizing the Arboretum’s living collection. Hao received his Ph.D. from the University of Miami and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2010 where his work focused on the hydraulic properties of tropical plants in an ecological…

The Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) has elected Swati Piramal, M.P.H. ’92, to serve a six-year term as Overseer. Piramal joins Walter Clair, A.B. ’77, M.D. ’81, M.P.H. ’85, as one of only two HSPH alumni, and the only alumna from India, on the 30-member board. Also elected as Overseers were Scott A. Abell, A.B. ’82; James…

Children living in low-income neighborhoods, often exposed to unsafe levels of pollution, may also face additional risk from the stress of growing up in poverty, according to a new body of research. Such children may actually be more biologically susceptible to contaminants such as lead and car exhaust, even at low levels, because dealing with…

Technology Products and Services is updating the ecommerce sites for departments and personal purchasers. What’s New: One-stop shopping for departments! Computer and software licensing products will be merged so that departments can conveniently shop on one site. This site is dedicated to departments only, with communications and products that meet their specific needs. Dedicated Site…

Technology Products and Services and the Campus Computer Store will be closing Friday, June 29, at 3 p.m. and will reopen on Monday, July 2, at noon. We will be transitioning to our new e-commerce sites during this time and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Watch for the new and improved e-commerce sites…

Lung cancer makes up only 15 percent of cancer diagnoses, but it is the leading cause of cancer deaths. To help doctors detect the disease in its early, most treatable stages, epidemiologists like Margaret Spitz, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, are working to develop models of genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors to identify…

On May 30, 2012, Professor Afsaneh Najmabadi gave a presentation on her project Women’s Worlds in Qajar Iran at an event at the White House titled “Exploring Communities of Muslim Women Throughout History.” Hosted by the White House Office of Public Engagement and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the event showcased NEH-funded scholarship…

There was never much of a question about what career path Kathleen M. Turner ’94 would follow. A child who brought home worksheets to play school with her friends, who lined up her stuffed animals for mock lessons, who even in summer liked to pretend she was in school, Turner dreamed of the day when…

In his opening message at the 2012 Commencement ceremony on May 24, Dean Julio Frenk spoke about the importance of “career plasticity.” He quoted Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, who said, “Fortune does favor the bold, and I promise that you will never know what you’re capable of unless you try.” Explaining…

Professor Shiu-Ying Hu, emeritus senior research fellow of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, passed away in Hong Kong on May 22 at age 102. An eminent scholar and plant taxonomist, Hu was also a beloved teacher who served as honorary professor of Chinese medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and senior college…

Highlights from a year of innovative teaching, breakthrough research, inventive student projects, and global impact:   Summer 2011 SEAS announced the creation of a graduate secondary field in computational science and engineering. Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law and Computer Science, was named a Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence of the Federal Communications Commission. Materials scientists and applied physicists…

David M. Brooks, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science in the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), has won the Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM) Special Interest Group on Computer Architecture (SIGARCH) Maurice Wilkes Award for 2012. The award is named for Sir Maurice Wilkes, the Director of the Cambridge Computer Laboratory during…

What is causing the obesity epidemic—and how can we stop and reverse this worldwide weight problem? A new website offers authoritative answers to these pressing questions and sheds light on one of the most challenging public health threats of our time. The Obesity Prevention Source website, launched by the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School…

William A. Graham steps down as dean of Harvard Divinity School at the end of the 2011–12 academic year. After a year’s leave in 2012–13, he will return to teaching as a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. HDS M.Div. candidate Matt Bieber caught up with Graham in April to discuss his tenure as dean and…