NONPROFIT ORG fall 2015 U.S. POSTAGE DRIVEN TO CONNECT p.20 GROUP THINK p.22 PAID Permit 8 North Reading MA

Harvard’s 100-year-old Alvin Clarke & Sons ARE WE ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE? refractor still scans the sky from the Center for Astrophysics. (AND WHY DO WE CARE SO MUCH?) Photograph by Kris Snibbe p.14 Waiting to Be Known 12 HOW HARVARD RESEARCHERS CONSIDER THE HUMAN DRIVE TO SEEK OUT OTHERS Are We Alone in the Universe? 14 HARVARD ASTRONOMERS SEARCH FOR EXOPLANETS

Driven to Connect 20 THE MORAL REASONING BEHIND COMMUNITY FORMATION Group Think fall 22 WHY PEOPLE FORM GROUPS—AND WHY THEY DON’T /15 An alumni publication of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

3 FROM UNIVERSITY HALL 4 NEWS & NOTES Fellowship awards, new graduate consortium, Research Scholar initia- tive, building a microscope from scratch, new GSAS dean for admin- istration and finance, and admission statistics. 8 Q&A WITH SUSAN L. LINDQUIST A prize-winning biologist treats human disease at the molecular level.

10 SHELF LIFE Simon Doubleday writes about the 13th century king Alfonso X, Susan Seymour recounts the struggles of Harvard’s first female tenured professor, and more.

26 NOTED News from our alumni.

28 ALUMNI CONNECTIONS GSAS visits South Korea, alumni stay connected, and Harvard launches new login for life. fall

Cover Image: Chad Hagen Facing Image: Graduate students build a microscope from scratch (page 6). /15 Photograph by Kiera Blessing. CONTRIBUTORS

Xiao-Li Meng dean, PhD ’90 Noel Dominguez is a PhD candidate Jon Petitt director of alumni relations and publications in philosophy who studies Kantian Ann Hall editor Visual Dialogue design ethics. He wrote the article “Driven to Connect” about why humans seek to Colloquy is published three times a year by the Graduate School Alumni Association (GSAA). Governed by its Alumni Council, the GSAA represents connect with others. and advances the interests of alumni of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences through alumni events and publications.

CONTACT The Graduate School Alumni Association, Suite 350, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-3846, 617-495-5591 Ben Gebo is an editorial photographer [email protected], www. gsas.harvard.edu/alumni working in Boston and New York. His Access current and back issues of Colloquy, as well as a range of other clients include Converse, Northeast- alumni services and information, at www.gsas.harvard.edu/alumni. ern University, British Airways, Keurig, GRADUATE SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION (GSAA) COUNCIL Deloitte, and HDTV Magazine. Follow his Alexandra Amati-Camperi, PhD ’95, music adventures at www.bengebo.com. G. ‘Anand’ Anandalingam, PhD ’81, applied sciences Reinier Beeuwkes, COL ’62, PhD ’70, medical sciences Lisette Cooper, PhD ’84, geology Mia de Kuijper, MPA ’83, PhD ’83, economics Stacy Dick, AB ’78, PhD ’83, business economics Chad Hagen is a Midwest-based artist, A. Barr Dolan, AM ’74, applied sciences designer, and illustrator who has worked Richard Ekman, AB ’66, PhD ’72, history of American civilization as a graphic designer and art director Yonatan Eyal, PhD ’05, history John C. C. Fan, SM ’67, PhD ’72, applied sciences for more than 20 years. His artwork and Kenneth Froewiss, AB ’67, PhD ’77, economics illustrations have appeared in The New Homer Hagedorn, PhD ’55, history Yorker, Wired, and Scientific American. R. Stanton Hales, PhD ’70, mathematics LaVaughn Henry, PhD ’91, economics He illustrated this issue’s cover. Karen J. Hladik, PhD ’84, business economics Daniel R. Johnson, AM ’82, Regional Studies–East Asia, GSA ’85, business economics Keith Negley is a nationally recognized Gopal Kadagathur, PhD ’69, applied sciences editorial and children’s book illustrator Gyuri Karady, PhD ’80, applied sciences with 15 years’ experience working for Imad Kordab, PhD ’09, applied mathe­matics Felipe Larraín, PhD ’85, economics major newspapers, magazines, and pub- Jill Levenson, PhD ’67, English and American literature and language lishers. In 2015, he received a gold medal See-Yan Lin, MPA ’70, PhD ’77, economics from the Society of Illustrators. His Jean Liu, SM ’02, computer science Abraham Lowenthal, AB ’61, MPA ’64, PhD ’71, government illustrations appear in “Group Think.” Suzanne Folds McCullagh, PhD ’81, fine arts John J. Moon, AB ’89, PhD ’94, business economics Sandra O. Moose, PhD ’68, economics Andrea L. Volpe, who wrote “Starting Betsy M. Ohlsson-Wilhelm, AB ’63, PhD ’69, medical sciences from Scratch,” is a Cambridge writer Maury Peiperl, MBA ’86, PhD ’94, organizational behavior who covers ideas, culture, the arts, and Nancy Ramage, PhD ’69, classical archaeology Cherie Ramirez, PhD ’12, medical sciences technology. Her work has appeared in John E. Rielly, PhD ’61, government The New York Times, The Awl, and David Staines, PhD ’73, English and American literature and language Cognoscenti, among others. Marianne Steiner, MEng ’78, SM ’78, applied mathematics Dennis E. Vaccaro, PhD ’78, medical sciences Cammi Valdez, PhD ’14, medical sciences Donald van Deventer, PhD ’77, business economics; chair Gustavus Zimmerman, PhD ’80, physics Frank White has written numerous books about space exploration and the Letters to the Editor Colloquy does not print letters, but we welcome your feedback and story future, including The Overview Effect: ideas. Write to: Colloquy, Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Space Exploration and Human Evolu- Sciences, Suite 350, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138- tion, and has spoken at numerous con- 3846; or e-mail [email protected]. ferences on space exploration and space Moving? Please e-mail your new address to [email protected] or send your development. He authored the feature Colloquy mailing label and your new address to Alumni Records, 124 Mount Auburn Street, 4th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138-3654. “Are We Alone in the Universe?”

Colloquy is printed by PrintResource/DS Graphics. martha stewart martha FROM UNIVERSITY HALL Colloquy 3 fall 2015

a vision for the future Now in my fourth year as dean, I continue to consider how to enhance the graduate student experience while position- ing the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for future success. As a way of focusing our thoughts, I turned to the Graduate Policy Committee, a group of faculty advisors, to help me develop an official mission and vision. The result is a bold statement that highlights our strengths and clearly demonstrates our purpose:

Mission To identify and attract the most promising students to form a dynamic and diverse community, and to shape them into visionary scholars, innovative educators, and creative leaders.

Vision To provide global leadership and innovation in graduate education.

While these statements identify what we already do, they also inform our thinking as we consider priorities for the future, which include developing programs that ensure our students are set up for success in their first jobs, as well as their positions five years after Harvard and beyond. For I look forward to seeing the positive example, as we launched the search for the 2016 Harvard Horizons Scholars, we decided to award each of the 15 final- results for our students in the job market ists with $1,000 for professional development activities. For these graduate students, many in their final years, having thanks to GSAS’s investment in their the funds to travel to conferences and participate in other activities will enhance their ability to secure their first professional development. You will read position. I look forward to seeing the positive results for our students in the job market thanks to GSAS’s investment in about a few of these talented students their professional development. You will read about a few of these talented students in in this issue of Colloquy. this issue of Colloquy. Whether they are searching the universe for inhabitable worlds, trying to understand the intricacies of group dynamics, or pondering human be- havior, all our students are developing into the visionary scholars, innovative educators, and creative leaders we aspire them to be. martha stewart martha Colloquy 4 NEWS & NOTES writer fall 2015 Ann Hall

New Program Helps Graduates GSAS students won an impressive number of fellow- Prized Fellowships ship awards for 2015–2016: six through the Institute of Enhance Research Skills International Education Fulbright Cultural Exchange, four GSAS has launched a new Research Scholar Initiative, a non- Mellon / ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships from degree granting program for individuals interested in pursuing the American Council of Learned Societies, and nearly 60 a PhD in economics or life sciences, particularly those from grants from the National Science Foundation. groups currently underrepresented in academia. Each scholar Among the Fulbright winners is Steffani Bennett, a works with a faculty member as a research assistant, gaining PhD candidate in the history of art and architecture, who important experience and developing a strong mentoring rela- will travel to Japan to access resources connected with tionship in the process. Scholars also take courses to enhance the 15th-century artist Sessh T y . Bennett believes their academic preparation for doctoral work. The goal is to that Sessh ’s travel to Ming-dynasty China profoundly enhance an individual’s competitiveness and preparation for a influenced his artistic practice, which helped transform doctoral program. painting of the period and beyond. The Research Scholar Initiative in economics is generously

image of sesshu¯ to¯yo¯ courtesy of wiki commons courtesy to¯yo¯ of sesshu¯ image rinaldo tony funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. writer NEWS & NOTES Colloquy 5 Ann Hall fall 2015

Hubble image of The Harvard Origins of Life Initiative be able to study the question without galaxy NGC 6503, Harvard has launched a graduate consortium that collaboration.” which sits at the designed to bring together students The creation of the Consortium edge of a desolate area known as the from nearly every part of Harvard’s was driven by graduate students Local Void. Photo Origins science enterprise in studying how life involved in the Initiative who wanted Credit: NASA, ESA, D. came—or could come—to be. a more in-depth experience. Its key Calzetti (University of Massachusetts), H. of Life “This is one of the last remaining goals are to instill in students an Ford (Johns Hopkins big questions in science,” says Dimitar enduring commitment to interdisci- University), and the Sasselov, Philips Professor of Astrono- plinary collaborations and to equip Hubble Heritage Launches Team. my and director of the Harvard Origins them with the skills to excel, especially of Life Initiative. “It’s not a question when the boundaries between disci- Graduate purely for physics or for biology or for plines are porous. social sciences, but for all these disci- Read more about Dimitar Sasselov Consortium plines working together—we wouldn’t and his research on page 14.

