Older adults may be at increased risk of being hospitalized for lung and heart disease, stroke, and diabetes following long-term exposure to fine-particle air pollution, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). It is the first study to look at the link between long-term effects of exposure to…

Stop by Maxwell Dworkin to see our new exhibit on 21st-century engineering! It’s big. Engineers invent the future in fits and starts. They dream, tinker, design, build, test—and learn from “happy mistakes.” At SEAS, we are dedicated to thinking big, breaking down boundaries, leaping at opportunities, and leading change. Engineering is emerging as crucial knowledge…

A new study provides the latest evidence that school-based tobacco control programs can have a positive effect in lowering tobacco use among youth. The study was an evaluation of Salaam Bombay Foundation’s (SBF) life-skills tobacco control project for youth of low socioeconomic status in Mumbai, India, and neighboring parts of Maharashtra. Researchers at Harvard School…

Fare increases and service cuts originally proposed by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to counter a projected $161 million deficit in 2012 would likely have costly consequences and threaten the health of Boston area residents, according to a health impact assessment released March 13, 2012 by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) of Massachusetts.…

A Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) youth fitness and nutrition initiative conducted with the YMCA of the USA was found to effectively boost physical activity levels and time spent doing moderate and vigorous exercise among children 5-11 years of age enrolled in after-school programs at YMCAs in four U.S. metropolitan areas, according to a…

Starting Friday, April 20, Harvard University will host the Boston premiere of David Michalek’s magical video installation Slow Dancing, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is partnering by making Dudley House the site of an al fresco café for Yard goers. The New York Times has called Michalek’s installation, presented by the Office…

Harvard President Drew Faust has approved Zhiming Kuang for promotion to the role of full professor with tenure. A climate scientist who specializes in modeling tropical convection systems, Kuang holds a joint appointment in the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS). His work…

Harvard President Drew Faust has approved Radhika Nagpal for promotion to the role of full professor with tenure at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). Nagpal, the Thomas D. Cabot Associate Professor of Computer Science at SEAS and a core faculty member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard,…

Harvard University’s 46 Blackstone Street building has won the prestigious 2012 Innovation in Green Design Award in the Green Building category given by the Massachusetts Chapter of the US Green Building Council. The building, home to Harvard’s Campus Services group, is one of only five in the world to have achieved two Leadership in Energy…

In honor of the Harvard Institute of Learning in Retirement’s 35th anniversary, the institute is hosting a forum on the American middle class moderated by Paul Solman of PBS NewsHour on Friday, April 27, 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. at First Parish Church, 3 Church Street,  Cambridge, Mass. Admission is free and open to the…

A team of Harvard Kennedy School students that founded an international social development organization has won the 2012 Accenture Public Service Innovation Award at the Harvard Innovation Challenge. The award is intended to encourage Harvard students to “apply their creative energy to solve pressing public sector challenges and to foster the next generation of government solutions and…

Kermit the Frog has nothing on Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) when it comes to being green. Several members of the HKS community are being honored at this year’s Green Carpet Awards. The annual event celebrates staff, faculty and students who have made significant contributions to on-campus sustainability initiatives, including greenhouse gas emission reductions. The winners are…

The future of Medicare plays big in the minds of American seniors, and is looming large as a campaign issue in the 2012 elections. That was the message delivered at a Wiener Center discussion Monday (April 9) by Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis. “It turns out that the voters who are turning out…

During reading period and final exams, Lamont Library will remain open 24/7 as part of a pilot to explore longer permanent hours for the library at this time each semester, Harvard College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds and Interim Head of Harvard College Library Susan Fliss announced today.

As the United States continues to grapple with deep divisions on universal health coverage—as evidenced byreactions to last week’s Supreme Court hearings on the subject—Americans may be able to learn from health reform efforts in Mexico and other countries. Julio Frenk, dean of Harvard School of Public Health and former Mexico health minister, and David…

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is inviting alumni from across its 57 disciplines to return to Cambridge for Alumni Day on April 14, 2012. The day will begin with a keynote address by climate change expert Daniel P. Schrag, the Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology and — as the director of the Center for…

On Friday, April 13, graduate alumni from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology will gather for stimulating day of conversation and disciplinary connection. The day will begin with the opportunity for alumni to meet current students and postdocs and tour the labs. Then the official part of the program will kick off, with a…

Claims of election fraud and irregularities — from ballot access and bribery to vote-rigging and electoral violence — have captured the headlines in many parts of the world — from Kabul and Kenya to Moscow and Harare. International observers repeatedly condemn these sorts of flaws. But does the general public share their disquiet? This issue…

The Institute of Politics (IOP) has launched a new John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum website featuring discussions and events from the JKF Jr. Forum – and all of it is searchable and downloadable content available to the public. The Forum’s new online home allows visitors to fully enjoy more than three decades of event programming, now offered…

“What inspires you?” It was that simple message hand-written on a yellow post-it note taped to the front door of a vacant shop in Harvard Square that has since prompted hundreds of colorful and heartfelt responses. “My 10th grade history teacher.” “My friends and parents.” “Fish fingers and custard.” “Martin Luther King.” “The Dalai Lama.”…

The 2012 Louis Néel Medal has been awarded to James R. Rice for his seminal contributions to the fundamental understanding of strain localization, poromechanics, and friction. The award committee praised his elegant and systematic studies that have elucidated fault mechanics and the coupling with hydrologic and thermal processes during all phases of the earthquake cycle.…

An ambitious new project to reinvent how robots are designed and produced is being funded by a $10-million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). A team of researchers from MIT, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania aims to develop a desktop technology that would make it possible for the average person to design, customize,…

The Office for Sustainability is proud to announce the winners of the 2012 Spengler-Vautin Special Achievement Award to be presented at this year’s Green Carpet Awards on April 12 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Sanders Theatre. Frederick H. Abernathy, the Gordon McKay Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Abbot and James Lawrence Research Professor of…

As the Supreme Court hears challenges to the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) from March 26-28, 2012, Harvard School of Public Health professors have been widely quoted in media coverage of the hearings. John McDonough, professor of the practice of public health and director of the Center for Public Health Leadership, spoke to…

Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) voted unanimously today to approve the creation of a new interfaculty Ph.D. program in education to be offered jointly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). The program will enroll its first cohort in fall 2014. The Ph.D.…

The militant group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has waged a 25-year campaign of fear in Uganda which has since spread to neighboring Sudan, Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killing and mutilating tens of thousands of people, looting communities, and abducting children for forced conscription. Last fall, U.S. President Barack…

The 2012 Lowell Lecture features Andrew Delbanco, recent winner of the National Humanities Medal. The lecture takes place Wednesday, April 4, in Sever Hall, room 113, at 8 p.m Once named by Time Magazine as “America’s Best Social Critic,” Delbanco offers a trenchant defense of a college education, and warns that it is becoming a…

Eating white rice on a regular basis may increase the risk for type 2 diabetes, according to new Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) research. HSPH researchers from the Department of Nutrition—led by Emily Hu, research assistant, and Qi Sun, research associate—reviewed four earlier studies involving more than 352,000 people from China, Japan, the United…

Lester Brown, M.P.A. ’62, will be honored with the Harvard Office for Sustainability’s first Distinguished Service Award at the 2012 Green Carpet Awards on April 12 at 3:30 p.m. in Sanders Theatre. Brown founded the Earth Policy Institute in 2001 to work toward an environmentally sustainable economy. Described by the Washington Post as “one of…