Although the United States is winding down its military operations in Iraq, it is ramping up its bilateral engagement in less dangerous and more convivial pursuits. One example was on display last Sunday (Oct. 17) when a group of Harvard military veterans participated in a 500-meter race with the Iraqi national rowing team on the…

In 2002, after her first year as a master in public policy student at Harvard Kennedy School, Amy Dain, HKS ‘03, spent the summer as a Rappaport Policy Fellow in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. Almost 10 years and two jobs later, that fellowship is still paying dividends. “The Rappaport Institute and network…

On Oct. 11, Harvard University received a 2010 Campus and Student Sustainability Award from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) in the “Best Campus Case Study” category.  Harvard was recognized for the 2010 Phillips Brooks House Student Weatherization Project case study describing a collaborative sustainability event during which students and…

Federico Capasso, Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering, has won the 2010 Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics. He will share the honor with Henri Lezec, project leader in the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology Nanofabrication Research Group at the National Institute of Standards…

A collaborative, six-year study of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in Beijing and surrounding provinces suggests that combustion efficiency, a component of overall energy efficiency, is improving in the region. The findings, published in the September 21 issue of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, are generally consistent with official Chinese government statistics and could bolster their credibility…

The Office of the Provost is seeking nominations for a new curator to lead the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. Bob Giles, who has served as Nieman curator for the past decade, plans to retire from the post in June 2011. All nominations as well as feedback and questions about the selection process may…

Nine faculty members from HMS are among the 65 new appointees to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences. Established in 1970, the institute is both an honorific membership organization and an advisory group that analyzes health issues and makes recommendations on national health policy. Appointment recognizes individuals who have demonstrated…

Fall brings with it cold weather and the comforts of tea, hot cocoa, or coffee. That’s why October’s Green Tip of the Month from the Harvard University Office for Sustainability encourages you to BYOB—bring your own reusable bottle and/or mug, that is! According to the Pacific Institute, making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled…

Fifty years after presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first proposed the idea of sending American civilian volunteers to nations in need across the world, current and former directors of the Peace Corps gathered at the Kennedy School Tuesday night (Oct. 12) to discuss how the Corps has impacted generations of young people and societies both…

Olli Heinonen, who joined the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs as a senior fellow last month, has received the Scientist of the Year Award in his native Finland. The 7,500-member Finnish Union of Experts in Science made the award at its annual conference on Oct. 7 to recognize Heinonen’s 27…

Harvard Divinity School (HDS) hosted “Queer Youth and Religious Debates Over Sexuality,” a panel discussion held Oct. 7 on queer youth in the United States and their relationship to religion and the church. Cheryl A. Giles, Peabody Professor of the Practice in Pastoral Care and Counseling at HDS, moderated the conversation, which featured prominent gay…

Harvard’s Institute of Politics (IOP), located at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, today announced Jeb Bush, governor of Florida (1999-2007) will serve as a visiting fellow at the institute this fall. Visiting fellows traditionally meet with student groups; lead discussions on topical issues and their experiences in public service; and participate in policy…

The bells of Memorial Church ring at 8:45 a.m. to signal the start of Morning Prayers, a daily service that takes place in Appleton Chapel every Monday through Saturday during the school year. The small chapel at the back of Memorial Church is intimate, a place for contemplation and prayer as you sit in the…

The students, faculty, and staff of Harvard Kennedy School will amplify John F. Kennedy’s call to “ask what you can do” during the School’s Fall Public Service Week (Oct. 12-17). During a year in which HKS is celebrating the 50th anniversary of JFK’s presidency, public service week will include a panel with current and former…

While it could never be considered a good thing when rare library materials suffer water damage, in the case of nearly a dozen French ballet drawings from the early 17th century, it proved to be illuminating. Considered one of the great treasures of the Harvard Theatre Collection, the suite of drawings made around 1625 by…

