An MIT student and two recent MIT graduates have been awarded 2008 Gates Cambridge Scholarships. Senior Talia Gershon, Naveen Krishnan SB '07 and Ingrid Lawhorn SB '06 are among 45 students who will study at the University of Cambridge.
Created in 2000 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Gates Cambridge Scholarships are awarded on the basis of intellectual ability, leadership capacity and desire to contribute to society through community service and by applying one's talents and knowledge to improve the lives of others.
Cynthia Barnhart has been named president of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). Barnhart, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and engineering systems, is co-director of MIT's Operations Research Center and associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Engineering.
A hallmark of her one-year term will be hosting a series of public-policy presentations by prominent politicians, government officials and academics at the INFORMS annual meeting this coming fall. The presentations will show how operations-research analysts approach current challenges in airline congestion and transportation, health care, and energy and the environment.
Recent recipient of a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship and one of Glamour magazine's top 10 college women of 2007, senior Melis Anahtar has struck again. She is one of 20 students to be named to USA Today's 2008 All-USA College Academic First Team. USA Today editor Ken Paulson describes the honor as recognizing "academic excellence and community service throughout the country and around the world."
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on February 27, 2008 (download PDF).
