Sheperd (Shep) Doeleman, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, has been named the recipient of the National Academy of Sciences’ 2021 Henry Draper Medal. As founding director of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), Doeleman is widely known for his pivotal role in capturing the first image of a supermassive black…

President Joe Biden has nominated several Harvard alumni and faculty members to fill senior government positions. Ron Klein ’87 — Chief of staff A Washington, D.C., veteran, Klain has served as a Biden adviser many times over, most recently during the 2020 campaign and previously as his chief of staff when Biden was vice president in…

Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) announced today that it will continue to provide a wide range of research opportunities and programming through its Tunisia Office for a further six years, supported by a $2 million gift from Harvard alumnus Hazem Ben-Gacem ’92. The office, which opened its doors in Tunis in January 2017…

President Joe Biden has chosen two Harvard faculty members with deep diplomatic experience to fill senior government positions, signaling his intention to emphasize diplomacy and soft power in rebuilding U.S. influence on the world stage. Wendy R. Sherman, professor of the practice of public leadership at Harvard Kennedy School and director of the School’s Center for…

American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University announces today that it will join Company One Theatre (C1) to present a reimagined digital version of C1’s critically acclaimed, Elliot Norton Award-winning production of “Hype Man: a break beat play” by Idris Goodwin. The story of friendship, hip-hop, and protest will be filmed this winter by The…

Dietary patterns that are associated with inflammation and insulimenia — a condition marked by high levels of insulin in the blood — may put men at an increased risk for aggressive forms of prostate cancer, according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study, published Jan. 6 in European…

The Charles Eliot Norton Professorship in Poetry presents Harvard’s preeminent lecture series in the arts and humanities called the Norton Lectures. These lectures recognize individuals of extraordinary talent who, in addition to their particular expertise, have the gift of wide dissemination and wise expression. The next Norton Lectures, in the Spring and Fall of 2021,…

The Harvard Art Museums have been awarded a $100,000 grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts to support the Fall 2021 exhibition ”Devour the Land: War and American Landscape Photography since 1970.” The exhibition will be the first to address the unknown and often unexpected ways habitats and well-being in the United…

After a year that involved a global pandemic, school closures, nationwide remote instruction, protests for racial justice, and an election, the role of education has never been more critical or more uncertain. When the dust settles from this year, what will education look like — and what should it aspire to? To mark the end…

Roughly 20 percent of U.S. adults who were polled about health care during the coronavirus pandemic said that they or their household members delayed receiving medical care or were unable to get care at all due to the crisis, according to a recent study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Robert Wood…

An additional feeding on human blood by a mosquito infected with Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria, can accelerate the development of the parasite and increase the potential for transmission to humans, according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study authors said the findings indicate that the…

A key protein in the communication channels between cells can allow a stress response in one liver cell to spread to neighboring liver cells in mice, causing otherwise healthy cells to become dysfunctional, according to new research co-led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Sheba Medical Center in Israel. The findings could…

Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) announced the selection of its 2021 cohort which includes 61 distinguished leaders. The cohort is made up of 53 fellows­ — its largest number of fellows ever — and eight partners, who will take part in ALI’s multi-disciplinary program during the coming year. ALI aims to unleash the power of experienced leaders…

People who had elevated blood levels of a toxic chemical called perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) had an increased risk of a more severe course of COVID-19 than those who did not have elevated levels, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. PFBA is part of a class of man-made…

When Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) doctoral student student Mona Ford Walker began her role as principal of the F. Lyman Winship Elementary School in the Brighton section of Boston in 2015, the school was among the lowest performing in Massachusetts. Under Ford Walker’s leadership, things began to change, and in 2018 and 2019 the school…

Two biomarkers based on DNA methylation (DNAm) were strongly associated with a person’s risk for heart attack and stroke, according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The two biomarkers, known as GrimAgeAccel and DNAmRS, were also significantly associated with overall risk of premature death. The study, led by CuiCui…

