People
Shapiro honored for leadership on
ethical issues
Citing President Shapiro's "stellar leadership
toward resolution of the most complex ethical
issues, created by frontier life sciences
research," the Council of Scientific Society
Presidents presented him with its 2000 Leadership
Citation on May 7.
The citation continued, "His courage in taking
on the most contentious social and ethical issues
of the 1990s raised by gene transplantation,
mammalian cloning, stem cell research and others,
and his keen insights, led to defining for the
first time ways of resolution for disparate
institutions unprepared to meet sudden and
threatening challenges to their established beliefs
and historical behaviors. He produced rational,
calm and thoughtful responses from national and
international populations that were suddenly beset
with angst and fear. He turned these unexpected
scientific revolutions into positive pathways
across all domains of human endeavor, producing an
enriched multitude of institutions and
understandings."
The award was presented at the council's
national meeting in Washington DC, during which
Shapiro gave an address on "Resolution of
Social-Ethical Issues Raised by New
Bioscience."
Physics major wins
Churchill Scholarship
Daniel Wesley '00 has been awarded a Churchill
Scholarship for graduate work at Cambridge
University, where he plans to work toward a
Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics next
year. The award covers all tuition and fees and
provides a living allowance.
The certificate program includes courses not
only in math but also in theoretical physics,
Wesley says. After his year in England, he plans to
return to the United States to pursue a PhD in
physics.
A physics major, Wesley is interested in this
subject "because physics is always a challenge. It
also spans a lot of different things. During my
work towards a physics degree I've had to become
familiar with both abstract mathematics and the
milling machine in the Jadwin metal shop. On a
deeper level, physics combines a certain
philo-sophical flavorin the sense that you ask very
deep questions about Nature with concrete,
practical considerations. So you can be sure a good
theory is not only an interesting idea but really
represents the way the world is."
During his time at Princeton, Wesley has won two
prizes in physics: the Pyka Prize and the Kusaka
Prize. For two years he was an editor of the
Daily Princetonian, and as a senior he was
vice president of the Undergraduate Math/Physics
Colloquium. He was employed by the Physics
Department, where he worked on projects related to
the Microwave Anisotropy Probe, and as a computer
programmer for a Philadelphia health care
organization.
The Churchill Scholarship Program is run by the
Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States,
which was established in 1959 "as an expression of
American admiration for one of the great leaders of
the free world."
More people
• The American Academy of Arts and Sciences
has elected five Princeton faculty members as new
fellows in 2000: Anthony Evans, Gordon Y.S.
Wu Professor of Engineering; Paul Muldoon,
Howard G.B. Clark '21 University Professor in the
Humanities; Daniel Tsui, Arthur LeGrand Doty
Professor of Electrical Engineering; C.K.
Williams, lecturer with rank of professor in
the Council of the Humanities and Creative Writing;
and Andrew Yao, William and Edna Macaleer
Professor of Engineering and Applied Science.
• Four assistant professors have been named
Research Fellows by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation:
Adam Finkelstein in computer science,
John Morgan in economics, Giovanni
Forni in mathematics and Samuel S.H.
Wang in molecular biology.
They are among 104
outstanding young scientists and economists from 53
colleges and universities in the United States and
Canada chosen to receive grants of $40,000 each for
a two-year period. Once chosen, fellows are free to
pursue whatever lines of inquiry are of most
interest to them.
• The American Academy in Rome has awarded
Assistant Professor of Music Wendy Heller a
Rome Prize fellowship in post-classical humanistic
and modern Italian studies. The fellowship provides
a stipend and living and working acccommodations at
the academy for periods of six months to two
years.
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