"Belfer Center Newsmakers"

Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter, pages 12-13

Summer 2008

Graham Allison, director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and former United States Senator Bob Graham, associate and former senior fellow at the Belfer Center, have been appointed to the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, a newly formed Congressional commission.

Former Senator Bob Graham recently opened the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida. The Graham Center takes a multidisciplinary approach to solving problems related to public policy, focusing specifically on public leadership, public problems in the Americas, and homeland security.

Albert Carnesale, Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Political Economy at the Kennedy School and member of the Belfer Center Board of Directors, has been named chair of the Committee for Sustaining and Improving the Nation's Nuclear Forensics Capabilities at the National Academies.  The project will examine the United States’ nuclear forensics capabilities, discuss their findings, and provide recommendations for improvement.

William C. Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development at Harvard Kennedy School and member of the Belfer Center Board of Directors, has been appointed chair of the Harvard Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Task Force by Harvard President Drew Faust. Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program Director John P. Holdren has also been named by President Faust to serve on the task force, which is comprised of a small group of Harvard faculty, students and staff. The task force is charged with examining the university’s greenhouse gas emissions and developing a recommendation for a greenhouse gas reducing goal.

Kelly Sims Gallagher, adjunct lecturer and director of the Belfer Center’s Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, has been invited to serve as a lead author of the Global Energy Assessment, focusing on policy for energy innovation. The Global Energy Assessment is a major initiative created to help global leaders.

Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development and director of the Belfer Center’s Science, Technology, and Globalization project, has been appointed a special advisor to the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Juma’s assignment is to advise on the future of the commission, which is divided between those who want to resume commercial whaling and those who do not.

Matthew Meselson,Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences and a member of the Belfer Center Board of Directors, has discovered with Harvard graduate student Eugene Gladyshev that a tiny aquatic animal— the bdelloid rotifer —is able to withstand far more radiation than any other known animal. The finding is significant for the impact it may have on treatment of cancer, inflammation, and other medical issues.

Richard Rosecrance, adjunct professor at Harvard Kennedy School and senior fellow with the Center’s International Security Program, has been awarded the International Studies Association Distinguished Scholar Award. The award commends Rosecrance for his 50 years of outstanding work in international security as well as his mentoring of scholars who have become leaders in the field. 

Monica Duffy Toft, associate professor of public policy and member of the Belfer Center Board of Directors, has been named a 2008 Carnegie Scholar by the Carnegie Foundation of New York. The prestigious award, which grants scholars up to $100,000 to advance the public dialogue on Islam, will enable Toft to further her research on the role that Islam and other religions play in civil conflicts. 

Lifeng Zhao, Energy Technology Innovation Policy (ETIP) fellow, has been invited to serve as a lead author of the Global Assessment.

The Belfer Center website (www.belfercenter.org) has been selected as an Official Honoree for the Politics category in the 12th Annual Webby Awards, the leading international awards honoring excellence on the Internet. Distinction is awarded to work that scores in the top 15 percent of all sites entered from 50 states and 60 countries.

— Compiled by Courtney Anderson, Communications Office

For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center Communications Office at 617-495-9858.

For Academic Citation:
Communications Office. "Belfer Center Newsmakers." Belfer Center Newsletter (Summer 2008): 12-13.