Dr. Stephen J. Lippard, Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry, has received the 1995 William H. Nichols Medal of the American Chemical Society's New York Section.Dr. Lippard was cited "for creative contributions in bioinorganic and organometallic chemistry, characterized by extraordinary breadth and depth, that have profoundly stimulated researchers and disciplines."
The society said that Dr. Lippard ranks among the pioneers of bioorganic chemistry, lifting the study of metal-nucleic acid interactions from biochemical empiricism to studies of basic coordination chemistry.
Dr. Lippard, who will become head of the Department of Chemistry in July, has received many fellowships and awards including election to the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Medicine, the Ballard Medal and the ACS Award for Distinguished Service in Inorganic Chemistry and election as Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Roman W. Jackiw, professor of physics at the Center for Theoretical Physics, is the 1995 winner of the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics. He was cited "for his imaginative use of quantum field theory to throw light on physical problems, including his work on topological solutions, field theory at high temperatures, the existence of anomalies and the role of these anomalies in particle physics." The prize was established to encourage further research in the field of mathematical physics. Since 1959 it has been administered by the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics.
A physicist, a photographer and an urban planner from MIT are among 152 artists, scholars and scientists selected for 1995 Guggenheim Fellowships. They were chosen from a field of more than 2,800 applicants in the annual competition. Dr. Patrick A. Lee, William and Emma Rogers Professor of Physics, plans to work on a theory of high-temperature superconductors. Felice Frankel, a visiting lecturer in electrical engineering and computer science and artist-in-residence, will conduct a photographic exploration of the science of surfaces. Dr. Lawrence J. Vale, Mitsui Career Development Assistant Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, will continue his work on the death and life of American public housing. Dr. Herbert Kottler, head of the Aerospace Division of Lincoln Laboratory, has been awarded the NASA Public Service Medal by Daniel S. Golden, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The award was in recognition of the exceptional contributions to the coordination, development and implementation of the Hubble Space Telescope Independent Test Review Panel.
Dr. Jackie Y. Ying, Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Career Development Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, recently received an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award for showing exceptional promise for doing creative research and teaching. She is one of 33 investigators selected for the awards from more than 400 applicants this year. Her award includes a base grant, special equipment and matching funds for up to $500,000 towards research in nanostructured materials. The grant will particularly enhance her research activities in nitride-based nanocomposite processing and surface chemistry.
The School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London has chosen The Child and the State in India (Princeton University Press, 1991) by Professor Myron Weiner as the winner of the school's Edgar Graham Book Prize for 1994. The prize is awarded every two years for a work of original scholarship on agriculture and/or industrial development in Asia and/or Africa. Dr. Weiner is Ford Professor of Political Science.
Philip W. Tracadas, a senior majoring in management and earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences with a minor in film and media studies, has won a State Farm Exceptional Student fellowship award from State Farm Insurance.
Fifty $3,000 fellowships will be awarded by the State Farm companies foundation in 1995. A supplemental grant of $250 is made to the institution which nominates a student receiving the award. The purpose of the fellowship is to recognize excellent scholars in business-related fields of study who are leaders on their campuses.
Dr. George S. Boolos, professor of philosophy, has been elected president of the Association for Symbolic Logic for 1995-1998. Professor Boolos earned his PhD from MIT in 1966 and joined the faculty in 1969.
The Association for Symbolic Logic, with about 1,500 members from around the world, is the foremost association devoted to logic. It supports research and critical studies in logic and provides a forum for the presentation, publication and critical discussion of scholarly work in the field. It publishes the Journal of Symbolic Logic and a new journal, Bulletin of Symbolic Logic.
Dr. David R. Karger, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, has won the doctoral dissertation award of the Association of Computing Machinery. The award, presented in March, was for "Random Sampling in Graph Optimization Problems," done at Stanford University.
An MIT thesis also has been selected for distinction. The Center for Meteorology and Physical Oceanography has presented its Rossby Award to Dr. Roger Atkinson for "An Observational Study of the Austral Spring Stratosphere: Dynamics, Ozone Transport and the `Ozone Dilution Effect.'" Dr. Atkinson's work is the most comprehensive and sophisticated study yet done of southern hemisphere ozone transport, the selection committee said. Dr. Atkinson is now at the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia.
Sometimes recognition is slow in coming. Saferide staff member James R. Brackett of Campus Police recently received notice that his Naval Reserve unit was included in a Joint Meritorious Award presented to the Unified Task Force for service in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. The award cites humanitarian activities that took place nearly two years ago.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on April 26, 1995.
