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CAMPUS NOTES-- MAY 13

A Beckman Young Investigators Award of $200,000 was recently presented to Ronald Breaker, assistant professor of biology. The award is intended to provide research support to the most promising young faculty members in the early stages of academic careers in the chemical and life sciences. Professor Breaker is probing the structural and catalytic capabilities of RNA and DNA using in vitro evolution to isolate rare nucleic acids with unusual capabilities.

News from engineering: Robert Apfel, the Robert Higgin Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has been elected to the Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics; Ira Bernstein, the Carl Morse Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Physics, has been appointed to the Board of Physics and Astronomy of the National Research Council; and Peter J. Kindlmann, professor adjunct of electrical engineering was honored with the 1996 Award for Meritorious Service to Yale by the Yale Science and Engineering Association. Also of note: John Gore, professor of applied engineering, and professor and director of NMR research in the department of diagnostic radiology, has received $160,000 from the state-funded Charles Goodyear Yankee Ingenuity Initiative to develop optical tomographic imaging of polymer gels for three-dimensional radiation dosimetry. The work will be done in conjunction with MGS Research Inc. of Guilford, Connecticut.

Alvin Eisenman, Street Professor Emeritus of Painting and Design, is serving as honorary chair of "The Leonardo Challenge," a benefit exhibit for the Eli Whitney Museum, 915 Whitney Ave., Hamden. The display, which celebrates Leonardo's spirit of invention, will feature works that designers, artists, architects and engineers have created from simple spools and cigar boxes. The exhibit will be on display during a reception 7-9 p.m. on Thursday, May 16, at the museum. Tickets for the benefit are $25 per person. For information, call 777-1833.

Among the recent appointments announced by President Richard C. Levin were the following: Hazel Carby as chair of the African and African-American studies program; David Cameron as chair of the department of political science; Walter Cahn as acting chair of the history of art department; Alan Trachtenberg as acting chair of the American studies program; and Creighton Gilbert as acting chair of the Renaissance studies program. In addition, Robert Adams has been reappointed as chair of the philosophy department and Victor Henrich has been reappointed as director of the Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering.

The American Academy of Arts and Letters has presented its $5,000 Jimmy Ernst Award to Pat Adams, visiting professor of painting at the School of Art. The award is given for an artist's lifetime contribution. In addition, alumnus John Moore '68 M.F.A. was one of five individuals to receive Academy Awards in Art of $7,500 each in honor of their accomplishments.

Dr. James P. Comer, the Maurice Falk Professor in the Yale Child Study Center and the department of child psychiatry, has been elected vice chair of the Carnegie Corporation's board of trustees for a one-year term. Dr. Comer is also associate dean at the School of Medicine and founder of the School Development Program, which is now in place in more than 300 schools in 18 states.

The National Humanities Center has selected R.W.B. Lewis, professor emeritus of English and American studies and the Neil Grey Professor Emeritus of Rhetoric, to participate in its nationwide lecture program. The program brings leading scholars in the humanities to speak on a variety of topics at groups and institutions throughout the United States. Professor Lewis' topic is "American Characters: Portraits Visual and Verbal."

SMArT -- Science and Math Achiever Training -- an after- school program run by Yale undergraduates at Troup Middle School, has received a 1996 Higher Education Community Service Award from the Connecticut Department of Higher Education. The SMArT program pairs Yale mentors one-on-one with middle school students for long-term creative math and science projects.

The Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States and the National Board of Medical Examiners has appointed Dr. Ronald C. Merrell, the Lampman Professor and chair of surgery at the School of Medicine, to the United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 3 Computer-Based Case Simulation Test Material Development Committee.


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