Faculty members and alumnae honored

Two faculty members and two alumnae were awarded the highly publicized fellowships.

Mahadevan was the cover story in March-April 2008

Applied mathematician Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan and climate scientist Peter Huybers have been named MacArthur Fellows. Mahadevan, who is Lola England de Valpine professor of applied mathematics, is popularly known for precisely explaining phenomena such as the mechanism by which Venus flytraps ensnare their prey and the way flags flutter; he was profiled in this recent Harvard Magazine cover story supplemented by a video demonstration of his work. Huybers, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences, studies glaciers and ice sheets over time, and uses such data to model climate change.

Among others who won the $500,000 fellowships are alumni Rebecca Onie '97, J.D. '03, founder  and executive director of Project HEALTH, which refers patients at public health clinics to needed services; John A. Rogers, JF '98, an applied physicist who is a leader in developing flexible electronic devices and is now at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and poet Heather McHugh '69, writer-in-residence at the University of Washington. McHugh was Phi Beta Kappa poet at Harvard's Commencement in 2000, where she teasingly referred to her free-spirited youth (and the resulting delay in getting her degree): Describing herself as “chastened but not chaste,” she said she was glad to be invited back and honored on such a formal occasion in such a formal way. In her time at Harvard, she said, “‘liberal’ arts seemed so busy indulging the adjective, they forgot the noun.”

Related topics

You might also like

Harvard President Alan Garber Helps First-Years Move In

As a potential settlement with the Trump administration looms, Garber gets students settled. 

Harvard’s New Online Orientation Emphasizes Intellectual Paths

A summer course for first-years focuses on academic success, diverse viewpoints.

Harvard in the News

University layoffs, professors in court, and a new Law School dean

Most popular

Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival

Without Christopher Marlowe, there might not have been a Bard.

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Harvard art historian Jennifer Roberts teaches the value of immersive attention

Teaching students the value of deceleration and immersive attention

Explore More From Current Issue

Man in gray sweater standing in hallway with colorful abstract art on wall.

How Do Single-Celled Organisms Learn and Remember?

A Harvard neuroscientist’s quest to model memory

Man, standing in small group of people outside the courthouse, holding a sign that reads "HANDS OFF HARVARD" in red letters

Harvard’s Summer in Court

What Columbia’s settlement means for the University

Colorful illustration of woman multitasking with laptop, baby bottle, toy, and checklist.

Motherhood and Ambition in a Pronatalist World

Gen Z is confronting the age-old question of balance—with a new twist.