WINTER 2020

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Changing Minds When it comes to changing minds, perception fights facts to note

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2 colloquy WINTER 2020 ILLUSTRATOR: PATRICK GEORGE WINTER 2020 colloquy

16 10 Changing Minds When it comes to changing minds, perception fights facts 10 16 Life on Mars Bringing the crunch of an apple to outer space

20 Intangible Benefit Old-school tariffs lose impact in a modern world

20

4 Talking Points Congressional testimony, CRISPR breakthrough, Nobel honors

8 Conversation Janet Conrad, PhD ’93, on the surprising physics of neutrinos

24 Noteworthy Alumni updates and recent publications

28 Connect Upcoming events, including Alumni Weekend

COVER ARTIST: EMILIANO PONZI WINTER 2020 colloquy 1 greeting

WINTER 2020 colloquy

Emma Dench dean Jennifer Flynn senior director of global outreach Jon Petitt director of alumni relations and events Ann Hall editor 2COMMUNIQUÉ creative direction & design Colloquy is published two times a year by the Graduate AS GSAS ALUMNI, you are, I know, keenly School Alumni Association (GSAA). Governed by its Alumni Council, the GSAA represents and advances aware of the importance of effective the interests of alumni of the Graduate School of Arts advising and its centrality to the success- and Sciences through alumni events and publications. CONTACT ful completion of a graduate student’s The Graduate School Alumni Association education. A positive experience can lead 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 350 Cambridge, MA 02138-3846 to meaningful lifelong professional and 617-495-5591, [email protected] gsas.harvard.edu/alumni personal connections. But not feeling Access current and back issues of Colloquy, as well supported by an advisor or empowered as a range of other alumni services and information, at gsas.harvard.edu/alumni. in conducting research can contribute to LETTERS TO THE EDITOR a host of negative effects for the student, including loss of mo- We welcome your feedback and ideas. Write to: Colloquy, Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, mentum, lack of progress toward the degree, stress, and mental 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 350, Cambridge, MA health issues. While GSAS surveys have shown that a majority 02138-3846; or email [email protected]. GRADUATE SCHOOL ALUMNI of students are satisfied with their advising, a troubling—and ASSOCIATION (GSAA) COUNCIL Alexandra Amati, PhD ’95, music consistent—number are not. G. “Anand” Anandalingam, PhD ’81, applied sciences During my first year as dean, I began looking into our advis- Reinier Beeuwkes, COL ’62, PhD ’70, medical sciences Lisette Cooper, PhD ’87, geology ing partnerships and quickly realized that if I wanted to truly Mia de Kuijper, MPA ’83, PhD ’83, economics Stacy Dick, AB ’78, PhD ’83, business economics understand the full advising landscape, I would need to inves- A. Barr Dolan, AM ’74, applied sciences Richard Ekman, AB ’66, PhD ’72, tigate more deeply and engage with individuals beyond those history of American civilization; chair in the traditional advisee-advisor roles. With that in mind, Yonatan Eyal, PhD ’05, history John C. C. Fan, PhD ’72, applied sciences GSAS has launched The Advising Project, focused on improv- Gerard Frabolot, AM ’78, economics Mary Gurak, PhD ’17, applied physics ing the advising experience of all students. Over the next two R. Stanton Hales, PhD ’70, mathematics LaVaughn Henry, PhD ’91, economics years, The Advising Project will evaluate what constitutes Fiona Hill, AM ’91, regional studies–USSR, PhD ’98, history Karen J. Hladik, PhD ’84, business economics effective advising and celebrate the many remarkable examples Onoso Imoagene, PhD ’11, sociology that we know exist, compile a collection of best practices, and Gopal Kadagathur, PhD ’69, applied sciences Gyuri Karady, PhD ’80, applied sciences disseminate information about how students, faculty, and oth- Peter Chan Kim, PhD ’18, government Imad Kordab, PhD ’09, applied mathematics er partners can work together to enhance the advising experi- Jill Levenson, PhD ’67, English and American literature and language ence with an eye to effecting lasting institutional change. Edlyn Levine, PhD ’16, applied physics In the first year, I want to ask questions of everyone whose See-Yan Lin, MPA ’70, PhD ’77, economics Abraham Lowenthal, AB ’61, MPA ’64, PhD ’71, government experience touches advising: What do we know about the cur- Suzanne Folds McCullagh, PhD ’81, fine arts John J. Moon, AB ’89, PhD ’94, business economics rent state of graduate student advising at Harvard? What does Sandra O. Moose, PhD ’68, economics Betsy M. Ohlsson-Wilhelm, AB ’63, PhD ’69, medical sciences effective advising look like? What gets in the way? How can we Maury Peiperl, MBA ’86, PhD ’94, organizational behavior Lee Pelton, PhD ’84, English and American literature make effective advising the norm? Using information gathered and language from these conversations, the project will determine how to David Staines, PhD ’73, English and American literature and language disseminate the lessons learned and ensure that effective advis- Marianne Steiner, MEng ’78, SM ’78, applied mathematics Dennis E. Vaccaro, PhD ’78, medical sciences ing is a priority in all GSAS programs. Cammi Valdez, PhD ’14, medical sciences Donald van Deventer, PhD ’77, economics Alumni input will be important as we begin our work, so Kimberly A. Wagner, PhD ’94, medical sciences much so that the Engage question in this issue (see page 3) Nancy Wilker, PhD ’97, medical sciences Sean Xiang Yu, SM ’95, engineering sciences, AM ’03, is focused on advising. GSAS will also email you with proj- urban planning Gustavus Zimmerman, PhD ’80, physics ect information that will include opportunities to share your Moving? Please email your new address to [email protected] thoughts. I hope that you will engage with us as we move or send your Colloquy mailing label and your new address to Alumni & Development Services, 124 Mount Auburn Street, forward with this important project. 4th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138-3654. Colloquy is printed by PrintResource/DS Graphics.

—EMMA DENCH DEAN

2 colloquy WINTER 2020 PHOTOGRAPHER: KATHLEEN DOOHER discourse

ENGAGE How did advising help you achieve your career goals?

Let us know! Email [email protected]

LETTERS

I read with great interest the article “Lighting is located at my institution, the University the Spark” in the summer 2019 issue. of California, Berkeley; and (c) Charpentier As someone who has tried to understand was located at Umeå University in Sweden something about quantum science in the (not at the MPI in Berlin) when Doudna and current literature (yes, gave up in frustration), she realized that Cas9 endonuclease could be what I hope the Harvard enterprise delivers are used as a universal genome editing tool. So, articles for the non-scientist to help one get a what would it have hurt to state much more grasp on things. accurately: “Jennifer Doudna, PhD ’89, at the —A. E. SANTANIELLO, PHD ’60 University of California, Berkeley, and her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, now at In your recent Colloquy article “Unboxing the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology CRISPR,” you state: “Jennifer Doudna, PhD ’89, in Berlin, realized…” and her colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier of Just wanted you to know that in this post- the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology truth era of fake news, the Harvard commu- in Berlin, realized…” As written, you make it nity should hold itself to a higher standard of sound as if both Doudna and Charpentier are accuracy and factuality. located at the MPI in Berlin because: (a) you —JEREMY THORNER, PHD ’72 refer to them as “colleagues” rather than as collaborators, which would have depicted their Colloquy regrets the confusion caused by relationship much more accurately; (b) you this error. The web version of this story has failed to include the fact that Jennifer Doudna been corrected.

