HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe declined by nearly half over the course of a decade (from 29 percent estimated adult prevalence in 1997 to 16 percent in 2007). HSPH’s Daniel Halperin and colleagues explored the causes of this remarkable success story in a paper published online in PLoS Medicine on February 8, 2011. The researchers found…

New findings reported in The New England Journal of Medicine suggest that vaccinating young men against human papillomavirus (HPV), which cause the majority of cervical and anal cancers and a smaller proportion of other cancers, resulted in reduced infections and incidence of external genital lesions, primarily genital warts. In an editorial accompanying the article, published…

A new study led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers shows bicycle riders have fewer injuries when they ride on cycle tracks — physically separated bicycle-exclusive paths along roads — than in the road. The study, published online Feb. 9, 2011 in Injury Prevention, compares injury rates of cyclists on cycle tracks in…

A Harvard Kennedy School fellow argues that Turkey offers a promising model for Egypt as the dust begins to settle from the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, and the political players confront the challenges of shaping an Egyptian democracy. Joshua W. Walker, an International Security Program fellow in the Belfer Center for Science and…

Ahmed Ragab, physician, historian, and scholar of the medieval and modern Middle East, has been named the Richard T. Watson Assistant Professor of Science and Religion at Harvard Divinity School, effective July 1, 2011. Ragab was a visiting lecturer at Harvard Divinity School for the 2009 fall semester, and since 2008 he has been a…

Join Vi Hart, self-proclaimed recreational mathematician, for an afternoon of fun on Feb. 18 from 3 to 4 p.m. in the lobby of the Maxwell Dworkin Building at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). As for what kind of fun … “I’m certain we’ll think of something spectacular to do … but…

The Harvard community has responded with insight and imagination to a call from the University’s Library Lab to collaborate with the Harvard Library and “to serve as co-creators of the information society of the future.” With generous support from the Arcadia Fund, Harvard’s Library Lab is designed to leverage the entrepreneurial aspirations of individuals across…

Where can one hear the ideas of a Pulitzer Prize winner, a member of the Time 100, a world expert on Egypt’s current upheaval, and the authors of numerous best-selling books … all in one night? At the second annual Harvard Thinks Big event, taking place Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. at Sanders Theatre. The…

For music scholars conducting research online, there is a dizzying array of resources that are literally at their fingertips. The challenge is in determining which to use. To help make sense of the flood of information, and assist scholars in identifying resources with the most extensive and academically-rigorous material, Loeb Music Library has revitalized an…

Harvard’s Office for Sustainability (OFS) is reaching out to students from a variety of backgrounds — everyone from visual artists to musicians to staunch environmental advocates — to involve them in a variety of sustainability initiatives this spring. The most recent projects include drawing cartoons on sustainable practices around campus and performing for this year’s…

Three winners of the Goldsmith Book Prize and six finalists for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting have been announced by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. The winner of the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, which carries a cash award of $25,000, will be…

The Egyptian political system is in turmoil, with demonstrators calling for change and the government of President Hosni Mubarak trying to maintain control. As events continue to unfold, Harvard Kennedy School faculty members and scholars are lending their varied perspectives on the situation. This page will be updated daily to provide readers with the latest…

The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is pleased to announce its Spring 2011 Askwith Forums, a series of public lectures dedicated to discussing challenges facing education, sharing new knowledge, and generating spirited conversation. Highlights this spring will include a talk by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, a screening of the film “World…

Accountable care organizations (ACOs), legal partnerships between doctors and hospitals that provide financial incentives to providers for more efficient and better care, will be part of Medicare by 2012 and are attracting wider interest among commercial payers and state legislatures. According to a Jan. 27 article in the New York Times, ACOs receive a lump…

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, Massachusetts’ second and third largest health plans, are exploring a merger that would help them to compete against market leader Blue Cross Blue Shield, it was announced on Jan. 25. Harvard School of Public Health health policy experts, including Nancy Turnbull and Meredith Rosenthal, weighed in on…

