Many of these changes significantly affected the Institute's senior administration, including the resignation of Professor Mark S. Wrighton as provost, and the appointment of Professor Joel Moses as his successor.
Professor Wrighton, a member of the chemistry faculty at MIT since 1972 and provost since 1990, became chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis on July 1, 1995. Dr. Wrighton, the CIBA-GEIGY Professor of Chemistry, had become a full professor in 1977 at the unusually young age of 28. He headed MIT's Department of Chemistry from 1987 until he was named provost in 1990. He has mentored about 70 doctoral students at MIT, and is widely considered to be one of the nation's leading scientists. His extraordinary service and accomplishments as provost contributed greatly to the continued excellence and vitality of MIT.
Professor Moses, the Dugald C. Jackson Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and a member of the MIT faculty since 1967, had been head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from 1981 to 1989, and dean of the School of Engineering since 1991. As dean, Professor Moses set a new course for engineering education, and has been widely recognized as the national leader in this regard. He was appointed provost of the Institute on June 10, 1995.
Professor John B. Vander Sande, associate dean of the School of Engineering, was appointed acting dean of the School of Engineering, pending the appointment of a new dean for the School.
Professor Arthur C. Smith, dean for Undergraduate Education and Student Affairs, concluded five years of service to the Institute in that post. Professor Smith will resume his role as a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, where he has been a faculty member since 1959. During his tenure as dean, Professor Smith contributed to the development of programs designed to build more faculty-student interaction and encouraged innovative educational programs. His leadership has been a significant contributor to building MIT's reputation as an outstanding institution for undergraduate study.
Professor Rosalind H. Williams was appointed dean of Undergraduate Education and Student Affairs, effective September 1, 1995. She will work closely with the president and deans in setting and implementing the Institute's educational agenda. Dr. Williams, a cultural historian and Robert M. Metcalfe Professor of Writing, has had a distinguished scholarly career, and has shown a constant and creative dedication to undergraduate education at MIT.
Mr. Jay K. Lucker will be retiring as director of the MIT Libraries after twenty years in that role. During his tenure as director, Mr. Lucker facilitated the interface between the Libraries and Information Systems and other organizations throughout the Institute to maximize the service to students and faculty, and to make the Institute a leader in the emerging new age of digital handling of scholarly information. Until a new director is appointed, Ms. Carol J. Fleishauer, associate director for collection services, will serve as acting director, and Mr. David S. Ferriero, associate director for public services, will serve as acting co-director.
Professor Ellen T. Harris announced her decision to step down from her post as associate provost for the arts after six years. She will continue in this role in a part-time capacity through the fall 1995 semester, while the search for her successor continues. Under her leadership, the arts have taken on a stronger role in the Institute's requirements for humanities and social sciences, and the Council for the Arts at MIT is now extraordinarily active in supporting arts programs and activities on campus. Professor Harris, a distinguished scholar of music, will return to her teaching in the Music Department after taking a sabbatical to pursue a long-planned book about the music of George Frideric Handel.
Professor Frank E. Perkins announced that he will step down as dean of the graduate school. During his tenure as dean, Professor Perkins successfully worked to provide a supportive environment for graduate students, and served effectively as a national leader and spokesperson for graduate education. He will return to teaching and research in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering after a sabbatical. During the search for his successor, Dr. Isaac M. Colbert, associate dean of the Graduate School, will serve as acting dean.
In October 1994, Professor Phillip L. Clay was appointed associate provost with responsibilities in several areas, including promotion and tenure policies, academic integrity, faculty recruitment and retirement, and international educational programs. Professor Clay, a member of the MIT faculty since 1975, directed the Master in City Planning program and served as associate head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, becoming head of that department in 1992.
New department or academic program heads announced during the past year were:
Suzanne Berger, Director of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiative (MISTI); Chryssostomos Chryssostomidis, Head, Department of Ocean Engineering; Thomas W. Eagar, Head, Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Jerome I. Friedman, Interim Head, Department of Physics; Paul L. Joskow, Head, Department of Economics; Stephen J. Lippard, Head, Department of Chemistry; Marcia McNutt, Director, MIT-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography and Oceanographic Engineering; Miklos Porkolab, Director, Plasma Fusion Center; Bishwapriya Sanyal, Head, Department of Urban Studies and Planning; Jefferson W. Tester, Director, Energy Laboratory, and Krysztof Wodiczko, Director, Center for Advanced Visual Studies. Douglas A. Lauffenburger was appointed Director of the newly-established Center for Biomedical Engineering, which will coordinate campus-wide research in this field and facilitate new research partnerships between biologists and engineers.
Among key changes in the administration during the past year were the appointments of Carolyn A. Bunker as Bursar; Vincent W. S. Chan as Head of the Communication Division at Lincoln Laboratory; Carmon Cunningham as Director of Alumni/ae Relations at the Sloan School of Management; Annette Jacobs as Executive Director of the Medical Department; Bonny S. Kellermann as Recording Secretary of the Institute; David R. Lampe as Director of Communications at the Sloan School of Management; Julie T. Norris as Director of the Office of Sponsored Programs; Leo Osgood Jr. as Director, Office of Minority Education; Laura M. Robinson as Executive Director for Engineering Special Programs; John Wilson as Director of Foundation Relations and Development Services; and Brian P. Sack and Vincent Vitto as Assistant Directors of Lincoln Laboratory.
Mary L. Morrissey, Director of Special Events and the Information Center, will retire in September after devoting 45 years to building the community of MIT. She will be succeeded by Gayle M. Fitzgerald, associate director.
The honors and achievements of MIT faculty and staff are so numerous that I mention only some of the individual efforts and awards which have brought distinction to the Institute.
Clifford G. Shull, professor emeritus of physics, won the 1994 Nobel Prize for physics for pioneering work he did almost 50 years ago on neutron diffraction, a technique that explores the structure of atoms inside solids and liquids. He went on to use this technique to make many basic contributions to science.
In recognition of their world-renowned scholarship and their dedication and service to the MIT community, three professors have been named Institute Professor, a title that MIT reserves for about twelve scholars of special distinction. They are: Professor David Baltimore, Ivan R. Cottrell Professor of Molecular Biology and Immunology in the Department of Biology; Professor John H. Harbison, Class of 1949 Professor of Music in the School of Humanities and Social Science; and Professor Daniel I. C. Wang, Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and Director of the Biotechnology Process Engineering Center.
Three faculty members were elected to the National Academy of Sciences: Alexander M. Klibanov, Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry; Richard P. Stanley, Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics; and Daniel W. Stroock, Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics. Their election brings to 102 the number of MIT faculty members in the NAS. Four alumni were also elected.
Six faculty members were elected to the National Academy of Engineering: Arthur B. Baggeroer, Ford Professor of Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Ocean Engineering in the School of Engineering; Edward M. Greitzer, H. Nelson Slater Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Richard H. Lyon, Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering; Jerome H. Milgram, William I. Koch Professor of Ocean Engineering in the Department of Engineering; William F. Schreiber, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Emeritus, in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Thomas B. Sheridan, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Professor of Engineering and Applied Psychology in the School of Engineering. The elections bring to 103 the number of MIT active and emeriti/ae faculty elected to the NAE.
In addition, Dr. Paul E. Gray, chairman of the MIT Corporation and professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was elected treasurer of the 1,700-member National Academy of Engineering.
Two faculty members were elected to the Institute of Medicine in recognition of their major contributions to health and medicine or to related fields. They are: Ann M. Graybiel, professor of neuroanatomy in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and Gerald N. Wogan, Underwood-Prescott Professor of Toxicology, director of the Division of Toxicology in Whitaker College of Health Sciences and Technology, and a member of the Department of Chemistry.
