University News
Oxford and Cambridge Join Research Alliance
Oxford and Cambridge have joined a global group of 10 elite universities to collaborate in research and to exchange staff and students. Launched in Singapore, the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) is being seen as a sign that even the most prestigious institutions are feeling the need to forge alliances in the global higher education market.
The new group includes Yale and Berkeley in the US and rising stars in Beijing and Singapore. It follows the creation in 1997 of Universitas 21, an international group of 17 research-intensive universities including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham and Nottingham.
On Tuesday, University College London announced it had been accepted as a member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) which includes Oxford and Cambridge.
The members of IARU are the Australian National University, ETH Zurich, National University of Singapore, Peking University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Copenhagen, the University of Tokyo, Yale University, Oxford and Cambridge. The inaugural presidents' meeting in Singapore elected Professor Ian Chubb, vice-chancellor of the Australian National University as chairman for 2006-07.
The meeting considered papers on potential IARU research collaboration, covering topics such as the movement of people, ageing and health, food and water, energy and the environment and security. Other topics included graduate education.
IARU aims to give universities the opportunity to exchange ideas and experience in everything from teaching and education through to research projects with an international scope.
The IARU presidents will meet annually, with the next meeting slated to take place at the Australian National University in Canberra in 2007.
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Academy Honors 15 for Major Contributions to Science
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has selected 15 individuals to receive awards honoring their outstanding scientific achievements. The awards will be presented on April 23 at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., during the Academy's 143rd annual meeting. The 2006 awards and recipients are:
John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science – a medal and prize of $25,000 awarded annually for noteworthy and distinguished accomplishment in any field of science (computational science in 2006) – goes to Russell F. Doolittle, research professor, department of chemistry and biochemistry and division of biology, University of California, San Diego. Doolittle was chosen "for contributing seminal insights and methods for using computers as an aid to characterizing protein function, in comparing amino acid sequences, and for phylogenetic reconstructions." The award was established by the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. in honor of John J. Carty and has been awarded since 1932.
Gibbs Brothers Medal – a medal and prize of $20,000 awarded every three years for outstanding contributions in the field of naval architecture and marine engineering – goes to Donald Liu, retired executive vice president and chief technology officer, American Bureau of Shipping, Houston. Liu was chosen "for first introducing finite element techniques into ship design and being the driving force behind the revolution in basing classification society rules on scientific principles." The medal was established by a bequest from William Francis Gibbs and his brother, Frederic H. Gibbs, and has been presented since 1965.
NAS Award for Behavioral Research Relevant to the Prevention of Nuclear War – a prize of $20,000 awarded every three years for basic research in any field of cognitive or behavioral science that uses rigorous formal and empirical methods to advance our understanding of issues relating to the risk of nuclear war – goes to Robert Jervis, Adlai E. Stevenson Professor of International Politics, department of political science, Columbia University, New York City. Jervis was chosen "for showing, scientifically and in policy terms, how cognitive psychology, politically contextualized, can illuminate strategies for the avoidance of nuclear war." The award was established by a gift of William and Katherine Estes and has been presented since 1990.
NAS Award in Chemical Sciences – a medal and prize of $15,000 awarded annually for innovative research in the chemical sciences that, in the broadest sense, contributes to the better understanding of the natural sciences and to the benefit of humanity – goes to Samuel J. Danishefsky, Eugene W. Kettering Chair and director, laboratory for bioorganic chemistry, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; and professor of chemistry, Columbia University, New York City. Danishefsky was chosen "for his wide-ranging accomplishments in natural products total synthesis and for his pioneering chemical synthesis of carbohydrates for the development of anticancer vaccines." The award, supported by The Merck Company Foundation, has been presented since 1979.