Share your story with us! Email [email protected]. Or write Colloquy, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 350, Cambridge, MA 02138-3846.

ILLUSTRATOR: ERIC HANSON WINTER 2020 colloquy 3 talking points

SPEAKING UP Two GSAS alumni found themselves at the center of the impeach- Fiona Hill testifying before the ment debate when they testified before the House Intelligence House Intelligence Committee. Committee as part of the Impeachment Inquiry proceedings. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, AM ’12, regional studies– Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, testified about what he heard on President Trump’s July phone call with Ukraine’s newly elected president and why what transpired concerned him. Vindman is the director for European affairs on the US National Security Council. Fiona Hill, AM ’91, regional studies–USSR, and PhD ’98, raised concerns that focusing on the conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 US elections ignores the real danger that Russia presents to US democracy. Hill, a former National Security Council member, is an expert on Putin and Russia and the co- author of Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin.

GSAS Student SURVEY RESULTS UNDER EVALUATION Center offers In October 2019, Harvard President Lawrence Bacow programming for shared the results of the Harvard AAU Student Survey all students. on Sexual Assault and Misconduct, conducted by the University in partnership with the Association of Ameri- can Universities (AAU). The results that President Bacow included in his announcement show that sexual harass- ment and assault at Harvard, and on campuses across the country, remain distressing problems. In a message to students, Dean Emma Dench reaffirmed GSAS’s commitment to creating an inclusive community free of harassment and discrimination, stating: “Every member

of our community—students, faculty, and staff—deserves to thrive, and as a consequence, sexual harassment and GSAS STUDENTS FIND THEIR CENTER sexual assault have no place here.” Since officially launching in summer 2019, the GSAS This is the second such survey Harvard has undertak- Student Center continues to serve as a welcoming space en. Based on results from 2015, GSAS added a second for students, providing a forum for Center fellows, student Title IX coordinator to its student affairs team, developed groups, diversity and inclusion fellows, and the Graduate a mandatory online training for students, and created Student Council to build community in GSAS. Jacqueline new workshops and targeted trainings for students, fac- Yun, former director of student services, was appointed ulty, and staff. As GSAS reviews the most recent results, executive director in August 2019, and she is advancing it is evaluating what has changed since the survey was the outreach undertaken last academic year to re-envision first offered and identifying areas that require further at- programming, engagement, and space usage for the Center. tention, with an eye to improving resources for students.

Save the date for the next Alumni Day: April 4, 2020.

4 colloquy WINTER 2020 PHOTOGRAPHER: MOLLY AKIN (CENTER), ASSOCIATED PRESS (FIONA HILL) Find additional content, or continue the conversation online

A SENSE OF THINGS ONLINE EXCLUSIVE How do we know what objects are within reach? How have squishy robots changed our understanding of the technology? How does our brain combine taste THE HEAT IS ON and smell to make a cup of coffee smell so good? Listen to Veritalk’s latest series on sensing to find out! Simply put, said Patrick Behrer, the world is getting hotter, “and that If there’s a question you’re curious about, heat imposes large costs on people.” In particular, those who work chances are there’s a Harvard PhD student who has outdoors or in factories lacking air-conditioning or ventilation are most the answers. On the award-winning GSAS podcast at risk for the ill effects of on-the-job heat exposure such as sunstroke, Veritalk, you can hear the latest big ideas across the impaired cognitive function, and possibly even death. humanities, sciences, and social sciences in just 15 Behrer, an environmental and developmental economist and PhD minutes. Subscribe to Veritalk and get stories about candidate in economics, emphasizes the looming scale of the crisis everything from mermaids to microbes delivered with a little math. Given the nature of climate change, he said, the directly to your mobile device. shifts in the number of very hot days will be greater than those in the mean temperature. Visit gsas.harvard.edu/veritalk For example, a uniform global temperature increase of 2 degrees Fahrenheit would shift Boston’s mean temperature from roughly 52 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit. On its face, not a catastrophic jump. “But what that does mean in a place like Boston, where we currently have periodic hot days, is that you are moving the tails of the distribu- tion and dramatically increasing the number of extremely hot days,” said Behrer. “From the mid ’80s to the early 2000s Boston averaged somewhere between five and eight days above 90 degrees. Taking some of the median projections up to 2050, Boston is projected to see some- where between 30 and 50 days above 90 degrees a year, even though the mean temperature change is only going to be a few degrees.” And those extra-warm days would take a dramatic toll on the nation’s workforce.

Read more of the story at news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/11/ “I got enthralled researcher-analyzes-effects-of-climate-change-on-productivity.

with the physics of DAYS ABOVE 90 DEGREES IN BOSTON the everyday, the stuff that surrounds us and that we see all the time, but that we never really think about.”

—NICHOLAS CUCCIA, PHD STUDENT IN APPLIED PHYSICS, SPEAKING ABOUT WHAT DREW HIM TO STUDY SOFT MATTER PHYSICS 2019 2050 (projected range)

ILLUSTRATOR: LORENZO GRITTI WINTER 2020 colloquy 5 talking points

Fighting Viruses CRISPR ENZYME PROGRAMMED TO KILL VIRUSES IN HUMAN CELLS

A BREAKTHROUGH IN CRISPR technology holds then 24 hours later, they exposed the cells to one of the potential to diminish or eradicate RNA-based three viruses: lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus viruses that have infected human cells. The research (LCMV), influenza A virus (IAV), and vesicular was conducted at the Broad Institute of MIT and stomatitis virus (VSV). Twenty-four hours after Harvard by Catherine Freije, a PhD student in infection, results showed that viral RNA in the cell virology, and Cameron Myhrvold, PhD ’16, working cultures had been reduced up to 40-fold. Digging a with Pardis Sabeti, professor of organismic and evo- little deeper, they discovered that, after only eight lutionary biology and a leader in the Broad Insti- hours, Cas13 also reduced a virus’ ability to infect tute’s Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program. other human cells by more than 300-fold. Dubbed CARVER—Cas13-Assisted Restriction “We envision Cas13 as a research tool to explore of Viral Expression and Readout—the technique many aspects of viral biology in human cells,” said builds on earlier research reported in the summer Freije in an interview with the Harvard Gazette. 2019 issue of Colloquy, which described how Cas13 “It could also potentially be a clinical tool, where could be used to target infectious viruses using RNA these systems could be used to diagnose a sample, as their genetic material. treat a viral infection, and measure the effective- To test CARVER’s effectiveness, Freije, Myhr- ness of the treatment—all with the ability to adapt

New tech could vold, and Sabeti added the Cas13 gene and an CARVER quickly to deal with new or drug-resistant lead to clinical tool. engineered guide RNA to healthy human cells, viruses as they emerge.”