Harvard men’s and women’s fencing head coach Daria Schneider has recently been appointed to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee Board of Directors. Schneider, one of six new board members, will serve as an Athletes’ Advisory Council representative. “I am honored to have been elected to the USOPC Board of Directors and am grateful to my fellow athletes and…

A recent faculty job satisfaction survey by the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE), the research-practice partnership based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), revealed significant disparities in perception between faculty of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. As more colleges and universities take steps toward diversity and inclusion, these findings suggest that university leaders need to…

Harvard Business School (HBS) and the Executive Leadership Council (ELC) announced they have entered into a collaboration to provide enhanced programming opportunities for ELC scholarship recipients (ELC Scholars) and executive education opportunities for the most senior Black executives in corporate America. The ELC’s mission, to open channels of opportunity for Black executives to positively impact business and communities,…

The Growth Lab has more than 50 faculty, fellows, research assistants, and staff working on development challenges in more than a dozen countries worldwide. The Lab’s research in 2020 included modeling pandemic-related tradeoffs, mapping the network of global business travel, identifying foreign exchange constraints in Ethiopia, tracking the migration of the Albanian diaspora, and uncovering…

In a new study, Jeremy Faust and co-authors report on excess death rates among U.S. adults ages 25-44 from March through July 2020. Researchers found that around 76,000 Americans in this age range died during those five months, nearly 12,000 more than expected based on prior seasonal trends. About 38 percent of these deaths were…

The Office of the Vice Provost for Research is excited to announce the third cohort of fellows to receive support from the Aramont Fund for Emerging Science Research. The Fund provides fellowships for exceptional early-career scholars. The awardees were nominated by the deans of their respective schools, who were invited to suggest the names of…

The Harvard Innovation Labs recently published its 2020 Year in Review, featuring  a selection of accomplishments that current and former Harvard Innovation Labs teams have achieved in 2020. Since January, the Harvard Innovation Labs nurtured more than 700 ventures across its three-lab ecosystem: the i-lab for student ventures, Launch Lab X GEO for alumni-led ventures,…

For decades, Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) professor Alex Krieger has offered a walking tour of Boston as part of his introductory urban design courses. In this year’s digital environment, Krieger has adapted his tour for viewers anywhere around the world. Krieger takes viewers on his now-iconic walk around Boston, offered as a 30-minute…

The Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) this month awarded the winners of the Infosys Prize 2020 for their outstanding contributions to science and research in a virtual awards ceremony.  The prize is awarded for stellar contributions in six fields: engineering and computer science, humanities, life sciences, mathematical sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences.  William A. Ackman…

Harvard University recently announced a new gift from India’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, which will support the activities and research performed by the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute (LMSAI). By enabling scholars from South Asia to work in a cross-disciplinary fashion with faculty, researchers, and students across Harvard on critical questions and issues related…

The Yidan Prize Foundation, a global philanthropic educational foundation focused on inspiring and supporting innovative education ideas and practices, today announced the formation of a Council of Luminaries (“The Council”) at this year’s Yidan Prize Awards Presentation Ceremony and Summit, held virtually in Hong Kong SAR. The council will support closer collaboration among the world’s…

Harvard Business School (HBS) has received a gift from Joseph L. Bower, Donald K. David Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, to support and strengthen case writing. The Joseph Bower Family Fund will enable faculty members to produce cases with deep learning and insights about important phenomena in business. To begin, the fund will provide support for cases focused…

Harvard Business School (HBS) and Harvard’s Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) have received a $25 million gift from The Chris and Carrie Shumway Foundation to fund programs promoting leadership in life sciences, including the M.S./M.B.A. Biotechnology: Life Sciences, a joint degree offered by HBS and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Medical School…

  Harvard Business School (HBS) has named Rob Zeaske, M.B.A. ’02, the new director of its Social Enterprise Initiative (SEI), succeeding Matt Segneri, M.B.A. ’10, who was recently named the Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Executive Director of the Harvard Innovation Labs (i-lab). Established in 1993 with the help of a generous gift from John C. Whitehead, M.B.A. ’47, SEI…