Archive for the ‘In the Spotlight’ Category

French scholar receives award from the French Ministry of Culture

May 23rd, 2013
Marie-Pierre Ulloa

Marie-Pierre Ulloa (by Steve Castillo)

MARIE-PIERRE ULLOA, lecturer in the French Department and associate director of the Taube Center for Jewish Studies, was recently awarded the honorific title of “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French Republic–Minister of Culture and Communication.

A scholar of Francophone and North African history and literature, Ulloa is being recognized for her contributions to the diffusion of French and Francophone culture in the United States.

Established in 1957, the award is given to those who “significantly contributed to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance,” regardless of their nationality.

“I’m happy and honored,” said Ulloa, who sees the award as recognizing both her research and her role as a facilitator of French culture on campus, which she said has been a “true team effort,” with an array of university department and organizations.

Since coming to Stanford in 2004, Ulloa has facilitated visits by Francophone historians, scholars, intellectuals and artists, including scholars Benjamin Stora and Olivier Roy and bestselling Algerian writer Yasmina Khadra.

By drawing attention to the contributions of Francophone artists and scholars, Ulloa said she wanted to induce the campus community to “think about French culture beyond the Euro-centric view.”

Ulloa is the author of “Francis Jeanson, a Dissident Intellectual from the French Resistance to the Algerian War (Stanford University Press, 2008). She is currently working on a book that investigates North African communities in California.

The award and accompanying medallion will be conferred in a ceremony administered by the French Consulate.

—CORRIE GOLDMAN, the Human Experience

‘I am Stanford’

May 15th, 2013

In this video, created by Stanford Athletics, seniors talk about what makes the Farm special to them as athletes and scholars.

France honors Stanford historian Aron Rodrigue

May 14th, 2013

The French Ministry of Education has named ARON RODRIGUE, a professor of history and director of the Stanford Humanities Center, a Knight (Chevalier) of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques.

The Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Order of Academic Palms) is an honorific order of France that recognizes significant accomplishments in the areas of teaching, research and scholarship. Non-French citizens may also receive an award for contributing to the expansion of French education, language and culture throughout the world.

Established by NAPOLEON BONAPARTE in 1808, the distinction became a decoration under Emperor Napoleon III in 1866 and is the oldest non-military French decoration.

Rodrigue, whose research and publications focus on the spread of French language among 19th- and 20th-century Jewish communities in Muslim lands, said he was simultaneously “pleased, surprised and honored” when he learned about the award.

Raised in Istanbul, Rodrigue said his research probably had its origins in his curiosity about why “French was the language of culture” that he encountered in his youth. His scholarly pursuits led him into an investigation of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, a French-Jewish educational system that established schools across the Middle East.

As director of the Humanities Center, Rodrigue founded the International Visitors program, which has invited several French scholars to campus. Years before he became director, Rodrigue co-founded the center’s French Culture Workshop, in which academics from a wide array of disciplines examine questions relevant to French culture and society.

Rodrigue will join three other Stanford scholars who have been recipients of Order of Academic Palms honors, history Professor KEITH BAKER, Clayman Institute scholar MARILYN YALOM and CHARBEL FARHAT, professor of aeronautics and astronautics and of mechanical engineering.

The award and accompanying medallion will be conferred in a ceremony administered by the French Consulate.

—CORRIE GOLDMAN, the Humanities at Stanford

Crown Prince and Princess of Norway visit Stanford

May 10th, 2013

Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and his wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, with David Kelley, a professor of mechanical engineering

CROWN PRINCE HAAKON OF NORWAY and his wife, CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT, toured Stanford on Wednesday during an official visit to the United States that also included stops in Houston, San Francisco and Palo Alto

Leading the royal couple through the Quad, University President JOHN HENNESSY shared Stanford’s history and pointed out distinctive architecture and artwork, including the Rodin sculptures and Memorial Church.

The couple also was treated to presentations at the d.school (official name: The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design), where Professor DAVID KELLEY spoke about the goals of the institute and shared some of the successes of its students.

