Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 6, 2007|Volume 35, Number 24

Visiting on Campus

Celebrated novelist will give next Shulman Lecture

Novelist and National Book Award finalist Hugh Nissenson will deliver the fifth and final lecture on "The Drama of Science," the inaugural series of Shulman Lectures in Science and the Humanities, on Tuesday, April 10.

Nissenson's talk, titled "The Darkness Within: H.G. Wells and 'The Island of Dr. Moreau,'" will take place at 5 p.m. in Rm. 208, Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St. The talk is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Manana Sikic at (203) 432-0673 or manana.sikic@yale.edu.

Nissenson, who has declared that his goal as an artist is to expand the frontiers of his imagination, is the author of "A Pile of Stones," "Notes from the Frontier," "My Own Ground," "The Tree of Life" (nominated for a National Book Award and as Best Novel for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction), and "The Song of the Earth," all of which explore spirituality and experiment with innovative form.

His preferred subject matter is eclectic, running the gamut from pioneer life in 19th-century Ohio to genetic engineering and its impact on the arts and humanity in the New York of 2057. Nissenson's most recent novel, "Days of Awe," examines the issues of mortality, Jewish faith and personal relationships in post-9/11 New York.

The lecture series is named after Robert Shulman, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, and senior research scientist in diagnostic radiology, in recognition of his roles as a founding fellow of the Whitney Humanities Center and as a supporter of the integration of science and the humanities.

Hoskins Visitor will preach and lead discussions

Warren H. Stewart Sr., senior pastor at the First Institutional Baptist Church of Phoenix, Arizona, will visit the campus Tuesday-Wednesday, April 10-11 as the 2007 Hoskins Visitor to the Divinity School.

The Hoskins Visitor is a Christian leader invited to the Divinity School to meet with students, faculty and staff to discuss issues related to the reform and renewal of the church. On Tuesday, Stewart will be the guest preacher in morning chapel at 10:30 a.m. in Marquand Chapel, 409 Prospect St.; coffee hour in the common room will follow at 11 a.m. On April 11, he will lead a discussion at a lunch gathering noon-1:30 p.m. in the common room. The public is invited to bring a lunch; desserts and beverages will be provided. At 7 p.m., Stewart will be a guest preacher during a community-wide worship service and one-day revival hosted by Community Baptist Church (in conjunction with the Yale Black Seminarians), 143 Shelton Ave.

Stewart has served the First Institutional Baptist Church since 1977. He was appointed executive secretary of the Home Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention, USA Inc., in November 1994 and served through January 2005.

Stewart is the author of "Interpreting God's Word In Black Preaching" and "How To Handle Giants: Sermons to African-American Youth and Their Mentors."

He served as the first general chair of Arizonans for a Martin Luther King Jr. State Holiday and also organized and led Victory Together Inc., a broad-based coalition that campaigned for a Martin Luther King Jr./Civil Rights Day in Arizona, which was passed in the 1992 general election.

Former Yale World Fellow will examine energy security

Former Yale World Fellow Sascha Müller-Kraenner will speak on campus on Tuesday, April 10.

He will discuss "Energy Security from an Environment & Governance Perspective" at 4 p.m. in Bowers Auditorium, Sage Hall, 205 Prospect St. A reception will follow the talk, which is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Christine Kim at (203) 432-6065 or christine.kim@yale.edu.

Müller-Kraenner is the senior policy adviser and the European representative to The Nature Conservancy, a leading international conservation organization with over one million members and supporters as well as programs in 30 countries.

From 2003 to 2006, Müller-Kraenner served as the Heinrich Böll Foundation's director for Europe and North America, as well as head of the foundation's program on foreign and security policy. From 1998 to 2002 he served as director of the foundation's office in Washington, D.C. He is also one of the founders of and a senior adviser to Ecologic, the non-profit Center for International and European Environmental Policy in Berlin.

Müller-Kraenner has published extensively on international relations, European integration and environmental diplomacy, and the United Nation's climate change treaty. His latest book on the issue of energy security was published in March.

He is a member of the Working Group on Global Issues of the German Council on Foreign Relations, the German Society for the United Nations, Birdlife Germany, as well as of the Indo-German Forum on International Environmental Governance.

Müller-Kraenner was awarded fellowships by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Prince of Wales and the Business and the Environment Program.

IEM lecture will expore the green building rating system

Robert (Rob) Watson, chair, chief executive officer and chief scientist at ECOTECH International, and founding chair of LEED Green Building Rating System, will speak in the Business & Environment Speaker Series "Environmental Certification and Business Competitiveness," on Thursday, April 12.

