Two faculty named to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Photo by Irene Fertik
The new fellows are mathematician and biologist Michael Waterman and conductorand violinist Paul Zukofsky.
In addition, Barbara Herman, a former USC philosophy professor known for herwritings on Immanuel Kant, was elected to the academy. Herman had been nominatedprior to leaving USC in August to join UCLA's faculty.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based academy was founded in 1780 by John Adams "tocultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor,dignity and happiness of a free, independent and virtuous people."
The election of 162 new fellows and 21 foreign honorary members was announcedApril 14. Waterman and Zukofksy join three other current USC academy fellows:economist Richard Easterlin; philosopher Stephen Toulmin, who holds the Henry R.Luce chair in the Center for Multiethnic and Transnational Studies; andneuroscientist Richard Thompson, who is the Keck Professor of Psychology andBiological Sciences and director of the Neurosciences Program.
Waterman is a professor of mathematics and biological sciences and holder of theUSC Associates Chair in Natural Sciences. His specialties include mathematicalapproaches to molecular biology and studies of human genetics.
With population geneticist Simon Tavare, Waterman leads a team of USCprobabilists, statisticians and molecular biologists in the study ofmathematical, statistical and computational methods of analysis of DNA, RNA andprotein sequences.
He also is involved in the Human Genome Initiative, a 25-year project sponsoredby the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy to create newmethodologies for recording and deciphering the DNA and protein sequencescomprising the genome - a molecular encyclopedia of genetic information. In 1990,he was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement ofScience. He is also the author of dozens of articles, many relating to DNA andRNA studies, and the editor of several books.
Earlier this spring, Waterman received a Guggenheim Fellowship for furtherresearch in computational methods for DNA and protein sequences. The researchwill take him to Stanford University and the European Biology Laboratories, inCambridge, England.
Zukofsky has been director of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute since 1992. Arenowned violinist and composer, he is a champion of 20th century music.
As a musician, he has given the world premieres of works by many leadingcomposers, including Milton Babbitt, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass,Glacinto Scelsi, William Schuman, Roger Sessions and Charles Wuorinen. He alsohas made more than 50 recordings.
As a conductor, Zukofsky has recorded the premieres of all three of ArturSchnabel's symphonies as well as the opera BALDR, by Jon Leifs.
In addition, he is the president of Musical Observations, a nonprofit companydedicated to recording 20th-century music and publishing research in the field.
Another of Zukofsky's specialties is research that helps musicians perform music- particularly new music. At the Bell Laboratories, he studied for many years thebiomechanics of violin playing. He has also invented a metric modulation slidechart which allows composers, conductors and musicians to translate note valuesbetween traditional and contemporary works. In another invention designed toexpedite the performance of new music, he created a programmable metronome thathelps musicians keep track of frequently vacillating meter changes.
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Los Angeles ran an op-ed by Bill Deverell of the USC College about looking to the past in order to move on to the future. “You can do better, Los Angeles. You’ve heard it before: admonishment from the lecture hall pulpit or the pages of a book or magazine. History matters. You should pay closer attention,” Deverell wrote. “The history of Los Angeles reflects and illuminates American and world history all at once. With a little effort, something powerful happens: historical sensibility provides perspective on the here and now. Who wouldn’t want that?” The column is the first in a series for the magazine’s new CityThink section, L.A. Observed reported.
SoCal Minds featured the USC Good Neighbors Campaign, in which USC faculty and staff donate money for programs benefiting the neighborhoods surrounding the USC campus. The program was launched under the direction of USC President Steven B. Sample in reaction to the Los Angeles riots, the story noted. The campaign raised a record-breaking $1.2 million in donations this past year, despite tough economic times, the article stated. The story reported that several university units had 100 percent participation, including the USC Rossier School, KUSC-FM, the USC Fisher Museum of Art, the Office of the Treasurer, the Office of the Senior Vice President, Administration, the Health Sciences Libraries and USCard Services.
CNN cited research conducted by Adam Rose of the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development for USC’s Homeland Security Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events. Rose’s study found that the standard economic costs of the 9/11 attacks, estimated at $25 billion, were exceeded by the costs of behavioral reactions far from the site of the attack (for example, an additional $85 billion due to a decrease in demand for air travel).
Variety reported that the 22nd annual USC Libraries Scripter Award was given to “Up in the Air” novelist Walter Kirn and to USC alumnus Jason Reitman and Shelton Turner, who adapted Kirn’s book for the screen. In his acceptance speech, Reitman noted that his father, Ivan Reitman, used USC’s Doheny Memorial Library as a stand-in for the New York Public Library in “Ghostbusters.” The Wrap noted that Catherine Quinlan, dean of USC Libraries, emceed the ceremony.
National Public Radio’s “13.7” ran a commentary by K.C. Cole of the USC Annenberg School about the role of science in diplomacy. “We all know that the technology produced from scientific research can make international conflicts more deadly than ever. But can science help stop war?” Cole said. She mentioned that she recently took part in a USC Center on Public Diplomacy conference on science diplomacy and the prevention of conflict.
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