Few people could have survived the kind of brutal attack that killed the parents of Brooks Douglass, M.C./M.P.A. ’02, and severely injured both him and his sister. Douglass, whose Baptist missionary parents spent several years in Brazil before settling in Oklahoma, was only 16 when two men made their way into the family home in…

Before Annie Leibovitz and Margaret Bourke-White, there was Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870–1942). A pioneer of photojournalism in the late 1880s and early 1900s, Beals is recognized as the first woman photographer hired on a newspaper staff. In 1902, after she had proven herself as an accomplished freelance photographer (and taught her husband the trade), Beals…

After months of discussion and collaboration, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) has unanimously approved Harvard’s plans to transform a vacant building in Allston into the Harvard Innovation Lab. The Harvard Innovation Lab is a new and innovative initiative that will foster team-based and entrepreneurial activities and deepen interactions among students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and members of…

The White House is a small and very frenetic place packed with people who have no time to read, David Gergen, senior political analyst for CNN, told a group of HSPH students on Feb. 15. An adviser to four U.S. presidents, Gergen gave his insider’s view of policymaking under pressure as part of the ongoing…

As of February 2011 there are now compost bins available in every dorm, academic, and administrative building on the Harvard Law School (HLS) campus. The expansion is a result of a partnership between the HLS Green Team, Green Living Program, and FMO custodians that will make compost drop-off points more accessible members of the HLS…

The Faculty of Engineering (LTH) at Lund University has decided to appoint Federico Capasso, Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), as an honorary doctor. Capasso will be among five individuals receiving honorary doctorates at the…

John McDonough, director of the Center for Public Health Leadership, discusses his recent op-ed in the The Baltimore Sun that said repealing last year’s health care reform law would damage the potential to address the longstanding racial and ethnic health inequalities in the U.S.

The World Bank and World Health Organization have voiced fears that policymakers will break their commitments to support desperately needed global health services in low- and middle-income countries because of the ongoing global economic downturn. Yet, according to a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), there is surprisingly little historical evidence…

Three technology proposals from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have been selected for presentation at the University Research and Entrepreneurship Symposium (URES). Graduate students Sam Kesner, Qimin Quan, and Wonyoung Kim will have the opportunity to present their innovative research to an audience of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs on March 31,…

You no longer have to choose between cost savings and energy savings when you purchase for your lab. That’s what equipment specialists said at the “Efficient Lab Equipment Vendor Display” organized by VWR and the FAS Green Program in the basement of NW Labs last week. At the event, purchasing managers from university research laboratories…

As the annual job search for seniors and graduate students heats up, employers in green tech fields are leveraging alumni connections and flocking to Harvard to court students for jobs. “Green” employers are zeroing in on future hires who have the right mix of talent and flexibility to find success during difficult economic times. “The…

Five alumni of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences were among the 10 eminent scholars who were awarded the 2010 National Humanities Medal by President Obama at a White House ceremony on March 2, 2011. The five medalists with GSAS connections are: Daniel Aaron, Ph.D. ’43, history of American civilization; Bernard Bailyn, Ph.D. ’53,…

An environmentally friendly co-generation system was recently installed at the Doubletree by Hilton in Boston. Co-generation, also known as combined heat and power, is an environmentally friendly way to generate electricity, because the heat created during that process is captured and put to good use – such as heating a building. In a conventional power…

Jan Merrill-Oldham, Harvard’s Malloy-Rabinowitz Preservation Librarian from 1995 through 2010, has received the Ross Atkinson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS). Widely acknowledged as the driving force in developing Harvard’s renowned preservation programs, Merrill-Oldham received her award from Nancy M. Cline, Roy E. Larsen Librarian of Harvard College,…

Former Defense Secretary William J. Perry recalls three searing personal experiences that helped him conclude the world must dismantle all nuclear weapons. Perry told a Harvard Kennedy School audience that he spent the early part of his engineering career building the most frightening nuclear weapons systems on earth, from the MX missile to the Trident…