TINA SEELIG, who directs the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, also described her method to unlock creativity and be routinely innovative.

In brief remarks to a crowd of Stanford students and Norwegian entrepreneurs who gathered there, the Crown Princess thanked Stanford for hosting the couple and lauded the innovative spirit at Stanford and the d.school, in particular.

“You tear down hurdles by combining methods from engineering and design, ideas from the arts, tools from social sciences and insights from the business world,” she said. “By combining expertise from different fields, the d.school finds solutions to complex, real-life challenges.”

—BROOKE DONALD

Innovation from many corners: 2013-14 U.S. and international Knight Fellows selected

May 7th, 2013

Twelve U.S. journalists and innovators have been awarded John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships for the 2013-14 academic year. They were chosen from among 100 applicants.

Next year's domestic Knight Journalism Fellows

“This group of U.S. Knight Fellows is easily the most diversified ever, with fellows coming from daily newspapers, online publications, tech companies and even an academic institution,” said JAMES BETTINGER, director of the Knight Fellowships Program. “This wide range of backgrounds and specialties reflects the variety and depth of expertise and commitment that journalism needs right now.”

The domestic fellows will join eight international fellowswho were selected last month. The program champions innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership in journalism by helping the fellows pursue their ideas to improve the quality of news and information reaching the public. Fellows also participate fully in the intellectual life of the university, through academic classes, lectures, symposiums and individual research.

The 2013-14 international Knight Fellows

The 2013-14 fellows will explore proposals that touch on many aspects of journalism: improving accuracy in reporting on Islam, raising the profile of indigenous perspectives on the news, engaging citizens in local food coverage, helping the public better understand data visualization and getting news quickly to communities hit by disaster. They also will be developing tools to help journalists create high-quality animated editorial cartoons, blog live on mobile platforms, gain relevant coding and data skills and better connect with “millennials” and the changing U.S. demographic.

The international fellows were selected from among 216 applicants. They will be researching a range of ideas to improve journalism, from bringing news to Pakistan’s tribal areas and fostering innovation in China and East Africa to training female reporters in Afghanistan and strengthening press freedoms in Myanmar.

To find out more about the 2013-14 fellows and their projects, visit the Knight Fellowships website.

Martin Reinhard wins Humboldt Research Award

May 6th, 2013

MARTIN REINHARD, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering, has been selected for a Humboldt Research Award, conferred annually in recognition of lifetime achievements in research. The award is presented by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Bonn, Germany, to promote academic collaboration between top international scientists and scholars and colleagues in Germany.

Martin Reinhard

Reinhard studies the fate of organic substances in the subsurface environment. His lab develops technologies for the remediation of contaminated groundwater through chemical and biological transformation reactions in soils, natural waters and treatment systems.

Humboldt awardees are invited to carry out research projects of personal interest in cooperation with German counterparts.

—ANDREW MYERS, School of Engineering

Senior Maya Kornberg awarded Shultz Fellowship

May 3rd, 2013

Thomas L. Friedman, Maya Kornberg and George Shultz

While thousands of Stanford students earn scholarships and have the opportunity to study abroad, for senior MAYA KORNBERG, the awarding of her fellowship to study in Israel this summer was anything but ordinary. “This is an only-at-Stanford kind of morning,” said RABBI SERENA EISENBERG, executive director of Hillel at Stanford. Or as New York Times columnist and author THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN said, “Not many people get a fellowship handed to them by two former secretaries of state.” Not to mention a best-selling author.

Condoleezza Rice and Maya Kornberg

At a breakfast gathering at Hillel Thursday morning, Kornberg was awarded the George and Charlotte Shultz Fellowship for Modern Israel Studies from former U.S. Secretary of State CONDOLEEZZA RICE. Rice, also a professor of political science and business at Stanford, happened to teach Kornberg in her undergraduate foreign policy seminar winter quarter. Kornberg also received accolades from the namesake of the fellowship, GEORGE SHULTZ, also a former U.S. secretary of state. And Friedman, who established the fellowship in honor of Shultz on the occasion of Shultz’s 90th birthday two years ago, also joined in bestowing the honor.

