Two MIT doctoral candidates in physics-Naomi Makins and Chung-Pei Ma-are among 23 women who have received Educational Foundation Awards for 1993 from the Association for Women in Science.
The AWIS Education Foundation was established in 1974 to provide recognition and financial support to women pursuing PhDs in technical and scientific fields. Ms. Makins received the $1,000 Louise Meyer-Schutzmeister Award; Ms. Ma received a $250 Citation of Merit.
-----
Dr. Mark Harvey, lecturer in music and instructor in jazz studies courses in the Music and Theater Arts Faculty, has received a 1993-94 award from ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) for his composition and performance in the field of jazz. The awards in this category encourage those who write serious, extended compositions in the jazz idiom.
-----
Helen W. Samuels, Institute Archivist and Head of Special Collections in the MIT Libraries, has received the 1993 Waldo Gifford Leland Prize for her book Varsity Letters: Documenting Modern Colleges and Universities. The prize, given by the Society of American Archivists, is for a North American publication of "superior excellence and usefulness in the field of archival history, theory, or practice."
A study of the functions of colleges and universities, Varsity Letters is intended to aid those responsible for the documentation of these institutions. The seven functions examined are: to confer credentials, convey knowledge, foster socialization, conduct research, sustain the institution, provide public service and promote culture. The functional approach provides the means to achieve a comprehensive understanding of an institution and its documentation: a knowledge of what is to be documented and the problems of gathering the desired documentation.
-----
MIT's Gamma Pi Chapter of Kappa Sigma fraternity was one of 11 chapters nationwide to receive the Founder's Award for chapter excellence at the recent biennial conclave of the national fraternity in Dallas. The award recognizes outstanding performance in all areas of operation and campus and community inolvement. The fraternity is represented on 223 campuses.
-----
Two June graduates-Roy L. Rasera and Roderick D. Tranum-have been named 1993 Laureates by Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honor Society-but not primarily for their scholastic achievements.
The Laureate program recognizes gifted engineering students who have excelled in areas beyond their technical majors-in Roy's case, music, and in Roderick's, football.
They'll be honored in October at the society's annual convention, each receiving a $2,500 cash award and a plaque.
Rasera who received the SB in both music and materials science and engineering, creates, composes and performs in every musical genre from chamber music to rock and from a capella to acoustic compositions.
At the Media Lab, he created a 22-minute piece of electronic music that premiered in May. He also wrote short songs and minuets under the guidance of Pulitzer Prize-winning professor John Harbison. In the classical mode, he is completing a violin sonata. He joined the MIT Logarhythms his senior year and plans to continue singing with the group as a graduate student.
Tranum, who received the SB in electrical engineering, was a wide receiver for the MIT varsity football team, breaking nearly every school record for the position. He was 1992 Academic All-American of the year in football, and the Boston Gridiron Club's Nils "Swede" Nelson award winner for dedication both in the classroom and on the football field.
In his senior year, at the invitation of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame, he went to New York City, where he was one of 15 in the nation to receive $18,000 fellowships.
-----
Two MIT professors are among 21 scientists around the world who received the most personal acknowledgements in astronomy and astrophysics journals in 1992.
Associate Professor Edmund W. Bertschinger of physics and Professor Paul L. Schechter of physics both received 18 personal acknowledgements in papers from seven leading journals in astronomy and astrophysics.
The Astronomy Acknowledgement Index 1992 was published in the March 1993 edition of The ESO Messenger (European Southern Observatory). All scientists cited in the Index received personal acknowledgements in at least 15 papers.
A version of this article appeared in the September 22, 1993 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 38, Number 7).
