Faculty Honors and Awards | 2013  

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SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
David Kaiser awarded the Davis Prize from the History of Science Society
The History of Science Society has awarded the Watson and Helen Miles Davis Prize to MIT historian and physicist David Kaiser, for his book How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival (W. W. Norton, 2011). 
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HISTORY
Kirkus Review names Ebony and Ivy, by Craig Wilder as a best nonfiction book of 2013
Ebony & Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America's Universities casts a strong light on the deep history of American education with the intention of making us think, matter-of-factly, about race in the larger trajectory of American history.
Story at Kirkus | About the book


SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Economist names The Triumph of Human Empire, by Rosalind Williams, as one of the best books of 2013
The Economist has named The Triumph of Human Empire: Verne, Morris and Stevenson at the End of the World (University of Chicago Press), by Rosalind H. Williams, one of the best books of 2013. Williams is the Bern Dibner Professor of the History of Science and Technology in MIT's Program in Science, Technology, and Society.
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SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Atlantic names Natasha Dow Schüll's Addiction by Design as a best book of 2013
Atlantic senior editor Alexis Madgiral writes: "Addiction by Design is one of the foundational artifacts for understanding the digital age — a lever, perhaps, to pry ourselves from the grasp of the coercive loops that now surround us." 
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ANTHROPOLOGY
Manduhai Buyandelger receives $25K Levitan Prize in the Humanities
Associate Professor of Anthropology Manduhai Buyandelger has been awarded the 2014 James A. (1945) and Ruth Levitan Prize in the Humanities, a $25,000 research grant that will support her in-depth ethnographic study of parliamentary elections in Mongolia, with specific emphasis on the experience of female candidates. 
Story


LINGUISTICS
Wayne O'Neil named as AAAS fellow
Wayne O'Neil, Professor of Linguistics, is among five MIT professors recently named as AAAS fellows — recognized by their peers for efforts to advance science or its applications. O'Neill was cited for distinguished contributions to the history of Germanic languages, and for developing ways of teaching scientific work on language.
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SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
Rosalind Williams receives Leonardo da Vinci Medal for lifetime achievement
Awarded by the Society for the History of Technology, the Leonardo da Vinci Medal is the society's highest honor, presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the history of technology, through research, teaching, publications, and other activities. Williams, Bern Dibner Professor of the History of Science and Technology, received the award on October 11, 2013. 
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HISTORY
Dower receives Award for Scholarly Distinction, lifetime achievement 
MIT historian John Dower has received the American Historical Association’s (AHA) Award for Scholarly Distinction, one of the highest forms of career recognition in the field. The award is being given for “lifetime achievement in the discipline,” and will be formally announced in January at the association’s 128th annual meeting, in Washington. The AHA described Dower as a “pre-eminent scholar in East Asian history” who has “won acclaim as a teacher, and has been equally engaged with audiences beyond the campus.” 
Story


SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
Doctoral candidate Alma Steingart to join the Harvard Society of Fellows
Steingart’s work demonstrates how ideas about what counted as legitimate mathematical knowledge were deeply embedded in political, economic, and institutional contexts shaped by science during the Cold War. We think of math as timeless, but just over the course of the twentieth century, what counts as math to mathematicians has changed, sometimes quite significantly.  
Story | Steingart webpage


POLITICAL SCIENCE 
Gina Bateson wins 2013 Heinz Eulau Award 
The award is given for the best article published in the American Political Science Review in the previous calender year. Her article, "Crime Victimization and Political Participation" appeared in the August 2012 edition. Bateson received her award at the APSA Award Luncheon, August 29, 2013. 
Read the article | Bateson webpage


POLITICAL SCIENCE 
Teppei Yamamoto receives Outstanding Reviewer Award 
Established by the Political Methodology Section of the American Political Science Association, the Outstanding Reviewer Award "recognizes individuals who have provided exemplary assistance" to political analysis through their "excellent, timely, and productive feedback for authors and editors." 
Story | Yamamoto webpage


