Digging deep into diamonds
By creating diamond-based nanowire devices, a team at Harvard University has taken another step toward making applications based on quantum science and technology possible.The new device offers a bright, stable source of single photons at room temperature, an essential element in making fast and secure computing with light practical.The finding could lead to a new class of nanostructured diamond devices suitable for quantum communication and computing, as well as advance areas ranging from biological and chemical sensing to scientific imaging.Published in the Feb. 14 issue of Nature Nanotechnology, researchers led by Marko Loncar, assistant professor of electrical engineering at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), found that the performance of a single photon source based on a light-emitting defect (color center) in a diamond could be improved by nanostructuring the diamond and embedding the defect within a diamond nanowire.Scientists, in fact, first began exploiting the properties of natural diamonds after learning how to manipulate the electron spin, or intrinsic angular momentum, associated with the nitrogen vacancy (NV) color center of the gem. The quantum (qubit) state can be initialized and measured using light.The color center “communicates” by emitting and absorbing photons. The flow of photons emitted from the color center provides a means to carry the resulting information, making the control, capture, and storage of photons essential for any kind of practical communication or computation. Gathering photons efficiently, however, is difficult since color centers are embedded deep inside the diamond.“This presents a major problem if you want to interface a color center and integrate it into real-world applications,” explains Loncar. “What was missing was an interface that connects the nano-world of a color center with the macro-world of optical fibers and lenses.”The diamond nanowire device offers a solution, providing a natural and efficient interface to probe an individual color center, making it brighter and increasing its sensitivity. The resulting enhanced optical properties increase photon collection by nearly a factor of ten relative to natural diamond devices.“Our nanowire device can channel the photons that are emitted and direct them in a convenient way,” says lead author Thomas Babinec, a graduate student at SEAS.Further, the diamond nanowire is designed to overcome hurdles that have challenged other state-of-the-art systems — such as those based on fluorescent dye molecules, quantum dots, and carbon nanotubes — as the device can be readily replicated and integrated with a variety of nano-machined structures.The researchers used a top-down nanofabrication technique to embed color centers into a variety of machined structures. By creating large device arrays rather than just “one-of-a-kind” designs, the realization of quantum networks and systems, which require the integration and manipulation of many devices in parallel, is more likely.“We consider this an important step in enabling technology towards more practical optical systems based on this exciting material platform,” says Loncar. “Starting with these synthetic, nanostructured diamond samples, we can start dreaming about the diamond-based devices and systems that could one day lead to applications in quantum science and technology as well as in sensing and imaging.”Loncar and Babinec’s co-authors included research scholar Birgit Hausmann, graduate student Yinan Zhang, and postdoctoral student Mughees Khan, all at SEAS; graduate student Jero Maze in the Department of Physics at Harvard; and faculty member Phil R. Hemmer at Texas A&M University.The researchers acknowledge the following support: Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT) grant from National Science Foundation (NSF), the NSF-funded Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center at Harvard (NSEC); the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); and a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship and NSF Graduate Fellowship. All devices have been fabricated at the Center for Nanoscale Systems (CNS) at Harvard.
Performers from Harvard University’s ethnically diverse student groups gather each year at Sanders Theatre to participate in the annual Cultural Rhythms showcase. This year’s event, hosted by the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, marked the 25th anniversary of bringing dance and music from around the world to one stage during the daylong festival.The Indian Classical Dance Troupe opened the Feb. 27 show, and was followed by everything from bluegrass music to break dancing and mariachi.“Whether we’re in the audience, backstage, or performing, for a short time this show brings us together as one community on a shared experience,” said the co-director of the afternoon show, Kevin Liu ’11.Kelly Fitzgerald ’10, a member of Corcairdhearg, an Irish step dancing troupe, said that performing in Cultural Rhythms is a way to be part of a storied tradition.“I think it’s a really crucial way to show all that Harvard has, because there are so many different cultural groups here,” she said.S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation, joined Dean of Harvard College Evelynn M. Hammonds to present the annual Artist of the Year Award to musician Wyclef Jean. Jean was honored for his creativity as a musician, fusing musical styles from around the world, as well as his efforts on behalf of the people of Haiti. He emceed the event, joking around with performers between acts, asking them to teach him headstands and back flips, singing along with the bands, and making cameo appearances in dances.For Hammonds, the event symbolizes the diversity of the Harvard community and helps to bring people of many different backgrounds together.