6 colloquy WINTER 2020 ILLUSTRATOR: SUSANNA M. HAMILTON/BROAD INSTITUTE COMMUNICATIONS UNHIDDEN FIGURES

CONFERENCE ENCOURAGES WOMEN OF COLOR TO PURSUE DOCTORATES IN PHYSICS

IF THERE’S ONE thing LaNell Williams wants women of color interested in studying physics at top institutions to know, it’s this: You can do this. Banerjee and Kremer with fellow Williams is a PhD student in physics working in the lab of Wagner laureate Esther Duflo of MIT Family Professor of Chemical Engineering and Professor of Physics Vinothan Manoharan, and just the third African American woman to pur- sue a doctorate in physics at Harvard. When she graduates, she will join FIGHTING GLOBAL POVERTY a cohort of fewer than 100 African American women who have received Two GSAS alumni were among the three doctorates in the field since 1973. economists awarded a Nobel Prize in Octo- “When I tried to apply to Harvard, despite everything I had—a 3.93 GPA ber 2019. Michael Kremer, PhD ’92, the Gates and a National Science Foundation fellowship—I was told I was reaching Professor of Developing Societies in Har- too high. And if you asked any black woman in this field, especially those of vard’s Department of Economics, and Abhijit us who are at places like Harvard, they’ll tell you similar stories,” Williams Banerjee, PhD ’88, the Ford Foundation said. “The biggest thing Harvard and places like it miss when it comes to re- International Professor of Economics at MIT, cruiting is that they’re not encouraging those of us who are qualified, those shared the prize with Esther Duflo, the Abdul of us who are ready, those of us who are able, to come to these places.” Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation To help change the situation, Williams co-founded the Women+ of Color and Development Economics, also from MIT. Project as a student at Wesleyan University to support women of color in In awarding the prize, the Royal Swedish STEM fields. The group ran a three-day workshop at Harvard recently for Academy of Sciences noted that, through 20 African American, Latinx, and Native American women interested in their research, the three had “considerably pursuing a career in physics, astronomy, and related fields. Attendees were improved our ability to fight global poverty.” selected from a pool of candidates who had applied or been nominated, In an effort to address the troubling and and the goal of the event was to help them access the resources they need to complicated issue of global poverty, the lau- apply to and succeed in graduate school. reates spearheaded a bottom-up approach “I’m bringing these students here now, because I want to tell them, that incorporated feedback from those most ‘You are good enough,’” she said. “They have the grades; they have the affected. In practice, this involved designing scores; they have the pedigree. What’s keeping them from applying—and field experiments where researchers asked this is what I’m focused on—is the conversations and the resources.” those living in poverty how, for example, ed- ucational outcomes or child health could be Read more of the story at news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/10/conference-encourages- improved. The answers informed interven- women-of-color-to-pursue-doctorates-in-physics tions, such as social programs, that directly benefited those affected. Over two decades, this approach has helped millions and grown to dominate and expand the field of develop- ment economics. “It can often seem like the problems of global poverty are intractable, but over the course of my lifetime and career, the fraction of the world’s people living in poverty has dropped dramatically,” said Kremer in a Harvard Gazette interview. “Over the years, we have learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t work, and why.”

PHOTOGRAPHER: KRIS SNIBBE/HARVARD STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER WINTER 2020 colloquy 7 conversation

“Above all, I’m interested in talking to the world about neutrinos.”

—JANET CONRAD, PHD ’93

PARTICLE PERSONALITIES

JANET CONRAD, PHD ’93, When did you realize you wanted to pursue Clearly that didn’t stop you from pursuing a CONSIDERED STUDYING THE STARS a career in physics? scientific career. What happened next? AS A CHILD, BUT EVENTUALLY I liked science as a child, and my father I had the opportunity to work on the DECIDED TO INVESTIGATE did a lot of science and engineer-related Harvard Cyclotron and became involved SOMETHING CONTINUOUSLY projects with me. He often looked at with the group testing a calorimeter, run PRODUCED BY THEM: NEUTRINOS. the sky, and I started out thinking that by Professor Frank Pipkin. I was lucky to THROUGH HER RESEARCH, I wanted to study astronomy. When I meet him, and he eventually became my CONRAD HAS OVERTURNED THE arrived at Swarthmore College as an PhD advisor. When the detector moved STANDARD MODEL’S ASSUMPTIONS undergraduate, I discovered that astron- to Fermi Labs, I watched big particle ex- ABOUT THESE TINY PARTICLES, IN omy meant going to places that are cold periments for the first time. It was so dra- THE PROCESS INSPIRING OTHER and dark and lonely. I wasn’t sure that matic and large and wonderful. I felt like WOMEN IN THE FIELD. was the right thing for me. every interaction created a little universe

8 colloquy WINTER 2020 PHOTOGRAPHER: KAYANA SZYMCZAK “Above all, I’m interested in talking to the world about neutrinos.”

—JANET CONRAD, PHD ’93

in this giant detector. I really loved it. As the speed of light and actually have CURRICULUM VITAE a postdoc, I moved on to an experiment mass. That was the big discovery of looking at the properties of neutrinos. neutrino oscillations. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Why are neutrinos so important? Is that oscillation consistent, like a clock? Professor of Physics, You know neutrinos are all around you, Some experiments looking for this tick- 2008-Present right? There are a million neutrinos in tock behavior see it happening at a fre- every liter of space. They are the most quency that is much faster than what you Columbia University independent of all of the particles in the would expect from the existing three fla- Walter O. Lecroy Standard Model in the sense that they vors. The particles are doing something Professor of Physics, go their own way and periodically will weird that is not in the Standard Model. 2006-2008 interact, but sometimes they don’t. I re- This extra oscillation might indicate that ally like that aspect of them. I think they there is an extra neutrino out there, Swarthmore College have great little personalities as particles. waiting to be discovered. SB in Physics, 1985

What do you mean by personalities? When you began your career, it must have Oxford University It turns out that there are three “flavors” been very challenging to be a woman in the SM in Physics, 1987 of neutrinos—electron, muon, and field. How has that changed? tau—that have an interesting ability The change has been slower than I Harvard University to morph, which comes directly out of would like, but it is definitely happen- PhD in Physics, 1993 quantum mechanics. Quantum mechan- ing. When I compare myself with young ics says that the type of neutrino you are women in the field now, I realize my ex- working with will change with time, a periences were very different from theirs. process called neutrino oscillation. One I love to give advice, so I focus on what’s of the analogies I like to use is to call the happening now, rather than the past. I flavors chocolate, vanilla, and straw- think that that’s the most important kind berry. If you produce a certain flavor of advice for me to give people. of neutrino, say, chocolate, and send it downstream to a detector that can only Do you consider mentoring women to be taste strawberry, then you can track that part of your work? change, that oscillation. I do talk a lot to women, and that is the accident of my DNA—that I am a wom- How has your research advanced the an, so I can be a good role model. Today, understanding of these particles? I am going to the women in physics According to the Standard Model, breakfast and out with the undergradu- we believed that neutrinos traveled at ate women in physics for dinner, so I feel the speed of light, which means that like it’s an outreach day. But that is not they can’t have any mass or tell time— my everyday life. Above all, I’m interest- something that Einstein talked about. ed in talking to the world about neutri- But, as I said, neutrinos oscillate if they nos. I love them! Regardless of whether can alternate flavor, and that’s a way to you are a man or a woman, regardless of measure time. If neutrinos can see time, your background, I want to talk to you if they oscillate, then they’re not going about them. They are my little friends.

WINTER 2020 colloquy 9

BY DEBORAH HALBER ILLUSTRATION BY EMILIANO PONZI

G CH IN G AN M I DS N

When it comes to changing minds, perception fights facts. Gardner—he calls himself “a born pessimist who lives life as an optimist” —is struck by the complex shift in Amer- ican media since Changing Minds was published in 2006. “To change minds, you have to have a different arsenal than you did back in the seemingly simple days where there was one nightly newscast and one newspaper that everybody read,” he says. “And we didn’t have social media.” Gardner observes that, depending on which news outlets or alternative information sources they follow, people are not on the same page about what constitutes reality. He says, “I can’t think of a bigger problem.”