Yiling Chen, assistant professor of computer science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), has been named by IEEE Intelligent Systems as among “AI’s 10 to Watch.” Published in the January/February 2011 issue, the honor acknowledges “10 accomplished AI researchers in their early careers … who promise to be the leaders of…

The late great Zora Neale Hurston belted out a juke joint song called “Halimufack”: You may leave and go to Halimufack, but my slow drag will bring you back. Hurston’s singing was just one of many offerings at the Radcliffe Institute’s celebration of Black History Month on Feb. 23. In her tinny voice—Hurston was a…

Vinothan N. Manoharan, associate professor of chemical engineering and physics in Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Department of Physics, has been awarded a prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship. The $50,000 award recognizes both Manoharan’s achievements and his potential, and will help to support his research in condensed matter and biophysics. The…

Frank Rich, op-ed page columnist for The New York Times, will address an audience of students, faculty, journalists, and members of the public on Monday, March 7, at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The program begins at 6 p.m. in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge.…

The critical role played by moderate voters and lawmakers in American political life is the focus of a new report co-authored by Harvard Kennedy School Lecturer Elaine Kamarck. “The Still-Vital Center: Moderates, Democrats and the Renewal of American Politics” was released today by the Washington D.C.-based think-tank Third Way. It is co-authored by William A.…

The Harvard Office for Sustainability is once again rolling out the Green Carpet in honor of the many students, faculty, and staff across Harvard who have made significant contributions to Harvard’s Greenhouse Gas/Energy Reduction Goal and other sustainability efforts. Nominations for both individual and team awards are due Monday, Feb. 28t at green.harvard.edu/greencarpet. Last year…

The Harvard Square Farmers Market is gearing up for another season. This year, the market will open at noon Tuesdays beginning June 14. Starting in March, the Cape Ann Fresh Catch (CAFC) Community Supported Fishery (CSF) will return to the corner of Kirkland and Oxford streets as part of the Harvard Square Farmers Market, using…

The Argus Leader in Sioux Falls has won the 2010 Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers with “Growing Up Indian,” an eight-part series that examines the daunting challenges faced by children on South Dakota’s Native American reservations. The Taylor Award is presented annually by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. Two finalists were…

Last fall, a new special collections request system was introduced to Harvard College Library (HCL) with lofty goals and the promise of creating a better experience for both users and libraries.  With implementation complete in three of the six scheduled libraries, the word from both researchers and staff is “so far, so good.” Students in…

Debra Auguste, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), has won a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The award honors Auguste as one of the most promising up-and-coming researchers in her field and provides an annual grant of $100,000 to support…

C. Conrad Wright, Professor of American Church History Emeritus at Harvard Divinity School (HDS), died peacefully at home in his sleep on Feb. 17, 2011, at the age of 94. Wright was a prominent scholar of American Unitarianism, and he had a significant relationship with and effect on HDS during his 33-year career. Born on…

Shriram Ramanathan has won the 2011 Robert Lansing Hardy Award on behalf of the The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS). The associate professor of materials science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) was noted for “innovative contributions to the synthesis, study and applications of thin film oxides.” The Robert Lansing…

The Harvard Museum of Natural History (HMNH) today (Feb. 17) named as interim executive director David W. Ellis. Ellis is the former president of Lafayette College and the Museum of Science, Boston. He will temporarily replace Elisabeth Werby, who is slated to become chief of staff to the president of Northeastern University. The museum will…

A stunning photograph of a centipede-inspired robot (called a centipede millibot) developed by Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) graduate student Katie Hoffman and faculty member Robert Wood was chosen as an Honorable Mention (tie) by Science and the National Science Foundation in the Photography category in the 2010 International Science & Engineering…

The 23rd Brendan Gill Prize was awarded to Michael Van Valkenburgh, Charles Eliot Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, by the Municipal Art Society of New York. Recently opened to the public, Piers One and Six of the Brooklyn Bridge Park provide a variety of programming including a playground with a variety of swinging experiences…