“I think it’s one of the events people look forward to every year,” Hammonds said. “I think it’s just an extraordinary effort on the part of the foundation and the students involved. I can’t say enough good about it. It’s just great.” A big fan A fan-wielding beauty from the Harvard Philippine Forum sashays across the stage in full costume and headdress. Drop it like it’s hot Members of the Harvard Breakers get down and dirty with a gymnastic performance during the 25th Annual Cultural Rhythms event held inside Sanders Theatre. In position Members of the Harvard Breakers use their hands to lift off from the stage while using their feet to spin their bodies around. This feat of contemporary dance is known as break dancing! Ready, set … A dancer from the Indian Classical Dance Troupe awaits her cue. Rejoice! The Kuumba Singers of Harvard College uplift and inspire with their musical numbers. Viva la mariachi Players from the Mariachi Veritas de Harvard wow the crowd. The self-taught group is the only mariachi student group on the east coast. Wyclef, why not? Musician Wyclef Jean was Cultural Rhythms’ guest of honor. Here he is seen after joining in on the finale and donning some of the students’ gear. 2010 Cultural Rhythms On fire With their yellow and red outfits, coupled with good lighting, dancers from the Asian American Dance Troupe appear to be licked by flames. Kristyn Ulanday/Harvard Staff Photographer Footloose The poised feet of a dancer from the Indian Classical Dance Troupe slow down enough to be captured in photograph. All together now Representatives from each of the performance groups gathered for an eclectic and exuberant finale. Pick it good Here, a picker from Bluegrass, a five-piece Appalachian-inspired ensemble, gets down with the music. Stomp Barefooted, breathless, and joyous: The Pan-African Dance and Music Ensemble stomps across the stage with utter delight. 
Members of Harvard’s largest labor union have ratified a two-year contract with the University that guarantees modest wage increases and provides policy improvements on key issues such as layoff selections.University officials finalized the deal with the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) on June 28, two days before the previous contract was set to expire. HUCTW members voted on the new contract on July 22, with a strong majority voting in favor of the contract. HUCTW represents 4,400 employees, or about 18 percent of the University’s paid workforce.“Much hard work and many hours went into negotiating this mutually beneficial agreement,” said Bill Murphy, director of Labor and Employee Relations. “I’m heartened by the parties’ ability to work constructively during such challenging economic times.”Given the challenging economy and the unclear economic forecast, the University and the union agreed to a shorter contract with more moderate wage increases than agreed to in prior negotiations. Over the life of the contract, HUCTW workers will receive an average annual wage increase of 2.5 percent.In addition, under the new agreement the layoff process was clarified. Specifically, negotiators agreed to add explicit layoff selection criteria to help guide decision making should the economy require the Harvard community to make difficult budgetary decisions in the future.“This is the right answer for this time,” Murphy said. “The University and HUCTW have always bargained in good faith and I’m optimistic for what the future holds.”
Harvard honored the first group of students awarded grants from the University’s new Presidential Public Service Fellowship Program during a luncheon at the Harvard Faculty Club on April 20.Created by Harvard President Drew Faust, the program provides grants of up to $5,000 for undergraduates and $10,000 for graduate students for a range of efforts, including government and community service, nongovernmental organization and nonprofit work, and innovative projects that serve the common good. An anonymous donor funds the program.“This is a great day. We have been dreaming about this program, and now here you are,” said Faust, who told the students that with a Harvard education comes the responsibility to figure out how to “use that education to have an impact on the world.”More than 100 students from across the University applied for the program’s 10 spots. Students submitted personal statements, proposals detailing their work, detailed budgets, and two recommendations apiece to a committee of Harvard faculty and administrators, who reviewed the applications and interviewed finalists.Only returning undergraduate and graduate students are eligible for the one-time award. The program’s organizers hope the application requirement will help to fuel a public service ethos at the University. Returning fellows will be encouraged to share their experiences with future generations of Harvard students who are interested in service.“You are top leaders in this area, and with that comes the responsibility to talk about what you are learning this summer, and to educate others about how they can get involved to make service part of their lives,” said committee member Gene Corbin, executive director of the Phillips Brooks House Association.A dentist in training, a former police officer, and a filmmaker are members of the first group to receive fellowships. The projects are as diverse as the applicants and involve the arts, government, technology, and the health and social sectors. With their fellowships, students will work on a range of issues including federal sustainability initiatives, voter mobilization efforts in low-turnout precincts, the improvement of U.S.-China relations, and ways to combine dental and primary care services and use health information technology in rural areas.“You are individual leaders, but you are collective leaders because you represent such a wide range,” Faust told the fellows. “It’s great to see the commitment and imagination in the way you approach public service.”“This is an absolutely fantastic opportunity; I am always so grateful for programs that really incentivize people to do public service,” said fellow Alice Abrokwa, a joint Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School student who will work with Juvenile Regional Services in New Orleans during the summer to help supply youth facing criminal charges with access to legal representation and social services. “It’s just fantastic what a fellowship like this can make possible.”Artist, writer, and filmmaker John Hulsey, who is pursuing a doctorate in film and visual studies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, will use the summer fellowship to create a community-driven performance group in Boston with a focus on themes of social and economic justice. Hulsey will coordinate the work with the aid of several Boston organizations that help to prevent residents from being evicted from their homes.“It’s really important for me to think about the work I am doing as dealing with issues that are of concern to the greater population,” said Hulsey. “To be recognized in this way and to be able to frame my work as both art and public service deepens my own understanding of how I can move forward.”David LeBoeuf ’13 (left) and Alice Abrokwa, a student at Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School, both received grants from the Presidential Public Service Fellowship Program.