Four faculty members were inducted as Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Robert A. Brown, Warren K. Lewis Professor and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering; Richard O. Hynes, professor of biology, director of the Center for Cancer Research, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator; Robert S. Langer, the Germeshausen Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, and David E. Pritchard of the Department of Physics. In addition, three alumni were also elected.
The teaching excellence of seven professors and their "major innovations in education and dedication to being an apostle of teaching in helping others achieve teaching excellence" were recognized by MIT with their appointments as MacVicar Faculty Fellows. The new fellows are: Wit Busza, Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics; Thomas J. Greytak, Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics; Paul A. Lagace, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Margery Resnick, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies in the School of Humanities and Social Science; Donald R. Sadoway, Professor of Materials Chemistry in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Arthur Steinberg, Professor of Archaeology in the School of Humanities and Social Science; and Marcus A. Thompson, Professor of Music in the School of Humanities and Social Science.
Professor Daniel Kleppner, Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics and associate director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics, was selected as the 1995-96 recipient of the James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award, which recognizes extraordinary professional accomplishments and service to MIT. The selection committee's citation said that Professor Kleppner's "discoveries, inventions and contributions in atomic physics place him at the forefront of a science which is one of the foundations of modern technology."
Dr. Jed Z. Buchwald, Bern Dibner Professor of the History of Science and Director of the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, was awarded a grant by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation through its MacArthur Prize Fellows program. The MacArthur Foundation cited Professor Buchwald for examining "the history of science in terms of its great ideas and the figures who generate them." Dr. Buchwald is the eleventh person connected with MIT to have won one of the awards, often referred to as "genius grants."
Four members of the MIT community were named to high government posts by President Clinton. Institute Professor John M. Deutch, on leave from MIT to serve in the administration of President Clinton, was appointed director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Dr. Shirley A. Jackson, a Life Member of the MIT Corporation, has been named by President Clinton as the new chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Professor Ernest J. Moniz, Professor of Physics and head of the Department of Physics since 1991, was appointed associate director for science at the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Institute Professor Robert M. Solow was appointed to the National Science Board.
President Clinton also named three faculty members to serve on the 18-member President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). They are: President Charles M. Vest, Professor Phillip A. Sharp, head of the Department of Biology, and Professor Mario J. Molina, the Leo and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Sciences in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. A major responsibility of the Committee is to advise the President on issues involving science and technology in achieving national goals.
The Institute was saddened this year by the deaths of several longtime friends and colleagues, among them President Emeritus Jerome B. Wiesner and Mr. Thomas D. Cabot, the longest serving member of the MIT Corporation.
President Emeritus Jerome B. Wiesner, former science adviser to President John F. Kennedy, and a leader for decades in shaping the nation's science and technology policies, died on October 21, 1995, at the age of 79. In his long career at MIT that began in 1942, Dr. Wiesner served as director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics, acting head of the then Department of Electrical Engineering, dean of science, provost, and president. Within the scientific community, Dr. Wiesner was recognized as an authority on microwave theory, communication science and engineering, signal processing, radio and radar, military technology, disarmament, scientific and technical education. He was also a champion of the arts and of the MIT Media Lab. He took office as MIT's thirteenth president on July 1, 1971, and served in that post until June 30, 1980, when he retired and resumed the title of Institute Professor, a position reserved for a handful of the Institute's most distinguished faculty, and which he had held from 1962 to 1971. He was also a Life Member of the MIT Corporation. With Jerry Wiesner's death, the world has lost a great educator and scientific statesman, and MIT has lost a memorable leader.
Mr. Thomas Dudley Cabot, a Life Member Emeritus of the Corporation who was first appointed as a term member in 1946, died June 8, 1995, at his home in Weston at the age of 98. Mr. Cabot, with 49 unbroken years of service to MIT, was elected a Life Member of the Corporation in 1951 and Life Member Emeritus in 1972. He served on many of the Corporation Standing and Visiting Committees and served a number of terms as chairman of Visiting Committees, and in 1960 he established the Thomas Dudley Cabot Scholarship Fund as part of the permanent endowment.
Professor Harold W. Fairbairn, professor emeritus of geology, died on December 21, 1994 from complications of Parkinson's disease. He was 88. A specialist in petrology, geochronology, and petro-fabrics, Professor Fairbairn was associated with MIT continuously from 1937 until his retirement in 1972. In 1978 the Petrology Laboratory in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences was named in his honor.
Professor John T. Howard, faculty member from 1949 until 1973, died of a heart attack at his home in Newburyport on February 7, 1995. In addition to his teaching and research at MIT, Professor Howard consulted widely as a planner, and was involved in redevelopment efforts in a number of cities across the country. He was the head of what is now the Department of Urban Studies and Planning from 1957 until 1970.
Professor Elting E. Morison, one of the nation's most distinguished historians and a founder of MIT's Program in Science, Technology, and Society (STS), where he was a professor emeritus, died April 10, 1995 in Peterborough, NH. He was 85, and had been on the MIT faculty since 1946. Professor Morison, who held the Elizabeth and James R. Killian Class of 1926 Chair, commanded wide attention for more than half a century with his writings on the social, political, intellectual, and industrial history of the United States.
Dr. Robert K. Mueller, associate professor emeritus in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, died on August 4, 1994 at the age of 84. He received the SB, SM, and ScD degrees from MIT. Before joining the faculty, he had been an engineer with several firms including United Aircraft. He was a consultant to the Draper Laboratory and a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Dr. Hamish Munro, former adjunct professor in the Division of Toxicology, died on October 28 at the age of 79. Dr. Munro joined the faculty in the former Department of Nutrition and Food Science in 1966 and retired in 1986. He was active in nutritional activities and studies of the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization, and was a fellow of the National Academy of Science.
Mr. William H. Ramsey, a mentor and role model to hundreds of students as executive director of engineering special programs in the School of Engineering since 1988, died on January 14, 1995 of a heart attack at the age of 67. A 1951 graduate of MIT, he spent 35 years in industry before returning to the Institute to serve first as an industrial liaison officer, and then to take on responsibility for the administration of the MITES program - Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science - and the Engineering Internship Program (EIP) in which students combine academic programs and on-the-job experience.
Dr. Harald A. T. O. Reiche, professor emeritus of history, died on July 25, 1994, at the age of 72. A classical scholar, Professor Reiche was the author or co-author of several books on classical history and thought. He was appointed assistant professor of classics and philosophy at MIT in 1955 and helped to organize, design, and teach the introductory humanities program. He also taught electives in Greek philosophy and language, ancient history, and Roman political thought.
Mr. Joseph J. Snyder, who served 25 years as treasurer and 24 as a vice president of MIT, died on February 28, 1995, of congestive heart failure after a long illness. He was 87. During his career, he was responsible for the stewardship of MIT's financial assets, as well as for the Institute's financial operations and financial relations, and was recognized as one of the leading university financial officers in the nation. In 1975, he was elected Life Member of the Corporation, and became Life Member emeritus in 1982.
Dr. Clark C. Stephenson, professor emeritus of chemistry who taught at MIT for more than 50 years, died suddenly on December 21, 1994, at the age of 82. Professor Stephenson was well known for his measurement and interpretation of the heat capacity of materials. Through most of his career, he had an active role in teaching the first-year chemistry course, making substantial contributions to its revision and updating over the years.
Professor Kenneth R. Wadleigh, former vice president and dean of the Graduate School, died on July 21, 1994, following a brief illness. He was 73. During more than 20 years as a senior administrator at MIT, Professor Wadleigh's contributions include the major expansion of the student residential system, establishing the faculty resident program, overseeing the expansion of student extracurricular activities, and development of the MIT Health Plan. Professor Wadleigh began his career as a member of the mechanical engineering faculty in 1949. He was dean for student affairs from 1961-69, was named vice president in 1969, and in 1975 became dean of the Graduate School as well.
MIT Reports to the President 1994-95