THE DYNAMICS OF PERCEPTION Jenkin, who studies the relationship be- HOWARD GARDNER, PHD ’71, wrote the tween beliefs and perceptual experience, book on how to change minds, but he agrees that reality can be pretty subjec- acknowledges that minds are not always tive. Descartes famously proposed that easy—or even possible—to change. reality comes down to what we experience PhD candidate Zoe Jenkin, who directly: a chair, for instance, that we can studies philosophy of mind, thinks she feel and see. The work of the mind—rea- knows why. son and rationalization—he argued, was John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs separate from that of the body. Research Professor of Cognition and Ed- Descartes, Jenkin believes, was wrong. ucation at the Harvard Graduate School Jenkin counts herself among a hand- of Education, Gardner is best known for ful of philosophers who take the view his revolutionary theory that humans that the dynamics of perception are actu- are intelligent in ways you can’t mea- ally similar to what goes on in the process sure through standard IQ tests. Almost of reasoning. For a philosopher, her ap- all of his 30 books consider the mind: proach is uncharacteristically scientific, In them, he has analyzed the minds of delving into psychology and neuroscience leaders, creative individuals, and victims to explore how beliefs, desires, fears, and of brain damage, among others. emotions influence perception. Amid growing national divides over We tend to think of reasoning as con- hot-button issues, one of his lesser-known scious and deliberate, as in depictions of titles, Changing Minds: The Art and Sci- a jury systematically weighing evidence ence of Changing Our Own and Other Peo- before declaring a defendant guilty or not ple’s Minds, seems prescient. What would guilty. Yet, Jenkin says, “We reason in a it take to change the minds of those who way that leads to belief formation or be- support a particular political view? And lief change in a completely unconscious how to sway those who believe—in the way.” Elements of our unconscious minds face of mounting evidence to the con- drive our behavior and beliefs all the trary—that climate change is a hoax? time, she says. We just aren’t aware of it.

12 colloquy WINTER 2020 Take the marimba experiment. If behavior on more than one occasion. people watch a xylophone-like instru- But for most of the book, Emma doesn’t “We reason ment called a marimba being struck with see it and won’t admit it. a long, sweeping motion, they report Growing up in Greenwich Village, in a way that hearing its tone for a longer time than if Jenkin was fascinated by MC Escher’s vi- the instrument is struck abruptly. Yet the sual illusions. “I’ve always been interest- leads to belief duration of the sound is identical. ed in how our minds work, and why we “There’s this huge gap between the have the beliefs and perceptions that we formation raw data that’s hitting our sensory do,” she says. After majoring in English organs—vibration on the eardrum or and philosophy at Williams, it struck or belief light on the retina, for instance—and Jenkin that while she loved reading and what we experience,” Jenkin says. Our analyzing literature, she wanted to apply change in a brains process, interpret, and store critical thinking to the world at large, not sensory input in networks we don’t fully just the worlds within novels. completely understand and can’t access consciously, In the graduate program in philoso- but that nevertheless inform our daily phy at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts uncon­scious experiences and, by extension, our rea- and Sciences, she immediately set out to ZOE JENKIN soning and beliefs. narrow the divide between perception way.” — Jenkin draws from literature for an and reason. example. The Jane Austen heroine of “Most people, like Descartes, want to Emma, Emma Woodhouse, denies that say that perception rules,” Jenkin says. she has feelings for Mr. Knightley. These “What we can see and touch conveys a unacknowledged emotions dictate her kind of pure access to the world, whereas

PHOTOGRAPHER: JARED LEEDS WINTER 2020 colloquy 13 I want to argue that having a perceptual In Changing Minds, Gardner reviews experience is like reasoning your way to a his expanded notion of intelligence: Intel- belief. It just all happens unconsciously.” ligence could entail a proficiency for spo- ken and written language; understanding SHIFTING BELIEFS the causal relationships and numerical Gardner is no stranger to challenging information essential for logic and mathe- the canon. He once published a book of matics; forming and manipulating spatial essays written by his critics—then refut- representations in one’s mind; solving ed each one. His initially controversial problems using one’s whole body or fine redefinitions of intelligence and creativi- motor skills; being attuned to one’s inner- ty became one of the seminal ideas of the most self; and working effectively with 20th century. and influencing others.

“ To change minds, you have to have a different arsenal than you did back in the seemingly simple days where there was one nightly newscast and

one newspaper that everybody read.” —HOWARD GARDNER

14 colloquy WINTER 2020 He identifies “six Rs” that can shift viduals typically encounter scientific EXPERIENCING RIGHT people’s thinking: resources, reason, evidence supporting climate change AND WRONG research, resonance, representational that doesn’t reflect something they can Gardner still receives—and personally re-description, and real-world events. experience first-hand. “Maybe there’s one answers—hundreds of emails about mul- Incorporating input from experts, sto- degree of global warming, but you don’t tiple intelligences. He’s heading up na- ries, graphics, and ideas framed to res- really feel that difference, even though tional and international studies of higher onate with particular audiences are all you read news articles describing the education, and he lectures around the ways, Gardner posits, to change minds. impact it has around the world. People world—as we spoke, he scribbled tweaks Take the example of President Donald are predisposed to believe what matches to his slides for a talk he was scheduled to Trump. In Gardner’s view, Trump’s “Strong- their perceptual experiences—that the give in Milan—and thinks about how to man” persona resonates deeply with some. climate is not changing—even in the face give back for the “charmed” life he’s led in “As he rightly says, he could shoot people of facts to the contrary,” she says. almost six decades as a student and then on Fifth Avenue and no one would care. Gardner thinks that presented with a scholar at Harvard. (His latest book, a His core [of supporters] is immovable.” enough convincing evidence, climate memoir called A Synthesizing Mind, is If resonance drives people to vote for change deniers might change their minds. slated to appear in August 2020.) “To change minds, you have to have a different Trump, perhaps that same tactic can It won’t happen overnight, though. Since the 1990s, Gardner has directed change voters’ minds, Jenkin counters. “One of the things I do believe about The Good Project, aimed at making arsenal than you did back in the seemingly simple “Combat it with a different kind of reso- changing minds is that Damascene students more ethical citizens. He blogs nance, such as another candidate who is moments are very rare. Changes happen frequently about education and ethics, days where there was one nightly newscast and just as emotionally compelling,” she says. gradually. You’re not even aware of it,” he he says, not necessarily to change minds, How do people decide what to believe says. “At a certain point you find yourself but to fling his ideas into the cosmos in one newspaper that everybody read.” —HOWARD GARDNER about climate change? Jenkin says indi- saying something or doing something the hope they’ll lead to some good. you haven’t done before and you say, Next fall, Jenkin will join the philoso- ‘Gee, you know, this is not the way I was phy department at Washington Univer- a few years ago.’” sity in St. Louis as an assistant professor. So, what will Gardner never change She, too, thinks about how we experience his mind about? right and wrong. She believes that too of- His sacred cows are universities, ten we’re on autopilot—not just in ways professions, and the truth with a capital that allow us to navigate the physical T. “You can never convince me that we world, but also through deeply rooted should get rid of American universities— emotions that hijack the rational part of although most Republicans think we our brains. “Especially with important should because they are not good for the things like voting, it’s good to try to ques- nation. You’re never going to convince tion ourselves,” she says. “Especially if we me that professions are bad, because get a hint that something is going awry.” even though there are a lot of bad profes- “I feel that it’s very bad for people sionals, being able to give disinterested whose personal lives are comfortable to feedback on complicated information is think everything is okay with the rest of a tremendous human advance. the world,” Gardner says. “I do whatever “And if you give up on truth,” he says, little thing I can to nudge things in a “forget it.” positive direction.” He pauses, smiles— a rare hiatus from the rapid-fire barrage of ideas that constitutes a conversation with Howard Gardner. “You know,” he says, “sometimes I do feel like I’ve moved the needle a bit.”