Rosio Fernandez (right) with Sheila New Program Helps Graduates Thomas, director of the Research Enhance Research Skills Scholar Initiative and associate dean for aca- GSAS has launched a new Research Scholar Initiative, a non- demic programs and degree granting program for individuals interested in pursuing diversity. Fernandez participated in the a PhD in economics or life sciences, particularly those from Summer Honors Un- groups currently underrepresented in academia. Each scholar dergraduate Research works with a faculty member as a research assistant, gaining Program (SHURP) during summer 2014 important experience and developing a strong mentoring rela- and continues to tionship in the process. Scholars also take courses to enhance work with her SHURP their academic preparation for doctoral work. The goal is to mentor Donald Coen, professor of biologi- enhance an individual’s competitiveness and preparation for a cal chemistry and mo- doctoral program. lecular pharmacology, The Research Scholar Initiative in economics is generously as a research scholar.

image of sesshu¯ to¯yo¯ courtesy of wiki commons courtesy to¯yo¯ of sesshu¯ image rinaldo tony funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Colloquy 6 NEWS & NOTES writer fall 2015 Andrea Volpe

Simple or complex, the microscope is the biologist’s most indispensable instrument. In an age when highly sophisti- cated and expensive instruments are the norm, professor of molecular and cellular biology Venkatesh N. Murthy wanted to encourage more of a “maker culture” among the depart- ment’s graduate students. So he taught them how to make one. “For many years now in neuroscience,” Murthy explains, “advanced training has involved building things. There have been times when instruments were not easily available, and neuroscientists had to build their own equipment.” Murthy also wanted to deepen students’ knowledge of the fundamental principles of microscopy through expe- riential learning. “If you build something,” he says, “you’re GSAS Appoints going to understand it substantially more.” For the 20 participants in the class “Make Your Own Microscope,” that meant starting with “a bunch of parts,” including lenses, LEDs and lasers, a digital camera, and software to build a Dean for simple fluorescence microscope, the same off-the-shelf STARTING instrument used in biology labs, including Murthy’s, to study living cells. Together with postdoctoral fellow Vikrant Kapoor, Mur- Administration thy taught students how to use a light source to calculate the various properties of a lens, such as its focal length; how to use different light sources; how to assemble multiple lenses together to increase magnification; how to use filters and Finance FROM to increase viewing contrast; and how to acquire images with a computer-controlled digital camera. For Georgia Squyres, now a G2 in the Molecules, Cells, and Organisms (MCO) graduate program, learning to make a microscope was a chance to “get under the hood” of what at first glance appeared to be a very complex instrument. SCRATCH “As a biophysicist, I was excited to see an example of the very close relationship between engineering and life sciences,” Squyres explains. “I was able to experience, first hand, how a biological discovery—fluorescent proteins—promoted engineering advances—fluorescent microscopy—that let us ask novel biological questions.” Squyres and her teammates started by “tinkering” to “understand the fundamentals,” and despite being “a little rough around the edges” they got it to work. Ultimately they captured images and videos of several biological samples, including the heartbeat of a zebrafish, which she says was “probably the most exciting because it’s dynamic.” Now that’s she’s made a microscope, Squyres says she’s up for more engineering challenges in the lab. She also feels Georgia Squyres, a PhD student in the Molecules, Cells, and Organ- more like a biologist. “Historically, many of the most impor- isms graduate program, adjusts a lens as she builds a microscope. tant microscopists built their instruments themselves, and I feel connected to that tradition because of the course.” This nanocourse was generously supported by the Gochman Dean’s Fund for Innovation and Development. kiera blessing rinaldo tony writer NEWS & NOTES Colloquy 7 Ann Hall fall 2015

ADMISSION STATS GSAS admitted another diverse class of students for the 2015– 2016 academic year, chosen from nearly 13,000 applications, who will study for PhD and master’s degrees in 56 departments and programs. PhD MASTER’S GSAS Appoints 45% 52% women women

Dean for GENDER OF APPLICANTS Administration 28% 54% international international

and Finance INCOMING STUDENTS Allen Aloise, PhD ’04, joins After earning a degree in chemis- the GSAS leadership team try from Penn State, Aloise came to In June 2015, GSAS Dean Xiao-Li Harvard to study for a PhD focused on Meng announced the appointment of organic chemistry. After earning his 9.4% 17.6% Allen Aloise, PhD ’04, chemistry, as PhD, he remained at Harvard, taking a admission admission offers offers dean for administration and finance. position as an instructor in the under- In this role, Aloise serves as GSAS’s graduate labs, which enabled him to chief administrator, strengthening and administer a program while remaining APPLICANT POOL sustaining overall planning, strategic connected to academia. The experi- management, and administrative ence was the beginning of his career in services. administration. Aloise, a 17-year veteran of Harvard As dean for administration and University, comes to GSAS from finance, Aloise wants to continue the Department of Chemistry and GSAS’s efforts in supporting students. Chemical Biology, where he worked This includes enhancing professional as director of laboratories and took development opportunities, fostering on additional responsibilities related vigorous academic thinking, strength- to graduate students as co-director of ening communication skills, and graduate studies in chemistry and as increasing knowledge of job and career the first director of graduate stud- opportunities. It also includes tapping ies for FAS Science. “I’m incredibly the terrific resource GSAS’s alumni excited to be in this role,” says Aloise. community represents. “My hope is “I’m looking forward to engaging with that our partners around the Univer- graduate students across the Univer- sity recognize the great strengths that sity and learning more about what we have here at GSAS.”

kiera blessing rinaldo tony they do.” Susan L. Lindquist+ A prize-winning biologist whose imaginative research has wide- ranging implications for how we understand and treat human disease at the molecular level.

QSusan L. Lindquist’s pioneering investigation of how proteinsA function has shed new light on the causes of cancer, neurodegeneration, and infectious diseases, as well as contributed to new understandings of evolution and biomaterials. Lindquist, PhD ’76, studies the problem of protein folding. When proteins transform from their normal structures into misfolded forms (sometimes called prions), they can cause diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and a host of other devastating condi- tions. Her research has also revealed that the same types of protein misfolding that wreak cellular havoc in some situations may help cells adapt in others, presenting new clues for understanding evolution. Lindquist received her BA in microbiology from the University of Illinois before earning a PhD in biology from Harvard. She is the recipient of numerous prizes, including the National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest honor for scientific research. A professor of biology at MIT, Lindquist is a member and former director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, an associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and an associate member of MIT’s David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, as well as an elected member of the Royal Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sci- ences, and the Institute of Medicine. Her latest undertaking is Yumanity Therapeutics, a drug development venture focused on translating her discoveries into new therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. Q+A ID NAME: “If you love science, there are lots of Susan L. What drew you to science? Lindquist, I had a fifth grade teacher who posed avenues for pursuing science now, and PhD ’76 the question “what is life?”, and I was absolutely fascinated by that discus- if you’re passionate about it, you can FIELD OF STUDY: sion. I read books about Elizabeth Molecular Blackwell, the first woman to earn a succeed. There are enough other women in Biology medical degree in the United States. I read about Jane Addams and Hull science now to act as mentors and provide TODAY: Professor of House. I was trying to work out the a network of help that women should and question of whether I could be a Biology, MIT, doctor, or could I be a social worker. can take advantage of.” and Scien- When I first proposed to my parents tific Founder, that I might want to be a doctor, they Yumanity thought the idea extremely amusing. Therapeutics I had loving parents, but they did not expect I would have a career. CONVERSATION writers illustrator Colloquy 9 Ann Hall & Tina Berning fall 2015 Andrea Volpe