“This fellowship is an example of what Stanford does best,” Rice said. “Great research universities bring together people from the entire academic spectrum, from 18-year-old freshmen to Nobel laureates, and put them together to instill in all of us a desire to search for the truth.” Despite her many commitments, Rice said she did not hesitate when asked to serve on the Shultz Fellowship review committee: “Anything with George’s name, I pay attention. George is emblematic of a great public servant, and he is also a university person, deeply involved with students. And Tom Friedman, he has helped us see inside this complicated region more clearly than any author or scholar I know.”

Rice, Shultz and Friedman all noted that a visit to Israel is essential for any scholar working to understand the Middle East. Friedman said he established the fellowship in recognition of Shultz’s “tireless efforts to broker Middle East peace,” and that the honor is available to any Stanford student interested in studying Israel or the Arab-Israeli peace process. The Shultzes then added to the fellowship, as did philanthropists LAURA LAUDER and JIM KOSHLAND. (Because of university restrictions on funding research opportunities in Israel while the State Department maintains a travel advisory there, the fellowship fund was established at Hillel at Stanford, which administers the award.)

Last year, the first fellowship was awarded to EMILY WARREN, a joint JD-economics PhD candidate, who used the time to study how Israel’s defense investments in the late 1980s resulted in a tech boom in the early 1990s.

Kornberg, a graduating senior majoring in international relations, intends to use her fellowship to examine Israeli political parties’ campaigns in elections between 1967 and 2013, investigating the platforms and rhetoric on issues relating to the peace process, such as territorial division, the status of Jerusalem and rights of return.

“What I have appreciated most about my Stanford experience is that they just keep throwing these amazing opportunities at you all the time,” said Kornberg, who is the daughter and granddaughter of two Nobel laureates, ROGER KORNBERG and the late ARTHUR KORNBERG. Her proud mother, who was toting a camera Thursday morning, is YAHLI LORCH, associate professor of structural biology.

Maya Kornberg plans to pursue a graduate degree in public policy at Columbia University. But when she returns from Israel, she has a date to meet with Rice, Shultz and Friedman to share what she learned.

—LISA LAPIN

Three Cardinal football players drafted by the NFL

May 1st, 2013

 

Photo Credit: David Gonzales/Stanford Athletics

Zach Ertz

Photo Credit: Dani Vernon/Stanford Athletics

Stepfan Taylor

Photo Credit: Don Feria/Stanford Athletics

Levine Toilolo

Three Stanford football players were selected in the 2013 NFL Draft last weekend with tight ends ZACH ERTZ and LEVINE TOILOLO being called alongside running back STEPFAN TAYLOR.

Ertz was chosen by the Philadelphia Eagles with the 35th overall pick (third pick of the second round); Toilolo was selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the 36th pick of the fourth round (133rd overall); and Taylor was called upon by Arizona with the 7th pick of the fifth round (140th overall).

It marked the fourth straight year that Stanford had at least three players drafted.

Ertz said he is excited about playing for Philadelphia. “My mom and dad were both born in Pennsylvania, so it feels like this very cool circle of life. I can’t stop thinking about how the Pac-12 gave me my start, and now I will be able to keep playing for a coach that I respected since I started at Stanford. Thank you all for your support,” Ertz said.

“I’m beyond excited right now. I’m looking forward to being a part of the Falcons organization,” said Toilolo. “I can’t wait to get out there to Atlanta, get to work and be a part of this team.”

For his part, Taylor called it a blessing to be a part of the Arizona Cardinals’ organization. “This is the perfect situation for me. I want to thank the Stanford family for the last four years, all of their support and best wishes.”

In addition, six players will get their chance to play professionally after being signed to free agent or rookie minicamp contracts with NFL teams.

Read more on gostanford.com.