PHOTOGRAPHER: STEPHANIE MITCHELL WINTER 2020 colloquy 15 LIFE ON MARS LARISSA ZHOU IS WORKING TO BRING THE CRUNCH OF AN APPLE TO OUTER SPACE.

BY ADAM ZEWE PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANA SMITH

16 colloquy WINTER 2020 ARTIST: NAME HERE WINTERWINTER 2020 2020 colloquy colloquy 17 17 Imagine being cooped up on a Mars-bound spaceship for seven “I thought about food all the time,” she said. “Cooking is very similar to months with nothing to eat except freeze-dried meals that, once science. You are doing an experiment, rehydrated, only vaguely resemble “real” food. following a workflow, and then, in the end, you get to eat it. Did it taste good? The sharp crunch of a fresh apple or the unctuous creaminess You get feedback very quickly.” of a soft cheese, tasty reminders of planet Earth, drift farther away During Zhou’s senior year, Harvard launched “Science and Cooking: From as the ship moves through the blackness of space. Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter.” She jumped at the opportunity to be a teaching fellow for a course that Improving the dining experience for perfectly married her interests. She was astronauts has become a mission for dazzled by some of the best chefs in the GSAS student Larissa Zhou, a materials world and surprised by how hard they science and mechanical engineering PhD worked to understand the mechanisms candidate at the Harvard John A. Paul- underlying their cooking. The experience son School of Engineering and Applied inspired Zhou to consider a career that Sciences. Zhou wants to understand what combined cooking and science. happens to food when enough water is “Cooking is both intellectual and removed that it becomes shelf stable. visceral. We all have this very person- “When you put water back into dehy- al connection to food,” she said. “I’m drated food to rehydrate it, you don’t get not here to tell you what I think you the original mechanical properties back. should like. We all have our personal If you remove the water from an apple, preferences, and they are informed by for instance, it won’t regain its crispi- our background, culture, and history, ness when you rehydrate it,” said Zhou, and I think that is really cool. But with who is based in the lab of David Weitz, science, I can help you understand Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of how to achieve your ideal as a cook.” Applied Physics. “I want to understand, Her work as a teaching fellow led why can’t you get that crispy apple back? her into an internship with the Alícia If we can understand that, maybe we can Foundation, an organization devoted develop technologies to get around some to technological innovation in cuisine, of the damage that is caused during which was founded by Spanish chef dehydration, or repair some of this dam- Ferran Adrià in 2003. age, so you can rehydrate and restore the There, she worked to develop a better original texture of the food.” understanding of the science behind French fries. IN THE KITCHEN “I ate a lot of French fries,” she For Zhou, working on a problem with recalled. “I examined so many different implications for space travel is fitting— potatoes and different ways to make as a child, she dreamed of becoming French fries. I studied all the different an astronaut. Those lofty ambitions led stages, and I got to understand why I Zhou to study physics as an undergrad- think McDonald’s has some of the best uate at Harvard. She gravitated toward French fries, in terms of restaurants that engineering courses because she liked do mass production. They have a work- working with her hands. flow that involves double-frying with a But while she was content to solder freezing step in between.” wires or create MATLAB models, Zhou When frozen, the water left inside truly came alive in the kitchen. the fried potatoes expands and ruptures

18 colloquy WINTER 2020 some of the internal structure, she said. “People think the structure is damaged uncommon jump—astronauts are not When that potato is fried again in the after the over-proofed bread collapses, but looking for a fine-dining experience— finishing step, the water turns to steam what actually collapses is the gluten,” she but who knows better how to bring out and fights its way out onto the surface, said. “Because the chemical bonds of glu- the best flavors, manipulate the most creating crevices that generate more ten can be renewed if you just stick them inedible ingredients, or utilize exotic golden, crunchy surface area, while pre- together, through kneading the dough ingredients than these chefs who have serving the soft, jammy quality again, you can rebuild the structure.” Michelin-starred restaurants?” inside the fry. Along with her coworkers, Zhou took After winning the Most Innovative advantage of the Pacific Northwest’s Award from NASA, Zhou and her team- ART AND SCIENCE natural beauty by skiing, hiking, and rock mates are now presenting their Mars With her internship drawing to a close, climbing. With a newfound love of the greenhouse plan at conferences across the Zhou began reaching out to Nathan outdoors, she started buying freeze-dried US. They are looking for opportunities Myhrvold, principal author of Modern- meals for overnight hiking trips. to build and test prototypes of certain ist Cuisine, a critically acclaimed book “As a food scientist, I thought that subsystems of the greenhouse. that serves as a guide to the science of these packaged meals don’t taste that While breaking new ground with her contemporary cooking. Her persistence great. I could probably do better,” she outer-space kitchen, Zhou continues to dig paid off, and Zhou moved to the State of said. “The technology of dehydrating and deeper into her PhD research. She recently Washington to work as a food scientist for rehydrating food hasn’t experienced much won a prestigious NASA Space Technolo- the follow-up book, a five-volume set on technological change in decades.” gy Research Fellowship, awarded to only the science behind baking bread. Determined to change that, Zhou about 50 students a year, to fund her work. “Bread seems to be kind of simple. I decided to pursue a PhD. She is at the “The most exciting aspect of the think we all thought that—there are only beginning stage of the project with the ul- fellowship, for me, is that it shows that four ingredients, it can’t be that compli- timate goal of quantifying the mechanical NASA is recognizing the importance of cated,” she said. “But in reality, it is ex- properties of food as they change during improved food technology to their long- tremely complicated. There is also an art different stages of dehydration. While it’s term goals. They’re putting their money to it. Every culture has its own version of easy to see these properties change during where their mouth is,” she said. “This bread, too. The breadth and depth and the process, making sense of those chang- opens the door for me and others who the history of bread is incredible.” es is more difficult, she said. want to work on the really hard problems Zhou, along with a team of chefs, of eating in space.” conducted experiments to understand EATING IN SPACE One major challenge she still faces the science behind each step in the Zhou is also focusing on farther-reaching is determining the right food system to bread-making process and test myths that challenges. She worked with a team of examine. Food is inconsistent: one apple bakers have passed down for generations. students from the University of Colo- is strikingly different from another, so For instance, it is common practice rado, Boulder, and Cornell to design a Zhou can’t use something that complex for many bakers to assume that over- greenhouse for Mars as part of NASA’s for her experiments. But she also can’t use proofed dough is ruined. But Zhou’s BIG Idea Challenge. Her major contri- a system that is so simple it won’t yield team conducted dozens of tests and bution was the design of a kitchen in the meaningful results. While there’s still a lot found that, if a baker just re-kneads the greenhouse so astronauts could turn their of work to be done, she draws inspiration dough and turns it out again, it will re- Martian harvests into meals. from a future filled with possibilities. proof in exactly the same way. “It seemed obvious to me to design a “I am really excited for what the future They compared the taste and texture kitchen—do you expect the astronauts holds. This is a really opportune time to of dozens of breads made from both to just eat salad all the time?” she said. be doing this research because of all the over-proofed and properly prepared “I drew on the lessons I learned from activity from NASA and private compa- dough and found no difference. world-class chefs. That may seem like an nies around going back to the moon and going to Mars,” she said. “I am excited that I can see a direct application of my “IT SEEMED OBVIOUS TO ME TO DESIGN A KITCHEN— research, but I also feel pressure because DO YOU EXPECT THE ASTRONAUTS TO JUST EAT SALAD I want to produce something useful to aid ALL THE TIME?”—LARISSA ZHOU in this global effort.”