I went to the University of Illinois, not uncovered some of the first molecular science now to act as mentors and really knowing what I was going to do. biology on the topic. I decided I would provide a network of help that women I took some science classes and had try to find a postdoctoral fellowship should and can take advantage of. a wonderful teacher, the microbiolo- where I could continue working on it. gist Sam Kaplan, who really got me That led me to the University of Chi- “The road to fixing neurodegenerative excited about the concept of research. cago. I joined a lab where the principal I majored in microbiology because investigator had people doing all kinds diseases is going to be a very long and Sam was a fabulous teacher. I found of different things. He was chair of it fascinating that he taught a course the department, and he thought the arduous one. We need new out-of-the focused on the question “how do you heat-shock work was a cool idea. He learn something new?” He was asking really was impressed with the work I box approaches that can help develop essential questions: How do you create was doing, and that led to him asking new therapies. It’s been an extraordinary new knowledge? How do you discover if I would be interested in joining the principles in biology? And then Jan faculty. I said yes—I jumped at the privilege to discover new things about life.” Drake, a geneticist, offered me a job chance. in his lab for the summer. I had been What’s next? working in the summers as a waitress You’ve spoken before about the I’ve founded a company called Yu- to help pay my way through school, risk you took when you decided manity—the “Y” is for yeast, used in so the thought that I would be paid to to switch from studying fruit flies service of humanity—to focus on drug do science for a summer was amaz- to studying yeast. It’s a risk that discovery and development based ing. Then Jan encouraged me to go to paid off, but it also speaks to the on my research in protein folding. graduate school, and I did. That’s how challenges you’ve faced as a woman The road to fixing neurodegenerative it all got started. scientist. diseases is going to be a very long and It was at Chicago that I decided I was arduous one. We need new out-of- When you arrived at Harvard for going to try to learn how to work with the box approaches that can help your graduate work in biology, yeast, because it was easy to make develop new therapies. It’s been an what did you envision as your mutations to the organism’s genes extraordinary privilege to discover career path? and put them back in the genome. A new things about life. Basic research is I had no expectations of myself be- colleague encouraged me not to switch what drew me to science, and I remain cause of the way I was raised. I went to from Drosophila because it would committed to basic science and basic graduate school because I thought it jeopardize my chances at tenure. But research because I think we need to was a great privilege to be able to par- I decided, what the heck, I’m probably understand the principles of life. But ticipate in research and in discoveries. not going to get tenure anyway—I’m as the systems for study have improved My highest aspiration then was that I going to go ahead and do it. The switch and we’ve learned more and more, it was going to be working in some man’s allowed me to begin developing yeast seems time to apply that to tackling laboratory and that maybe I would be models for neurodegenerative disease. this group of diseases for which there’s able to write my own grants to get my such a dire need for new therapies. At own salary support, because that was You’ve been very open about their heart, diseases like Alzheimer’s how many women working in science speaking to the challenges faced and Parkinson’s are caused by proteins in those days did it. by women in science. What’s your misfolding and misbehaving, and so re- sense of where we are now? What search from my lab at MIT has, I hope, When and how did that change? advice would you give to women a role to play in understanding the fun- In graduate school in the 1970s, I scientists at the beginning of damental processes of these diseases was working in Matthew Meselson’s their careers? and develop therapies for them. biochemistry lab—he was my advisor. We still have a long way to go. Women He provided an example of a person are not as well represented in biotech who is unbelievably ethical, rigorous, or in faculties as they should be. It and analytical. But the project he had is even worse in the venture capital me working on wasn’t going anywhere, community. But it’s important to so I came up with this new idea to work realize how far we’ve come. If you love on the heat-shock response of Dro- science, there are lots of avenues for sophila—the fruit fly—and it worked pursuing science now, and if you’re fabulously well. That gave me confi- passionate about it, you can succeed. dence, so I continued that work, and There are enough other women in Colloquy 10 ALUMNI BOOKS reviewer fall 2015 James Clyde Sellman, PhD ’93, history Shelf Life Wesleyan University, 1910–1970: Every voter has a voice in presidential Amber Jamilla Musser (PhD ’09, Academic Ambition and Middle- elections: Does that make presidents history of science) explores the signifi- Class America (Wesleyan University truly national in outlook? The Particu- cance of masochism, drawing on queer Press, 2015) traces Wesleyan’s rise from laristic President: Executive Branch theorists, radical feminism, and the ideas regional college to top-ranking national Politics and Political Inequality of Michel Foucault and Simone de Beau- institution, one that truly merits the (Cambridge University Press, 2015), by voir. Sensational Flesh: Race, Power, appellation “university.” David Potts Douglas Kriner (PhD ’06, govern- and Masochism (New York University (PhD ’67, history of American civiliza- ment) and Andrew Reeves (PhD ’08, Press, 2014) weighs multiple interpretive tion) has produced a work of meticulous government), concludes that presi- approaches, considering masochism as a scholarship, not a warm-and-cuddly dents are often “particularistic,” driven sociopolitical critique or a subversion of alumni-relations project. He closely by their desire to win a second term patriarchal values. Musser probes the life examines the university’s fundraising, or strengthen the party’s base. Swing and oeuvre of performance artist Bob its expanding academic programs, and its states (like Ohio in 2012) benefit from Flanagan—whose short film Bob and sometimes uneasy adjustment to a more election-year largesse. Presidents play Sheree’s Contract features a voice-over diverse student body. He opens memo- favorites with highway projects, military by Flanagan, swearing total abnegation, rably with an academic-freedom case: contracts, even disaster relief. George W. while his partner Sheree Rose carves an the 1913 dismissal of Willard Fisher, pro- Bush acted decisively during Hurricane “S” into his chest with an X-Acto knife. fessor of economics and social science. Charley (which struck Republican Florida Musser also uses the writings of Frantz (Fisher certainly did himself no favors by in 2004) but not during Katrina (which Fanon to examine the connections disclosing that William Shanklin, the last devastated Democratic New Orleans in among masochism, post-colonialism, Methodist minister to serve as university 2005—not an election year). A national and race. president, repeatedly plagiarized in his electorate doesn’t magically lift presi- sermons!) dents above politicking. Daniel Willingham (PhD ’90, psy- chology) takes a no-nonsense approach Robert Bireley (PhD ’72, history) Photography and the Art of Chance to encouraging children to become notes that Holy Roman Emperor (Belknap Press, 2015) traces photogra- avid readers. Raising Kids Who Read: Ferdinand II (1578−1637) has not been the phy from a bit of chemical legerdemain What Parents and Teachers Can Do subject of a full biography for a genera- to acceptance as a fine art. Robin (Jossey-Bass, 2015) reviews current tion. His Ferdinand II, Counter-Refor- Kelsey (PhD ’00, history of art and ar- research on the subject and wrestles mation Emperor, 1578–1637 (Cam- chitecture) frames his narrative around with the relative merits of phonics-based bridge University Press, 2014) meets five nineteenth- and twentieth-century versus whole-word strategies (phonics that scholarly gap with a measured photographers who exemplify this has a slight edge). Willingham devotes recounting of Ferdinand’s politics and transit: Henry Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret separate sections to addressing the policies. Ferdinand was a leading figure in Cameron, Alfred Stieglitz, Friederick needs of children in different age groups: the Counter-Reformation and a staunch Sommer, and John Baldessari. In alter- preschool, kindergarten through second opponent of Protestantism. Through- nating chapters, Kelsey explores broader grade, and third grade and beyond. He out his reign as Holy Roman Emperor developments in art history, arguing that offers general advice—above all, “start (1619−37), Ferdinand was embroiled in chance (and the camera’s instantaneous now”—though he’s far from endors- the massively destructive Thirty Years image-making) challenged traditional ing a “tiger mom” approach to reading. War. Bireley conveys the emperor’s definitions of art. In photography, luck He also provides specific, age-targeted deeply felt Catholicism and his political vies with intentionality, and instanta- exercises and games. The absence of inflexibility, noting that on more than one neous creation seems to trump artistic buzzwords and ed-psych jargon shows a occasion the emperor squandered an mastery. Ultimately, modernism and its welcome respect for general readers. opportunity for peace (on advantageous embrace of the industrial and aleatory terms) because he brooked no compro- aspects of contemporary life opened the Anthropologist Cora Bois Du (1903−91) mise with Protestants. way for photography’s acceptance. isn’t as familiar as Ruth Benedict or Mar- Alumni authors: Would you like your book (general interest, published within the past year) considered for inclusion? Send it to Colloquy, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Suite 350, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. Questions? E-mail [email protected].

