Tag: Research

  • Campus & Community

    Is Happiness Catching?

    Nicholas Christakis began taking a new look at this question in 2000 after an experience visiting terminally ill patients in the working-class neighborhoods of Chicago.

    1–2 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    The first tailors? Researchers find ancient fiber

    “Making strings and ropes is a sophisticated invention,” said Ofer Bar-Yosef, a professor of prehistoric archaeology at Harvard University. “They might have used this fiber to create parts of clothing, ropes, or baskets — for items that were mainly used for domestic activities.” The fibers were discovered in an analysis of clay deposits in Dzudzuana…

    1–2 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Does Infection Boost Prostate Cancer Risk?

    In the new study, Jennifer Stark of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues analyzed blood samples from 673 men with prostate cancer who participated in the Physicians’ Health Study, a large, ongoing study examining a variety of health issues.

    1–2 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Harvard opens its research repository

    Harvard University this week unveiled its open database of faculty research, with more than a third of its arts and sciences faculty members participating so far. Since the faculty of the main undergraduate college voted in February 2008 to support the system known as Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard, in which professors’ scholarly works…

    1–2 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Medical grants a boon for Mass.

    Massachusetts biomedical researchers are seeing a windfall from federal stimulus money, with the state receiving more in grants from the National Institutes of Health than all others but California.

    1–2 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Fine Arts Library reopens

    The Fine Arts Library (FAL) is now open in its temporary space in the Littauer Building in the North Yard.

    1–2 minutes
  • Health

    Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awards fellowships to Harvard scientists

    The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on supporting exceptional early career researchers and innovative cancer research, has selected four Harvard affiliates to receive Damon Runyon fellowships at its May 2009 Fellowship Award Committee review.

    2–3 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Harvard-Yenching Institute’s 22 visiting scholars, fellows

    The Harvard-Yenching Institute has selected 22 visiting scholars and fellows from major universities in Asia. Established in 1928, the Harvard-Yenching Institute is an independent foundation dedicated to advancing higher education in Asia, with special attention to the study of Asian culture. The group of visiting scholars and fellows includes faculty members and advanced graduate students…

    3–4 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Committee on African Studies awards 51 summer travel grants

    Through its Africa Initiative, the Harvard Committee on African Studies has awarded 51 grants to Harvard students for travel to sub-Saharan Africa during the summer of 2009. The grants fund internships, language study, senior thesis research, master’s thesis research, and doctoral dissertation research. Twenty-four undergraduates and 27 graduate students were awarded grants, the largest number…

    5–7 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Green reunions: Groundwork set

    As of June 4, Harvard has celebrated 358 commencements. Add to that the simultaneous celebration of untold thousands of reunions.

    3–5 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Physics for musical masses

    Harvard physicist Lisa Randall is taking Paris’ operagoing public to the fifth dimension this month, working with a composer and artist to present an opera that incorporates Randall’s theories about extra dimensions of space.

    3–5 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Frans Spaepen named interim director of Center for Nanoscale Systems

    Frans Spaepen, director of the Rowland Institute, will serve as interim director of Harvard University’s Center for Nanoscale Systems (CNS) starting July 1, upon completion of his term as interim dean of Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

    1–2 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    ‘Water guy’ John Briscoe stays in motion

    For someone who deep-sixed his BlackBerry (instant e-mail was taking over his life) and traded the local newspaper for a good book (“What do I need to know about Celtics’ scores?”), John Briscoe ’76 is as worldly a person as you are ever likely to meet.

    4–6 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Trading energy for safety, bees extend legs to stay stable in wind

    New research shows some bees brace themselves against wind and turbulence by extending their sturdy hind legs while flying. But this approach comes at a steep cost, increasing aerodynamic drag and the power required for flight by roughly 30 percent, and cutting into the bees’ flight performance.

    2–3 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Mohan Sundararaj of HSPH harnesses the power of music to heal

    It was 1998 and Mohan Sundararaj was frustrated. A medical student at India’s Sri Ramachandra Medical College and the child of two physicians, Sundararaj was committed to his medical education but frustrated by the demands that kept him from his other passion: the piano.