In certain pockets of Harvard, the name Isaiah Kacyvenski recalls memories of gridiron glory. When you’re the 16th Crimson footballer ever to make the National Football League draft, your name tends to have that effect.But for the past two years at Harvard Business School (HBS), Kacyvenski ’00 has been carving out a new identity at the University: as a businessman, a dedicated father, and a guy in search of life after football. At 33, he’s older than the average M.B.A. student, but pretty young for a retiree.“Football was a massive part of my life, my pure bliss,” said the former linebacker, who graduates from HBS this week. “But I had to keep moving. … I’m trying to find my next love, my next passion.”Still, some things remain the same. He’s steadfastly committed to family, particularly his son, Isaiah, who is 7, and daughter Lily, 5. And he has continued to inspire other young people to believe in their dreams, as he did.“When you’re that young, you don’t realize that [your decisions] set up the rest of your life,” said Kacyvenski, who frequently speaks at schools and to young athletes. “You have to be your own rock — it’s something I try to impart in people, kids especially.”Kacyvenski would know. Before football took him to Harvard College and the NFL, he endured a hardscrabble childhood that rarely allowed him the option of relying on anyone but himself.He grew up in Endicott, N.Y., the youngest of five children. His parents divorced when Kacyvenski was 9. That same year, he heard a football game on the radio and was hooked.“It just captured my imagination,” he said.Over the next several years, Kacyvenski would use football as the central peg in his plan to lift himself out of the poverty he had known all his life. His free-spirited mother, the “guiding force” in his life, spent long stretches traveling as a missionary, leaving Kacyvenski and his siblings to negotiate home life with their sometimes-violent father. Then, the morning of a state semifinal during his senior year of high school, Kacyvenski learned that his mother had been struck by a car and killed. Devastated, he played anyway.“After that day [football] became a place to lose myself,” he said.He was recruited by Harvard coach Tim Murphy and excelled at the College, starting in every game while taking pre-med courses and working part-time jobs. The honors and records piled up: Ivy League Rookie of the Year, three-time First Team All-Ivy, most single-season and career tackles in Harvard history.Kacyvenski was signed in the fourth round of the NFL draft by the Seattle Seahawks, a rarity for an Ivy League player. His career took off quickly — he helped lead the Seahawks to their first Super Bowl in 2006. But a knee injury the next year effectively ended Kacyvenski’s professional run.“I was smart enough to realize the end was probably near,” he said. “I realized I needed a business background if I was going to succeed.”In 2007, while a free agent, he attended two weeklong executive education sessions at HBS through its NFL Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program, and decided to apply to the M.B.A. program. He was drawn to the case method of learning at HBS.“Every day felt like game day for me last year,” he said of the intense discussions that would often erupt in the 90-person lecture halls. “I needed to have a strategy going in. It was the closest duplication I could get to the adrenaline rush of football.”Heading back to school was hardly a reprieve, Kacyvenski said. He struggled through a divorce, as well as a knee surgery this past January that led to a staph infection and 12 weeks of recovery. Unlike his classmates, his job search didn’t extend to Silicon Valley and New York. He is now weighing job offers in Boston, in order to be close to his ex-wife and their two children in Weston, Mass.“At first I had a hard time juggling, trying to be there as a father, as a student, as a businessman,” he said of his time at HBS. “There’s one ball I’ll never drop, and that’s my kids.”Kacyvenski wasn’t able to attend his first Commencement in 2000; he had already been called to NFL training camp. In a display of his ample charm, he was able to persuade the University to let his father, with whom he had reconciled, walk in his place.This time, Kacyvenski will be able to collect his diploma himself, but another exception will be made. His children, he said, will walk with him.