GLOBAL STUDIES AND LANGUAGES  

Catherine E. Clark receives award from Contemporary French Civilization
Clark has received the CFC's 2nd Annual Annual Schehr Memorial Award from the journal Contemporary French Civilization for her essay "The Vidéothèque de Paris, Archive of the Future." 
More | Clark webpage


ANTHROPOLOGY
Heather Paxson wins 2013 Forsythe Prize for The Life of Cheese 
Calling Paxson's new book "a stunning ethnographic foray," the Society for the Anthropology of Work awarded the Forsythe prize to Paxson for The Life of Cheese: Crafting Food and Value in America  (University of California Press, 2012). 
About the award | About the book


HISTORY | ANTHROPOLOGY
Ghachem and James win the 2013 Lewis Award | Caribbean Studies Association
The honor was given to Associate Professor of History Malick Ghachem and Associate Professor of Anthropology Erica Caple James by the Caribbean Studies Association for the best books published in the past three years in a field of Caribbean Studies. The award citation notes the broadly interdisciplinary quality of the books, the quality of the writing, and the important contributions they make to the field of Caribbean Studies. 
More about award | Malick Ghachem | Erica Caple James
 


POLITICAL SCIENCE
Jens Hainmueller wins Best Paper award American Political Science Association 
The award was presented to Hainmueller by the Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior Section of the ASPA for his paper, "The Hidden American Immigration Consensus: A Conjoint Analysis of Attitudes toward Immigrants." The Award committee cited the paper as "exemplary in terms of its theoretical contribution, design, analysis, and practical importance."  
Jens Hainmueller


CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
CIS, Wilson Center receive NSF grant for synthetic biology research
The MIT SHASS Center for International Studies and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars have received a $233,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to help realize potential benefits and to address potential ecological effects of synthetic biology. 
Story at MIT News 


SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
Turkle receives Harvard's Centennial Medal; also named a Literary Light
Sherry Turkle, The Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT and the founder and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, has recently received the honor of "Literary Light" from the Associates of the Boston Public Library, and The Centennial Medal from Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.   
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POLITICAL SCIENCE
Christia wins 2013 Luebbert Best Book Award | American Political Science Association
The Luebbert Book Award is given for the best book in the field of comparative politics published in the previous two years. Christia receives the award for her acclaimed book, Alliance Formation in Civil Wars (Cambridge University Press 2012).  
Story about book at MIT News | Fotini Christia


PHILOSOPHY 
Stalnaker elected as Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy 
Robert Stalnaker, the Laurance S Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy at MIT, has been elected as a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy for the humanities and social sciences.  
British Academy | Robert Stalnaker


LITERATURE
Stephanie Frampton awarded The Rome Prize 2013
Assistant Professor of Literature Stephanie Ann Frampton has been awarded the Rome Prize by the American Academy in Rome. The award will provide funding for Frampton to spend 11 months living and working at the academy, a leading American overseas center for independent studies and advanced research in the fine arts and humanities. Frampton will spend her time in Italy researching the history of writing in the ancient Roman world.
Full Story


ANTHROPOLOGY 
Graham Jones receives the 2013 Edgerton Award
The MIT Faculty has presented Assistant Professor of Anthropology Graham Jones with the Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award for his commitment to excellence and his embodiment of the values espoused by the legendary MIT Professor Harold E. Edgerton.
Full Story


LITERATURE
Shankar Raman awarded $25K Levitan Prize in the Humanities
Raman, Associate Professor of Literature, has received the 2013 James A. ('45) and Ruth Levitan Prize in the Humanities. The $25,000 prize is awarded annually as a research fund to support innovative and creative scholarship in the humanities.  he prize will support Raman's development of his manuscript-in-progress, Before the Two Cultures: Literature and Mathematics in Early Modern Europe.
Full Story


COMPARATIVE MEDIA STUDIES / WRITING
Coates wins National Magazine Award
Author, Atlantic Senior Editor, and MLK Visiting Scholar Ta-Nehisi Coates has won the National Magazine Award for his article "Fear of a Black President," in The Atlantic (October 2012).
Essay at The Atlantic | Conversation with Coates | Blog at The Atlantic


