Curtis Huttenhower, assistant professor of computational biology and bioinformatics in the Department of Biostatistics at HSPH, was one of 96 researchers named by President Obama as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages…

Growing and improving Main Streets’ farmer’s markets, tracking bicycle related injuries and developing landscape visualizations are just a few ways Rappaport Institute Fellows are making a difference in local neighborhoods this summer. This year, three Harvard Kennedy School students were among the 14 fellows chosen to work in state and local offices in the Greater Boston…

With the battle for Aleppo now under way in Syria’s largest city, the world is watching to see what happens next in the latest violent political standoff in the Middle East.  The nation’s military leaders are promising to defeat rebel soldiers, just as they did in Damascus. But rebel leaders and freedom activists are pledging to…

The Research Excellence in Administration Certificate at Harvard (REACH) program, a University-wide sponsored training program, is currently accepting applications for the Fall 2012 in both the Foundations and Intermediate levels. Applications are due August 31st, 2012. If you would like more information on the program, we invite you to attend one of our upcoming information…

In a vacuum, light travels so fast that it would circle the Earth more than seven times within the blink of an eye. When light propagates through matter, however, it slows by a factor typically less than 5. This factor, called the refractive index, is positive in naturally occurring materials, and it causes light to…

Clarifying what students should be learning does not necessarily translate into higher achievement in the classroom. That is the finding in a new research study conducted by Joshua Goodman, assistant professor at the Harvard Kennedy School. All states have documents describing what students should be learning in various academic subjects at various ages. Goodman sought to determine…

Eighty percent of Americans believe the nation’s schools are in crisis, yet 80 percent of parents think the schools in their own communities are fine. That being the case, during a recent panel at the Harvard Kennedy School, Jon Schnur – executive chairman and co-founder of America Achieves and co-founder of New Leaders for New Schools…

The Simons Foundation has appointed Michael P. Brenner, Glover Professor of Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), a Simons Investigator. Now in its inaugural year, the program offers an appointment of five years with a grant of $100,000 for research support per year, with the possibility of…

When Arnold Aboretum horticulture staff need to break up heavily-trod ground or move a large plant from one location to another in the landscape, an air knife helps them get the job done. Through a $10,000 gift from the Arnold Arboretum Committee, a Jamaica Plain non-profit advocacy organization, the Arboretum has acquired an air compressor…

President Obama today named three researchers from Harvard University as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. The Harvard affiliates are Erez Lieberman Aiden, Ph.D. ’10, junior fellow of…

Steven C. Wofsy, the Abbott Lawrence Rotch Professor of Atmospheric and Environmental Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), has been awarded the 2012 Roger Revelle Medal by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The Revelle medal is awarded annually to an individual who has contributed in an outstanding manner to the understanding…

This summer, 20 kids ranging from ages 9 through 12 will embark on a two-week cooking adventure of science, cooking, and fitness in a program co-organized by ChopChop magazine and the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). Taking its inspiration from the famed “Science & Cooking” undergraduate course and related public lecture series…

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…