Michael Burks, 2010 Legacy winner in New York with Teach for America

December 03, 2012

Michael Burks, 2010 Legacy winner and Harvard graduate, has a third grade teaching position with Teach for America at Excellence Boys Charter School of Bedford-Stuyvesant.  He is simultaneously earning his M.A. in Education from the Relay Graduate School of Education.  Michael is following his passion for education and using the skills he obtained as a Steamboat Foundation  2010 scholar while interning  at  Facing History and Ourselves.  At Facing History,  Michael worked on a final evaluation for a multi-year educational exchange program between Hudson (MA) High School students, Tech Boston Academy Students and high school students from Kigali, Rwanda and Nyanza, Rwanda. He also worked on an annual evaluation of the Facing History School, which is Facing History’s biggest lab school.  Michael also attended various meetings, conferences, interviews and projects with esteemed faculty from various universities (Harvard Graduate School of Education, NYU, Eastern Michigan) that allowed him to learn about the inner workings of research and academia.

Nishant Ganesh-Kumar, 2012 Legacy winner, presents at 2012 Biomedical Engineering Conference

December 03, 2012

Nishant Ganesh-Kumar recently presented The Integrated Punch Biopsy Kit at the 2012 Biomedical Engineering Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.  Joined by his six peers from The Johns Hopkins University, Nishant and his team explained how The Integrated Punch Biopsy alters the design of the current punch tool, decreases the need for additional instruments, reduces costs and improves safety.

Nishant was recently selected to represent Johns Hopkins as a 2013 student ambassador in a new  program that provides new opportunities for students across the country to catalyze innovation on their home campuses by conducting events and creating networks that inspire and promote student entrepreneurship. The Student Ambassador program is a joint initiative of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) and the National Center for Engineering Pathways to (Epicenter). It is directed by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford University and is funded by the National Science Foundation.  The Epicenter is unleashing the entrepreneurial potential of undergraduate engineering students across the United States to create bold innovators with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to contribute to economic and societal prosperity.

Lester Mackey, 2003 Legacy winner, to join Stanford University statistics faculty

November 29, 2012

Lester Mackey, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, will join the Stanford Statistics faculty in the fall of 2013.  Mackey graduated from Princeton University in 2007 with a B.S.E. in Computer Science and received his M.A in Statistics in 2011 and his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2012 from the University of California, Berkeley. Mackey’swebsite provides in-depth information on his research interests, publications, collaborations and awards.  

Maritsa Hristova, 2011 Legacy Winner, wins prize at New York International String Competition

November 20, 2012

Bulgarian violist Martitsa Hristova, 2011 Legacy winner from Longy School of Music, won Second Prize with her performance and interpretation of the Brahms Viola Sonata in F minor, op 120/1. The prestigious certificate of achievement from Alexander and Buono International is given to soloists who demonstrate intelligence, insight and musicality both in terms of technical skill and artistry. Congratulations Maritsa!

Shalini Pammal, 2011 Legacy winner, is Education Management intern in Bangalore, India

 

November 08, 2012

Shalini spent the past summer as the first Education Management Intern at The Samhita Academy in Bangalore, India. The Samhita Academy endeavors to transform the youth education experience by means of creativity, discovery and a nurturing classroom environment. During her stay Shalini implemented a leadership program to instill confidence, self-efficacy and a sense of compassionate citizenship among youth through a service learning component and an original leadership curriculum.

Currently Shalini is in her final year at Harvard College, researching her senior thesis in the History of Medicine, delving into the longstanding tradition of holistic medicine in India and its national impact on a society that is progressively tending toward modernization and Western ideals.

Sandra Day O’Connor, 2005 Creativity Laureate, talks about Supreme Court and her civics project

October 20, 2012

In a recent interview with David Gergen, CNN political analyst and former adviser to four US presidents, former Justice O’Connor talks about the current Supreme Court and her Project iCivics  designed to equip young Americans with the knowledge and skills they need in order to become effective and knowledgeable citizens and leaders, iCivics offers web-based education projects and an array of interactive games and activities that students can use in class or at home. For the full interview with Gergen visit Parade Magazine’s September 30 issue.

Additional reflections by former Justice O’Connor on the importance of civics education can be found in a recent CNN School of Thought blog and in a recent San Francisco Chronicle op-ed piece .

Tricia Compas-Markman, 2011 Legacy winner, is a finalist for a Cartier Women’s Initiative Award

October 19, 2012

Tricia Compas-Markman traveled to France in October as one of 3 finalists representing North America for the The Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards.   An international business plan competition created in 2006 by Cartier, the Women’s Forum,  McKinsey & Company and INSEAD business school The Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards  identify, support and encourage projects by women entrepreneurs.  Tricia founded DayOne Response, Inc, which designs and manufactures an easy-to-transport personal watertreatment system that cleans water in emergency situations.  Tricia’s presentation can be heard at Cartier Womens Intiative

Lisa Randall, 2009 Creativity Laureate, authors e-book, HIggs Discovery: The Power of Empty Space

October 18, 2012

In Higgs Discovery: The Power of Empty Space,  theoretical physicist and Harvard University professor Lisa Randall writes about the July discovery of a new particle at the Large Hadron Collider and its implications. Randall’s previous books Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions and Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World were both on the New York Times’ list of 100 Notable Books of the Year.  Randall recently appeared on the Charles Rose Show to discuss Higgs Discovery and Warped Passages. The interview can be heard at http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12592/  

Dance group founded by 2012 Creativity Laureate Mark Morris to headline International Arts Festival

September 06, 2012

The Mark Morris Dance Group will headline the Ringling International Arts Festival in Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida with performances October 10-13, 2012. Presented annually since 2009, the Ringling International Arts Festival is produced under the artistic direction of the Baryshnikov Arts Center with Sarasota’s The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.  For a recent article by Carrie Seidman, arts writer for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, on Mark Morris and his choreography visit http://artssarasota.com/2012-08-31/section/riaf-mark-morris-dance-group-to-headline-festival/

Johnnetta B. Cole, 2011 Creativity Laureate, delivers keynote at University of Michigan conference

July 02, 2012

Johnnetta B. Cole, 2011 Creativity Laureate and director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, was the keynote speaker at the University of Michigan Women of Color Task Force (WCTF) Conference: 30 years of Leadership, Legacy and Change.  The topic of Cole’s speech was “The Business Case for Diversity and Inclusion in American Higher Education.“