English Professor SHELLEY FISHER FISHKIN has been preserving history for a long time. Recently, she received the Mark Twain Circle Certificate of Merit “for long and distinguished service in the elucidation of the work, thought, life and art of Mark Twain.” As he presented the award on Aug. 9 in New York, University of Illinois English Professor Bruce Michelson, president of the organization, asked: “Can you think of anyone who has done more, in the past 20 years, to keep Mark Twain on the front page of the national newspapers and magazines? To get his work into the lights on Broadway? To bring the visual and textual experience of his first editions out of the rare book rooms and into the hands of new generations of ordinary readers?” Noting that Fishkin has “barrels of awards” already, Michelson added, “She doesn’t need this one – but for our own sake, we need for her to accept it.”
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) announced last week that it had named three former Stanford researchers among their 2009-2010 Science and Technology Policy fellows. The 190 Fellows named this year are doctoral-level scientists and master’s- and doctoral-level engineers who will spend a year working in federal agencies or congressional offices. They learn about science policy while providing valuable expertise to the government. JUDSEN BRUZGUL, who earned his doctorate in biological sciences in 2007 and did postdoctoral work at the Woods Institute for the Environment, will join the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Resources Management and Administration as an AAAS Energy, Environment, Agriculture and Natural Resources Fellow. PRAJWAL KULKARNI, who earned master’s and doctoral degrees in applied physics from Stanford in 2005 and 2009, respectively, has been named an AAAS Energy, Environment, Agriculture and Natural Resources Fellow with the EPA’s Office of the Science Adviser. MATTHEW POLIZZOTTO, who completed his postdoctoral work in environmental earth system science at Stanford in July, has been named an AAAS Diplomacy Fellow with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Natural Resources Management. Polizzotto also earned his PhD at Stanford in 2007 in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences.