Maybe you’ve seen it at a party or a family gathering: groups of people crowded around a TV screen—some wielding various toy instruments, vamping, jumping around. Players follow along with prerecorded songs, trying to match their respective parts as perfectly as possible, perhaps injecting a bit of style into the proceedings. They do it for…

Matthew J. Sheehy, acting director for reference and research services at the New York Public Library (NYPL), has been chosen to lead the Harvard Depository (HD). The announcement was made by Helen Shenton, deputy director of the Harvard University Library, following an extended national search. “Matthew Sheehy is recognized by his colleagues as an innovator…

The Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies welcomes four international conferences during the first decade of October, 2010. The first conference (Oct. 2-3) is dedicated to the ancient South Asian Fire ritual (Homa) and its variations – from Vedic to Hindu and Buddhist.  It will begin with a special performance of the Newari Homa in…

Once thought to be a problem primarily in the developed world, cancer is now a leading cause of death and disability in poorer countries. Almost two-thirds of the 7.6 million cancer deaths in the world occur in low- and middle-income countries. A paper published in the Lancet asserts that the international community must now discard…

The Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School dedicated its new nondenominational meditation room in a ceremony on Monday, Oct. 4. New CSWR director Francis X. Clooney  presided over the event, which drew a large audience composed of members of the broad University community. HDS faculty members Janet Gyatso, Hershey Professor…

Benjamin Sommers, assistant professor of health policy and economics at Harvard School of Public Health, discusses the necessity of cutting health costs and slowing the rate of health cost growth in the U.S. (Conversations in Public Health podcast)

Lyndall Gordon, biographer and senior research fellow at St Hilda’s College, Oxford University, and author of Lives like loaded guns: Emily Dickinson and her family’s feuds (2010), will give a talk on Tuesday, Oct. 12 titled “Abyss has no biographer’ (Emily Dickinson): Can we risk the Abyss?” in the Edison and Newman Room of Houghton…

This fall, the Harvard Law School Green Living Program and Harvard Law School Library teamed up to launch Read & Ride BikeShare, a new program that provides free short- and long-term bike loans to all HLS community members. The bike-share kickoff event was hosted Sept. 23 at Langdell Library’s Love Your Library Fest. The program…

Harvard Graduate School of Education Assistant Professor James Kim has received a $12.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation (i3) program to conduct research on Project READS, a summer reading program model for low-income children in North Carolina. The U.S. Department of Education, which funds 80 percent of the grant,…

Marshall “Mike” Smith, Ed.M. ’63, Ed.D. ’73, was awarded yesterday the first Harvard Graduate School of Education Medal for Education Impact for making a lasting difference in the field of education and on the lives of learners across the nation and beyond. Smith received the honor at the celebration of the new Ed.L.D. Program. “In…

An advance screening of the education reform film Waiting for ‘Superman’ played to a packed house Wednesday evening followed by a panel discussion that sparked a vigorous debate mirrored the controversy the documentary has touched off across the nation. Directed by Davis Guggenheim, Waiting for ‘Superman’ follows families across the nation in their quests to…

Stuart Shieber, James O. Welch Jr., and Virginia B. Welch Professor of Computer Science and director of the Office for Scholarly Communication (OSC), has announced the first open office hours for HUL’s new Library Lab. The University-wide Library Lab is designed to leverage the entrepreneurial aspirations of Harvard students, faculty, and staff, who can propose…

Starting this month, HarvardScience — with comprehensive coverage of research and researchers at the University and Harvard-affiliated hospitals — has a new look and a new home. Tell us what you think here.

The City of Cambridge and the Harvard Crimson announced that the city will name a square in honor of the late journalist and author David L. Halberstam, Harvard College Class of 1955 and a Crimson alumnus. The dedication of the square, located at the intersection of Linden, Bow, and Mount Auburn streets, will take place…

The fourth annual China Goes Global conference will be held at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University Oct. 6-8, 2010. Hosted by the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, this event will convene scholars, business executives, and students from around the world to…