NAS Award for Initiatives in Research – a prize of $15,000 awarded annually to recognize innovative young scientists and to encourage research likely to lead toward new capabilities for human benefit (condensed matter/material science in 2006) – goes to David Goldhaber-Gordon, deputy director of the NSF-Stanford-IBM Center for Probing the Nanoscale and assistant professor of physics, department of physics, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. Goldhaber-Gordon was chosen "for his fundamental studies of electron correlations in mesoscopic structures." The award, presented since 1981, was established by AT&T Bell Laboratories in honor of William O. Baker and is supported by Lucent Technologies.
NAS Award in Molecular Biology – a medal and prize of $25,000 awarded annually for a recent notable discovery in molecular biology by a young scientist – goes to Ronald R. Breaker, investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Henry Ford II Professor, department of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; and to Tina M. Henkin, professor, department of microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus. Breaker and Henkin were chosen "for establishing a new mode of regulation of gene expression in which metabolites regulate the activity of their cognate pathways by directly binding to mRNA." The award is supported by Pfizer Inc and has been presented since 1962.
NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing – a prize of $10,000 awarded annually for excellence in scientific reviewing within the past 10 years (environmental science in 2006) – goes to Peter Vitousek, professor, department of biological sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. Vitousek was chosen "for his scholarly and inspirational book and reviews on nitrogen cycling and its role in the evolving patterns of ecosystem productivity and diversity." The award is supported by Annual Reviews Inc., the Institute for Scientific Information, and The Scientist in honor of J. Murray Luck and has been presented since 1979.
Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal – a medal and prize of $20,000 awarded every three years for excellence in published research on marine or freshwater algae – goes to Sabeeha Merchant, professor of biochemistry, department of chemistry and biochemistry and Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles. Merchant was chosen "for her pioneering discoveries in the assembly of metalloenzymes and the regulated biogenesis of major complexes of the photosynthetic apparatus in green algae." The medal was established by a bequest of Helen P. Smith in memory of her husband and has been presented since 1979.
J. Lawrence Smith Medal – a medal and prize of $25,000 awarded every three years for recent original and meritorious investigations of meteoric bodies – goes to Klaus Keil, interim dean, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai'i, Honolulu. Keil was chosen "for his pioneering quantitative studies of minerals in meteorites and important contributions to understanding the nature, origin, and evolution of their parent bodies." The medal was established by a gift of Sarah Julia Smith in memory of her husband and has been presented since 1888.
Mary Clark Thompson Medal – a medal and prize of $15,000 awarded every three years to recognize important services to geology and paleontology – goes to Steven M. Stanley, research professor, department of geology and geophysics, University of Hawai'i, Honolulu. Stanley was chosen "for research and leadership in bivalve functional morphology and the macroevolution of disparate animals, including hominids, in the context of Earth's physical and chemical history." The medal was established by a gift of Mary Clark Thompson and has been presented since 1921.
Troland Research Awards – a research award of $50,000 given annually to each of two recipients to recognize unusual achievement and to further their research within the broad spectrum of experimental psychology – goes to Marvin M. Chun, professor of psychology, interdepartmental neuroscience program and cognitive science program, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; and to Frederick M. Rieke, investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and associate professor, department of physiology and biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle. Chun was chosen "for creative use of behavioral, brain-imaging, and neuropsychological evidence to elucidate the interplay of conscious and unconscious processes in perception, memory, and learning." Rieke was chosen "for experimental and theoretical analyses of information coding in the central nervous system and its relation to perception." The Troland Research Awards were established by a bequest from Leonard T. Troland and have been presented since 1984.
G.K. Warren Prize – a prize of $10,000 awarded approximately every four years for a distinguished contribution to fluviatile morphology and closely related aspects of the geological sciences – goes to Michael A. Church, professor, department of geography, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Church was chosen "for his extensive and innovative field and laboratory studies of the morphology and dynamics of natural and managed river channels at a range of scales." The prize was established by a bequest of Emily B. Warren in memory of her father and has been presented since 1969.
