n Dr. Bruce Lahn, a postdoctoral associate at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, has won a third-place grant of $10,000 in the Merrill Lynch Forum's Innovative Grants Competition. The contest, open to new PhDs in sciences, liberal arts and engineering, sought dissertation topics that could be translated into a commerical product or service. Dr. Lahn's research led to the development of an understanding of the role of the CDY gene in producing an essential enzyme for sperm production, which could result in development of a male oral contraceptive. The 1998 competition was directed by Michael Schrage, a research associate at the MIT Media Lab. Addendum.
n The American Academy of Microbiology has announced that Professor Leonard P. Guarente of biology has been elected to Fellowship. The membership of more than 1,300 Fellows from more than 27 countries are elected for scientific excellence and scholarly achievement from the microbiology fields of basic and applied research, teaching, public health, industry and government service.
n David Epstein, professor emeritus in music and theater arts and former director of the MIT Symphony Orchestra, has been chosen as an ASCAP Award recipient by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. The cash awards are based on "the unique value of each writer's catalog of original compositions as well as recent performances of those works in areas not surveyed by the Society."
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on September 30, 1998.