    3–4 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    In brief

    @HARVARDRESEARCH debuts on Twitter; Live Webcast information for Commencement and HAA Meeting; Harvard Extension School to host information session

    1–2 minutes
  • Arts & Culture

    Harvard Department of Music announces $226,000 in fellowships

    The Music Department’s Oscar S. Schafer Award is given to students “who have demonstrated unusual ability and enthusiasm in their teaching of introductory courses, which are designed to lead students to a growing and lifelong love of music.” This year’s recipients are David Sullivan and Karola Obermüller.

    5–7 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Weatherhead Center presents doctoral candidates with research grants

    The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs has selected 11 Harvard doctoral candidates to receive pre- and mid-dissertation grants to conduct research on projects related to international, transnational, global, and comparative studies. In addition, the center is awarding four foreign language grants to doctoral students to assist them in their field research. The recipients, along with…

    2–3 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Certificates awarded by DRCLAS

    The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) has awarded nearly 20 certificates in Latin American Studies in 2009.Undergraduates from multiple academic departments and doctoral students from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences received certificates. To be eligible, students must complete an approved course of study as a part of their work toward…

    2–3 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    CES awards travel grants for research

    The Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES) continues its long tradition of promoting and funding student research on Europe. Nearly 30 undergraduates will pursue thesis research and internships in Europe this summer, while 18 graduate students have been awarded support for their dissertations over the coming year.

    4–5 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Davis Center awards student grants for study, research travel, internships

    The Kathryn W. and Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, dedicated to fostering comprehensive understanding and multidisciplinary study of Russia and the countries of Eurasia, has awarded grants to 37 undergraduate and graduate students to pursue research travel, language study, and overseas internships during the summer of 2009.

    3–5 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Extension School recognizes outstanding work, presents awards

    The Harvard Extension School has announced student prize and faculty award winners for 2009.

    22–34 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Asian studies centers, institutes announce grant recipients

    The Harvard Asia Center, the Harvard China Fund, the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the Korea Institute, the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, and the South Asia Initiative are pleased to announce the recipients of student grants for summer 2009 and academic year 2009-2010.

    17–25 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Hoopes winners recognized for outstanding scholarship

    The following Harvard College seniors have been named Thomas T. Hoopes Prize winners for outstanding scholarly work or research. The prize is funded by the estate of Thomas T. Hoopes ’19. The recipients, including their research and advisers, are as follows:

    8–12 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Dean Tosteson dies at age 84

    Daniel C. Tosteson, the Caroline Shields Walker Distinguished Professor of Cell Biology, who served an extraordinary two decades as dean of Harvard Medical School, from 1977 to 1997, died peacefully on May 27 after a long illness. He was 84 years old.

    5–8 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Radcliffe’s Fay Prize awarded to Norman Yao for pioneering research

    The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has named Harvard math and physics concentrator Norman Yao ’09 the winner of its 2009 Captain Jonathan Fay Prize. Yao was selected for the quality and potential impact of his senior thesis, which describes a breakthrough scientific technique he developed to measure the properties of neurofilaments,…

    5–7 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Three honored with gift to support science

    An anonymous donor honored the extraordinary service of three Harvard veterans with a $15 million gift to support innovative science. From left, Robert L. Scalise, M.B.A. ’89, Nichols Family Director of Athletics; William R. Fitzsimmons ’67, Ed.M. ’69, Ed.D. ’71, dean of admissions and financial aid; and John P. Reardon Jr. ’60, executive director of…

    1–2 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Take two: Brother’s keepers Bill and Dan Jones ’09, ’09

    Complete strangers recognize Dan Jones on campus all the time. It’s the same for his brother, Bill. “I just play along,” said Dan. “I don’t know their names, I’ve never seen them before. I just assume Bill knows them and I try to be friendly so they don’t start hating him.”

    3–5 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Young scholar aims at physics, finance, and the physical

    Lin “William” Cong remembers his early childhood as a time of playing in the street, reading comic books, and coasting through the early grades. College was a dream.

    3–5 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Class of 1984 takes giant step in reducing carbon footprint

    For its fifth reunion, the Class of 1984 added community service to the celebration — a novel feature that other reuniting classes have since copied.

    5–8 minutes