Claude H. Lupis, the Danae and Vasilis Professor of Ferrous Metallurgy, has been named a Fellow of ASM International, the materials information society (formerly the American Metals Society). ASM President Gordon H. Geiger cited Lupis "for seminal contributions to the application of thermodynamic principles to chemical metallurgy, and for the development of economic analysis for large-scale metallurgical systems."
Shane Hamilton, a graduate student in the Program in Science, Technology and Society, won the Siegel Prize, a $2,000 award given annually for the best essay on issues relating to science, technology and society written by an MIT student in the previous year. His essay, "Cold Capitalism: The Political Ecology of Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice," was written for a graduate seminar taught by Professor Harriet Ritvo in the spring of 2002. Hamilton is working on a dissertation about the role of long-haul trucking in American food distribution in the 20th century.
Professor Kim Vicente has received one of two Steacie Fellowships, one of Canada's premier science and engineering prizes, granted by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Vicente, the Hunsaker Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, is a leader in the growing field of cognitive engineering. "Rather than expecting people to adapt to complex machines, cognitive engineers try to rework the design of technological systems to match what we know about human nature. In everyday situations, this leads to devices that are easier and less frustrating for people to use," he said.
The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) honored MIT with the New England Higher Education Excellence Award to recognize its "excellence in improving the diversity of the student and faculty bodies and outreach/partnership to the community." The citation noted that MIT has been a steadfast supporter and host of the NEBHE Science Network conference, which matches more than 400 New England secondary, undergraduate and graduate students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines with more than 100 industry and academic leaders. MIT "has also taken an initiative in developing programs that increase the number of women on the faculty, while creating a fair and supportive environment," the citation added.
Two honors have recently accrued to Ellen T. Harris, the Class of 1949 Endowed Professor in Music. She won the Louis Gottschalk Prize of the American Society for 18th-Century Studies, given to honor an outstanding historical or critical study on the 18th century. Harris is the author of "Handel as Orpheus: Voice and Desire in the Chamber Cantatas." She also has been awarded membership in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., for spring 2004. While in residence, she will write on Handel's life in London refracted through the lives of his little-known friends.
Thomas P. Hughes, the Mellon Professor Emeritus of the University of Pennsylvania and Distinguished Visiting Professor in MIT's Program in Science, Technology and Society (STS), has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded an engineer. Hughes, the first historian of technology to be named to the NAE., was cited for his contributions to that field. An assistant professor at MIT in the 1960s, he returned to MIT in the early 1990s as a visiting professor in STS, and he was named to his current position in 1999. Other newly elected NAE members from the Institute were announced in the March 5 issue of MIT Tech Talk.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on April 2, 2003.