WINTER 2020 colloquy 19

Intangible Benefit

WHETHER THEY ARE targeting soybeans BY CLEA SIMON or dishwashers, computers or cheese, ILLUSTRATION BY tariffs—once the minutiae of treaties— ALEKSANDAR SAVIĆ are making headlines. Traditionally levied to counter other economic factors, tariffs have become a weapon in our on- going trade wars with China, the Euro- approach—raising the price on a foreign pean Union, and even Canada. But what product to spur sales of a domestic al- may appear to be a simple mathematical ternative, for example—is anything but, says Xiang Ding, a GSAS PhD candidate in the business economics program at Harvard Business School. Indeed, the Multi-industry corporations invest in ideas that import tariffs now being imposed—or threatened—by the United States and its benefit their global enterprise. But old-school trading partners will likely have a wide tariffs are poised to impact their bottom line. array of unexpected outcomes.

WINTER 2020 colloquy 21 Tariffs, an import or export tax im- acquire new knowledge and develop microdata to investigate economies of posed between sovereign states, were new technologies.” scope. What he discovered and published first imposed by the United States in Over the same period of time, manu- in his most recent paper, “Intangible 1789, in the inaugural legislation of the facturing has become more globally in- Economies of Scope: Micro Evidence then new country’s first Congress. These terconnected, with industrial production and Macro Implications,” is that the an- taxes—or customs duties, as they are also increasingly relying on a supply chain swers will have real-world ramifications. known—may have helped raise money consisting of inputs, or parts, made in “A key finding in my research is that for a fledgling democracy and protected one country being assembled into a intangible inputs generate cross-industry its new industries. Globally, tariffs were final product in another. “Production cost efficiencies, or economies of scope,” applied primarily to commodities, such is incredibly linked,” says Ding. “Tariffs he explains. “Regular, physical inputs do as cotton and sugar, by countries with may reduce competition in the industry not.” Steel bars, for example, can only be T fewer trading partners and simpler trad- they target, but they also raise the cost of used in the product they were designed ing relationships. parts produced elsewhere.” for. If a firm improves its IT infra- Ding, who grew up in Germany, Fin- structure, all its products benefit. This land, Singapore, and Hong Kong before BEYOND BORDERS cross-divisional benefit within a company attending Princeton as an undergrad- If this relatively new focus on intangible —coupled with the global nature of uate, says that in the modern era, tariff resources within firms and the increas- the production chain and the outsized application doesn’t take into account ing global complexity of manufacturing influence of multi-industry companies— the realities of the contemporary global has impacted how effective a tariff can contributes to a global economy that has “Today, global trading patterns are much marketplace. “Even 50 years ago, pro- be, Ding’s particular area of research— become an increasingly intricate engine duction was incredibly simplistic,” says companies that span multiple industries in the 21st century, reliant on many in- more intertwined, and production processes Ding. “Today, global trading patterns are —adds an additional complication. terdependent parts. Hitting any one much more intertwined, and production Multi-industry firms make up only 20 of those parts with a blunt, outdated are more technologically in­tensive.” —XIANG DING processes are more technologically in- percent of US companies, but they are tool like a tariff is likely to have unfore- tensive.” The consumer items now being responsible for 75 percent of domestic seen consequences. bought and sold—those soybeans or manufacturing’s gross output. For example, an import tariff can re- iPhones—are no longer the focal point of “It’s fascinating that most of what duce competition and help domestic com- most businesses. Instead, it’s the ideas— we consume comes from a handful of panies gain market share, allowing for an the technology—behind the products multi-industry firms, like Amazon, investment in research and development. that have the most value. Google, and Procter & Gamble,” he says. If technology developed for one product “When we think about the 21st cen- “Take General Electric, for example, in a multi-industry company is found to tury, so much of the value added comes which operates in seemingly random in- be useful in another, unrelated area, the from the brains of the R&D workers, dustry segments, like aviation turbines company may decide to roll it out more scientists, and managers,” says Ding. As a and X-ray scanners.” Many are familiar broadly. However, the same tariff could result, contemporary companies look at with the concept of economies of scale— increase the cost of materials imported by a larger picture by increasing spending that it is cheaper to produce more of the company, which would instead curtail on activities categorized as “intangibles,” any one thing—but Ding is looking at investment in research and development. such as research and software. Since economies of scope, how the different Instead of benefiting US companies, 2000, the spending on intangibles by divisions of these broad-ranging compa- Ding believes that tariffs could have the US manufacturing firms has outpaced nies work together. opposite effect, a function of the compli- spending on traditional forms of capital “The question I’m interested in is cated nature of contemporary trade. expenditures, such as production plants whether there’s anything that weaves “On the one hand, a tariff is making or machines. “In this new era, firm-wide together the activities taking place with- it more profitable to invest in research resources that generate knowledge are in the different areas of these firms,” he and development, because competition is supremely valuable,” he says. “Trade says. “Whether they have resources that lower,” he says. “At the same time, it may plays an important role in this regard. allow them to reap cost efficiencies from increase the cost of production.” Tariffs, A firm’s export opportunities and the their scope of operation.” originally designed to benefit wholly degree of competition generated by As he sought to answer that question, domestic enterprises focused on a single imports shape the firm’s incentives to Ding evaluated US Economic Census industry, now have contradictory effects

22 colloquy WINTER 2020 PHOTOGRAPHER: JARED LEEDS on these large multi-industry, multi- more precise to subsidize, for example, particular constituency at home and as national firms: Any benefit arising from steelmakers directly,” says Ding. “Some a bargaining tool when it comes to the an intangible investment rolled out across countries, like China, can do that, because conduct of US policy abroad.” the company could be overshadowed by they have the political will and provide Politically motivated or not, tariffs an increase in manufacturing costs in one trade protection for certain industries.” often lead to companies and ultimately area of the company. The choice? Discon- Often, the rationale for tariffs is less consumers paying a price, despite the in- tinue investment in intangibles or pass about protecting domestic industries as to vestment in intangibles, such as research the increased cost onto the consumer. be punitive—to punish trading partners and development. “US companies might that will not agree to favorable terms. end up being more profitable, and they PAYING A PRICE “What I fear is that sometimes the moti- might develop new ideas,” Ding says. Despite the fact that tariffs are often vation behind the use of tariffs is not nec- “But it would be incredibly hard to gen- suggested as a primary way to regulate essarily to promote a particular industry,” erate research proving that tariffs were trade, alternatives do exist: Government says Ding. “It has much more to do with positive overall for the US consumer.” subsidies offer a more targeted benefit to underlying political motivations—both “Ding’s work on such large multi- specific domestic industries. “It would be in terms of engaging in a dialogue with a industry companies has revealed how a positive demand shock in some indus- tries boosts productivity in other parts of the economies,” notes his advisor, Marc “ Today, global trading patterns are much Melitz, the David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy. “And conversely, tariffs more intertwined, and production processes that hit just a few key sectors can have sig- nificant negative consequences that spill are more technologically in­tensive.” —XIANG DING over to many other parts of the economy.” For the global economy, the overall ef- fect is likely to be uncertainty, a danger- ous prospect, according to Ding. “With tariffs rapidly proposed and withdrawn, it becomes incredibly hard to gauge what future conditions might be,” he says. “This political and economic uncertainty could have a chilling effect on corporate investment in intangibles.” Smothering, in other words, the activities on which our modern economy is based. Even as the current trade war threat- ens, Ding retains hope. “I’m optimistic that policymakers at the end of the day are sensible and rational creatures,” he says. “I’m also optimistic about the inge- nuity of businesses to find alternatives.” As he points out, in economics, balance usually asserts itself. Developing coun- tries could be poised to benefit as trade barriers go up between the US and China. “If the US imports less from China due to tariffs,” he says, “that might pro- mote growth in the neighboring South- east Asian countries that so desperately need it.”

