Yale Bulletin and Calendar

May 3, 2002

Volume 30, Number 28

Campus Notes

Dr. James Alex, assistant professor of surgery otolaryngology at Yale School of Medicine and director of the Division of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH), will discuss "Melanoma: Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment" on Wednesday, May 8, at 6 p.m. in the East Pavilion Cafeteria of YNHH, 20 York St. Free reservations can be made by calling (203) 688-2000. The event is co-sponsored by the Yale Cancer Center and YNHH.

Prism and the organizers of the "Beyond Visibility: Queer People of Color Shattering Single Issue Politics" conference, which was held on campus Feb. 1517, were selected by the National Youth Advocacy Coalition (NYAC) to receive the 2002 Youth Organizing Impact Award. The conference organizers were selected for demonstrating "an understanding of the interconnectedness of oppressions" and for "working every day to eliminate prejudice and injustice." The award will be presented at the NYAC's First Annual Impact Awards Ceremony kicking off the Annual Youth Summit in Washington, D.C., on Friday, May 24.

Harold Hongju Koh, the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law, received the John Quincy Adams Award at the second annual Amistad Freedom Awards gala fundraising event on Tuesday, April 30, in New York City. The John Quincy Adams Award "celebrates individuals who have served as proponents and/or protectors of laws ensuring the individual liberty that is cherished in a democratic society." Four other individuals were also honored at the event for their commitment to promoting equality and justice: Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, president and minister of defense, Sierra Leone; William Blase, president, SNET; the Reverend Bernice Powell Jackson, executive minister, United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries; and Henry Louis Gates Jr. '73 B.A., chair of Afro-American studies, Harvard University.

Dr. Stephen G. Waxman, chair of the Department of Neurology and professor of neurology, neurobiology and pharmacology, received the Dystel Prize for Multiple Sclerosis Research on April 16. The prize is awarded jointly by the American Academy of Neurology and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Waxman received the Dystel Prize for his research on molecular changes that occur within nerve cells in multiple sclerosis, and on new therapeutic approaches that have the goal of restoring functions, such as vision or the ability to walk, in people with the disease.

"Mechanisms of Slow Sorption of Organic Chemicals to Natural Particles," co-written by Joseph Pignatello, adjunct professor and lecturer of chemical engineering, and Baoshan Xing, was identified by the publication Environmental Science & Technology as one of its 10 most cited papers for the past decade.

Mark Reed, the Harold Hodgkinson Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, received the Yale Science and Engineering Association (YSEA) 2002 Award for the Advancement of Basic and Applied Science for being "one of the pioneers in the entire field of nanoelectronics" at the YSEA annual dinner on April 17. The YSEA also honored Jasmina Hasanhodzic '02 with the 2002 Highest Senior Scholastic Achievement Award, and Boa-Teh Chu, professor of mechanical engineering, and Werner Wolf, professor emeritus of applied physics and physics, with citations of appreciation upon their retirement from distinguished teaching and research careers.

A symposium to honor the contributions of Dr. Sidney J. Blatt, professor of psychiatry and psychology, was held on April 12 and 13, at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association's Division of Psychoanalysis. The event was sponsored by institutions and organizations with which Blatt has been affiliated throughout his career, including Yale's Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology. A festschrift volume, titled "Relatedness, Self-Definition, and Mental Representation: Essays in Honor of Sidney J. Blatt," will be published by Brunner Routledge in 2003.

Molly Silfen '02 of Calhoun College was the recipient of this year's New Haven American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Chapter Award. Beth Anne Bennett, lecturer in mechanical engineering at Yale and treasurer of the New Haven ASME chapter, presented the award to Silfen at a March 20 ceremony held at Fairfield University.

Seyla Benhabib, the Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, presented the 2002 John R. Seeley Lectures in Political Thought at Christ's College, Cambridge University, in England April 28 May 3. The lecture series, titled "Citizens, Residents and Aliens: Political Membership and Political Theory in a New World," included four lectures: "On Hospitality: Re-reading Kant's Cosmopolitan Doctrine," "The Right to Have Rights: Hannah Arendt on the Contradictions of the Nation-State," "Transformations of Citizenship in a Global World" and "Multicultural Citizenship, the Women's Question and The European Union."

William Marciano, adjunct professor in the Department of Physics, was named a winner of the J.J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics for 2002. He will share the $5,000 prize, awarded by the American Physical Society (APS), with Alberto Sirlin of New York University. The award, intended to reward and encourage outstanding achievement in particle theory, recognizes the scientists' "pioneering work" on calculations necessary for testing the consistency of the Standard Model, the physics theory that seeks to explain interactions between all known particles. Marciano and Sirlin received the award at the April meeting of the APS in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Yale creates Center for Genomics and Proteomics

NIH grant to support research on treatment of epilepsy

African American Studies Department examines its history and its future

Alumnus Bryan Rigg reveals untold story of 'Hitler's Jewish Soldiers'

Managing editor decries 'outrageous lies' in the media

See possibilities when job searching, editor advises

IN FOCUS: Resource Office on Disabilities

New website offers information on wheelchair access to campus facilities

Yale Engineering forum offers perspectives . . .

Abnormal neurons may play role in SIDS, study suggests

Stories, adventures, journeys -- festival offers them all

Restorative home care help elderly regain independence

In there a nurse in the house?

New Yale chapter offers support for Hispanic students

Study shows promising cocaine treatment is ineffective on humans

Update on YB&C survey

Local third-graders graduate from America Reads program

Yale affiliates awarded YUWO scholarships to continue studies

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes