Samuel Jay Keyser, special assistant to the chancellor and professor emeritus of linguistics and philosophy, received an honoree award for "The Pond God and Other Stories" (Front Street). The book was one of four to receive the award from judges for the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, given by three organizations within Pennsylvania State University each year to an American poet or anthologist for the most outstanding new book of children's poetry.
Judges wrote that "The Pond God" (illustrated by Robert Shetterly) "is a gem of a book full of wisdom poems that zing at the end like the Zen master's stick ... Readers who love Kahil Gibran will find again a largeness of heart and unabashed lyricism."
At Keyser's suggestion, all royalties for books sold in the last quarter of 2003 (Keyser's, Shetterly's and the publisher's) were donated to "Only a Child," a nonprofit organization that takes Guatemalan street children off the streets, gives them a place to live and teaches them a trade.
"The Pond God" has also earned a spot on the "Books of Note" list compiled by the Tri-State Book Review Committee, which represents public schools, public libraries and private schools in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.
Subra Suresh, head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, will receive a Humboldt Research Award, conferred by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in recognition of lifetime achievements in science. Awardees are invited to carry out research projects of their own choice in cooperation with colleagues in Germany.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on May 5, 2004.