WINTER 2020 colloquy 23 noteworthy

STAR TURN

Former Harvard Horizons Scholar Elisabeth Newton, PhD ’16, astronomy, headed up a group that discovered DS Tuc Ab, a 45 million-years-old exoplanet orbiting a star outside our solar system. Now an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Dart- mouth, Newton believes that the discovery can provide insight into how Earth and the solar system developed. The Astrophysical Journal Letters published news of the find soon after she joined Dartmouth.

24 colloquy WINTER 2020 PHOTOGRAPHER: ELI BURAKIAN, DARTMOUTH COLLEGE ALUMNI UPDATES

Rachel Croson, PhD ’94, eco- Hanna Holborn Gray, PhD ’57, Mikhail Kats, PhD ’14, applied Cyril M. Kay, PhD ’56, medical nomics, was named executive history, delivered the 2019 Kath- physics, received the Institute of sciences, received an honorary vice president and provost of leen Cannon Lecture at the Uni- Electrical and Electronics Engi- doctorate of science from the University of Minnesota, effec- versity of Notre Dame in October. neers Photonics Society Young University of Alberta for his “trans- tive March 2020. In making the Gray, the Harry Pratt Judson Investigator Award for his “contri- formative impact in local, national, announcement, the University Distinguished Service Professor butions in the fields of nanopho- and international communities.” of Minnesota lauded her as an Emeritus of Early Modern and tonics and optical materials.” The Professor emeritus of biochem- accomplished academic leader European History and ninth presi- honor is awarded to researchers istry at the University of Alberta, who brings “an extraordinary dent of the University of Chicago, under 35 who have made “out- Kay is a leading protein biochem- breadth of talent, experience, gave a lecture titled “Measuring standing technical contributions ist who co-founded the Medical and strategic acumen.” Croson the Height of Higher Education.” to photonics.” Kats is associate Research Council of Canada is currently the dean of the The Kathleen Cannon, O. P., Dis- professor and Dugald C. Jackson Group in Protein Structure and College of Social Science at tinguished Lecture Series brings Faculty Scholar in the Depart- Function. He is also a fellow of Michigan State University and a “extraordinary women from both ment of Electrical and Computer the Royal Society of Canada. Michigan State University Foun- within and beyond the academy Engineering at University of dation Professor of Economics. to the Notre Dame campus.” Wisconsin–Madison.

Alexander More, PhD ’14, 2019 Centennial Medalist Joseph Morgan Sheng, PhD ’90, Matthew Stephenson, PhD ’03, history, was appointed associ- Nye, PhD ’64, government, medical sciences, returns to the government, was appointed Eli ate professor in the School of recently published Do Morals MIT faculty as a professor of Goldston Professor of Law at Health Sciences at Long Island Matter? Presidents and Foreign neuroscience after working for Harvard Law School. An expert University’s Brooklyn campus, Policy from FDR to Trump. One more than 10 years at Genentech, in anticorruption law, Stephenson where he also directs the Hon- of the world’s leading scholars of where he was vice president of delivered a lecture marking his ors College. More researches international relations, Nye con- neuroscience. Sheng researches appointment titled “Corruption the impact of climate change on siders the role of ethics in US mental illness and neurogenera- and Anticorruption,” in which he population health and the econ- foreign policy during the post- tive disease from a genetic and commented that the idea of cor- omy at LIU and at Harvard’s 1945 era, rating each president biological perspective. In 2019, ruption as a fundamental problem Initiative for the Science of on three ethical dimensions: he was also appointed to Prevail is not universally accepted. HLS the Human Past and at the their intentions, the means they Therapeutics’ board of directors. Dean John Manning said Ste- Climate Change Institute at used, and the consequences of Prevail researches gene therapies phenson “adds so much to the the University of Maine. their decisions. for neurodegenerative diseases. intellectual life of this school.”

PHOTOGRAPHER: MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY (RACHEL CROSON), UW-MADISON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING (MIKHAIL KATS), WINTER 2020 colloquy 25 LLOYD YOON (CYRIL KAY), HLS STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER (MATTHEW STEPHENSON) noteworthy

AUTHOR PROFILE UNDERSTANDING THE PRESENT

Sophia Rosenfeld is Walter H. Annenberg Professor Is truth important to democracy, or how did the of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where idea of truth become inextricably linked to the she teaches European intellectual and cultural concept of democracy? history. In her latest book, Democracy and Truth, That’s a critical question. At least in principle, truth Rosenfeld explains how lessons from the past can is a key component of democracy. Democracy has to inform conversations about politics today. be built on a foundation of truth produced through a collective mechanism, and democracy has to help How did you come to write Democracy and Truth? generate truth. The complexity, as I try to explain Like many other people, I became addicted to the in the book, comes from the fact that while the news after the last presidential election. At first, founders of early forms of democracy stressed the I thought I was procrastinating, but the more I importance of truth, no one was given sole authority thought about it, the more it seemed that what to define what that truth was. No one institution, no I’d worked on for several decades as a scholar was one person, no one method, which meant, of course, converging with what was happening in the world. that truth was always going to be a little up for Writing the book was a response to current events, grabs, worked out in a conflictual way. The end re- but I do believe history, in both its familiarity and sult is that the pursuit of truth is always both really its strangeness, allows us to understand the present, important and a source of conflict, with a potential to come to terms with the world we live in now. for destabilizing democracy.

Often, we expect facts and truths to be the same Sophia Rosenfeld thing. But can facts also be up for interpretation? Anyone can show you that what counts as a basic fact, for example, an unemployment rate, depends upon all sorts of preconceptions—what work is, who should be working, what should be paid and valued in monetary form—which can make facts appear anything but objective. On the other hand, if we can’t agree on some basic facts as starting points, it’s hard to have any meaningful public debate. We need to agree whether the unemployment rate is going up or down as a baseline for then disagreeing about labor policy, for example.

What do you want readers to take away from the book? The danger of a book like this is that it essential- ly preaches to the choir. Am I changing people’s minds? I hope so, but I don’t think I can be so presumptuous. I might, though, be able to offer slightly better arguments for people who want to explain what is or isn’t distinctive about the present and what can be done about the state of political untruth today. Overall, I hope that I can provide some food for thought beyond all the terri- fying headlines.