garet Mead, but Cora Du Bois: Anthro- Qing dynasties, and other powers from pologist, Diplomat, Agent (University Mongols to communists. One striking of Nebraska Press, 2015) decisively chal- map uses colored bands representing lenges that obscurity. Susan Seymour weeks of travel to show how long it took (PhD ’71, anthropology) recounts Du to journey across Tibet in 1900. Ryavec Bois’ struggles—as a lesbian, a young also provides a wealth of color and scholar seeking work in the Depres- black-and-white photographs, drawings, sion, and a woman in a male-dominated charts, and graphs that further deepen profession. Nevertheless, she opened one’s understanding of this land and its doors. She pioneered the “culture and rich culture and history. personality” approach to anthropology. The Wise King: A Christian Prince, During WWII, she headed an OSS station To Make the Hands Impure: Art, Muslim Spain, and the Birth of the in Ceylon. Joining the State Department, Ethical Adventure, the Difficult, and Renaissance (Basic Books, 2015) is a she warned that Vietnam could become the Holy (Fordham University Press, vividly engaging biography of Alfonso a quagmire. But anticommunist hysteria 2014) takes its title from a Talmudic X, 13th-century king of Castile and drove her back to academia. In 1954, she instruction that sacred texts “make the León. Particularly bracing is its suc- became Harvard’s first tenured female hands impure” (but, paradoxically, not cess in locating Alfonso—a Renais- professor. Her multifaceted life is well the other way around). This juxtaposi- sance man long before the Renais- worth remembering. tion of impurity, text, and touch launches sance—within the cultural ferment Adam Zachary Newton (PhD ’92, of his time. Ranging far beyond Spain Allyson Nadia Field (PhD ’08, com- English & American language & lit- itself, Simon Doubleday (PhD ’96, parative literature) faced a challenge in erature) toward an “ethics of reading.” history) challenges the all-too-com- Uplift Cinema: The Emergence of Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin, Jacques mon dichotomy of benighted, static African American Film and the Pos- Derrida, Stanley Cavell, and—above Middle Ages and vibrant Renaissance. sibility of Black Modernity (Duke all—Emmanuel Levinas, Newton stresses Without denying the Renaissance its University Press, 2015). How do you proximity and the tactile immediacy of due, he depicts it as a summit on a assess pre-1915 motion pictures aimed texts, from the book-as-artifact, to the broad cordillera. Change, he argues, at black audiences when none of these naming of names (Holocaust victims, the was already in the air. films survive? Field casts her net widely, Vietnam Memorial), to complex works Thus, Alfonso commissioned marshaling letters, reviews in black with sometimes unintended audiences a wide range of works—notably, newspapers, movie stills, etc. Besides (for example, the 30,000-page archive the astronomical Alfonsine tables theatrical releases, she addresses “local of reclusive Chicagoan Henry Darger). (Galileo’s heavily annotated copy actualities” featuring local communities survives), which drew on Islamic and (meant to attract audiences eager to see Debra Prager (PhD ’03, Germanic Jewish learning, and the Cantigas de themselves onscreen), and fundraising languages and literatures) probes the Santa Maria, a song cycle to the Virgin documentaries by Tuskegee Institute image of “The East” in German literature. Mary, of which up to 20 pieces may and Hampton Institute. These films Orienting the Self: The German feature his own lyrics and music. He represent “uplift cinema” by challeng- Literary Encounter with the Eastern ordered that many of these works be ing the racist portrayals of blacks in Other (Camden House, 2014) analyzes produced in the vernacular, including mainstream films and by their embrace works from Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Spain’s first vernacular legal code, the of Booker T. Washington’s call for black Parzival (early 1200s) to Thomas Mann’s Siete Partidas. He also commissioned bootstrapping. 1924 novel The Magic Mountain. Thus, or supported innovative gothic-style Fortunatus (1509) juxtaposes a prosaic architecture, such as the León cathe- A Historical Atlas of Tibet (University West with Eastern fantasies and desires, dral and Alcázar, his palace in Seville. of Chicago Press, 2015) is brilliant, mul- in part, as a response to nascent Western Above all, Alfonso embraced the tidisciplinary, and visually sumptuous. capitalism. In contrast, Theodor Fon- intellectual influences of the Muslim Geographer Karl Ryavec (AM ’89, East tane’s Effi Briest (1895) seems couched world, securing translations of Greek Asian regional studies) has produced in Freudianism; its Madame Bovary− and Arab texts into Castilian or Latin a tour-de-force that incorporates like protagonist, trapped in a loveless and serving as a cultural intermediary cutting-edge GIS technology; Paleolithic marriage, struggles with erotic desires between Christian Europe and the and Neolithic archaeology; political, reli- and conjures up a Chinese specter that Muslim realm. gious, linguistic, and economic data; and embodies them. Prager thus grounds Ed- varied historical sources from Tibet’s ward Said’s “orientalism” in the changes imperial era, China’s Song, Ming, and of time and historical context. Waiting to Be Known

For millennia, humans have looked up and been inspired by what they see in the night sky. Some, in awe of the great expanse of the universe, saw the craftwork of gods. Others contemplated their observations, wondering if those far-off points of light were similar to our sun or to our planet, perhaps sustaining intelligent, equally inquisitive life. Still others pondered the questions that arose from their curiosity: Are we alone in the universe? Why does it matter?

At Harvard, graduate students and faculty continue to reflect on these ancient questions, regardless of discipline. In this issue of Colloquy, you’ll read about astronomers searching for inhabitable worlds, social scientists studying the politics and intricacies of group formation, and a philosopher who considers the human drive to connect with those beyond ourselves.

As human beings, we seem wired to seek out those like us, to find comfort in the same opinions. We marvel at our place in our community, our country, or the world. Some, like our ancestors, turn their attention to the night sky, hoping to find signs of life. Others relentlessly question everything, from why we live as we do, to why we do what we do at all. All of our searching can perhaps be summed up best by Carl Sagan, who once said, “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

sam xi For millennia, humans have looked up into the night sky and wondered about our place in the heavens. Are we alone in the Universe? Why is it we seek out like-minded individuals and develop political structures? Why do we even care?

At Harvard, graduate students and faculty continue to ponder these ancient questions, regardless of discipline. In this issue of Colloquy, you will read about astronomers searching for inhabitable worlds, social scientists studying the politics and intricacies of group formation, and a philosopher who considers the human drive to connect with those beyond ourselves.

As human beings, we seem wired to seek out those like us, to find comfort in the same opinions. We marvel at our place in our community, our country, or the world. Some, like our ancestors, turn their attention to the night sky hoping to find signs of life, similarly searching for connection. Others are driven by relentless questioning of all they see, from why we live as we do to why we do what we do at all. All of our searching, academic or otherwise, terres- trial or extraterrestrial, can perhaps be summed up by Carl Sagan, who once said, “Somewhere, some- thing incredible is waiting to be known.” sam xi a r e w e a l n e

i n t h e u n i v e r s e ?

( a n d w h y d o w e c a r e s o m u c h ? )

b y f r a n k w h i t e Colloquy 15 fall 2015

When they first began their science careers, neither Phil- lips Professor of Astronomy Dimitar Sasselov nor sixth- year graduate student Elisabeth Newton intended to search for extraterrestrial life—but that is exactly what they are both doing today. “My initial interest was in the physics of stars and cos- mology,” says Sasselov. “I majored in physics in college,” says Newton, “and astronomy offered the most interesting physics.” Now working at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Sasselov and Newton are engaged in a quest to answer one of the most fundamental questions facing humanity: Are we unique—and alone— in the uni- verse, or are we ordinary, with an expansive social network waiting for us “out there?” Sasselov, Newton, and their colleagues now believe that the answer to that question is tantalizingly close after thousands of years of speculation, theorizing, and—final- ly— some solid scientific research. photo courtesy of nasa courtesy photo a r e w e a l o n e i n t h e u n i v e r s e ?

THE DEBATE isms to large-brained mammals who can debate cosmology. We should therefore reserve judgment as to whether we are What at first appears to be a very modern query is actually alone or only one overachieving species among many. ancient in its origins. Since human beings began to ponder Aristotle and Epicurus would be impressed to find that the “big questions,” the desire to understand what exists their argument continues 2,000 years after their deaths. beyond the confines of the Earth continually surfaces. Ac- cording to Michael J. Crowe (author of The Extraterrestrial Life Debate 1750–1900), no less a philosopher than Aristotle THE BREAKTHROUGH argued in the 4th century BCE that a so-called “plurality of Until 1992, we couldn’t say with certainty whether any worlds” could not exist because every solar system required planets existed outside our own solar system. This all a Prime Mover to keep it going, and he had trouble imagin- changed, however, with the confirmed sighting of several ing an infinite number of those. such planets (known as extrasolar or exoplanets) orbiting Around the same time, Epicurus penned a remark- the dense remnant of a supernova explosion in the constel- ably modern rejoinder to the Aristotelian perspective. He lation Virgo. While few believed that these highly irradiated, suggested that atoms were infinite in number and argued hostile worlds could support life, their mere existence set that “…there are infinite worlds both like and unlike ours.” off the first of several tectonic shifts in thinking in the field. Epicurus asserted that some of these worlds would sustain In 1995, astronomers announced the first exoplanet life similar to Earth. orbiting a star similar to our Sun. A rush of discovery fol- Aristotle and Epicurus shared common ground in that lowed, accelerating in 2009, when NASA launched the Ke- they had absolutely no observational data on which to base pler space-based telescope to search for nearby Earth-like their opinions, meaning that the controversy surrounding planets. By late 2015, researchers had found nearly 2,000 the possibility of extraterrestrial life raged on right through exoplanets in all, with a growing number of them similar to the Middle Ages and Renaissance up to our own time. Earth. Most were detected by Kepler, located via a technique For example, Cornell Professor Carl Sagan, whose Public known as the transit method. Television series Cosmos brought the concepts of astronomy When a planet passes—or transits—in front of its sun, to a broad audience, advanced a principle of mediocrity that the starlight dims perceptibly. Exoplanet hunters can echoed the writings of Epicurus. He argued that there was determine many things about their quarry from this simple nothing special about our solar system or planet—there piece of information, including the planet’s diameter, tem- are billions and billions of stars in the universe, with many perature, and the length of its year. These factors add up (or planets capable of sustaining life and intelligence. don’t) to the planet’s habitability. Cosmologists John D. Barrow and Frank J. Tipler coun- For scientists who, unlike Aristotle and Epicurus, need tered with the Anthropic Cosmological Principle, arguing data to do their work, finding these first planets marked that even with a universe full of planets, generating life on the beginning of a golden age. “The discovery of exoplanets one is difficult—and it’s a big leap from single-celled organ- shifted my attention away from cosmology,” says Sasselov. “Since I was studying stars, it was a natural transition for me, because we now knew that some of those stars had plan- ets, and my experience could help in the search.” By 2002, Sasselov had left cosmology behind to work

on exoplanets exclusively. He believes the lure of the chase kris snibbe

SINCE HUMAN BEINGS BEGAN TO PONDER THE “BIG QUESTIONS,” THE DESIRE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT EXISTS BEYOND THE CONFINES OF THE EARTH CONTINUALLY SURFACES.