Also to be honored at the April 23 ceremony is Norman R. Augustine, retired chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md., who will be awarded the Academy's Public Welfare Medal. Augustine was selected "for contributions to the vitality of science in the United States by bringing to industry and government a better understanding of the crucial role that fundamental scientific research must play in our long-term security and economic prosperity." The medal was established to recognize distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare and has been presented since 1914.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit honorific society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Since 1863, the National Academy of Sciences has served to "investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art" whenever called upon to do so by any department of the government.
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Princeton’s Klawe to Become President of Harvey Mudd College
Maria Klawe, dean of Princeton University's School of Engineering and Applied Science for the past three years, has been selected to become president of Harvey Mudd College, effective July 1. A liberal arts college focusing on engineering, science and mathematics education, Harvey Mudd was founded in 1955 as one of The Claremont Colleges in Claremont, Calif.
Klawe came to Princeton in January 2003 as dean of engineering and professor of computer science after 15 years on the faculty and in senior administrative positions at the University of British Columbia. Prior to UBC, she spent eight years with IBM Research in California and two years at the University of Toronto. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Alberta.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2005, Harvey Mudd College is a national leader in undergraduate education in engineering, science and mathematics. Its Department of Mathematics has earned a reputation for turning out the nation's top undergraduates and for competing with -- and frequently surpassing -- graduate students in national mathematics competitions. The school is located in Claremont, California.
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UTMB Receives $3.2 Million Grant to Further Promote Hispanic Student Opportunities
Building upon its role as a leader in minority student recruitment and retention, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has received a $3.2 million grant that will continue to support academic, clinical and mentoring programs for Hispanic high school, college and medical school students and faculty.
The grant from the Health Research Service Administration will sponsor various UTMB programs through the Hispanic Center of Excellence to encourage and prepare Hispanic students aspiring toward careers in medicine. UTMB officials have maintained a longstanding partnership with the HRSA funded HCOE. Since 1992, the program has contributed funds that have helped UTMB to continue diversifying its student population.
Of the state’s medical schools, UTMB ranks first in overall minority enrollment, with 21 percent of its 826 medical students coming from underrepresented groups. Founded in 1891, the university enrolled its first Hispanic students in 1917 and its first black student in 1949, five years prior to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that deemed segregated education unconstitutional. In July, Black Issues in Higher Education magazine listed UTMB as the top producer of Hispanic physicians in the United States. Only the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus and Universidad Central del Caribe graduated more Hispanic students than UTMB.
The current grant will benefit approximately 400 students each year for the next three years. The grant will support programs that introduce high school students to health careers, prepare college undergraduates for medical school admissions tests and provide academic support once they begin medical school, as well as provide faculty development to UTMB’s Hispanic junior faculty.
Dr. Lauree Thomas, associate dean of admissions and student affairs for the School of Medicine and the co-principal investigator for the grant, said the additional HCOE funding would help keep UTMB at the forefront of racially and ethnically diverse medical schools.
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UTA Computer Science’s Gao Receives NSF CAREER Research Grant
University of Texas at Arlington Computer Science and Engineering Assistant Professor Jean Gao has received a prestigious CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to study four-dimensional, sub-cellular structure tracking and modeling for cell dynamics. The five-year grant is valued at more than $558,000.
The NSF’s CAREER grants are designed to promote faculty early career development and are awarded to scholars who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21 st century. Dr. Gao joined UT-Arlington in January 2003 after receiving her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University. She also holds an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
New discoveries in biology rely on an extensive knowledge of cell dynamics. Knowledge of sub-cellular particles/structures such as organelles, vesicles and mRNAs is critical to understanding how cells regulate the delivery of specific proteins from the site of synthesis to the site of action. This provides a better understanding of diseases and viral infections. Gao will use the grant to develop a unique, web-based, open access Cell Dynamics Analysis System (CellDAS) for automating sub-cellular particle motion estimation, tracking and mobility analysis. In using the CellDAS interface, undergraduates and graduates will have training in basic computer vision algorithms and biological data visualization and a developing understanding of specific biology problems.