26 colloquy WINTER 2020 PHOTOGRAPHER: AMANDA JAFFE RECENTLY PUBLISHED

Below are recently published books written or edited by GSAS alumni.

Richard Bell, PhD ’06, History, Stolen, EXCERPT Simon & Schuster, 2019

Excerpt from Democracy and Truth: A Short History Erika Dreifus, PhD ’99, History, Birthright: Poems, Kelsay Books, 2019 This book is intended as a short history in two senses. First, the whole amounts to only about two hundred pages. Second, the timeframe has been radically cir- Nigel Gould-Davies, PhD ’03, Government, cumscribed; it covers not the entire story of democracy going back to the ancient Tectonic Politics: Global Political Risk in an world but rather its modern manifestation since the eighteenth century. The cen- Age of Transformation, Brookings Institution tral premise is that a historically particular and even peculiar relationship between Press/Chatham House, 2019 democracy and truth took root roughly two hundred fifty years ago on both sides of the Atlantic, and this relationship has shaped political life into the twenty-first Dorinne Kondo, PhD ’82, Anthropology, century—in the United States and with important variations, in capitalist democ- Worldmaking: Race, Performance, and the Work racies around the globe. To understand the apparent crisis in truth today requires of Creativity, Duke University Press, 2018 grappling with this history. What this glance backward reveals, first and foremost, is that truth under Jane H. Hong, PhD ’13, History, Opening the the conditions of modern democracy has always been fragile. Truth—meaning Gates to Asia: A Transpacific History of How doubly the opposite of lies (in moral terms) and the opposite of mistaken beliefs America Repealed Asian Exclusion, University and erroneous information (in terms of epistemology)—has been touted as a of North Carolina Press, 2019 key democratic value from the get-go. Republics and, later, modern democracies have long prided themselves on both building on and generating truths in ways Joseph S. Nye, Jr., PhD ’64, Government, that constitute a striking departure from absolutist rule, whether in the mold of Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign King Louis XIV or in the style of the modern dictator. That’s why the seemingly Policy from FDR to Trump, Oxford University brazen flourishing of misinformation and falsehoods in public life now can strike Press, 2020 us as so shocking. And yet, democratic truth has never had any precise con- tours or content. Even if honesty, transparency, and factuality have, since the Jonathan Rosenberg, PhD ’97, History, Enlightenment, been held in high regard as political values, truth has generally Dangerous Melodies: Classical Music in been understood not as dogma, but as the product of multiple constituencies in America from the Great War through the an inegalitarian world pursuing it according to varied methods and as continually Cold War, W. W. Norton, 2019 open to fresh challenges and revision. No one can call all the shots. That means truth has also always been precarious, not to mention wrapped up in social strife Max Saunders, AM ’80, Imagined Futures: along class, racial, religious, and educational lines. It has also been regularly Writing, Science, and Modernity in the subject to attempted hijackings—from above and from below, from the left and To-Day and To-Morrow Book Series, 1923–31, from the right—as different cohorts have worked hard to try to gain a monopoly Oxford University Press, 2019 on it. This book situates what is happening around us right now in this historical framework—a short one, indeed, but not so abbreviated and present-minded that Jay M. Pasachoff, PhD ’69, Astronomy we can’t gain some necessary perspective. (with Roberta J. M. Olson), Cosmos: The Art and Science of the Universe, The University of Chicago Press, 2019

Would you like your book considered for inclusion? Send it to Colloquy, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 350, Cambridge, MA 02138. Questions? Email [email protected].

WINTER 2020 colloquy 27 connect Cristina Popa PhD ’16 came to Harvard intrigued by particle physics. Today, she works as a quantitative researcher at Two Sigma. The training she received from faculty mentors and the freedom to sample di erent subjects at GSAS led to a career she loves. “The problem- solving aspect of my job is very similar to physics research,” she says. “I read papers, come up with mathematical models, and run computer simulations to test them.” A native of Romania, Popa gives annually to the Graduate School Fund. “I had such a great opportunity to follow my dreams and pursue my interests. I want to do my part to make it possible for other students to explore careers they’re passionate about and realize their potential.”

Invest in emerging scholars. Make a gift today to be part of a community of alumni donors whose support is critical to our Continuing Education outstanding graduate students. RECONNECT WITH YOUR INTELLECTUAL ROOTS AT GSAS ALUMNI WEEKEND 2020! GIVE THEM PHYSICS REUNION: FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2020 Join fellow alumni for a Department of Physics reunion. Meet current students and faculty and learn about the latest breakthroughs in the field. AND DON’T MISS THESE ALUMNI DAY: SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020 SPRING EVENTS THE FREEDOM Attend engaging academic presentations and learn how Harvard faculty and GSAS students are collaborating on innovative projects that advance Palm Beach, Florida: research across the disciplines. Alumni Day is a great opportunity to February 10, 2020 engage with fellow alumni in your field and others while you participate in scholarly presentations. Miami, Florida: TO EXPLORE This year, data scientist and mathbabe.org blogger Cathy O’Neil, PhD ’99, February 11, 2020 will deliver the keynote address. During her remarks, O’Neil will share her Learn more unique perspective on the ways we allow algorithms to influence our lives, Baltimore, Maryland: and register: what makes an algorithm accountable, and what academic institutions and March 3, 2020 PHYSICS REUNION individuals can do to mitigate algorithmic bias and harm. gsas.harvard.edu/ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Reunion HARVARD HORIZONS: MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2020, 4:30 P.M. April 14, 2020 Each year, eight outstanding PhD candidates from a variety of fields deliv- ALUMNI DAY er brief, compelling talks about their research from the Sanders Theatre For more information, gsas.harvard.edu/ Support GSAS students today: AlumniDay stage. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear the next great idea in your field! visit gsas.harvard.edu/alumni alumni.harvard.edu/give-to-gsas

28 colloquy WINTER 2020 ILLUSTRATOR: MIKE AUSTIN

FAS 20-6170

FAS 20-6170 Colloquy Ad Winter 2020 F.indd 1 10/29/19 11:52 AM Cristina Popa PhD ’16 came to Harvard intrigued by particle physics. Today, she works as a quantitative researcher at Two Sigma. The training she received from faculty mentors and the freedom to sample di erent subjects at GSAS led to a career she loves. “The problem- solving aspect of my job is very similar to physics research,” she says. “I read papers, come up with mathematical models, and run computer simulations to test them.” A native of Romania, Popa gives annually to the Graduate School Fund. “I had such a great opportunity to follow my dreams and pursue my interests. I want to do my part to make it possible for other students to explore careers they’re passionate about and realize their potential.”

Invest in emerging scholars. Make a gift today to be part of a community of alumni donors whose support is critical to our outstanding graduate students. GIVE THEM THE FREEDOM TO EXPLORE

Support GSAS students today: alumni.harvard.edu/give-to-gsas

ARTIST: NAME HERE WINTER 2020 colloquy 3

FAS 20-6170

FAS 20-6170 Colloquy Ad Winter 2020 F.indd 1 10/29/19 11:52 AM GRADUATE SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 350 Cambridge, MA, 02138-3846 USA colloquy

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

PARTICLE PERSONALITIES: THE PHYSICS OF NEUTRINOS

LIFE ON MARS: BRINGING THE CRUNCH OF AN APPLE TO OUTER SPACE

UP FOR GRABS: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON TRUTH AND DEMOCRACY