Dimitar Sasselov searches for exo- planets while leading Harvard’s Origins of Life Initiative. Colloquy 17 fall 2015

By using tele- isms to large-brained mammals who can debate cosmology. scopes like NASA’s We should therefore reserve judgment as to whether we are Hubble and Spitzer, alone or only one overachieving species among many. astronomers can determine important Aristotle and Epicurus would be impressed to find that information about their argument continues 2,000 years after their deaths. faraway planets when they “transit” in front of their stars. Left, THE BREAKTHROUGH an artist’s rendition of a Neptune-size Until 1992, we couldn’t say with certainty whether any planet orbiting its star. Credit: NASA/ planets existed outside our own solar system. This all JPL-Caltech changed, however, with the confirmed sighting of several such planets (known as extrasolar or exoplanets) orbiting the dense remnant of a supernova explosion in the constel- lation Virgo. While few believed that these highly irradiated, hostile worlds could support life, their mere existence set off the first of several tectonic shifts in thinking in the field. In 1995, astronomers announced the first exoplanet orbiting a star similar to our Sun. A rush of discovery fol- lowed, accelerating in 2009, when NASA launched the Ke- pler space-based telescope to search for nearby Earth-like planets. By late 2015, researchers had found nearly 2,000 for researchers has grown stronger in the past decade for exoplanets in all, with a growing number of them similar to a simple reason: “We are moving closer to the discovery of Earth. Most were detected by Kepler, located via a technique and ability to study Earth-like planets.” known as the transit method. This is, of course, the Holy Grail of exoplanet research— When a planet passes—or transits—in front of its sun, finding “Earth 2.0,” as some call it. In detecting life similar the starlight dims perceptibly. Exoplanet hunters can to that on our home planet, we hope to find similar intel- “AT FIRST, WE HAD THE CLEAR determine many things about their quarry from this simple ligence. And if that happens, humanity will finally know that MOTIVATION TO USE THE TOOLS piece of information, including the planet’s diameter, tem- we are not alone. perature, and the length of its year. These factors add up (or Seizing the moment, Sasselov began conferring with OF REMOTE SENSING TO FIND don’t) to the planet’s habitability. chemists and geochemists about how to detect life on these EXOPLANETS AS THE CRITICAL STEP IN For scientists who, unlike Aristotle and Epicurus, need exoplanets. His conversations resulted in the creation of THE LIFE SEARCH. NOW WE KNOW THAT data to do their work, finding these first planets marked Harvard’s interdisciplinary Origins of Life Initiative in 2006. the beginning of a golden age. “The discovery of exoplanets “At first, we had the clear motivation to use the tools of EXOPLANETS ARE COMMON, AND THE shifted my attention away from cosmology,” says Sasselov. remote sensing to find exoplanets as the critical step in the SEARCH CAN BEGIN IN EARNEST.” “Since I was studying stars, it was a natural transition for life search,” says Sasselov. “Now we know that exoplanets me, because we now knew that some of those stars had plan- are common, and the search can begin in earnest.” ets, and my experience could help in the search.” Moreover, one of Sasselov’s colleagues, Nobel Prize– By 2002, Sasselov had left cosmology behind to work winner and Harvard Professor of Chemistry and Chemi-

on exoplanets exclusively. He believes the lure of the chase kris snibbe cal Biology Jack W. Szostak, found that he could create self-replicating molecules in his lab with far less effort than expected. “This showed,” says Sasselov, “that the enabling Why red dwarfs? As it turns out, it is easier to find Earth- conditions for life are not overly strict.” sized exoplanets circling a red dwarf than around a star like As an undergraduate at the University of California at our own Sun. Santa Barbara, Elisabeth Newton found herself excited “Red dwarfs are the most numerous kinds of stars in the by the possibilities the search for exoplanets raised. She galaxy and because of their small size, it is much easier to decided to move across the country to study at Harvard and spot a planet as it transits,” Newton explains. “They also in the CfA, where her path and Sasselov’s would eventually emit much less radiation than our Sun, so the so-called hab- intersect. “I had been studying galaxies, but wanted to shift itable zone is much closer to the star. Around a red dwarf, a the focus of my research to exoplanets,” she remembers. potentially habitable exoplanet has an orbital period of just “My advisor recommended I apply to work with Harvard’s a few weeks, as opposed to one year around a Sun-like star. David Charbonneau, one of the pioneers in the field.” This means we can make many more observations in a much Just as Sasselov found that his study of stars led to shorter period of time.” exoplanets, Newton’s interest in exoplanets turned her at- The red dwarf study evolved into Newton’s dissertation, tention to red dwarf stars. which she is now completing. Being a graduate student dur- a r e w e

a l o n e

i n t h e u n i v e r s e ?

Above: An artist’s ing one of the greatest periods of discovery in astronomy but more a question of when,” he says. “I want to make it image of the first has been a tremendous—and challenging—experience. “As happen sooner rather than later!” confirmed Earth- sized planet, known as I look back on my tenure at the CfA,” she says, “it’s been an The next great challenge, he says, is to find biosignatures Kepler-186f, believed exciting and intense time.” in the atmospheres of the Super-Earths and any other plan- to orbit its sun in ets that might harbor life. a habitable zone. Credit: NASA Ames/ SUPER-EARTHS JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle Below: Elisabeth Sasselov has become a leading expert on so-called Super- Newton studies red Earths, rocky planets that are somewhat larger than the dwarf stars in an effort to identify Earth, but similar in other ways. Their size turns out to be exoplanets. useful in retaining an atmosphere, an essential component for maintaining life. Sasselov wrote a book about them (The SASSELOV ASSERTS THAT THE Life of Super-Earths), and developed the class “Super-Earths and Life” for the online edX platform. Knowing of New- “PLURALITY OF WORLDS” DEBATE IS ton’s red dwarf work, he invited her to help him write the OVER, ENDED THANKS TO THE RAPID- course, which did very well in its first year, with about 1,500 students completing it. FIRE DISCOVERY OF PLANET AFTER Sasselov asserts that the “plurality of worlds” debate is PLANET, MANY OF WHICH SEEM over, ended thanks to the rapid-fire discovery of planet after CAPABLE OF SUSTAINING LIFE. planet, many of which seem capable of sustaining life. “It is no longer a question of if we will find life on other planets,

FROM LIFE TO INTELLIGENCE: SETI On Earth, it has taken millions of years of evolution for the earliest forms of life to develop into intelligent creatures capable of contemplating the entire process and asking questions like, “Are we alone in the universe?” Speculat- ing that intelligent entities in other star systems might be sending out radio signals that human beings could read and interpret, astronomers launched a scientific search

for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) in the 1960s. While newton: ben gebo Colloquy 19 fall 2015

SETI has not produced definitive results during its 50-year existence, hope remains in the form of an investment from Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, and the imprimatur of famed physicist Stephen Hawking. The Breakthrough Listen project, with $100 million in funding, could revitalize ON EARTH, IT HAS TAKEN SETI worldwide. MILLIONS OF YEARS OF Sasselov supports Breakthrough Listen, but prefers EVOLUTION FOR THE EARLIEST his current approach. “At the moment, I am looking at the easier task—detecting life,” he says. FORMS OF LIFE TO DEVELOP INTO INTELLIGENT CREATURES CAPABLE OF AND WHY DO WE CARE? CONTEMPLATING THE ENTIRE PROCESS Most of those involved in the search for life and intelligence AND ASKING QUESTIONS LIKE, “ARE in the universe probably don’t ask themselves, “Why am I WE ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE?” doing this?” The answer seems obvious: Who wouldn’t want to know more about our place in the cosmos? Whether the answer is “yes” or “no,” Elisabeth Newton acknowledges that the implications are enormous. “I can’t even begin to comprehend what it would be like to discover life or intel- ligence elsewhere,” she says, “but it will have a profound impact on society.” In our interconnected world, human beings know too Dimitar Sasselov continues to ponder the “why” ques- much about one another to experience these encounters— tion, and in his book on Super-Earths, he offers a cogent but space offers new possibilities. “The discovery of new answer. “It is the age-old question of ‘the Other,’” he says, worlds orbiting distant stars offers a fresh opportunity to “but on a grand scale.” contemplate a first encounter,” Sasselov says. “As in the Sasselov explains that the Other is how a conscious past, humans approach it with both insatiable curiosity and human being perceives his or her own identity. This identity fear, with mixed, very strong emotions.” comes front and center in “first encounters,” such as Yet, approach it we inevitably will. Sasselov sees his those between Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis, search, and that of Newton and their colleagues, as ulti- Mayans and Spanish conquistadors, English colonists mately fueled by the human drive to understand ourselves. and Native Americans. Are we alone? Soon, very soon, we may know.

