The Exploratory and Advanced Seminars Program at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study is accepting proposals for the next round of seminars. The program is intended to offer resources to Harvard faculty and their colleagues around the world to develop new ideas in a congenial atmosphere. The deadline is Monday, April 3.
In the past three years, the program has helped launch new science efforts at Harvard and more broadly. These seminars have covered a broad range of topics, some within individual scientific disciplines and some interdisciplinary. For examples of seminars from the past three years, see list at bottom of page.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The deadline for submitting proposals for the next round of seminars is MONDAY, APRIL 3. The seminars will take place between July 2006 and mid-August 2007. New in the program this year is the opportunity for expanded, five-day Exploratory Seminars during the summer months. For more information and for a proposal form, visit http://www.radcliffe.edu/research/adv-expl.php
HSPH researchers have benefited from participating in past seminars. In June 2004, a two-day symposium was convened at the Institute to discuss the routine use of hormone replacement therapy, which was called into question after data from the Women’s Health Initiative suggested that the long-term use of estrogen plus progestin therapy may not only increase risk of cancer but, surprisingly, also increase risk of cardiovascular disease. The symposium included not only clinicians and epidemiologists, but also biologists, women’s health advocates, and historians. The group published a review in the August 12, 2005 issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
"The seminar sponsorship was critical in terms of providing the funds to bring in the diverse participants and also to give us a space in which to meet for two days," said HSPH Professor Nancy Krieger, who co-organized the HRT symposium.
Added HSPH Associate Professor of Epidemiology Marc Lipsitch, who co-organized a different seminar with Assistant Professor Megan Murray: "The Exploratory Seminar we held at Radcliffe was an excellent opportunity to bring together a remarkably interdisciplinary group to discuss the problem of why infectious diseases show seasonal variation. The excellent organization, generous support, and prestige of Radcliffe allowed us to attract a very high-quality group of scientists to discuss this topic, and the format and limited size of the meeting allowed for active participation and discussion. It was a very valuable experience."
2003-2006 Exploratory Seminars on Science Topics
Ecological Genetics of Arabidopsis thaliana
Organizer: Kathleen Donohue, Assistant Professor, Department of Organismic
and Evolutionary Biology
Search for Biomarkers of Female Reproductive Function
Organizer: Janet Rich-Edwards, Assistant Professor, Department of Ambulatory
Care and Prevention
Estimations Are Approximations: Multiresolution Modeling & Statistical
Inference
Organizers: Patrick J. Wolfe, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering,
DEAS and Xiao-Li Meng, Professor and Chair, Department of Physics
Solving Darwin's Mystery: The Genomics of Speciation and Modern Approaches
to Biodiversity
Organizers: Hans A. Hofmann, Bauer Fellow, Bauer Center for Genomics Research,
Scott V. Edwards, Professor, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
and Curator of Ornithology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, and Rob J. Kulathinal,
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Understanding the Genetics of Sex Effects in Clinical Medicine
Organizers: Jill M. Goldstein, Professor of Psychiatry and Louise E. Wilkins-Haug,
Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
The Physics of Neutron Star Winds: Shocks, Particle Acceleration and Evolution
Organizers: Bryan Gaensler, Assistant Professor, Department of Astronomy
and Patrick O. Slane, Associate of the Harvard College Observatory
Mechanisms of Seasonality in Directly Transmitted Infectious Diseases
Organizers: Marc Lipsitch, Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology
and Megan Murray, Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Obesity
Organizer: David Cutler, Professor, Department of Economics
Programming Myriads: Investigating Programming Abstractions and Language
for Sensor Networks
Organizers: Matt Welsh, Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Radhika
Nagpal, Research Fellow, Department of Systems Biology, and Assistant Professor,
Computer Science, starting AY04-05
Hormones, Women, and Cancer Risk: Professionals and Activists Facing "Miracle
Molecules"
Organizers: Nancy Krieger, Professor, Department of
Society, Human Development and Health and Ilana Lowy, Radcliffe Fellow and
Senior Researcher, CERMES
Revealed and Latent Preferences: Economic and Computational Approaches
Organizers: Jerry R. Green, Professor, Department of Economics, David C.
Parkes, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, and Avrom J. Pfeffer, Associate
Professor, Computer Science
The Biology of Cichlid Fishes: Towards A Cichlid Genome Consortium
Organizers: Hans A. Hofmann, CGR Fellow, Bauer Center for Genomics Research
and William Gelbart, Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Formation and Evolution of Stars Near the Galactic Center
Organizers: Alyssa Goodman, Professor, Department of Astronomy, Josh
Grindlay, Professor, Department of Astronomy, and Ramesh Narayan, Professor,
Department of Astronomy
Copyright, 2007, President and Fellows of Harvard College