Harold Hwang wins top Korean Award

April 30th, 2013

 

Harold Hwang

HAROLD Y. HWANG, professor of applied physics and photon science at Stanford and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, has won the 2013 Ho-Am Award in Science, one of five annual awards often referred to as the Korean equivalent of the Nobel prizes.

The award – which consists of a 6-ounce gold medal, a laureate diploma and a cash prize of 300 million Korean won (about $265,000) – will be presented May 31 in Seoul. Recipients also are scheduled to give commemorative lectures at major universities, academies and high schools across Korea.

Hwang is an expert in creating complex oxide materials with extraordinary electronic and magnetic properties, including superconductivity. Made of alternating atomic layers of metals and oxygen, these materials are the focus of intense worldwide research seeking to design new combinations for electronics, sensing and energy applications.

“Complex oxides are today where semiconductors were early in the 20th century, when crystal radios were state of the art,” Hwang said. “If you put various semiconductors together, you can make fantastic devices just because the semiconductor interface can range from an insulator to a good conductor. With complex oxides, however, you can add superconductivity, magnetism, ferroelectricity and many other properties. Imagine the possibilities.”

The key, he said, is determining the principles that give each atomic arrangement its special behavior. Hwang and colleagues use SLAC’s light sources to probe the electronic behavior of these materials. His team is creating a chamber that will enable researchers to create complex materials layer by layer and measure their properties at the same time.

The Ho-Am Prize was established by Samsung in 1990 to honor its founding chairman, the late Byung-Chull Lee. “Ho-Am” was Lee’s pen name. Awards are given each year in the categories of science, engineering, medicine, arts and community service. In addition, a Ho-Am Prize in Mass Communication was awarded from 1991 to 1994 and in 1996.

A total of 177 people have received Ho-Am prizes, including two Stanford professors: THOMAS LEE (2011, engineering) and STUART K. KIM (2004, medicine).

Ho-Am Prizes are awarded to people of Korean origin. (The prize for community service, however, can also be awarded to non-Koreans who made outstanding contributions to Korea and Koreans at home and abroad.) Hwang’s parents are from Korea, and came to Southern California for graduate school. He said he’s descended from a Chinese merchant who moved to the Korean peninsula about a thousand years ago.

—MIKE ROSS, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Stanford’s Asian Staff Forum hosts Adam Johnson

April 29th, 2013

Newly minted Pulitzer Prize winner and English Professor Adam Johnson signs books at an Asian Staff Forum talk.

When the Asian Staff Forum (ASF) invited ADAM JOHNSON, associate professor of English, to speak to their group about his novel The Orphan Master’s Son, they had no idea that just a few days before the event their guest would win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

The Orphan Master’s Son, Johnson’s third novel, is a gripping tale about a young man’s life and struggles in North Korea during Kim Jong Il’s reign. The ASF seeks to promote the interests of Stanford employees of Asian/Pacific/Indian subcontinent descent or affinity.

Originally planned as an intimate discussion at the Asian American Activities Center, the event was moved to the Humanities Center to accommodate more people. But Johnson played down the impact the prize was having on his daily life. Asked by an audience member how it felt to win a Pulitzer, Johnson said that since the announcement his dishwasher had broken and he had gotten a parking ticket, so “everything feels the same.”

A curiosity about the “great tragedies of the world” inspired Johnson to learn more about the turbulent history of the Korean peninsula and the harsh reality of life in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). He gleaned what he could from policy texts and frequent visits to propaganda laden DPRK websites. “Scenarios, scenes and dialogue” that filled in the missing human stories “just started coming out,” he said.

As a fiction writer, Johnson was particularly intrigued by how the strict rules of the Kim dynasty have created a “single national story” for North Koreans.

In an effort to learn more about the cryptic society, Johnson visited North Korea in 2007. He knew that in such a closed society where even family members censor each other, he wouldn’t be able to stop people on the streets to learn more about their lives, but said that he learned a lot through observation. His imagination filled in the rest.

“Legend, myth, rumor and dreams are powerful tools” when it comes to “building a psychological portrait,” Johnson told the group.

—CORRIE GOLDMAN, Humanities at Stanford