Because they have properties less bright than yellow stars like our Sun, red dwarf stars are used by astronomers to search for exoplanets. At left, an artist’s de- piction of a red dwarf star surrounded by three planets. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech newton: ben gebo Photo by Ben Gebo Colloquy 21 fall 2015

Whether researchers are studying the cosmos for signs of life Is searching for other forms of life the right thing to do? or investigating the motivations behind political formation (or Kant never wrote on this topic, but it is possible he would lack thereof), they seem driven by the same impulse: to seek have considered that searching for other forms of life is out others. Considering why is the province of philosophers, morally obligatory for the same reasons forming a just state and graduate students in the Department of Philosophy turn is. The moral legitimacy of what we want to accomplish to the writings of the past to inform their own observations of depends upon the claim that these projects should not be human motivation. undermined by people who do not endorse our current so- In considering questions of human behavior, PhD student cial structure—the whole notion of a just social structure for Noel Dominguez turns to German philosopher Immanuel Kant, Kant, after all, is simply one where every person in the group known as one of the most influential thinkers in the Western would have reason to endorse and advance that structure. world. Colloquy sat down with Dominguez to get his (and The existence of other forms of life would require that we Kant’s) take on why we are driven to connect with others. respect their right to thrive, otherwise our just social struc- tures would not be just after all. Human beings seem to have the need to seek out oth- This problem already exists in our interactions with ers, for example, by forming political groups or states. other animals, and it is not implausible to think that we Why is that? may stand in a similar relation to forms of life we have not One answer to this question is that humans are right to yet encountered. Just as Kant would think the use of sonar think of this seeking of others as a need, and not merely as a is morally prohibited because it impinges on our ability to very strong desire—perhaps in addition to our wanting to treat whales with the respect they deserve (because sonar seek out others because of our natural sentiments of curios- physically harms whales in ways they would not endorse if ity and community, we could have moral reasons to form they could), our practices here on Earth could have negative communities with others for the sake of our joint autonomy. and undeserved repercussions for beings elsewhere in the Kant held a position like this in his political philosophy, universe. Because we must be assured this is not the case to where he claimed that we are all obligated to form a political ensure that our practices are legitimate, we might have some state independent of any further benefits we might accrue responsibility to look for other forms of life. by forming it. He believed that an individual’s ability to plan anything depended on an assurance that someone Kant said, “Two things fill the mind with ever-increas- else wouldn’t illegitimately interfere with that plan—for ing wonder and awe, the more often and the more example, I can’t grow my own garden if I don’t know you intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them: the won’t steal from me. A mechanism must exist that grants us starry heavens above me and the moral law within a mutual assurance that we would each do our part in our me.” Do you think he saw a connection between the interactions with each other. Kant thought that only the great unknown of what is “out there” and the human formation of a just state could allow for the possibility of responsibility to seek it out? morally just free action. Whether or not Kant thought there was a connection there, we can see the outlines of one. Kant’s philosophy is largely What do you think this need to organize says about motivated by considerations of the conditions of the possibility the human race? of certain entities and what that implied for what those enti- It’s easy to imagine that humans are social creatures solely ties are really like. When he’s thinking of the awe provided because of evolutionary traits or the benefits that come by the moral law within him, part of what he’s fascinated by from being part of a group. But Kant thought there was more is how the necessary nature of acting on any reason can pro- to the story than that. Kant believed that, by and large, every vide guidance concerning which reasons we should act on, or meaningful action depends upon the existence and coop- what we should and shouldn’t do. eration of others taking our ends as their own. You can’t Likewise, in his wonder of the starry skies above him, ask a question unless there’s someone who understands Kant seems to be in awe of the nature of the world as provid- that that’s what you’re trying to do, for example, you can’t ing the conditions of the possibility of existence itself. His get married unless people besides your potential spouse expression of wonder at how the complex depths of internal understand your relationship in that way. The possibility of cognition are matched by the great expanses of outer space independently valuable actions depends upon the existence hints at a belief that both ideas “call out” to us in certain of institutions allowing those actions to be recognized as ways, and that the form of their existence grounds the obli- such. This need to organize is really the need to create the gations we have concerning them. People sometimes claim conditions of the possibility of moral agency. Organizing we should explore other planets “just because they’re there,” ourselves into stable groups is not something we do for the and while Kant probably did not conceive of the possibility benefits of doing it, then, but is the process that leads to any of ever exploring other planets, the above statement gives us social goods at all. an inkling that he’d endorse that line of reasoning.

Colloquy 23 fall 2015 GROUPTHINK

By Ann Hall Throughout our history, human beings Illustration by Keith Negley have sorted themselves into groups. From bands of hunters to citizens of nation states, from tribes to political parties, human history is a story of groups. But why did groups form in the first place? “There are a variety of answers to that AN EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS with Katherine Levine Einstein, PhD question,” says Jennifer Hochschild, Groups may coalesce around specific ’12, an assistant professor of political Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Gov- people or ideals, yet they are far from science at Boston University. In the ernment. “Hobbes argued that life in static. As circumstances change, pres- book, Hochschild and Einstein address the state of nature was solitary, poor, sures form, and beliefs evolve, the the ways that individuals often act nasty, brutish, and short, so we formed composition and structure of human on misinformation to advance their groups for self-protection.” In other groups change along with them. “The group’s cause. In many instances, words, human beings learned through creation of new groups is the story they show, people avoid facts that evolutionary selection that combining of human history,” says Hochschild. contradict their beliefs and automati- their resources provided beneficial cally accept others without question. outcomes, for example, when hunters Jennifer Hochschild Despite the common assumption that worked together they could take down more educated people are less prone to a mammoth, whereas a solitary person accept agreeable statements without would starve. “Over time,” Hochschild question, their research showed quite continues, “primitive groups expand- the opposite. And the reasons why may ed into larger groups, which required be tied to group dynamics. management and internal organiza- “Some evidence shows that people tion as well as defense against other with more education are more likely groups.” to cling to their beliefs, so education is But other theorists have also certainly not a panacea,” Hochschild weighed in on the origins of humans’ explains. The reason is that group desire to gather together. Sigmund membership may outweigh critical Freud, for example, followed a logical analysis, particularly if a group takes chain of familial attachment: chil- “THE CREATION strong partisan or ideological posi- dren are linked to their mothers, who OF NEW GROUPS tions. Even questioning an established are attached to fathers and siblings. idea can threaten an individual’s inclu- Family ties, extended outward, create IS THE STORY sion. “For example, if a member of a group ties. Evolutionary sociologists liberal group questioned whether glob- and psychologists, on the other hand, OF HUMAN al warming is a problem, she would argue that individuals developed a “Through intermingling, intermar- HISTORY IN A have to question whether she can still deep psychological need for emotional riage, and dissolution, group identities be a good Democrat, perhaps stop attachments because connections with do in fact blur and merge over time. VERY, VERY BIG, talking, at least about this issue, to her others helped them better explain the This is not to say that groupness goes GENERAL SCALE.” colleagues and others in their class and world around them. away, but that the nature of a particu- peer groups,” Hochschild says. “That’s Political scientists like Hochschild lar identity and boundary can change.” a big cost. Why would anyone want to offer yet another explanation. “The A pillar of the Department of Gov- do that?” political scientist’s answer is that poli- ernment, where she has taught since tics makes possible the authoritative 2001, Hochschild studies the intersec- RISING DEBT division of good things in a society,” tion of American politics and political Tess Wise, a PhD candidate in govern- she says. “Politics is, in effect, that philosophy—particularly in the areas ment, frames the issue in a somewhat choice of who gets what, when, and of race, ethnicity, and immigration— different way. For her, the question where. It is seldom the case that you and focuses in particular on education isn’t why people form groups—it’s can win these good things by yourself.” and social welfare. A lifelong student why they don’t. “I’m interested in For Hochschild, the key to under- of public opinion, political culture, what happens to the middle class standing group formation involves a and American political thought, she in America when they experience combination of rationality, psychol- is currently considering the politics economic shocks,” Wise says. “Does ogy, culture, and self-interest, which and ideology of genomic science, im- this change the way they join groups or ultimately leads to the distribution of migrant political incorporation, and behave politically?” desired things. “In a world of finite re- how citizens use factual information in At a time when social scientists sources, we can either fight over them political decision-making. increasingly use Big Data to explain or we can enact laws,” she explains. This last topic is the focus of Hoch- trends, Wise is turning to the richer “On balance, creating a system of gov- schild’s most recent book, Do Facts stories of individual Americans. ernment is preferable.” Matter? Information and Misinforma- “Big data is incredibly powerful and

tion in American Politics, coauthored incredibly interesting,” she says, “but mitchell stephanie ben gebo Colloquy 25 fall 2015

