P E O P L E

Briefs

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has elected four Princeton faculty members as new fellows in 2002.
    They are: Douglas Arnold, the William Church Osborn Professor of Public Affairs; Anthony Grafton, the Henry Putnam University Professor of History; Alan Krueger, the Lynn Bendheim Thoman, Class of 1976, and Robert Bendheim, Class of 1937, Professor in Economics and Public Affairs; and Thomas Shenk, the James Elkins Jr. Professor in the Life Sciences and chair of the Department of Molecular Biology.
    The academy is one of the nation's most distinguished learned societies and research institutions. Election to it is the result of "a highly competitive process that recognizes those who have made pre-eminent contributions to all scholarly fields and professions," according to the organization. The Princeton faculty members are among 177 fellows and 30 foreign honorary members elected this year.

Joann Mitchell, vice provost for administration, and Emily Mann, artistic director at McCarter Theatre, were among 12 women from local businesses, organizations and educational institutions honored at the annual YWCA Princeton's Tribute to Women awards dinner May 16.
    The program was established by the YWCA to honor women who have made significant contributions to their professions and community in executive, entrepreneurial, educational and professional roles.

Jeffrey Carbeck, assistant professor of chemical engineering, is one of 15 faculty members from across the country named a 2002 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar.
    The $60,000 award, administered by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, is intended to strengthen the teaching and research careers of talented young faculty in the chemical sciences. Based on institutional nominations, the program was designed to provide discretionary funding to faculty at early stages in their careers. Criteria for selection included a commitment to education and an independent body of scholarship that signaled the promise of continuing outstanding contributions to both research and teaching.
    A 1990 graduate of the University of Michigan, Carbeck earned his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1995. He was a postdoctoral research associate at Harvard University from 1995 to 1998, when he joined the Princeton faculty. His research interests include the fundamentals of protein engineering.

The Historical Society of Princeton recently presented its Historic Preservation Award to Jon Hlafter, director of the Office of Physical Planning.
    The award recognizes Hlafter's leadership in building and landscape preservation. "The Princeton University campus is one of the most significant historic resources in Princeton. In his more than 30 years of service to the University, Jon Hlafter has made a significant contribution to the preservation, enhancement and evolution of the University campus," the certificate reads.
    Princeton also was presented with an award for its restoration of the University Chapel, built in 1925-28. The two-year project was completed this winter.

Michael Wood, the Charles Barnwell Straut Class of 1923 Professor of English and professor of comparative literature, has been honored with Princeton's Behrman Award for distinguished achievement in the humanities.
    Wood joined the Princeton faculty in 1995 after teaching at Columbia University and the University of Exeter. He teaches modern and contemporary fiction and poetry, literary theory and history of criticism. He also leads courses in film and in Latin American studies.
    He is the author of several books, including "Stendhal," "America in the Movies," "Garcia Marquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude," "The Magician's Doubts: Nabokov and the Risks of Fiction" and "Children of Silence: On Contemporary Fiction." Last year, his book on Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel's "Belle de Jour" was published. His work on Czech novelist Franz Kafka will appear this summer. He currently is working on books on French author Marcel Proust and on oracles throughout history.
    Bestowed annually, the Behrman Award was established in 1975 by a gift from the late Howard Behrman, a physician and book collector.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers has awarded Salvatore Torquato, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Princeton Materials Institute, its 2002 Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award.
    The award honors Torquato's "outstanding research accomplishments in advancing our fundamental understanding of the microstructure and bulk physical properties of heterogeneous materials." It will be presented to him at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in New Orleans in November.

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific has awarded its annual Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal to Princeton astrophysicist Bodhan Paczynski.
    The society recognized Paczynski for his "revolutionary" work in many areas of astronomy. Early in his career, Paczynski made important contributions to the understanding of the evolution of stars and the interactions of binary stars.
    In the 1980s, Paczynski developed influential ideas regarding gravitational lensing, the effect that occurs when the gravity of massive objects bends passing light. Subsequent surveys based on his work have revealed important findings about the structure of our galaxy and continue to aid many other fields of research, including the search for planets outside our solar system.
    The society also cited Paczynski for his work in understanding the origin of gamma ray bursts, which are enormous explosions that occur when massive stars collapse into black holes.
    Paczynski, the Lyman Spitzer Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics, received his Ph.D. from Warsaw University in Poland and came to Princeton in 1982.
    The Astronomical Society of the Pacific is one of the world's oldest astronomy organizations. Previous winners of the Bruce Award include some of Princeton's most distinguished physicists: James Peebles, Lyman Spitzer, Martin Schwarzchild and Henry Russell.

 
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June 3, 2002
Vol. 92, No. 27
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Contents

Commencement
•Commencement ceremony set
•Selection as valedictorian a family affair for the Pierces
•Love of languages inspires salutatorian

Page one
•Former Secretary of State Baker donates papers to Princeton
•World's first four printed Bibles part of a special one-day display

Inside
•Marion Levy Jr., Princeton scholar of modernization, dies at age 83
•Four selected for Graduate Mentoring Awards
•Wireless course a hit with students and NSF
•Student helps transform tin shack into school
•Tuition grant increased
•Swim season is here

 Sections
•People briefs
•People spotlight, obituaries
•By the numbers
•Calendar of events

Editor: Ruth Stevens
Calendar editor: Carolyn Geller
Staff writers: Jennifer Greenstein Altmann, Steven Schultz
Contributing writers: Marilyn Marks, Evelyn Tu
Photographer: Denise Applewhite
Design: Mahlon Lovett, Laurel Masten Cantor, Megan Peterson
Web edition: Mahlon Lovett