Gao is an active mentor with the Society of Women Engineers and the Computer Science & Engineering Department’s annual high school Robot Programming Contest, inspiring women and high school students to pursue careers in science and engineering.
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Dr. Alon Tal Awarded Bronfman Prize for His Role Creating the Environmental Movement in Israel
Dr. Alon Tal, from the Blaustein Institutes for Desert Studies, was awarded the prestigious Charles Bronfman Prize January 10, 2006, in recognition of his work to advance the environmental movement in Israel and the Jewish world. The $100,000 prize celebrates the vision and talent of an individual and team whose humanitarian work on behalf of others has contributed significantly towards the betterment of the world. The ceremony will take place in the Jerusalem Municipality Council Chambers in the presence of Mayor of Jerusalem Uri Lupolianski. The panel of judges includes former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, MK Dan Meridor and the Canadian Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Silverman.
Tal is an expert in environmental law and policy. He holds degrees from the University of North Carolina and Hebrew University. He completed his doctoral studies at Harvard University where he served as an adjunct faculty member between 1989 and 1998. In 1990 he returned to Israel to found Adam Teva V'din – the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, a public interest advocacy group, which is now Israel's second largest environmental organization.
In 1996 he founded the Arava Institute, where he served as Director and more recently as Director of Research. Tal served as Chairman of Israel's umbrella group for environmental organizations between 1999 and 2004 and is presently on the Board Directors of the Jewish National Fund.
Tal's current research focuses on water management and stream restoration, evaluation of environmental education and desertification policies. A member of both the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology and the Department of Man in the Desert at the Blaustein Institutes, Tal represents the Blaustein Institutes on a number of international committees.
The Prize was established by philanthropist Charles Bronfman's children in honor of his 70th birthday. The prize honors recipients who are "emblematic of the Jewish values and regard for humanity that provide inspiration to the emerging generation."
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Vice Chancellor for Governmental Relations and Policy Named General Counsel at Stewart Information Services Corp.
E. Ashley Smith, vice chancellor for governmental relations and policy for The University of Texas System, has been named executive vice president, general counsel and chief legal officer of Houston-based Stewart Information Services Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Stewart Title Guaranty Co. and Stewart Title Co. The appointment is effective Jan. 17.
Smith has been vice chancellor for governmental relations and policy for the UT System since 2003. In this position, he represented the Board of Regents and the UT System in its interactions with the Legislature and other state agencies.
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MIT Researcher Sees Big Impact of Little Cracks
An MIT researcher's atom-by-atom simulation of cracks forming and spreading may help explain how materials fail in nanoscale devices, airplanes and even in the Earth itself during a quake. This work, which could impact a wide range of scientific and engineering disciplines, appears in the Jan. 19 issue of Nature.
"Classical theories of crack dynamics are only valid in a small range of material behavior," said author Markus J. Buehler, principal investigator in the Atomistic Mechanics Modeling Group in MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "Our results represent a major breakthrough in understanding how cracks propagate in a variety of brittle materials, and our theory helps explain experimental and computational observations that have been poorly understood so far."
Past experiments show that cracks start out slow, creating a straight, clean slice across a flat-as-a-mirror surface. As the crack gains speed, at a certain point it starts to gyrate like an out-of-control snake, leaving in its wake an increasingly rough, uneven surface that eventually creates a chaotic branching pattern.
Surprisingly, this phenomenon happens in many different classes of brittle materials, including glasses, ceramics, polymers and semiconductors, but no one has fully understood the physics behind it.
Buehler and Huajian Gao of the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart, Germany, and now at Brown University, simulated the action of atoms to study how materials behave under extreme conditions. Using massively large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, they uncovered the physics behind fractures and formed a new theory of how cracks propagate in brittle materials.
The researchers discovered that making sense of conflicting studies requires thinking of the material's behavior as hyperelastic, meaning the atomic bonds are close to the breaking point.