with Katherine Levine Einstein, PhD what it gives you is lots of information income levels. “Even though the idea group has not formed to redress a com- ’12, an assistant professor of political about a few things that we measure, of the middle class is an amorphous mon problem. “The topic is so painful science at Boston University. In the or a few things that are easily quantifi- concept,” says Wise, “it is defined as for people to think and talk about, and book, Hochschild and Einstein address able. I felt like I wasn’t understanding ‘not working class.’ A large number it really contradicts their understand- the ways that individuals often act the human story during the research of people in the middle of the income ing of fairness,” she says. on misinformation to advance their process.” While she still looks at data distribution have decided that they’re group’s cause. In many instances, trends, she marries that approach with “A GROUP GIVES part of this group, and they want to EFFECTING REAL CHANGE they show, people avoid facts that small-scale interviews of middle-class US A PLACE hang onto that identity, even if the fac- Wise’s research into the absence of contradict their beliefs and automati- Americans who, according to the tors that originally made them middle group formation breaks new ground cally accept others without question. theorists, should be grouping together WHERE WE CAN class have gone away.” precisely because of deep historical, Despite the common assumption that to lobby for change. According to her Personal debt complicates an psychological, and theoretical expla- more educated people are less prone to findings, however, a huge number of RECOGNIZE already tricky set of class identities. nations for the formation and growth accept agreeable statements without them aren’t. AND WE CAN “Over the past 10 years, the most of groups. In the 1970s, the social psy- question, their research showed quite “Middle-class Americans are common group using payday loans chologist Henri Tajfel conducted an the opposite. And the reasons why may experiencing more economic uncer- HELP. IT’S are people who have some college experiment where he assigned nearly be tied to group dynamics. tainty than they used to,” Wise says. COLLABORATIVE, education, and the number of people 50 teenage boys to random groups “Some evidence shows that people “Over the last generation, the level of with college degrees using payday based on their preferences for one of with more education are more likely debt held by this group has increased I RECOGNIZE loans has gone way up,” explains Wise. two pieces of modern art. What he to cling to their beliefs, so education is substantially.” Rising household “This type of debt—which we think of found was that even without a shared certainly not a panacea,” Hochschild debt coupled with job insecurity and YOU, YOU as being exploitative, damaging, and belief system for their categorization, explains. The reason is that group wage stagnation has blurred the line RECOGNIZE ME.” the kind of solution educated people the boys nevertheless behaved as membership may outweigh critical between the middle class and the wouldn’t resort to—is actually being though their group identities mat- analysis, particularly if a group takes working class, and Wise wonders why used by middle-class Americans more tered. They quickly demonstrated strong partisan or ideological posi- both groups aren’t forming a kind of and more.” favoritism to other boys within their tions. Even questioning an established “debtors union” to push for expanded Yet part of the traditional middle- group and rejected or minimized the idea can threaten an individual’s inclu- social welfare programs. Turns out, the class value system is the belief that others. This experiment showed that sion. “For example, if a member of a reasons are complicated, and in many individual effort is sufficient for even artificially constructed groups, liberal group questioned whether glob- ways, psychological. success. “People really want to believe or groups formed at random, can have al warming is a problem, she would that the world in which we live is a just profound effects on behavior and have to question whether she can still GROUP RESISTANCE one,” says Wise. Because they believe identity. be a good Democrat, perhaps stop Political scientists have long noted in the system, middle-class debtors If debt-plagued middle-class Amer- talking, at least about this issue, to her that our common definitions of eco- tend to blame themselves and assume icans could overcome their conflicted colleagues and others in their class and nomic class depend as much on per- they aren’t working hard enough. Yet class identity and engrained cultural peer groups,” Hochschild says. “That’s ceptions and identities as they do on when it comes to predatory lending, attitudes, Wise argues, forming a col- a big cost. Why would anyone want to even those educated enough to “know lective group would be a powerful way do that?” better” are being set up for failure. to effect real change. “Groups allow Tess Wise Through her interviews, Wise for a diffusion of responsibility,” she RISING DEBT found that people trapped in this says. “Politically, this is great because Tess Wise, a PhD candidate in govern- form of debt initially believe that the you can push for things that might be ment, frames the issue in a somewhat process is fine and fair, and that mor- slightly controversial without feeling different way. For her, the question ally people are responsible for paying like you’re sticking your neck out.” In isn’t why people form groups—it’s what they owe. When she pushes back addition, forming a group could help why they don’t. “I’m interested in on that claim, however, many change ameliorate the paralyzing helplessness what happens to the middle class their narrative. “It starts off as an and shame that people in debt suffer in America when they experience awkward conversation because people from. “A group gives us a place where economic shocks,” Wise says. “Does don’t want to admit that they ended up we can recognize and we can help. It’s this change the way they join groups or in this situation,” she says. “But when collaborative—I recognize you, you behave politically?” you ask them if they think that the in- recognize me,” says Wise. “It reduces At a time when social scientists terest rate on the debt is fair, they say, my uncertainty about who I am in the increasingly use Big Data to explain well, no, it isn’t.” world, and that, I think, is cognitively trends, Wise is turning to the richer Those conversations have helped satisfying for people. That’s what I stories of individual Americans. Wise understand why a groundswell of think of when I think of why people “Big data is incredibly powerful and support for a “debtors union” hasn’t join groups.” Groups, it turns out, give

incredibly interesting,” she says, “but mitchell stephanie ben gebo materialized. That is, it explains why a us all a reason for being. Colloquy 26 ALUMNI NEWS editor Share your news. Send a note to [email protected], or write to fall 2015 Emily Wilson Colloquy, Suite 350, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, 02138.

learning and inspiring achievement, tion (University of Philippines Press, whether it is in the classroom or out 2008). Lupang Hinirang, Lupang of the classroom. Gregory is editor of Tinubuan (De la Salle University A Companion to Greek Tragedy (Wiley- Publishing House, 2015) includes com- Blackwell, 2008) and is currently com- mentaries on the writings of the poet pleting a book on ideas of education in Francisco Balagtas and the Filipino Noted epic and tragedy. nationalists José Rizal and Andrés Bonifacio, while considering the ANTHROPOLOGY, MIDDLE EASTERN ECONOMICS achievements of the writers Amado STUDIES, AND PUBLIC POLICY Patricio Millán-Smitmans, PhD ’75, V. Hernandez and José Corazón. San Swarthmore College welcomes Sa’ed released his latest publication, Termi- Juan is currently professorial lecturer Atshan, AM ’10, PhD ’13, to their nar con el Hambre: Seis Políticas Públicas at the Polytechnic University of the Peace and Conflict Studies Program Claves (Editorial of the Catholic Uni- Philippines. and Syon Bhanot, PhD ’15, as an as- versity of Argentina, 2014), last winter. sistant professor of economics. Atshan In the book, he argues that hunger in Ross Howell, Jr., AM ’74, an assistant researches nonviolent Israeli and developing countries cannot be elimi- professor of English at Elon University, Palestinian social movements and has nated by the social assistance action will publish his first novel, Forsaken taught courses on social movements in of the public and private sectors alone, (NewSouth Books, 2016) in February the Middle East at Harvard and Brown. but must be addressed through struc- 2016. The book tells the chilling story He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at tural reform policies that enable those of an uneducated, 16-year-old African the Watson Institute for International suffering from hunger to permanently American girl in 1912 who, having been Studies at Brown. Bhanot conducts and securely increase their income. convicted of murdering her white em- field experiments that use behavioral He recommends establishing zero ployer, faces execution by electric chair. concepts to influence decision making, hunger and child malnutrition goals Howell has previously published his including pro-social behavior, envi- in all countries. Millán-Smitmans is a fiction in the Virginia Quarterly Review, ronmental conservation, and personal professor of economic policy at Uni- Sewanee Review, and Gettysburg Review. finance decisions. versidad Católica Argentina. In September, Leonard Cassuto, PhD THE CLASSICS ENGLISH ’89, published his fourth book, The Justina W. Gregory, PhD ’74, Sophia E. San Juan, Jr., PhD ’65, has Graduate School Mess: What Caused Smith Professor of Classical Lan- published two new books this year, It and How We Can Fix It (Harvard guages and Literatures, has won the one in English and one in Filipino. A University Press, 2015). In it, Cassuto Kathleen Compton Sherrerd ’54 and collection of San Juan’s essays on discusses how graduate students take John J. F. Sherrerd Prize for Distin- culture, politics, and history, Between too long to complete their studies and guished Teaching at Smith College, Empire and Insurgency: The Philippines then face a disappointing academic which highlights the college’s ongoing in the New Millennium (University of job market if they succeed. He offers commitment to outstanding teaching. Philippines Press, 2015) continues insight into how the value of univer- The award is given to faculty members his historical-materialist critique sity research comes at the expense who show superior skill in fostering From Globalization to National Libera- of teaching, and teaching is where

MEDICAL SCIENCES & REGIONAL STUDIES—RUSSIA, EASTERN EUROPE, & CENTRAL ASIA Microbiologist Howard Shuman, PhD ’80, and research investigator Amy Corning, AM ’87, have published Generations and Collective Memory (University of Chicago Press, 2015). Corning and Shuman draw on a striking range of research to show how generations share memories of formative experiences. They explain how understanding the way those memories form and change can help us understand society and history. Shuman is a professor of sociology and research scientist emeritus at the University of Michigan and has been a part of the department of microbiology at the University of Chicago since 2010. Corning is currently a research investigator at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. poppy de villeneuve poppy poppy de villeneuve America, andreligion andspiritualityAmerica, Award at forScholarlyDistinction 2016. Created in1984,thisaward is 160 coursesand27institutions in 7 The Council of the American HistoriThe CounciloftheAmerican Higher Education Colloquy Share Sendanote orwrite your to to news. [email protected], Higher Education.”Theproject aims Physicist andcomposer, Chronicle ofHigherEducation Coordinator ofInstructional Develop benefit from thewaybenefit learn students compellingproject, “Transparher begin. Cassuto alsowrites agraduate by coordinating theireffortsacrossby PhD ’86,PhD Lavrin, ’63, PhD reforming graduate schoolshould rian intheUnited States canreceive, faculty and students through theideafaculty andstudents forbothing andlearningexperiences andResearchment attheUniversity from GSAS, Lavrin profes iscurrently in ColonialMexico. Amongthefirst in colonialandcontemporary Latin studies andwomen’s ics ofgender more than100publicationsontop on theiroriginality, creativity, and more than 25,000 students frommore than25,000students learn.It they guidesfacultytoof how understanding student of developing of Nevada, LasVegas, one ofthehighesthonorsthatahisto of history atUNLV. inTeachingency andLearningin can literature atFordham University. education columnfor class of women toclass ofwomen receive adoctorate hasselectedcal Association countries. Winkelmes isalsoassociate to educationteach higher improve their 130thAnnualMeeting in January Since 2010,thisstudyhasinvolved kelmes, ’95, PhD sor emerita atArizonaStatesor emerita University. PHYSICS HISTORY OFART &ARCHITECTURE HISTORY achievement. Lavrinachievement. istheauthorof based are recommended and winners disciplines, institutions,andcountries. graduate facultyinthedepartment , Suite 350, Avenue, 1350Massachusetts Cambridge,02138. presented musical, hisnew to receive theAHA andteaches Ameri wasfeatured inthe Mary-Ann WinMary-Ann The Chronicle of Eric Sirota, Asuncion regarding - - -

