King, Kirschner Named University Professors

Quantitative social scientist Gary King and systems biologist Marc Kirschner have been named University Professors.

King becomes the Weatherhead University Professor, succeeding the late Samuel P. Huntington.

Kirschner becomes the Enders University Professor, succeeding neurobiologist David Hubel, who is now emeritus.

Harvard’s official announcement of the appointments cites King for his work on “how data is [sic] used to study voting behavior, mortality rates, international conflict, experimental design, survey research, Supreme Court decision making, redistricting, and automated ways of understanding information in unstructured text.” His research was covered in Harvard Magazine’s early account of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, which King directs; his involvement with global-health initiatives was covered as well.

Kirschner became the founding chair of the Harvard Medical School department of systems biology in 2003, having previously served as founding chair of the school’s department of cell biology. According to the announcement, his research spans “many areas of modern cell biology, including ‘how cells divide, how they generate their shape, and how embryos develop.’” Readers will find the systems biology department's work described in a 2005 article from the Harvard Magazine archives; Kirschner's recent book on the mechanisms of evolution was also reviewed in the magazine.