NAIROBI, Kenya — George Morara, a program officer with the Kenya Human Rights Commission, is compact and strong, like a boxer. But the fight on his hands now is to defend veterans of the Mau Mau nationalist movement in their sunset years.It was partly his research, planning, and pleading that recently won the right to trial in a British court for these aging veterans of rebellion against colonial rule more than 50 years ago.But a case against the British, who once ruled Kenya, would not have been possible without the work of Harvard historian Caroline Elkins, said Morara. He credits her scholarship and voluminous oral histories as the primary evidence for Mau Mau justice. “Without her seminal work,” he said, “this story wouldn’t have come to the fore.”Mau Mau veterans, in search of an apology and financial relief, may get their day in court by 2013. But Morara fears that the longer the case drags on, the fewer Mau Mau will be alive to see a settlement.Even in Kenya, he said, it took years for the Mau Mau to be recognized for their role, mostly during the 1950s, in liberating the country from British rule. A ban on recognizing Mau Mau veterans was lifted only in 2003, the same year that the Mau Mau War Veterans Association was founded. Before that, said Morara, “There was no (voice) for survivors.”Until 2003, successive Kenyan governments had been “very ambivalent” about the Mau Mau, he said, and sometimes official feelings spilled over into rancor. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president and a former political prisoner of the British, was once thought to have inspired the Mau Mau movement. But after independence he called the Mau Mau “a terrible disease.” His successor, Daniel arap Moi, aired similar feelings.But once veterans had a voice, they moved quickly. In 2003, they appealed to the human rights commission for redress from the British, who oversaw a protectorate and then a colony in Kenya from 1895 until 1963. The Mau Mau uprising was essentially a war of liberation from British rule. It was also a time of widespread torture, rape, detention, and starvation in a “gulag” run by colonial authorities, according to Elkins, professor of history and African and African American Studies.She is part of a Mau Mau oral history project, in collaboration with the Kenya Oral History Center. A related exhibit at Kenya’s National Museum is slated to open next year.Oral histories also had a role in getting to trial. In 2006, the rights commission, in an effort led by Morara, interviewed 42 potential claimants. Five were chosen, including two women and three men. One, Susan Ciong’ombe Ngondi, has since died.On a shelf in his office, Morara keeps tapes of all the interviews. “Every time we hear the veterans speak, they break down,” he said. “They (tell) absolutely painful, horrific stories.”For the British government to continue to press its case for dismissal makes the issue “a war of attrition,” said Morara. “These veterans are old.” He estimated there are as many as 75,000 former Mau Mau fighters, scouts, and sympathizers still alive in Kenya. Most are 70 and older. Among the official claimants, the youngest is 75 and the oldest 84.The five were chosen because they represented some of the abuses that occurred in the Mau Mau era. “It’s about torture,” said Morara of the case against the British. The two women had been raped. One man had been beaten and left for dead in a pile of corpses during the infamous 1959 Hola Massacre, in which 11 suspected Mau Mau were clubbed to death. The other two men had been castrated. Morara said, “They have no families.”Even after the British court decision in July, Morara is puzzled by the attitude of British authorities, who continue to refine their chief arguments: that the alleged abuses took place too long ago, and that any responsibility was passed on to the new Kenya government in 1963. “They were not negotiating then, and they aren’t now,” said Morara of British officials, “which we find strange.”In 2007 the rights commission made a request for an official apology to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. When this failed, the commission entered the “second phase” of its strategy in 2009, said Morara, by filing an appeal for trial with the Royal Courts of Justice.At the same time, in an attempt to sidestep “legal technicalities,” he said, the commission appealed directly to Britain’s then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and in February 2010 met with his foreign secretary, David Miliband. It was then that Morara escorted the five aging Mau Mau veterans to No. 10 Downing St., the prime minister’s residence. They arrived elated, he said, with a “feeling there was movement toward closure.”The group appeared at No. 10 Downing with several “options for justice,” said Morara. These included an appeal for an official apology, a welfare fund for surviving Mau Mau, community reparations such as schools or hospitals, and small monthly stipends for the veterans.Miliband was sympathetic, said Morara, but was voted out of office later that year. Since then, he said, the regime of Prime Minister David Cameron has not been receptive.It will take as long as 18 months before the issue gets to court, he said. Meanwhile, the rights commission has a strategy of its own: to insist that the statute-of-limitations issue be resolved concurrently with a full trial.