------Your Name Lips, onMy Tanya AM’96, Selvaratnam, The Big Lie: Motherhood, Feminism,The BigLie:Motherhood, The production featured ayoungartist Publishers, 2015).In thispublication,Publishers, Marshall seektoMarshall believable develop world triesto away. tugher Sirota is who fightsto holdonto hischildhood learning experiences thatproducelearning experiences human beings, detailing how thesehuman beings,detailinghow professor in the Department ofPsy professor intheDepartment phenomena (paranormal, postmortem (paranormal, phenomena F.Edward Kelly, ’71, PhD friend and love ofhislife,whilethe andlove friend for theNew CityinNew York City. chiatry andNeurobehavioral Sciences can occur. Kelly aresearch iscurrently concepts ofthespiritualnature ofconcepts editors Kelly, AdamCrabtree, andPaul edited andpublished educational organizationoffering Since 2011, Selvaratnam has been anSince 2011,Selvaratnam hasbeen Society. survival, mystical experiences, etc.)survival, mysticalexperiences, at theUniversityofVirginia. REGIONAL STUDIES—EAST ASIA PSYCHOLOGY advisor to theDOSchool,acreative a writer, anactor, and anactivist. andtheaterdocumentary producer, and fellow of the American Physical oftheAmerican and fellow a highly-publishedresearch scientist and September 2015attheTheater and Spirituality global impact. bibliography, Herrecent ism: Toward Reconciliation ofScience (Rowman &Littlefield

Beyond Physical Beyond duringAugust hasco- isa

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- (Prometheus, 2014),isacandid(Prometheus, American development.American Assistant directorAssistant oftheLouisiana Architects (GTA), Gluckman formerly University and now serves aspresident serves University andnow University Asia Center,University Asia National Academy of Sciences, con National ofSciences, Academy NGO Forum onWomen. Lim served asthedeanofcollegeLim served Baton Rouge, Founding director ofSeoulNational VIROLOGY Family Collectionandhaspreviously Microbiology, a thehighestcredential Council. Lim is professor emeritus ofCouncil. Limisprofessor emeritus Mayner Architects. Tang isrespon worked fortheWorld Health Office of Public Health ofPublic Laboratories,Office Organization, Ms.Organization, Foundation, andthe Chinese culture, thefirmwilldesign SOCIOLOGY by theKoreaby Research Foundation, her effortstowardher advancing the Lim, PhD ’82, Lim, PhD because of her deep understanding of understanding deep because ofher of Korean Research SocialScience atSeoulNationalof socialscience in SouthKorea. nominated Previously Dana Tang, AM’90, pointed atGluckmanTang partner microbiological diagnosis ofhuman in directing laboratories have aided Board ofMedicalof theAmerican earned certification asadiplomateearned certification currently thecommunicationsandcurrently can earn. Rider’s skillsand knowledgecan earn.Rider’s four majormuseums. Tang isleadar chitect forthree ofthefourmuseums, sociology, andLatin comparingAsian sociology andspecializesinpolitical sidered thehighesthonorforscholarssidered special projects officer fortheRubellspecial projects officer as National Distinguished Scholaras National Distinguished sible forGTA’s workinChinawhere, delayed Selvaratnam is motherhood. ofthepros andconsofassessment and theReality oftheBiologicalClock disease. doctoral-level clinicalmicrobiologist and senior associate.and senior acting asdesigner, project architect, Errin C. Rider, ’08, PhD has been elected hasbeen to the has been ap hasbeen Hyun-Chin - -

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fall Colloquy 2015

27 Colloquy 28 ALUMNI CONNECTIONS fall 2015

The Harvard Graduate School of Arts & Monday, January 11, 2016 Global GSAS Sciences, the Harvard Korea Institute, Seoul, South Korea the Harvard Club of Korea, the Harvard Registration 6:00 p.m. Yard Club of Korea, and the Harvard Remarks and Reception 6:15 p.m. Korea 2016 Alumni Association invite you to gather Westin Chosun Hotel, Orchid Room with local Harvard alumni in Seoul for 106 Sogong-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul a reception and panel conversation about Harvard and global outreach Find out more at: featuring GSAS Dean Xiao-Li Meng and www.gsas.harvard.edu/alumni or members of the Harvard Faculty. e-mail [email protected].

Alumni Stay C-o-n-n-e-c-t-e-d

For GSAS alumni, receiving their sion on interdisciplinary careers, diplomas at Commencement bringing to campus seven alumni marks the beginning of a lifelong who spoke compellingly of the chal- engagement with Harvard and with lenges and rewards of working at CLAIM YOUR HARVARD KEY: YOUR the Graduate School of Arts and the junctions of established disci- Sciences. Graduates remain con- plines. Regional Studies—East Asia NEW HARVARD LOGIN FOR LIFE nected to their departments, often also convened a group of alumni HarvardKey is Harvard’s new unified credential participating in events and giving who participated in breakout ses- for accessing University-wide applications and advice to current students about sions focused on academic careers services with a convenient login name and password. the state of the field. Some depart- and nonacademic career paths. HarvardKey replaces PIN and provides secure access ments maintain LinkedIn pages, Be an active participant in to updated online features rolling out soon, such organize networking meetings or alumni programming. Contact as the new Harvard Alumni Directory, discussion colloquia, or arrange receptions Jon Petitt, director of alumni forum, and class notes. To take advantage of these during professional meetings. relations and publications, at upgrades, claim your HarvardKey—your new For example, over the past year [email protected] or 617- Harvard login for life. Visit key.harvard.edu and the Program in American Studies 495-4945, to learn more. follow the step-by-step instructions. hosted a successful panel discus- What Will Supporting Your Legacy Be?

Help advance world-class the quest for teaching and learning at Harvard with a bequest to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). It’s an investment worth making and knowledge. is surprisingly simple to do.

Jahm Najafi, MA ’86, is a global investor, CEO of the private investment firm Najafi Companies, and co-owner of the Phoenix Suns. “I’ve had my unfair share of good fortune,” he jokes. Najafi credits much of his success • Name GSAS as a beneficiary to an ability to think critically, a skill he first developed as a student at the of your retirement plan or Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). • Leave a portion of your “I wanted to attend Harvard ever since I was 12-years-old and had just estate to GSAS or moved to the United States, but they rejected me as an undergraduate,” says Najafi. He wanted to prove he could learn with the best and have the • Name GSAS as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy chance to take classes from top economists like Richard Caves and Jeffrey Sachs. When he arrived to pursue a master’s degree in business economics, he felt instantly welcomed by classmates and faculty. “Harvard exceeded my expectations,” says Najafi. “Professors provided so much guidance. They would challenge me to think beyond what I thought I was capable of. They taught me to Donors who make a bequest think outside of any established framework.” to GSAS become members In gratitude for his Harvard experience, he and his wife Cheryl have made several gifts to of the John Harvard Society, GSAS. “We are both thankful to the people who believed in us at a time when we weren’t much,” joining a tradition of giving he says. “I feel my personal success and ability to overcome challenges in my life had a lot to do that is crucial to the growth with my education and my experiences interacting with people at Harvard.” and prosperity of Harvard, To support this community of scholars, the Najafis have dedicated one of these gifts to graduate financial aid. “So many people who attend GSAS love research and expanding human which began with the legacy thought,” says Najafi. “And I want to make a small contribution to allow people to continue gift by John Harvard himself. those quests.” The couple has also made an unrestricted gift to help advance new initiatives led by Dean Xiao-Li Meng, such as the Harvard Horizons program and symposium, the new Parental Ac- TO LEARN MORE, CONTACT: commodation and Financial Support program, and other professional development offerings. “Xiao-Li is an amazing dean,” says Najafi. “He’s so passionate about students at GSAS.” LINDSAY SMITH KAFKA Najafi lives with his wife and their three children in Arizona, and he doesn’t get the chance to return to Cambridge as much as he’d like. Still, he takes great comfort in knowing that he and his Office of Gift Planning wife are supporting ongoing activity at the graduate school. Faculty of Arts and Sciences “The only reason we are where we are is that people have gone beyond their comfort zone to Harvard University expand what we know,” he says. “This is due to people who go to graduate school, with Harvard at the forefront. We need to continue to support their good work.” 617-495-5040 or 1-800-VERITAS Support the [email protected] alumni.harvard.edu/OGP

alumni.harvard.edu/ways-to-give/gsas-giving

GSF 15-053 Colloquy Ad (Summer)-To Print.indd 1 11/6/15 12:08 pm NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE DRIVEN TO CONNECT p.20 Alumni Association PAID Suite 350, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue Permit 8 Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138-3846 USA North Reading MA

Harvard’s 100-year-old Alvin Clarke & Sons ARE WE ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE? refractor still scans the sky from the Center for Astrophysics. (AND WHY DO WE CARE SO MUCH?) Photograph by Kris Snibbe p.14