Sina Kevin Nazemi, a sophomore in political science, is among 20 US university students to be recognized as the first group of Goldman Sachs Global Leaders by the Goldman Sachs Foundation. The winners are recognized for their academic and leadership achievements with a $2,000 prize. Ten of the students plus 40 others selected internationally this spring will have the opportunity to participate in the Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Institute in July in New York City, and will receive an additional $3,000 and a laptop computer. The Leaders Institute will offer seminars on global leadership, the new world economy, e-commerce and international development led by leading business school faculty and senior executives.
Professor Donald R. Sadoway has been elected a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences. He is known for his work in high-temperature electrochemistry and its impact on electrolytic production of light metals such as aluminum and magnesium. Norway is a major producer of these metals. Dr. Sadoway, a MacVicar Faculty Fellow, is the John F. Elliot Professor of Materials Chemistry in the materials science and engineering.
Professor Joseph V. Bonventre, director of Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, was awarded an honorary doctor of medicine degree on May 11 by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. "Professor Bonventre has been a vital and inspiring support in the development of the national research programme in medical technology at NTNU, established in cooperation with the Research Council of Norway," said Professor Tore Lindmo of NTNU's Programme for Medical Technology at the ceremony.
Jennifer Harris Trosper (SB 1990) has been named a 2001 inductee to the Verizon Academic All-America Hall of Fame. Ms. Trosper was an Academic All-America in volleyball her senior year at MIT and lettered in volleyball all four years. She also lettered in softball her senior year. A resident of Pasadena, CA, she received her master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California and is currently the project systems engineer for the Mars Exploration Rover Program at NASA.
Juniors Lei Lei of management and David Ngo of aeronautics and astronautics won a $500 prize in the Web Flash Contest sponsored by the University Park Hotel@MIT and the MIT Student Technology Council. The two used Flash software to create a five-second introduction to the hotel's web site.
Timothy Berners-Lee, the 3Com Founders Professor in the Laboratory for Computer Science, has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society, the United Kingdom's national academy of science founded in 1660. Professor Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, is one of 49 new Fellows in 2001. He was recognized "for his work in revolutionizing communication through the Internet." Fellows are elected for "their contributions to science, both in fundamental research resulting in greater understanding, and also in leading and directing scientific and technological progress in industry and research."
Professor Emeritus of Chemical and Fuel Engineering J������nos Be�r is receiving the George Westinghouse Gold Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The award recognizes eminent achievement or distinguished service in the power field of mechanical engineering. "Among Be�r's impressive list of firsts is providing an anaology for modeling combustion systems using water model studies; developing scaling laws and criteria for use in combustors and furnaces; studying single droplet combustion and providing the burning rates of droplets; and determining means for reducing NOx emission from fluidized bed combustors, furnaces and combustion turbines," according to the ASME.
Institute Professor and Nobel laureate Mario Molina received an honorary doctor of science degree from Trinity College. Professor Molina shared the 1995 Nobel prize for his work showing the impact of chlorofluorocarbons on the ozone layer. "You have taught us how vulnerable the Earth's atmosphere is to environmental pollution created by human beings," said Trinity president Evan S. Dobelle presenting Professor Molina his degree "for your invaluable contributions as a scientist, for your impact on countless students and the field of chemistry as a teacher and researcher, and for putting science to work in service to humanity."
Professor of Technology and Policy Nicholas A. Ashford, founder and director of the Technology and Law Program in the School of Engineering, received the first Technology and Policy Program Faculty Appreciation Award for "Faculty with a Difference." Student nominations cited his excellence in teaching and concern for students. "Professor Ashford's classes, like his personal background, synthesize academic disciplines, weaving them into a meaningful whole that is greater than the sum of its parts," students wrote.
The co-winners of first and third place in the annual 2.007 machine design competition will be joined by two other students in mechanical engineering and Professor Alexander H. Slocum at the International Design Contest (IDC) in Tokyo. The MIT students who will participate in the two-week trip are sophomores William S. Delhagen and Alexander T. Jacobs, co-winners of 2.007; sophomore William Lark and junior Bryan Schmid, co-third-place winners of 2.007; and sophomores Sarah Mandelowitz and Jessica Baker.
The IDC was started 11 years ago by Professor Harry West, then in charge of 2.007, and Professor Masashi Shimizu of the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The IDC brings together six students each from eight countries to form mixed teams who have two weeks to design and build machines to compete in a mega version of 2.007.
Professor Emeritus Norman Ham of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics received the American Helicopter Society Fellow Award for "outstanding contributions to the goals and objectives of the vertical flight industry." The written program for the awards ceremony, held in Washington, DC, refers to Professor Ham as the "father of individual blade control" and states that he "contributed extensively to the rotorcraft community in the areas of helicopter blade flutter and aeroelasticity, dynamic stall, active control and tilt-rotor gust response and alleviation, wind turbine aeroelasticity and on-blade control and measurement... During his tenure at MIT, he has influenced many other... aerospace engineers with his enthusiasm for the industry and his warm sense of humor."
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 6, 2001.