HISTORY
Elizabeth Wood essay cited for influence
MIT historian Elizabeth Wood's essay "Performing Memory: Vladmir Putin and the Celebration of WWII in Russia," has been named one of the ten most read/influential Slavic journal articles of 2012.  
Article free online through 1 July, 2013


THEATER ARTS 
Jay Scheib receives MAP Fund grant  
Writer, director, and designer of plays, operas and installations, and winner of a 2012 Obie, Jay Scheib, Associate Professor of Theater Arts, was awarded a MAP Fund grant to support a production of Platonov, or the Disinherited
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COMPARATIVE MEDIA STUDIES/WRITING
OpenDocLab receives National Endowment for the Arts grant 
The Open Documentary Lab, a program of SHASS Comparative Media Studies/Writing, has received an NEA ArtWorks grant for the development of an online, curated database of interactive documentaries. 
More | OpenDocLab artists/affiliates


MACVICAR FACULTY FELLOWS
Emma Teng awarded MIT's highest undergraduate teaching honor
Teng has been named a MacVicar Faculty Fellow, along with Linda Griffith (Engineering), Rob Miller (Engineering), and Laura Schulz (Science). The MacVicar Faculty Fellows Program honors MIT's best teachers and mentors, who have made outstanding contributions to undergraduate education. Teng teaches classes in Chinese culture and history, Asian American history, East Asian culture, and women’s and gender studies. 
Story | Teng Webpage


PHILOSOPHY
APA honors Judith Jarvis Thomson with the Quinn Prize
MIT Philosophy Professor Emerita Judith Jarvis Thomson has been awarded the 2012 Quinn Prize from the American Philosophical Association in recognition of her lifetime contributions to philosophy and philosophers. An internationally renowned philosopher, Thomson is known for her thought experiments which present simple scenarios that illuminate serious moral and ethical questions. 
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SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
David Kaiser wins Physics World’s Book of the Year Award
How the Hippies Saved Physics by David Kaiser, Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and lecturer in MIT Physics, has been named 2012 Book of the Year by Physics World magazine. The book describes how a group of young, unconventional physicists working in in Northern California in the 1970s changed the face of modern physics. 
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ECONOMICS
Bengt Robert Holmström named a fellow of the American Finance Association
Bengt Robert Holmström, Paul A. Samuelson Professor of Economics, has been named a 2013 Fellow of the American Finance Association. The award recognizes those who have made distinguished and sustained contributions to the field of Finance.
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ECONOMICS
David Donaldson awarded a 2013 Sloan Research Fellowship
Awarded annually since 1955, Sloan Research Fellowships are given to early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars among the next generation of scientific leaders. 
Full Story at MIT News

 

ECONOMICS/J-PAL
Esther Duflo selected as a 2013 Dan David Prize laureate
Esther Duflo, Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at MIT, and a founder and director of MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), has been selected as one of the five laureates of the 2013 Dan David Prize. 
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PROGRAM IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
AIAA honors David Mindell for Digital Apollo
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics has named MIT historian David A. Mindell the winner of its Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award for his book Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight.
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LINGUISTICS
David Pesetsky elected a Fellow of the Linguistics Society of America
Pesetsky, Professor of Linguistics, MIT SHASS, has been elected a Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America. The induction ceremony for the 2013 class of Fellows 
will take place on Friday, January 4, 2013 at the LSA Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.   
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ECONOMICS/J-PAL
President Obama announces intent to appoint Esther Duflo to his Global Development Council
President Obama has announced that he intends to appoint MIT Professor Esther Duflo to the President’s Global Development Council. Duflo is the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics, and a founder and director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL).
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Major Alumni Awards 

 

 

MIT Alumnus Robert J. Shiller wins the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences
Shiller (SM'68, PhD'72), who is known for his work on the long-term fluctuations of asset prices in markets, will share the award with Eugene Fama and Lars Peter Hansen, of the Univ. of Chicago. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that the award was being given to the three economists “for their empirical analysis of asset prices." 
Story at MIT News


SCIENCE WRITING
MIT Science Writing Alum wins Pulitzer Prize 
Lisa Song ’08, SM ’09 won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, along with two other writers working for InsideClimate, a web-based news organization that covers energy and environmental science.
More at Slice of MIT