Undergraduates were treated to a lively discussion of life beyond Harvard this week. Five young SEAS alumni returned to campus on Jan. 31 to participate in the first of a series of engineering-themed career events hosted this spring by the FAS Office of Career Services. These recent graduates have found that their degrees open doors…

The Harvard Chinese Students and Scholars Association (HCSSA) presented an all-Ivy League evening gala to a capacity audience at Sanders Theatre on Jan. 29 to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year – the year of the rabbit – which comes on Feb.3. The gala, under the theme “Bond,” gathered performers from all eight Ivy League…

The Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies is pleased to announce the arrival of its 2011 spring fellows. The center is dedicated to fostering the study of European history, politics, and society at Harvard. The center was founded as a catalyst to bring scholars and students together to talk and think about Europe. As…

HSPH Dean Julio Frenk spoke on a panel about the rising burden of chronic disease in the developing world at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 27. The panel called for international cooperation to address the 35 million deaths worldwide that occur each year from chronic disease. “Chronic disease causes…

Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers and colleagues from the Research Institute for a Tobacco Free Society, Republic of Ireland, have found that a reduction in secondhand smoking in American homes was associated with fewer cases of otitis media, the scientific name for middle ear infection. The study appears on Jan. 26, 2011, as…

Since 1975, Harvard University has hosted an annual celebration of the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  The theme of this year’s service, to be held on Feb. 7 from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Memorial Church, is “Social Transformation through Compassion.”  The event is free and open to…

As of Jan. 1, 2011, all workspaces in buildings managed by Harvard College Library Operations have achieved at least Green Leaf One certification from the University’s Office of Sustainability (OFS). Staff in Widener, Houghton, Lamont, Pusey, and Tozzer libraries were challenged to “go green” last February by the HCL Green Team, with the goal being…

Film conservators at the Harvard Film Archive (HFA) and Weissman Preservation Center recently completed a massive effort to slow or stop damage to thousands of hours of film – including hundreds of hours of one-of-a-kind out-takes – that capture virtually every important painter, sculptor, musician, film director, architect or choreographer working in the United States…

Students, faculty, and researchers can now access audio materials faster than ever before, and audio engineers working in Loeb Music Library’s Audio Preservation Studio (APS) are enjoying streamlined workflows – both are the products of a nearly two-year-long collaboration between APS staff and Harvard College Library’s Information Technology Services (HCL ITS) unit. The end result…

Since signing with the Boston Celtics in August, Shaquille O’Neal has posed as a statue in Harvard Square, sang the “Cheers” theme song at the Cheers bar in Boston, and conducted the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall. He can now add “helped teach a class at Harvard Law School” to that list. On Jan. 18,…

When work began on the lower level of 625 Mass. Ave., the challenge wasn’t simply to renovate a space that had once been library stacks into space for Harvard College Library Technical Services (HCLTS) staff, but to do the work with as little environmental impact as possible. On both counts, the project was a success…

Susan Fliss, associate librarian of Harvard College for research, teaching, and learning, has been selected by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) as one of 25 individuals to participate in the 2011-12 ARL Research Library Leadership Fellows (RLLF) Program. An executive leadership program, the RLLF meets the increasing demands for succession planning for research libraries…

Intel Corporation announced plans to invest $100 million directly into U.S. university research over the next five years to drive innovations in computing and communications. The first collaborative center will be at Stanford University in California. Working with the Stanford center will be the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS); the Universities of…

The Office for Sustainability has announced the 10 recipients of this year’s 2010-11 Student Sustainability Grant Program. Now in its second year, the annual grant program was developed to inspire and fund creative on-campus projects by undergraduate and graduate students that will directly result in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts…

Martha Chen, lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, has been awarded a Padma Shri by the Government of India in recognition of her work around issues of employment, poverty, and gender in India. Padma Awards, the country’s highest civilian awards, are awarded in several disciplines including visual arts, social work, public affairs, science…