“For us, this is not just a cause,” said Morara of the Mau Mau case unfolding in Great Britain. “It’s a way to address transitional justice.” That is, it’s a way for Kenyans to address what he said were unresolved issues of land ownership, corruption, and tribal divisions traceable to the colonial era.The first Mau Mau act of resistance occurred in 1947, and was a consequence of Kikuyu farmers being displaced by white settlers and their native allies. “This case,” said Morara, “gives us a chance to start a new national discourse.”But the case is for the world too, he said, because it points to the universal fragility of basic rights. “Human beings, wherever they are, have a right to live in dignity,” said Morara.Meanwhile, he and a staff of three at the rights commission are establishing a database of aging Mau Mau veterans, including the women who acted as scouts and who slipped into the forests around Mount Kenya to bring fighters food, weapons, and intelligence.The database, built largely from information from veterans, includes five categories: those who were tortured and still bear physical evidence; those detained who no longer have evidence of physical torture; Mau Mau not detained or arrested; women and youth who acted as village scouts; and those in categories one through four who have died. In those cases, relatives and friends try to corroborate old stories, and provide identity papers and other documents and artifacts.Jane Muthoni Mara, the surviving female claimant, was arrested long ago while taking food to forest fighters and acting as a scout, said Morara — an example of the women who did their part in the rebellion. “Without their support, the Mau Mau could not have gone for all those years.”As for the years of pursuing a case for the Mau Mau survivors, Morara praised a supportive British public, whose general sympathy for the old fighters is a contrast to official positions. In the meantime, he said, “We’d be very glad if the American community joined in.”Morara is also interested in what led up to the Mau Mau rebellion. Last month, he set out on a three-month swing through Kenya to gather oral histories about the colonial period up until 1952, when the rebellion came to a boil. “Mau Mau is not an incident,” said Morara. “It’s a process.”
Actor and director Tommy Lee Jones ’69 is the recipient of the 2012 Harvard Arts Medal, which will be awarded by Harvard President Drew Faust on April 26.The event marks the official opening of Arts First (April 26-29), Harvard’s annual festival showcasing student and faculty creativity, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The award ceremony, presented by the Office for the Arts at Harvard’s Learning From Performers Program and the Board of Overseers of Harvard College, will be held at 3 p.m. at Sanders Theatre. In a talk moderated by fellow actor and Harvard alumnus John Lithgow ’67, Jones will discuss his life and career.Revered for his deadpan portrayals of law enforcement/military officers and other authority figures, Jones has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as best supporting actor for his portrayal of federal marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller “The Fugitive.”Jones’ first film as a director was “The Good Old Boys” in 1995, a made-for-television movie. Recently Jones co-starred with Ben Affleck in the recession drama “The Company Men” and appeared in the film “Captain America: The First Avenger.” His current projects include “Men in Black III,” “Great Hope Springs,” and Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” in which he plays Vice President Thaddeus Stevens.As an upperclassman at Harvard, Jones shared a room in Dunster House with Al Gore. Jones appeared in undergraduate theater productions, notably with John Lithgow in Christopher Fry’s “The Lady’s Not for Burning,” in 1967. Offstage, Jones played offensive tackle on Harvard’s undefeated 1968 varsity football team and was nominated as a first-team All-Ivy League selection. Jones played in the memorable 1968 game in which Harvard made a last-minute 16-point comeback to tie Yale. He recounts his memory of “the most famous football game in Ivy League history” in the documentary “Harvard Beats Yale 29-29.” Jones graduated cum laude from Harvard with a bachelor of arts in English in 1969.The Harvard Arts Medal honors a distinguished Harvard or Radcliffe graduate or faculty member who has achieved excellence in the arts and has made a contribution through the arts to education or the public good. Previous medal recipients include photographer Susan Meiselas, Ed.M. ’71; visual artist and essayist Catherine Lord ’70; saxophonists/composers Joshua Redman ’91 and Fred Ho ’79; composers John Adams ’69, M.A. ’72, and John Harbison ’60; playwright Christopher Durang ’71; poets John Ashbery ’49 and Maxine Kumin ’41; cellist Yo-Yo Ma ’76; film director Mira Nair ’79; conductor and founder of Les Arts Florissants William Christie ’66; stage director Peter Sellars ’80; National Theatre of the Deaf founder David Hays ’52; author John Updike ’54; songwriter/musicians Bonnie Raitt ’72 and Pete Seeger ’40; and actor Jack Lemmon ’47.Admission is free but tickets are required (limit two per person), available through the Harvard Box Office at Holyoke Center beginning April 17. Some remaining tickets may be available at the door one hour prior to event start time. For more information, call 617.496.2222 (TTY, 617.495.1642).
The Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) announced that Raphael W. Bostic ’87 has been chosen by his classmates to serve as chief marshal for Commencement 2012 as the University concludes its yearlong 375th anniversary celebration.A longstanding Harvard tradition, the chief marshal is elected each year from the ranks of the 25th reunion class. He or she greets classes as they process into Harvard Yard, designates “marshal’s aids” to help with Commencement duties as part of the HAA’s Committee for the Happy Observance of Commencement (“the Happy Committee”), and presides over the Chief Marshal’s Spread, one of the most anticipated culinary events of the festivities.“It is incredibly humbling to be selected,” said Bostic, assistant secretary for policy development and research for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and a professor at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Policy, Planning, and Development. “The role has an incredible legacy, and the talents and accomplishments of my classmates are so impressive, it was an honor just to be considered among them. I never imagined I would be chosen.”Bostic follows in the footsteps of such notable alumni as Franklin D. Roosevelt 1904, David Rockefeller ’36, Ursula Oppens ’65, and Emily Mann ’74. Although the custom has been referred to as an “ancient” ritual of Commencement, a note in the 1892–93 Harvard Graduates’ Magazine indicates that the installation of a chief marshal might have begun as recently as the 1880s. Regardless of its provenance, the position is an important one, and it is filled each year by a person of accomplishment and Crimson élan — an apt description of Bostic.“Harvard has been truly foundational for me and is a thread in everything I do,” Bostic said. “I learned so many things, both intellectually and interpersonally, that carry me today.”Bostic noted that Harvard fostered an openness and a curiosity in all his endeavors, which today include “conducting research to better understand the world of housing and urban economics, with the goal of shaping policy and improving the lives of Americans and people across the world, and teaching leaders who will actually make that change.“And thanks to another classmate, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan,” Bostic added, “I have been given an opportunity to convert the theory into practice by serving in the Obama administration. To say this is an honor and privilege is to not do it justice.”The founding director of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast, Bostic received the Special Achievement Award from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in 2000 and served on the Mayor’s Industrial Development Advisory Committee, city of Los Angeles, in 2003.“We are honored to have Raphael leading the alumni at Commencement,” said HAA President Ellen Gordon Reeves ’83, Ed.M. ’86. “His dedication to helping others across the country in his role at HUD, and to training future leaders at USC, marks him as a model Harvard citizen, a man committed to mind and action.”Harvard’s 361st Commencement will be held on May 24. To attend the Alumni Spread Luncheon and the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association (afternoon program), please visit the website.
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) announced the recipients of its annual Challenges to Democracy Grant program. In its inaugural year, this grant program devotes $350,000 in support of HKS faculty as well as doctoral and postdoctoral student research that explores both the ideals of democracy and its often-imperfect practice in the real world. This year, the Ash Center will fund five HKS faculty research projects; four HKS faculty-led seminars; two doctoral fellowships for HKS and other Harvard graduate students; and one postdoctoral fellowship.For the full list of grantees, visit http://bit.ly/ashcenter.
The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is pleased to announce that senior research scientist Peter Del Tredici will be awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal in London this spring. The Royal Horticultural Society presents this prestigious, international award to “persons of any nationality who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement of the science and practice of horticulture.”The award recognizes Del Tredici’s extensive work on numerous aspects of both botany and horticulture over the past forty years. His wide ranging interests include new plant introductions from China, the root systems of woody plants, the natural and cultural history of ginkgo, and urban ecology and vegetation, a subject he explores in his recent book, Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide (Cornell University Press, 2010). He has lectured widely in North America and Europe and has authored more than 130 scientific and popular articles. Del Tredici joins the select company of five other Arboretum staff members who received the Veitch Memorial Medal: Founding Director Charles Sprague Sargent (1896), plant explorer and keeper of the Arboretum Ernest Henry Wilson (1906), propagator William H. Judd (1944), horticulturist Donald Wyman (1968), and curator and horticultural taxonomist Stephen A. Spongberg (1996). Read Full Story