Professor Alice Amsden of urban studies and planning is the co-winner of the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. The prize, given by Tufts University's Global Development and Environment Institute (GDEI), recognizes economists whose work is broadening the field of economics to better comprehend urgent contemporary issues. "As it becomes clear that the free market is leaving many behind in the current wave of globalization, Alice Amsden and Dani Rodrik [of Harvard] are demonstrating why the theories of free trade have not measured up to their promises," said GDEI co-director Neva Goodwin. Amsden, the Ellen Swallow Richards Professor of Political Economy, is author of "The Rise of 'The Rest': Challenges to the West from Late-Industrializing Economies" (2000), which highlights the importance of an active state in promoting industrialization.
Shoji Shiba, a visiting professor in MIT's Leaders for Manufacturing program, has been awarded the Deming Prize for Individuals, one of the highest awards for Total Quality Management (TQM). He was honored for his work in globalizing TQM through his research; introducing TQM to industry in Hungary and the United States; and, "by integrating social sciences and international business, providing an 'out-of-the-box' contrast to the homogeneous thinking of most Japanese quality practitioners." The prize was established in 1951 to commemorate the late Dr. William Edwards Deming, who contributed greatly to Japan's proliferation of statistical quality control after World War II.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation has awarded J. Troy Littleton, assistant professor of biology and a researcher in the Center for Learning and Memory, a David and Lucile Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering. The 20 Packard Fellows will each receive $625,000 over five years beginning this month.
The Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Laboratory's Glenn T. Seaborg Institute has awarded Virginia Curran, a graduate student in nuclear engineering, the inaugural Darleane Hoffman Fellowship. The award's funding stems from the Department of Energy's Defense Programs Nuclear Science Internship Program. Curran's thesis advisor, Professor Ken Czerwinski, was a student of Hoffman, a chemist recognized for her study of the transuranic elements.
Professor Stephen J. Lippard received the Fred Basolo Medal for Outstanding Research in Inorganic Chemistry at a Joint Meeting of the Northwestern University Department of Chemistry and the Chicago section of the American Chemical Society. The award was established by former students of Basolo at Northwestern. Lippard's research includes structural and mechanistic studies of platinum anticancer drugs and of methane monooxygenase, the synthesis of carboxylate-bridged dimetallic complexes as models for redox-active enzymes and metallohydrolases, and probes for the neurochemical function of zinc and nitric oxide. He is the Arthur Amos Noyes Professor and department head in chemistry.
Elias P. Gyftopoulos, the Ford Professor Emeritus in the departments of mechanical engineering and nuclear engineering, received the Robert Henry Thurston Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for "publishing significant scholarly books and articles, which represent landmark contributions to thermodynamics and related physical sciences."
Ten MIT graduate students have been chosen to receive Siebel Scholar awards of $25,000 apiece. Five of the MIT recipients are in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science: Ryan N. Lang ,Adrian Birka ,Ketan D. Vyas ,Brian P. Ginsburg and Timothy Kuan-Ta Lu . The other five are in the Sloan School of Management: Todd Alwart ,Oliver Bergmann ,Phil Lapsley ,Matthew J. Lockwood Mullaney and Guido Meardi . When the Siebel Scholars Program was founded, each of 11 prestigious business and computer science schools received a $2.6 million endowment from Siebel Systems, Inc., to support the program. Siebel employees, including chairman Thomas M. Siebel, also assist Siebel Scholars in numerous ways: providing mentoring, assisting with job searches, andhelping with business and public service initiatives.
Richard O'Bryant, a graduate student in urban studies and planning, is one of five recipients of the 2002-03 National Rising Scholars Award to Advance Research on Higher Education for the Public Good. The award is given to early-career researchers or advanced graduate students who do research that explores higher education's role in serving the public good. O'Bryant will use his award for research in information technology and low-income communities.
Freshman Salvatore Pallante has won a $1,500 Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame Scholarship. Given each year to a pair of outstanding student athletes from Staten Island, N.Y., the award is now dedicated to the memory of firefighter Michael Cammarata, who died in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center. Pallante was a top student and a star wrestler at St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School. He plans to major in electrical engineering and computer science but will forego wrestling in order to focus on his studies. Following his death, Cammarata's parents found a letter he had written saying that should something happen to him, he hoped that his spirit would live on. They decided funding the scholarship was the ideal way to fulfill their son's wish.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on December 11, 2002.
