Professor of Physics Frank Wilczek has garnered another award: the Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society . The prize cites Wilczek's "role in the development of asymptomatic freedom and other aspects of quantum chromodynamics, a cornerstone of the standard model; for his remarkable versatility in research in condensed matter and astrophysics as well as particle physics; and for his outstanding ability to lecture and write with clarity, profundity and enthusiasm."
Jonathan Y. Lee, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science, was recently named the Sigma Nu Fraternity Talent of the Year for 2002. Lee (S.B. 2002), a member of MIT's Epsilon Theta chapter of Sigma Nu, is an accomplished pianist who has played with the Boston Pops during Tech Night at MIT. He also has served on the InterFraternity Council, directed the MIT/Wellesley Toons a capella group, and assisted in research on campus. Criteria for the award included talent, academic achievement, campus/fraternity involvement, service and leadership. Lee also was selected as an Alpha Chapter Affiliate, recognizing him as one of the top 10 graduating seniors in the Sigma Nu fraternity nationwide.
Janelle Thompson, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering, has received a Switzer Environmental Fellowship . She is one of 19 in the nation to receive the award for early-career environmental leaders. Thompson, who is pursuing a Ph.D. through the MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute's Joint Program, researches the microbial ecology of coastal ecosystems. Her work aims to understand the environmental conditions that influence the distribution and abundance of pathogens endemic to the marine environment, other than those associated with sewage contamination.
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has awarded a fellowship to Professor Susan Slyomovics of anthropology. Slyomovics, who is the Genevieve McMillan-Reba Stewart Professor of the Study of Women in the Developing World, will write a book that will investigate how civil society is reconstructed after periods of authoritarian rule in Morocco, focusing on the role that ritual and artists play in public truth-telling.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on November 20, 2002.
