"Belfer Center Newsmakers"

Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter

Spring 2008

Matthew Bunn, senior research associate in the Project on Managing the Atom, was presented with the Federation of American Scientists' Hans Bethe Award at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. in December. In a speech accepting the prestigious award, Bunn drew on lessons of recent nonproliferation crises to outline a series of practical steps to strengthen the global effort to stem the spread of nuclear weapons. He called for greatly reduced numbers of nuclear weapons and greatly strengthened international controls, inspections, and restraints.

William Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy, and Human Development and a member of the Center's Board of Directors, has been named a Fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Clark was selected for "distinguished contributions to interdisciplinary studies of global environmental change." Paul T. Anastas, former fellow with the Center's Environment and Natural Resources Program and director of the Green Chemistry Institute, has also been named an AAAS Fellow for "promoting the design, discovery, development, and implementation of material and energy sources that are benign to human health and the environment and that advance sustainability."

Thomas Foley, former speaker of the House of Representatives and member of the Center's International Council, received the 2007 Freedom Award in December. He was presented the award "in grateful recognition of his leadership in the United States Congress and for all he has accomplished domestically and internationally to advance greater public understanding and appreciation of the United States Congress and the United States Capitol."

David Hamburg, member of the Center's International Council, along with his wife Beatrix Hamburg, were awarded the 2007 Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Award in Mental Health by the Institute of Medicine. The Hamburgs are DeWitt Wallace Distinguished Scholars in the department of psychiatry at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and co-directors of the social medicine and public policy program. The Hamburgs have conducted extensive research in adult, adolescent, and child psychiatry.

John P. Holdren, director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, was lead speaker at the United Nations General Assembly's first-ever thematic debate of climate change in July. Holdren presented the science and policy implications of climate disruptions, noting to members that damage is already taking place and the world needs to act on mitigation "to avoid the unmanageable" and adaptation "to manage the unavoidable" - as stated by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Henry Lee, director of the Environment and Natural Resources Program, has been invited to serve on the National Academies Transportation Research Board's Committee for a Study of Potential Energy Savings and Greenhouse Gas Reductions from Transportation. The project will estimate potential energy savings and greenhouse gas reductions that might be realized from transportation, and will review policies and strategies to affect behavior and improve fuel economy for passenger and freight vehicles.

Meghan O'Sullivan, former special assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan, has been named adjunct professor and senior fellow with the Belfer Center for the spring 2008 semester. Before joining the National Security Council, O'Sullivan was at the State Department and at the Brookings Institute.

William J. Perry, co-director of the Preventive Defense Project (PDP) and former secretary of defense, has been named by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board. The Defense Policy Board focuses on long-term issues central to the Pentagon's strategic planning.

Robert Rotberg, director of the Belfer Center's Program on Intrastate Conflict (ICP), along with ICP researcher Rachel Gisselquist, developed the Index of African Governance that instructed the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in its selection of Joaquim Chissano, the former President of Mozambique, as the first recipient of the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. The annual prize is given to a former African head of state "who has demonstrated exemplary leadership."

For Academic Citation:
Communications Office. "Belfer Center Newsmakers." Belfer Center Newsletter (Spring 2008).