Watson will discuss "Why LEED? Green Buildings and Competitive Advantage" at 4 p.m. in the General Motors Room, Horchow Hall, 55 Hillhouse Ave. Sponsored by the Industrial Environmental Management (IEM) Program of the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, the talk is free and open to the public. A reception will follow. For more information, contact Valerie Petersen, at (203) 432-6953 or valerie.petersen@yale.edu.

Watson has been a pioneer of the modern green building movement for over twenty years. Under his direction as the "founding father," LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) became the most widespread and fastest-growing standard by which green buildings are measured worldwide. Buildings certified by LEED use 30% to 70% less energy and water, are healthier for occupants and honor the land on which they are built. The LEED Green Building Rating System to date has stimulated over 500 million square feet of green development worldwide -- over $50 billion in construction value.

In 2006 Watson founded ECOTECH International and its subsidiaries, American INDOTECH and American SINOTECH , to bring cutting-edge sustainability technology and design services for buildings, urban areas and government programs to China, India and the United States.

In its 17th year, the IEM Lecture Series is supported by the Joel Omura Kurihara Fund and brings speakers from a variety of companies and organizations to the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies to discuss the relationship between business and the environment.

Celebrated alumna to give keynote address

Maya Lin '81 B.A., '86 M.Arch., who designed some of the nation's most renowned monuments, will give the keynote address at the Asian American Heritage Month Dinner on Friday, April 13.

Lin will discuss "Deconstructing and Rebuilding the Infrastructure of Our Identity" at 7 p.m. in the dining hall of Saybrook College, 242 Elm St. Dinner will begin at 5:15 p.m. Dinner tickets will be available at the Saybrook College Master's Office and the Yale College Dean's Office. To reserve a ticket, call (203) 432-0540 or e-mail saybrookmastersoffice@yahoo.com.

While still an undergraduate at Yale, Lin designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. She went on to create the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, and her work appears across the country, from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, to the Federal Courthouse in New York City.

She created the Women's Table, which stands outside Sterling Memorial Library, to honor women at Yale. Lin's critically acclaimed architectural projects include the Langston Hughes Library created for the Children's Defense Fund and the Museum for African Art in New York City.

In 2002, Lin was elected as an alumni fellow of the Yale Corporation in a worldwide ballot of Yale graduates.

Lin has been a concerned environmentalist serving on the boards of several national groups. She has had numerous solo and group exhibitions, and she has received both national and international honors, including the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Architecture, a Presidential Design Award, and the American Institute of Architects Honor Award.

The alumna's life and work have been detailed in the Academy Award-winning documentary film, "Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision." She also was awarded a Yale honorary degree -- making her one of only two Yale College alumnae to have been so recognized -- as well as honorary degrees from Harvard, Smith and Brown.

Cancer researcher to speak about 'Origin of Human Malignancies'

Internationally renowned cancer researcher Robert A. Weinberg will discuss the "Origin of Human Malignancies" at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11, in Harkness Auditorium, Sterling Hall of Medicine, 333 Cedar St.

Weinberg is the 59th annual keynote speaker sponsored by the Associates of the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library at the Yale School of Medicine. His talk, which is co-sponsored by the Association of Yale Alumni in Medicine, is part of the festivities marking the opening of the exhibition "Deciphering Cancer's Mysteries: From Eber's Papyrus to Nanotechnology" that day in the Cushing/Whitney Library. Both the talk and the exhibition opening at 3 p.m. are free and open to the public.

An authority on the genetic basis of cancer, Weinberg is the Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

Weinberg and his colleagues isolated the first human cancer-causing gene, the ras oncogene, and the first known tumor suppressor gene, RB, the retinoblastoma gene. More recently, his group has succeeded in creating the first genetically defined human cancer cells. Weinberg is particularly interested in applying this knowledge to improve the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

He is the author or editor of five books and more than 325 articles. His numerous honors and awards include the National Medal of Science.

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

Symposium will consider future of India-U.S. relations

True potential for reform in China to be explored

Symposium, workshop look at Korean film, refugee crisis

Scholars to debate best way to preserve 'global past'

Yale applauds award-winning robotics team from city school

Chubb Fellowship hosts visit by 'America's greatest living composer'

Theater artists and scholars to honor legacy of playwright August Wilson

Library exhibit showcases books that feature images of trees

Award supports research on use of nanoparticles to treat prostate cancer

Carbon dioxide levels have affected Earth's climate for . . .

Exhibit on creation of city's Holocaust memorial features . . .

Shlomchik receives award for his research on memory T-cells

Two Yale researchers receive Donaghue Investigator Awards

Symposium to showcase 'Next Generation of Legal Scholarship'

'Donate Life Week' seeks to raise awareness for organ donation

In Memoriam: Sebastian Konstantinovich Shaumyan

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes