Pforzheimer House
People
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Administration
Erika Christakis
Pforzheimer House Co-Master
pfohomas@fas.harvard.edu
3-9743
Welcome to Pforzheimer House! My professional and personal lives are rooted at the intersection of schools, families, and communities, where for many years I have worked as a teacher, preschool director, public health advocate, and educational consultant. I have masters’ degrees in public health and early childhood education, and I’m also a Massachusetts-licensed teacher. My life has taken many unplanned detours, so I am very sympathetic to those on a non-linear path!
When I'm not around Pfoho, I’m writing regularly for TIME.com and other publications or working with local schools. I also like to feed people, which is not quite the same thing as being a great cook. I know from my own Harvard experience that not everyone feels connected to house life. Nonetheless, Nicholas and I feel connected to you. And we are eager to support you on your intellectual, social, and moral journey at this stage of your lives. Best wishes for a wonderful year. And, p.s., I lived in Winthrop House but trust you won’t hold that against me.
We are the parents of three children: Sebastian (20), Lysander (17), and Lena (15) and two dogs: Elsa and Rudy.
Nicholas Christakis
Pforzheimer House Co-Master
pfohomas@fas.harvard.edu
3-9743
Erika and I are so glad to be a part of Pfoho. I have spent my entire career in academia (as a researcher, teacher, and administrator), and I am deeply committed to the idea of learning – as an end unto itself, and as a path to other ends. I am a physician and social scientist with joint appointments at Harvard Medical School (in the Departments of Health Care Policy and of Medicine) and in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (in the Department of Sociology). I run a lab at the medical school focused on the role of social networks and other factors that influence health – including work on the genetics and mathematics of social networks (www.HumanNatureLab.net). And I teach Soc190: Life and Death in the USA in Harvard College. For many years, I was also a front-line hospice doctor, and an attending physician at MGH and Beth Israel. I want students in Pfoho to feel that they can talk to me at any time, about any topic. I am especially interested in getting to know you as people – to know about your individual interests, hopes, aspirations, quandaries. I often can be found distributing candy in the pflibrary and dining hall at midnight. Please help me to get to know you by introducing yourself to me a lot, and talking about your own interests. You can also find me on twitter, @NAChristakis. As a graduate of Yale College, I have distinct memories of residential life in a House system. As a long-time teacher in Harvard College, I have deep respect for undergraduates. And as a researcher, my main objective is to learn how communities form and how they affect our lives. I try to put all this background to use in helping all at Pforzheimer to have a stimulating and fulfilling experience during their years at Harvard.
Lisa Boes
Allston Burr Resident Dean
pf-abrd@fas.harvard.edu
5-8176
I didn’t always know that I wanted to be a college administrator and educational researcher, but I cannot imagine that things could have turned out any other way. I‘ve lived most of my adult life in college residence halls, which suits me very well. I grew up in northwest Ohio between the towns of Hicksville and Defiance. (Really. It describes me quite well.) I still have a deep and abiding respect for the Midwest, although the northeast also feels like home.
After college I put my BA in Botany from Miami University (Ohio) to good use as a Residence Hall Director at SUNY Cortland, and then ran a co-op dorm at the University of Maine in Orono. I returned to Miami University to complete a MS in College Student Personnel before I came to the Graduate School of Education at Harvard to study civic engagement and adult development.
I received my doctorate in Learning & Teaching in June 2006. My dissertation, a qualitative study of an undergraduate course at Harvard called "Practicing Democracy," looks at the relationship between the pedagogy and students' developmental perspectives. After I completed my Ed.D., I was a post-doctoral fellow at the Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning at Harvard, where I focused on Activity Based Learning and teacher development.
I became the Resident Dean in Pforzheimer in the fall of 2007 and continued my work at the Bok Center for two years. I now have a faculty appointment is as a Lecturer on Social Studies, and teach a House-based seminar on College Student Development in the spring. I also work with the Advising Programs Office on assessment and evaluation projects.
Outside the House I volunteer with an organization in Arlington, MA, The Children’s Room, where I work with teenagers who do community outreach about their experiences of the loss of a parent or sibling.
I’m available to discuss academic or personal issues you have, of course, but if you’re also in the mood to talk about Cape Cod (where I spent most of my summer), beekeeping, gardening, barefoot running, relationships, the humbling experiences of learning to golf or row, mindful eating, yoga, or bargain shopping in Boston...find me!
Sue Watts
House Administrator
swatts@fas.harvard.edu
5-8166
Greetings, Pfoho! I'm happy to be returning for my 8th year as the House Administrator in Pforzheimer. With now seven Pfyears under my belt, I have a pretty good grasp now of the who-what-when-where-why of Pfoho vis a vis non-academic matters. I hope you'll feel free to stop by or email anytime regarding student housing issues, room reservations, special events, or any other general Pfoho questions. I’m in office number 103 in the House Office, right next to Super Mario’s office. Before shifting up this way, I spent a year as the Housing Officer for the College. I enjoyed the global view of the Houses from my position in University Hall, but ultimately realized that I'm happier in the more community oriented setting of a House. Aside from my Pfoho identity, I studied music as an undergrad and am especially interested in early music. I'm also a big tennis fan and do my best to get into the Blodgett pool as often as possible. I look forward to another great year in Pfoho.
Erin Nelson
Assistant to the Resident Dean
pforz@fas.harvard.edu
5-8176
I’m so excited to join Pfoho! I recently graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2010 where I studied English and Education and was very active in residential life. I am currently working on a M.Ed. in Early Childhood specializing in creative arts learning for students with and without disabilities. I also bartend part-time at Flatbread Pizza in Davis Square, and have recently left my job as a toddler teacher in Arlington. After a year of wonderful screaming babies I thought I might take a break and come back to a residential life setting. During my time as an undergrad I was always intrigued by the sense of community that the houses foster; strong friendships and the feeling of being at home are created by sharing academic and social experiences with your live-in peers and is something you don’t find outside of your college experience…unless you choose a career in it! I look forward to meeting you all and please feel free to stop by for any questions regarding academic issues, letters of recommendation, graduate and professional school applications, or just to chat!
Mario Leon
Building Manager
pfsuper@fas.harvard.edu
617-495-8621
Hola a todos! I was born and grew up in El Salvador. I've been a Cambridge resident since 1991. I received my Associate degree in Architecture at Instituto Tecnologico Centroamericano ITCA, El Salvador. I'm married to my lovely wife, Haydee. We have a seven-year-old boy named Andre who keeps me busy. Both he and I love soccer, so much so that I couldn't drag him away from the TV during the World Cup! We had our second child in 2007 - another boy, named Diego. I also coach the Cambridge Youth under 11 soccer team. As you can tell, soccer is a big part of my life as well as being part of the Pfoho community. Please don't hesitate to stop by and say Hola!
Gabriel Katsh
Senior Resident Tutor and Sophomore Advising Coordinator
katsh@fas.harvard.edu
3-0492
The Sophomore Advising Coordinator, Gabe Katsh, oversees and supports all the tutors who serve as Sophomore Advisers. In addition to organizing the work of Sophomore Advisers within the House, the coordinator helps organize events for sophomores focused on such issues as concentration choice, study abroad, and research opportunities. The Coordinator serves as the hub of communication for sophomore advising and works closely with the House Masters, the Resident Dean, and the Advising Programs Office.
Abby Rahn
House Masters’ Aide
abbyrahn@fas.harvard.edu
Hi Pfohosers! I’m excited to be rejoining the community this year as the House Masters’ Aide (or House Elf, or Uber Elf, or whatever complimentary title you’d like to give me). I love to cook and bake, organize activities, and try new recipes. I’m looking forward to setting up your Open Houses, and I’d like to hear any suggestions you might have for cuisines or themes you’d like to see.
In addition to cooking, I’m passionate about education and music, particularly band! I hold a Master’s Degree in Wind Band Conducting from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and am in the midst of an additional Master’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Michigan. I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Michigan, where I was a member of the Michigan Marching Band and the Hockey Band. I have taught band students at the elementary, high school, and college level, and I spent 8 summers traveling the country on a bus marching with (and then teaching) a competitive drum and bugle corps.
I also love scifi/fantasy books, all sorts of television, sailing, college football, and talking about any of those topics. I can often be found hanging out behind the unmarked door in the Wolbach basement or upstairs reading to my niece, Davina.
Come find me if you’d like to chat!
House Fellows
Aviva Presser Aiden and Erez Lieberman-Aiden
Biomedical Engineering and Medicine and Applied Math
aviva_presser@hms.harvard.edu and erez@erez.com
AVIVA: First I'll say I so glad to be here. I'm really looking forward to spending time and learning about you all!
I did my undergrad work in engineering at UCLA, and I finished my PhD in applied math/genomics at Harvard/MIT in November 2009. I've completed two years at Harvard Medical School and I am now on a year of research developing dirt-powered-batteries to power small devices in off-the-grid areas of the world.
I'm really interested in developing technology, especially medical and energy technologies suitable for remote environments, such as those you'd find in parts of the developing world, and medical education. I've had the great opportunity to work on several projects in this arena with Harvard undergraduates over the last few years and I hope to continue the trend. I can also do almost everything with one hand, as the other is frequently occupied by a small and cute boy.
I love baking (I plan that my first sabbatical as university faculty will be to go to culinary school and get a certificate in pastry), ethics discussions, and I'm on-again-off-again writing a novel (about angels) whenever I have a lull in the action, or I get a burst of inspiration. I also aspire to figure out how packing peanuts can be used to solve world problems.
EREZ: I'm currently a fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and Visiting Faculty at Google. I did my undergrad at Princeton, where I studied math, physics, and philosophy; then I got a Master's in History, and finally I came to Boston where I got my PhD at Harvard and MIT in Applied Math and Biomedical Engineering.
I am some kind of combination of an inventor, a mathematician, or a biologist. (In fact if you have a suggestion for what the term should be for this I would appreciate it.) I've worked on things like how to study history quantitatively (you may have played with one of the results, the Google Ngram Viewer, at ngrams.googlelabs.com) and a new technique for sequencing the human genome in three dimensions.
I have experience commercializing science, and I also like to write. Two of my collaborative projects with the duo Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick toured the world and were eventually published as the books 'City of Salt' and 'The Apollo Prophecies.' As a bizarre consequence, I am a published prophet.
Together, Aviva and I run Bears Without Borders, a nonprofit that provides stuffed animals to orphaned and catastrophically ill children all over the world.
GABRIEL GALILEO AKA BABY GAGA: I've always been famous, it's just no one knows it yet. But now you do ;)
YOSHI: I am a Shetland Sheepdog. I like to fetch things a great deal, so please let me know if you need something fetched. Also, if you're not planning on finishing that piece of chicken, I am sure I could put it to good use.
Resident Tutors
Isha Agarwal
Medicine
isha_agarwal@hms.harvard.edu
Hi Pfoho! I am thrilled to be returning to the house this year as a pre-med tutor. I was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in Egypt and Columbia, Maryland. After spending time in India, Rwanda, and Cambodia during college, I graduated from Harvard in '09 with a degree in chemistry and a passion for global health. I joined the MD/PhD program at Harvard Medical School with the hope of someday becoming a resident tutor (true!). I am now in my third year, about to start my doctoral research in epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. In my free time, I dance with the Boston Bhangra team and I love to talk about gender and health, politics, and travelling adventures. I'd love to chat with you if you are thinking about MD or MD/ PhD programs, international travel, public service - or anything else!
Jason Ahn
Medicine
ahn.jason@gmail.com
Hi Pfoho! I’m thrilled to be returning to the Pfoho community as a pre-med resident tutor this year. I’m from California and graduated from UC Berkeley (’05) with majors in History and Molecular Cell Biology. Between college and medical school I went to Korea on a Fulbright research Fellowship. I am a 5th year student in the MD/MPP program. I was a Zuckerman Fellow while at the Kennedy School. I’m also making a documentary film about Korean American families separated from their families since the Korean War. In the future I hope to bring about positive change in global health for those who need it most. If you are interested in anything I have mentioned or anything else for that matter, I’m excited to be a resource for you. On a different note, I love sports, martial arts, music, languages, traveling and poetry. I’m definitely in a Pfoho state of mind, so please feel free to stop by or drop a line anytime. I am looking forward to a great year and meeting all of you soon!
Eleni Arzoglou
Sociology
leli.arzoglou@gmail.com
Hi Pfoho. A bit about my professional self: I’m in my sixth year of a Phd in Sociology. Having given up William James hall for the Center for European Studies, I’ve now transferred to the shiny and super modern world of CGIS North as an affiliate of the Weatherhead center. I teach sophomore tutorial in sociology and love nothing more than to talk about how crusty old men of yore, like Marx, Durkheim and Weber, can have a lot to tell us about the world today. My dissertation research will focus on downward mobility as a result of the financial crisis, comparing the U.S. with Europe.
A bit about my non-professional self: I was born in Greece and lived in Saudi Arabia, the U.K. and Belgium growing up. I did my undergrad in St Andrews, Scotland, getting a degree in Economics and International Relations. Although St Andrews is famous for being the birth place of golf, I managed to graduate having never played – no luck on the Prince William front either. I studied abroad in California, at UCI for a year and feel like a bit of an honorary So Cal girl. After graduation, I did a Masters in Global studies, in three locations (Germany, South Africa and India) and then went back to Brussels to work at the European Union. I got the love from Harvard on Valentine’s day 2007, when I got news of my admittance into the Sociology program. I have complained about how cold Boston gets ever since I got here (but I actually love it). Looking forward to chatting with you (in Greek, English, French or German) about studying abroad, social sciences in general, fellowships, or anything else!
Esther Chan
Law
echan@jd13.law.harvard.edu
Hey Pfoho! Iʼm so excited to be joining the Pfoho community this year as a resident pre-law tutor! I am a third year law student at Harvard Law School and graduated from Columbia University with a double major in French and Political Science. During my time in college, I studied abroad in Paris, did a consulting internship in Scotland, went on service trips to China, and worked for various non-profits in New York City. For the past two summers, Iʼve been working in Boston law firms, doing a range of litigation, private equity, investment management, and pro bono work. I love discovering new food spots in Boston (please ask me about the most amazing cookies ever that I recently found in the city), playing flag football and volleyball, reading fashion blogs, learning new languages (I speak Cantonese and French but Iʼm studying Mandarin in good old Vanserg), following the Knicks, and bargain shopping (I once bought a BCBG dress from Bloomingdaleʼs for a penny!). Please feel free to drop by anytime if you want to chat about anything – Iʼm looking forward to meeting you all!
Jamie Ciocco
Drama & Computer Science
ciocco@fas.harvard.edu
After three wonderful years here as an undergrad, launching my web programming career from a room in Wolbach and launching my drama career on the dining hall stage, I defected to Adams House to be a tutor. Nicholas and Erika somehow managed to yank me out of retirement to return as your best defense against future Adamsian aggression — That's right, Pfriends, I was the chief composer/lyricist for Adams House in the only event Adams actually won in the Great Pfoho-Adams War.
Aside from writing and performing ridiculous tunes, I also spent my time at Adams building an online facebook from scratch while failing to leverage it into a multi-billion dollar empire (Fun fact: years before Zuckerberg, I tried to buy the domain name "facebook.com"). Since then, I've started an interactive software company (Trendy.com), created a series of odd but entertaining videos on cooking (SlowCookery.com) and produced videos on learning Chinese language for the Two Chinese Characters. If you want to talk about putting on a show, starting a tech business, or how not to live a normal life, talk to me.
Marie Dach
SASH/General Admin
marie_dach@harvard.edu
Neal Dach
Public Service/NRTs
nealdach@fas.harvard.edu
MARIE: Neal and I are so very excited to be here and can't wait to get to know each of you. Currently, I work in the University Provost Office and for the last two years I worked in the College Dean's Office, so, if you're interested, I can tell you all about the ins and outs of central administration here at Harvard. One thing that you should know about me is that I love to organize so come talk to me if you need help getting your things (or your time) in order. I received my bachelors degree in Education with an emphasis in Art, Music, and Theater and a minor in Drama Education. One of my favorite undergraduate courses was Puppet Therapy, and I can tell you with certainty, there is a right and a wrong way to maneuver a finger puppet. =) On that note, Neal and I live on the first floor of Holmes (next to the elevator) and are always around to chat - come see us!
NEAL: Hi everyone, as your adviser, my sincerest hope is that each of you finds deep fulfillment throughout this transformation known as college. If you are having trouble deciding on a concentration or career path, trust me, I know how you feel. It took me eight years to figure out what I want to do, during which time I explored a variety of different career paths, from U.S. Army Bomb Squad to Exotic Animal Trainer. Now, a third year graduate student in neuroscience, I study the process of sleep in an effort to understand what it is. So, if you have ever wondered why you sleep and dream, come talk to me. I love to chat about who/what we are as conscious beings. I also love to talk about life, politics, and all sorts of other random stuff. As this year's public service tutor, if you are interested in connecting with your community by volunteering or through a career in public service, let me know and I'll help you on your way. I love to socialize almost as much as I love food so if you're looking for me, there's a high probability that you'll find me in the D-hall.
Erin Frey
Public Policy
erin_frey@hks.harvard.edu
I may be a “new” Resident Tutor, I certainly am not new to Pfoho! I have been connected to Pfoho in some capacity for the past three years, and I am incredibly excited to be stepping into this new role! I graduated from Harvard College in 2008 with a degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy and a secondary degree in Economics—ironically from our rival, Adams House! After graduation I served as an “Elf” in Pfoho for two years while I (briefly) worked for an environmental consulting company and TFed courses at the College. The “real world” was not my cup of tea, so last year I began my PhD in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, while serving as a Non-Res Tutor in Pfoho. My research currently focuses on behavioral approaches to environmental policy problems in developing countries and draws from a number of disciplines, including economics, political science, psychology and organizational behavior. I have recently become an avid traveler, and I am eagerly looking forward to my next international adventure. I also love staying active--I dance (mostly ballet, though I am hoping to learn salsa and hip hop!) and am a coxswain for local crew teams. I also have been known to bake sugary treats en masse—a residual skill from my Elfing days—which I hope to share with you at study breaks and meetings! I am eager to meet all of you, so please come by Holmes 404 and say hello!
Stephanie Gironde
Psychology
sgironde@fas.harvard.edu
Hi Pfoho! I’m very excited to be returning for my third year as a resident tutor. I’m currently a sixth-year Ph.D. student in clinical psychology and a predoctoral intern at McLean Hospital. My research uses functional neuroimaging to investigate why people engage in self-injurious behaviors. I’m always happy to talk about psychology, graduate school, and whatever else may be on your mind. I’ve loved exploring Cambridge and Boston these past years, so please find me if you’re looking for ideas of things to do in and around the area (especially those things having to do with hiking, biking, and eating!) I look forward to seeing you all around the house!
Kate Harrington
Education & Music
kate.harrington@gmail.com
Hello Pfoho! I am very excited to join the house community this year as a resident tutor in Music and Education. I graduated from Harvard in 2004 with a concentration in the Comparative Study of Religion (Buddhism, mostly), and then I went directly into the education world as a New York City Teaching Fellow. I taught middle school ESL in the Bronx for three years while earning a Master’s in Education at the City College of New York. Then, I moved to Rwanda to help open a middle school for high-performing girls who could not afford to pay school fees. I moved back to the US about a year ago to teach ESL in the Cambridge Public Schools. As an undergraduate, I was a three-year member of the Radcliffe Choral Society, and for the past year I've been fortunate enough to sing for the Jameson Singers, a Holden alumni-offshoot choir. I love all things musical and I'm very excited to tap into the Pfoho community's musical talent - whether it be conservatory level performance, a capella, or simply a great zeal for karaoke. I’m a fiend for yoga, swimming, singing, baking, and I have a remarkable (4%) record for clearing expert-level minefields. If you have any interest in pursuing a career in education, volunteering with children, working abroad, or showing off your musical talents on our glorious dining hall stage, shoot me an email or join me in the dining hall, and we'll make it happen. Can’t wait to see you around the house!
Brandon Hopkins
Engineering
brandon.j.hopkins@gmail.com
As a pformer Pfoho Harvard undergrad, I love being back and involved with this awesome pfamily. I graduated from Harvard college in 2011 and am currently a PhD-track graduate student at MIT studying mechanical engineering design. I always wanted to be an inventor, and that is what I am doing in grad school! I have designed, built, and tested many machines including race cars, medical devices, and laboratory equipment. My lab focuses on renewable energy technologies, and I am currently designing and building machinery for wave-powered desalination systems and flow batteries for all-electric cars. My passion for inventing is only rivaled by my enthusiasm for the visual and performing arts. I am currently into costume design, improv acting, and break dancing. I am also a health nut and am on the MIT competitive powerlifting team. If you ever need help with physics, math, or engineering, want to create a work of art, or learn proper bench press technique stop by Jordan South 33. I am excited to meet all of you!
Gabriel Katsh
Government
katsh@fas.harvard.edu
3-0492
Hi Pfoho! I'm excited to be back for my third year as a resident tutor. I am in my fourth year of the PhD program in the Government Department, where I study political theory, American politics, and law. I graduated from the college in 2004 with a degree in Social Studies, briefly moved out to Colorado to work on the Kerry Campaign, and then went to Washington, DC, where I spent three years working in politics and civil rights law. As much as I loved DC, I couldn't stay away from Harvard that long, so after a brief stint for a summer as a high school teacher in Korea, I moved back to Cambridge (okay, technically Somerville) two years ago to begin my PhD. I was one of the Pfoho public service tutors last year, and this year I will be one the fellowship tutors (along with John Horton). I am always interested in sitting down over dinner in the dining hall to talk about academics, Harvard, politics, philosophy, public service, your post-graduate or summer plans, or anything else that's on your mind. Also, if I'm around the house, I am always up for a game of ping-pong or Scrabble. Feel free to drop by Wolbach 301 and say hi!
Grace Kim
Dental Medicine & Sociology
gracejkim07@gmail.com
3-6340
Hey Pfoho! I am very excited to be a res tutor in this awesome community out in the Quad. I hail from what New Yorkers call “upstate” New York, but my house was actually only about two hours from Manhattan. Before I began college, my parents moved to Korea, so I am conflicted on where home really is. I graduated from Princeton University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and a certificate in Korean. I had a short stint in Seoul before coming to Boston and taught AP US History at a foreign language high school. Because of my great experience teaching and mentoring students there, I look forward to being a res tutor all the more. I am currently a fourth year at Harvard School of Dental Medicine. In my free time, I like to find incredible deals online or in stores (ask me for tips!), watch movies, travel, and take on arts and crafts projects. And ironically enough, as an aspiring dentist, I have a huge sweet tooth and love to bake (red velvet cupcakes are my specialty). If you ever want something sweet, come on by!
Andrey Liscovich
Economics
liscovic@fas.harvard.edu
3-6197
Dear comrades! I have been compelled to disclose that I grew up in the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Russia (in that very order). And that I did my undergrad in Physics and masters in Economics in Moscow. I confess to being a fourth-year PhD student in Public Policy at HKS and an econ res tutor in Pfoho. I am also unable to conceal my involvement in the teaching of a microeconomic theory course (ec1011a) in the fall and a libertarian propaganda course (ec1017) in the spring. Finally, I plead the Fifth on the perennial allegations of being a Russian spy, but if you have any secrets to share, you can always count on my undivided attention. Workers of the world, unite!
David Mou
Medicine & Business
davidmou@post.harvard.edu
Sara Trowbridge
Medicine
s.k.trowbridge@gmail.com
DAVID: Hi everyone! I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Iattended the Seven Hills School. I graduated from Harvard College as a neurobiology major in 2008, and as a proud Quadling (Cabot). During college, I spent a good deal of time in lab (including a summer of research in Tokyo). I spent the following year continuing my neuroscience research in Paris on a fellowship. Currently I am a fourth year student in the joint MD MBA program at Harvard. I am proud to be here with my fiancée Sara, who I met while we were in the same research program in Tokyo. I've worked for a biotech venture capital firm and founded a couple of web start-ups, and I am interested in health care policy and medical ethics. Apart from 'work', I enjoy classical piano, ultimate frisbee, and conversations on any and every topic. If you have questions about premed, med school life, research, entrepreneurship, taking time off, and/or traveling, let's get in touch!
SARA: Hi Pfoho! I am excited to join the house as a pre-med resident tutor this year. I grew up in Falmouth, Massachusetts (on Cape Cod), and I graduated from Harvard College with a degree in neurobiology in 2009.I then spent one year in Paris doing neuroscience research at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, followed by another year of research at the Picower Institute at MIT. Last year, I started medical school at HMS, in the Health Sciences and Technology program. As a proud Leverett student during college, I successfully survived a “long-distance” relationship with a Quadling, now my fiancé. Our move to Pfoho is his latest attempt to convince me that, indeed, the Quad is better than the River. I am always interested in talking about neuroscience research (I continue to dabble in a lab at MIT) and medicine, as well as any other interesting topics that might come up. In college, I was also a member of the Harvard Ballet Company. I donʼt dance much anymore, but I still enjoy seeing performances and taking the occasional class. I look forward to getting to know everyone!
Daniel Nedelcu
Molecular & Cellular Biology
nedelcu@fas.harvard.edu
Simona Nedelcu
Molecular & Cellular Biology
tescu@mit.edu
DANIEL: Hi everyone! I’m thrilled to be part of PfoHo and can barely wait to meet you all! I was born and raised in Romania, then studied chemistry and biology at MIT and I am now a sixth year grad student in Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School. My research focuses on how cells communicate with each other, how cholesterol derivatives keep this communication going, and how this mechanism is distorted in brain cancers. When I’m not in lab, I am the “crazy cat lady” on the floor (well, except for the “lady” part). I will be a fellowship tutor, so feel free to stop by for any fellowship questions. I like scuba-diving (mostly in warm waters, but I have also been under ice in frozen lakes). I used to run the Skydiving club at MIT as an undergrad. I’m also an avid photographer - if you see a big camera walking around the house on two feet but without a face, that’s probably me. One of my projects for the upcoming year is to set up a small photo studio in the PfoHo Basement – if you are interested in joining my efforts, if you want to learn more about photography, or if you just want to pet our kitties, feel free to stop by Comstock 10!
SIMONA: Hi there, I am Simona! I am very excited to be part of PfoHo next year and to get to meet all of you! I am originally from Romania, I did my undergraduate studies in biology at Caltech and I am currently a fourth year graduate student at MIT in cancer biology. I have a strong interest and a personal commitment to help cure cancer both by doing research at the bench and also by working directly with patients; therefore, I will go to medical school after I finish my PhD (and be a student for a few more years). I am also very passionate about teaching – I have taught many biology and psychology classes at Caltech and MIT, and this semester I will be teaching LS1a at Harvard. If you want to talk about medicine, biological sciences, teaching or some of my other favorite activities (baking, learning romance languages, traveling) please stop by Comstock 10. I will also be a fellowship advisor and a wellness tutor, so I would be happy to answer any questions you may have about fellowship applications and how to lead a balanced life (which I am also learning how to do alongside my husband and our many cats).
Deji Ogunnaike
African and African American Studies
ayodeji07@gmail.com
Hi Pfoho! As a member of the class of 2010 I lived in Currier House, which means I am nothing short of thrilled to be returning to Quad life. I concentrated in African and American Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Since Iʼm originally from Nigeria (the same tribe, the Yoruba, as our very own Bola Ogunsola), I wrote my thesis on the introduction and incorporation of Islam into our tribeʼs cosmology. I was lucky enough to get a Gardner Traveling Fellowship (please let me know if youʼre interested in one of these, theyʼre fantastic!), and so I spent the 2010-11 academic year as the apprentice to a traditionalist priest and diviner in Nigeria while doing research to write a childrenʼs book of Yoruba mythology. I spent last year as a teaching fellow at St. Paulʼs School in Concord NH, and although I had a fantastic time there, decided to come back to Harvard to start a PhD in African Studies and Religion. Some of the things I love most are soccer, languages (Arabic and French in particular), education, playing the piano, and soccer, so if you ever want to kick a ball around, I hardly ever say no! Alternatively if youʼd ever like to learn which Yoruba god/goddess rules your destiny, how our divination process works, are interested in traveling/working in Africa, or anything else really, just let me know!
Omobolaji Ogunsola
Divinity
ooo988@mail.harvard.edu
What’s up, Pfoho?! I am currently a second year Master of Divinity Student with a focus on a comparative study of Christianity and Islam and Religion and social change. I am excited to be returning to Pfoho as a tutor this year after having graduated in 2010 with an AB in Sociology. My decision to study Sociology was driven by my interest in learning more about the ways that structural and cultural factors work together to maintain urban poverty. As an undergraduate, I spent a lot of my time serving the Mission Hill Community through the Mission Hill After School Program and the Mission Hill Summer Program. One of the best opportunities that I took advantage of as an undergraduate was my decision spend a semester studying at la Universidad de Habana in Cuba through the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. I’ve also spent a summer living and studying in Ile-Ife, Nigeria at Obafemi Awolowo University. My dancing has definitely been influenced by Nigerian and Cuban rhythms. I have also recently become interested in drama and have acted in two short films. I love sharing life with close friends and complete strangers who may very well be soon-to-be-friends. I believe in asking questions upon questions upon questions for it is in wrestling with the answers to these questions that we reach a deeper level of understanding, and love seeks understanding. So I hope to be able to share life with many of you all speaking about everything from theology, music, food, or whatever else you may want to talk about!
Lucerito Ortiz
Education
lortiz@fas.harvard.edu
Why hello there! Iʼm extremely excited and honored to be joining the Pfoho community! Iʼm originally from sunny Los Angeles, CA, and graduated from the College in 2010 with a degree in Social Studies (with a focus on race and education in America) and a Secondary in psychology. Refusing to leave fair Harvard after graduating, I have since been working as an Admissions Officer for the College, feeling incredibly humbled and inspired while selecting your future classmates. I am currently pursuing a masterʼs in Education Policy and Management part- time at the Harvard Graduate School of Education as well. I have deep passions within education and social justice, and would love to share them with you! In my spare time (what is that??) I enjoy reading, exercising (especially kickboxing!), watching bad reality TV, finding silly internet memes to flood peopleʼs inboxes with, and trying delicious foods all over the city. I would welcome company in any and all of these activities! I very much look forward to meeting and getting to know you!
Non-Resident Tutors
Jieun Baek
Public Policy (HKS)
Jieunbaek412@gmail.com
Hello Pfoho-- It's good to be back! I was a Government concentrator in Pfoho (Class '09/'10) and after working at Google in the bay area for two years, I'm starting at the Harvard Kennedy School to study public policy. I'm really interested in studying human rights issues (especially those that currently affect North Koreans), current mass violence and genocide, and different ways in which diplomacy can help ameliorate these modern day atrocities against human life.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to talk to me about your classes, the cool initiatives that you're all engaged in, and anything interesting in general. I live right in the middle of Harvard Square, so please swing by for a cup of coffee!
Jim Beck
Medicine
jamesbeck56@gmail.com
I live just a block from Pfoho, and I have taken advantage of that to try to be an active member of the House. I usually eat at the House two or three times a week, and I come to concerts, Pforums and the like. I have rowed with the Pfoho IM crew for four years, and I plan to continue to do that as long as my erg scores are competitive. Last year I was injured so I coxed Womens’ A—I can see a future as a cox if/when I get too old to row. I raced a single scull in the HOCR in 2009 and am training to race again in 2010. I am always happy to chat with members of the House, and I hope that anyone who sees me in the dining room will not be put of by how old I am, but feel free to introduce themselves and join me. I have been associated with the University almost forever. I was an undergraduate in Kirkland House. I am trained both as a psychiatrist (HMS and Mass Mental Health Center) and psychologist (Yale). Currently, I do some clinical teaching at Cambridge Health Alliance, some clinical research, see patients, evaluate a wide variety of people involved with the law-- persons facing a death sentence, police officers with ptsd, and other problems that arise in a legal or adversarial context. I am also this year the chair of the FAS committee on use of human subjects. For most of my working life I have been a public sector psychiatrist, and my enduring commitment clinically is to poor people who are sick and/or in trouble.
Kelly Blondin
Public Health, Spanish
kblondin@post.harvard.edu
Hi everyone! I am delighted to join the Pfoho community and look forward to getting to know you this year. As an undergraduate at Harvard (class of ‘07) I studied Psychology and Spanish, lived in Dunster House, swam on the varsity team, and rowed intramural crew. Thereafter, I moved to the Bay Area where I developed nutrition curriculum and taught nutrition courses in underserved communities, managed farmers’ markets, and worked on a type 2 diabetes intervention study. I missed Harvard so much that I’ve returned to study at the Harvard School of Public Health. In a nutshell, I am interested in promoting nutrition and agriculture policies that encourage the wellbeing of people and the planet. If you have interest in anything related, I’d love to talk with you!
Growing up in rural Northern Michigan cultivated my affinity for the outdoors--my favorite pastime is camping and my favorite activities include swimming, walking, hiking, biking, taking photos, and, on rainy days, baking and antique shopping (let me know if you’d like to accompany me in any of those pursuits!). I love vegetables of all kinds and I aspire to have my own vegetable farm one day. Most of all, I enjoy exploring new places, meeting new people, and learning new things. I live in Boston near the Medical School campus, and I look forward to making Pfoho a home away from home.
John Bohannon
Extraordinary Projects
http://johnbohannon.org/
Many people ask me, What exactly does the Nonresident Tutor for Extraordinary Projects do? What constitutes a project? And what makes it extraordinary? These are excellent questions.
If you have to ask, you don’t need my help. But you there, the student secretly working on Fuzzy Qualitative Trigonometry, the Musical. And you there, the closet entrepreneur coding up the augmented reality app that paints colored halos over people’s heads to reveal their dating status. And you, quiet girl organizing a flash mob of 1000 people who will assemble at 2:13 PM on Saturday in Boston Common to waddle en masse to the Charles River, creating an epic human version of Make Way for Ducklings.
You know who you are. I am here to help bring your extraordinary projects to life.
Ana Bracic
Government, VES
anabracic@gmail.com
Hi Pfoho! I'm Ana and I'm very excited to be a part of Pfoho this year. I'm from Slovenska Bistrica in Slovenia, went to high school in Maribor, and was class of '05 at Harvard (Dunster). After college I spent some time working for a human rights education NGO in Slovenia and then returned to the States for a PhD in Political Science at NYU (International Relations/Human Rights). This year I'll be a Junior Visiting Fellow at the Human Rights (anyone sense a theme?) Program at Harvard Law. I can't wait to meet you all!
Steven Brown
Sociology
ksbrown@fas.harvard.edu
Hey Pfoho! I'm the new non-res tutor in Sociology. Like your house master, I am a sociologist (or at least in training to be one). Unlike your house master, I do not have a medical degree and a MPH on top of that (though I did TF for his excellent course on Life and Death in the U.S.). I'm a fourth-year Ph.D. student here and will be a TF for Models of Social Science Research. I'm originally from Mason, TN - a small town outside of Memphis whose claim to fame is being home to some of the country's best fried chicken. I got my bachelors at Princeton, where I was also a sociology major. When I'm not doing research in my office in William James or hanging out with you fine folks, I'm probably either riding my bike, wishing I was riding my bike, or wedding planning (because I'm engaged, not necessarily because it's fun, though it can be).
Erin Carey
Health Policy
careyerin@gmail.com
3-5984
After spending 3 years in a health policy and economics Ph.D. program and as a Pfoho tutor, Erin chose to leave GSAS for other pastures. She is currently in her first year as a veterinary student, working towards a D.V.M. at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton, MA. Even though she's not living in Cambridge anymore, she's still around the city once in a while and loves to hear from Pfoho students. If you're thinking about a career in veterinary medicine, drop her a line! She won't bite (although some of her patients at the wildlife clinic will).
James Cronican
Chemistry
james.cronican@asu.edu
Hello Pfoho! My name is James and this year I am finishing up a PhD in Chemical Biology in David Liu’s lab. I have taken many of the Harvard upper level chemistry and biology courses and I was the TF for MCB 185 Human Medicine last spring (I recommend the course!). If you are potentially interested in undergraduate research, science fellowships or graduate school, feel free to contact me or stop by the science table (Thursday nights). There are many resources on campus that are worth pursuing. I began research as an undergraduate at Arizona State University and was able to spend a summer working for Bayer-Schering Pharma in Berlin, Germany. I came to Harvard because of the amazing biotech community. I am currently taking the HBS Commercializing Science Course and have worked with the Harvard Biotech Club for the past four years. If you’d like to chat about biotech and how all of the patent lawyer, venture capital, start-up, consultant and pharma people work together, please stop by!
Jen Doody
Writing
jendoody@gmail.com
Hi Pfoho! I am very excited to join the Pfoho Community as a non-resident tutor. I am currently completing two master's degrees in English and Dramatic Arts at the Harvard Extension School, and as the daughter of an opera singer and an English professor, I consider my fascination with Shakespeare to be a result of genetics. I've worked in university news & publications for more than 20 years as a reporter (I'm a correspondent for the Harvard Gazette), publications manager, grant writer and medical editor. As a medical editor, I've helped physicians and scientists successfully publish manuscripts in peer-review journals such as Cancer, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and the International Journal of Radiation Biology and Physics, as well as editing medical textbooks for publication. I grew up in Munich, Germany - I was an opera brat, not an army brat, as my Mom was then singing at the Munich Opera House - and am always looking for German speaking partners. My interests include better understanding Shakespeare's plays and heroines, managing my worldwide wanderlust, singing blues and jazz music, performing improv comedy, exploring Boston's restaurants and history, discussing politics, and baking fresh breads and scrumptious desserts. I look forward to talking with you!
Jeff Engler
Business
jeffrey.engler@gmail.com
Hello Pfoho! I'm Jeff and I'm one of the new non-res business tutors. I grew up in Westchester, NY, studied history at Columbia, worked in banking in NY and microfinance in India, and just graduated from HBS. I'm now co-founder of a local healthcare technology startup. I love biking, skiing, squash...and classic novels. I also love Life Alive, the hippie restaurant in Central Square. If you're interested in any of these things, or in existentialism, the 100 Item Challenge or Wrangler jeans, come find me!
Yailett Fernandez
Religion
fernandez19@post.harvard.edu
I am a first year MTS student at the Divinity School. I am interested in the intersection between religious thought and society, particularly in the Late Roman Empire but, more recently, also in the US and elsewhere. I graduated from the college in 2007. While at Harvard, I lived in Lowell House, studied History, completed a Secondary Field in the Study of Religion and wrote for the News Board of The Crimson. Since then, I have worked with high school students as a proctor and assistant dean for the Harvard Summer School and as a public school teacher in Miami-Dade County. I am interested in education and education reform. I’m not a particularly accomplished dancer or cook, but I love cooking and baking (or trying to!) and dancing salsa. I like watching movies, and I particularly enjoy watching foreign films.
Trevor Frankel
Economics
tfrankel@post.harvard.edu
Hi Pfoho! As a member of Pfoho's class of 2009, I'm pumped to be back working with the house as a non-res tutor in economics. I live a 10 minute walk away off of Somerville Ave, and my brother's in Pfoho this year, so I look forward to seeing you all at meals and house events. I concentrated in economics and had a secondary in math, with a decent amount of time spent on statistics, as well. I'm now working for a quantitative mutual fund in Boston. Anyone with questions on economics, policy, finance or stat is welcome to seek me out. As a recent grad, I also know what it's like applying for jobs and internships during this recession, so I'm happy to help with resumes, applications and interviews. I love swimming, singing, playing the guitar, and Boston sports teams, and I'm really looking forward to seeing some legendary Miss Pfoho characters this year.
Kiran Gajwani
Economics
kgajwani@fas.harvard.edu
Hello! I'm brand new to Pfoho, coming in as the new Concentration Advisor for Pfoho's economics concentrators. I'm a development economist and received my Ph.D. from Cornell University in 2008. I'm interested in just about any issue facing developing countries, should you ever feel like chatting about anything along those lines; I'm particularly interested in governance, inequality, and women's issues in India, which are my main areas of research. Some of my other favorite things are dogs, tennis, traveling, piano, photography, and family & friends. I look forward to participating in life around Pfoho and getting to know many of you, regardless of your concentration!
Yu Lei
Physics
yulei@fas.harvard.edu
I grew up in Beijing and studied there until high school, then went to Berkeley for my undergraduate, where I majored in Chemical Engineering. After graduation, I worked at a consulting firm in the San Francisco and Sacramento areas for one year. I really enjoyed working, but I did miss the school experience even more. This was the reason that I came back to school. I am a current fourth year PhD student at the school of Engineering and Applied Sciences. I am specifically working in water splitting and battery materials. I hope to bring cleaner and more secure sources of energy to society. I am also interested in talking with peer students about ideas in technology, mobile, and telecommunications especially in startup field. I look forward to meeting with all of you in the quad!
Rodney Lister
Music
lister@fas.harvard.edu
I'm a composer and piano player and a sort of writer about music (mostly 20th century American and British music) and I've been a non-resident music tutor at Pfoho for a long time. I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, went to New England Conservatory, lived in England for two years, where I studied with a composer named Peter Maxwell Davies, and then came back to Boston and went to Brandeis. I've been around ever since. After a long, long time, I went back to Brandeis and got my doctorate. I teach at the Preparatory School at New England Conservatory (where some number of current Pfohosers were formerly students of mine) and at Boston University. I was a TF in CORE Music Courses at Harvard (mostly First Nights, but also Chamber Music and The Swing Era) for a number of years and I've also taught in the Music Department. Aside from music, I'm interested in books, movies, and politics, and I like talking about all of them.
Juan Pablo Maianti
Chemistry
maianti@fas.harvard.edu
Hello Pf! I am a grad student in Chemistry and Chemical Biology, MSc in synthetic chemistry, BSc in biochemistry. Come hang out and discuss your toughest questions in chem, biochem, mol bio, cell bio, etc in one of the weekly d-hall science tables or drop me a quick email to set a time. About me: I’m originally from Uruguay and before Harvard I’ve studied in New Zealand and Montreal. My PhD research involves collections of small molecules tagged with DNA barcodes, and selecting these libraries for structures with new and desirable functions, for example enzyme inhibitors, which can then be deployed to answer otherwise inaccessible biomedical questions in the context of a living organism. See you around and I look forward to meeting you! --JP
Brian Marricco
Education, Psychology
bjm802@mail.harvard.edu
Hey Pfoho! I’m a first year masters student in the Prevention Science and Practice program at the School of Education, specializing in adolescent counseling and pursuing a career in mental health services. I did my undergraduate studies up in Narnia, NY at the University of Rochester, majoring in Victorian Literature and minoring in Clinical Psychology and Philosophy. I’ve taken a pretty long, winding road to get to where I am today, and I spent the last few years after graduation coaching, volunteering, and tutoring in the greater New York City area. I’m a former fat-kid who promised if I were ever fit enough to play a sport, it’d be one in which I could sit down and that doesn’t involved a ball or running: rowing seemed like the perfect fit. It’s been a passion of mine for about 6 years now, and if I’m not in class, the library, or the gym, you’ll find me somewhere on the Charles doing my crew-thing. I’m also an avid boxer and sailing enthusiast (note: still no balls), and am always looking for new activities, experiences, and connections to make. I think we all have a story, and I’m excited to share this new chapter of my life as a part of the Pfoho community. I always try to make myself as available as possible to my mentees, so whether you want to bounce off some ideas for your next English paper, learn to throw a mean right hook, or just need someone to talk to, feel free to drop me a line.
Roedolph Opperman
Engineering
roedolph@gmail.com
Hi Pfoho! My name is Roedolph Opperman. Originally from South Africa, I am still adjusting to the snow and winter that occurs during December as opposed to June. I've been in the U.S. 3 years now and just graduated with a dual Master's degree from MIT in Aeronautics & Astronautics and Technology & Policy. My research had to do with Astronauts losing their fingernails while in space! (Come say hi to find out more) I am currently working for Aurora Flight Sciences, a Cambridge-based aerospace company collaborating with MIT, while preparing to pursue a PhD in space biomedical engineering. I love airplanes, space, spaceflight, the outdoors and extreme sports. My interest in flight drove me to follow a career in engineering and I would be happy to help fuel your passion for the field as well. I look forward to meeting all of you and even if your major isn't science/engineering, come say hi and I'd be glad to chat about my research, grad school, life, etc. and maybe even tell you about my experiences of being attacked by a lion, charged by an elephant, and harassed by a monkey ;)
Jessica Perkins
Health Policy
jperkins@fas.harvard.edu
My husband, Diego, and I are excitedly returning to Harvard to join Pfoho after living for two years in Uganda where I directed a research project for my dissertation on social networks, health, and development in semi-rural villages. Previously, I spent four years as a graduate student at Harvard, first at HSPH doing a Masters in global health, then two years doing coursework for my PhD in Health Policy (Sociology concentration). In general, I am interested in exploring how actual and perceived social norms as well as network position and overall social structure potentially affect individuals’ behaviors and attitudes about a variety of health outcomes. For my work in Uganda, this includes intimate partner violence, gender attitudes, stigma, alcohol use, bednet use, breastfeeding and food security, adherence to medication routines, and other HIV and unemployment risk factors. For research that I conduct among youth in the U.S. and U.K., I explore issues related to bullying, weapon use, friendships, obesity, exercise, and academic performance.
In my free time, I love to hike, host barbecues, wander around Boston, drink a hot cup of something while chatting with friends and students, go salsa dancing, make guacamole, and watch comedy. During many of these activities, I am often accompanied by our amazing dog Maya who will always seek to play with and love anyone who wants to visit her, borrow her, take her for a walk, snuggle, hug, throw a ball, and share food. You are all more than welcome to join us any time day, evening, or weekend during these activities – just send us an email or give us a call. You’ll also be able to find me studying somewhere in Pfoho or in my office at Harvard – the door/table/chair will always be open for a chat with you.
Nathan Pflueger
Math
npflueger@gmail.com
Given my last name and the fact that classmates have told me since seventh grade that I resemble a polar bear, I'm very pleased to join the Pfoho community. I studied mathematics and computer science at Stanford before coming to Harvard, where I'm working towards a PhD in mathematics. My work focuses on algebraic geometry, a subject that appeals to me by drawing on ideas and techniques from many sources and inspirations. I look forward to D-hall conversations about the many subjects that always arise, and I am particularly interested in philosophy and cognitive science. As a tutor, I am most useful talking about math, computer science, and introductory physics.
Daniel Pollmann
Economics
pollmann@fas.harvard.edu
I look forward to joining PfoHo as a non-resident tutor this year and to helping you with questions on various topics in economics, particularly econometrics; my plan is to be available at dinner regularly. If you have trouble with Matlab, Gauss, Stata or other statistical or computational software, I might be able to give you a hand or point out useful resources. Although my private sector experience is limited to a few internships, I’ll also be happy to talk about career options and graduate school.
While originally from Düsseldorf, Germany, I spent four years at a university in Maastricht, the Netherlands, before coming here. I have always enjoyed traveling and living in foreign countries – I’ve also spent time in California and the Midwest – and if you’re looking for advice on studying, working, or traveling abroad, let’s talk.
Given that I’m from Europe, it’s probably no surprise that I’m an avid soccer fan, watching and playing (maybe on a PfoHo team?). Only mention it if no other student is waiting to talk to me – it might be a long conversation. What may be a bigger surprise is that I also follow baseball closely. If that leaves you cold, I might be able to interest you in a round of tennis or squash. If you’re looking for a more intellectually charged conversation – and baseball trivia doesn’t count for you – then I look forward to talking about international politics and history.
P.S.: I’ll try to keep my P’s in “PfoHo” silent – because I can actually point to Pforzheim on a map, it might be dipficult though.
Nicholson Price
Law, Biology
nicholsonprice@gmail.com
Hi Pfoho! I'm Nicholson, and I'm thrilled to be a non-res tutor at Pfoho this year. I come from a tiny town in rural Maryland (population 160), went to St. Paul's School in New Hampshire, and was Harvard class of '04 (Quincy/Mather houses). After college I went to Columbia for 7 years to do a joint JD/PhD in biology, and I spent the last year in San Francisco clerking for Judge Bea on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. I'm going to be an Academic Fellow at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at the Law School for the next two years, and am very excited to be back in Cambridge. My wife (Ana, also a non-res tutor) and I live just down Linnaean St., and we hope to see you in the dining hall and about the house!
Michael Regan
Law
mregan2345@gmail.com
As a 2009 graduate of Pfoho I am excited about returning to the house in this capacity. I majored in History and Science with a focus in Human Evolutionary Biology while at Harvard and afterwards spent 9 months living and volunteering in Peru. I went through the thesis writing process as a senior, so any thesis writers should feel free to contact me for any tips or advice. I am currently living in Harvard Square and entering my second year at Suffolk Law so the whole application process is still very fresh in my mind. I will also have some good insights about weighing offers from schools and dealing with scholarship possibilities. I'll save my best advice for any fellow Boston sports fans out there! Looking forward to seeing everyone around the d hall and at house events!
David Roberson
Neuroscience, Medicine, Business
dprobers@fas.harvard.edu
Hi Pfoho! I am a third year Neuroscience PhD student and medical student studying in the lab of Clifford Woolf at Children's Hospital. My research interest is in developing effective therapies for chronic pain. I am a non-traditional student returning to medical/graduate school after first earning my MBA then realizing that my passion was biomedical research and drug development. I'm happy to share from my many failures and triumphs in Investment Banking (my first job out of college), transplantable human tissue recovery (I've surgically removed the hearts from ~100 human heart valve donors), auto mechanics (I've done some frame-off restorations of 1960s Corvettes on the side), and life. I'm very good at taking things apart, and almost as good at putting them back together. I also like building things, which is good because lately I've spent most of my time in the lab building a contraption for one of my lab projects.
I LOVE and adore my wife, Kaitlin, my 4-year-old son, Ethan, and my twin sons, Avi and Emmett, born midsummer 2012. Kaitlin is, without a doubt, the most amazing person I've ever met. Hopefully you'll be lucky enough to get to know her too!
I look forward to helping out however I can and contributing to life at Pfoho. We recently moved to Botanic Gardens, across the street from Pfoho, so that I can be as involved as possible in house life. If you're thinking about a career in science, medicine or business I'm happy to chat. And if you haven't picked up on it yet, I'm also a neophile, so if we have absolutely nothing in common please come talk to me. I'd love to learn what you're all about!
Sarah Roberts
Law, Social Studies
sroberts@jd15.law.harvard.edu
Hey there, Pfoho! As a 2009 Pfoho grad, I'm so excited to be back and involved with the house again. I'm in my first year at Harvard Law, and my academic and career interests mostly center on political participation and representation in the U.S. - in particular, civil rights/civil liberties, election law, and free speech online. I’m originally from a small town in Colorado, and I lived in New York between college and law school. I spent the last two years as a paralegal with the ACLU's national legal department, working in the free speech, privacy, and technology unit. I also worked for a small civic engagement nonprofit for a year before that. In college, I was a Social Studies concentrator during my sophomore year (and loved Social Studies 10!) before switching to Government, and I wrote my senior thesis about the role of civic education at American colleges and universities. In my free time, I'm an avid photographer, and I also enjoy writing fiction, going to (mostly indie) concerts, reading a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction, and continuing to believe that this is the year for the Denver Broncos. Hope to see you around soon!
Eric Solís
Statistics
ejsolis@fas.harvard.edu
Hi Pfoho! I'm the new non-res tutor in statistics and I can't wait to meet all of you. I'm originally from Los Angeles and went to college at George Washington in Washington, D.C. where I managed to transition from political science to math and statistics. After college, I earned a masters in biostatistics from Harvard School of Public Health and am currently working on a PhD in systems biology (feel free to ask me what systems biology is, although I don't think anyone really knows). My research is split between two focuses: statistics and the molecular biology of aging. Specifically, my statistics research, in Edo Airoldi's Lab, is on developing models for analyzing high-throughput biological data, especially when the measurement process itself affects the data and must therefore be accounted for. My biological research, in Vlad Denic's Lab, is focused on understanding the molecular causes of aging, with a specific focus on attenuated protein folding--the main impetus of late-onset neurodegeneration, e.g., Huntington's disease. The hope is that eventually these two themes will become one, but in the meantime it's a fun challenge to alternate back and forth between lab and computational work. In my free time, I like to be outside, especially for a yearly pilgrimage to Maine for white water rafting and hiking. I'm looking really forward to being a part of the house.
Diego Suquillo
International Development
diego.suquillo@gmail.com
Hola! After visiting Pfoho several times throughout the past two years, I am looking forward to being a non-RT with you all and sharing about life in South America and life in Africa. I spent the first 22 years of my life in Ecuador as I am from Quito, the capital city in the mountains where I studied Sustainable Agriculture and worked in Rural Community Development, often leading undergraduate interns and volunteers on a variety of development projects aiming to create business opportunities for people in low resource settings. After pursuing some graduate studies in Environmental management, I met Jessica, moved to Boston, and then to Uganda where I have spent the last two years managing a microfinance project aimed at improving economic status and health outcomes of HIV+ patients and their families in Uganda. Currently, I am applying to MBA programs with a focus in social entrepreneurship as I am interested in social enterprise, philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. If you are looking to explore areas related to business, development, volunteerism, project implementation and more, please let me know either by finding me in the dining hall, or via email/phone as I would enjoy sharing a conversation with you.
Elizabeth Weckhurst
English
eweckhurst@fas.harvard.edu
I grew up in Canoga Park, CA, went to college in Berkeley, then made my way back to Los Angeles where I worked as an editorial assistant for a private literary agency and a supervising tutor for the Youth Policy Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to lifting low-income families out of poverty. I am now a doctoral student in the English department, where Iʼm reading and writing about Renaissance poetry, philosophy, and religion. My better days often involve geeking out over John Milton, John Donne, or anything related to the metaphysical poets, and my very best ones involve getting to geek out over this stuff with others (hence my curious career ambitions). Somewhat less heady but no less happy interests include when and what my next meal will be, tireless conversations about deceptively tiresome topics, running, biking, playing basketball (not to brag, but Iʼm hard to beat), my many younger siblings (7 all told!), listening to lots of music & radio, philosophizing about pop culture, making plans, and meeting new people. This will be my first year at Pfoho, and I canʼt express just how excited I am to join this community and meet all of you. I hope that if youʼre looking to chat—whether about poetry, public service, grad school, or whatever else happens to be on your mind (this is what metaphysical poetry is all about, really)—youʼll stop by and say hello.
Jeremy Yellen
History
javyell@gmail.com
I am a sixth-year graduate student in the History Department here at Harvard, and am excited to serve as the non-resident advisor in history. I originally graduated from Northwestern University, and worked both as an English teacher in Japan and at a think tank in Seattle before coming to Harvard. I am happy to talk about history, to answer any questions you may have about grad school life, or just to chat with you all in the dining hall. I absolutely love music, and have been known to make amateurish electronic music on my laptop as a diversion from writing my dissertation. And I also love reading as a pastime. While I read pretty much anything, I find that I have been focusing a lot on fantasy and science fiction lately. Looking forward to seeing you at the house or at events!
Elizabeth Zhang
Neuroscience, law
ezhang@jd14.law.harvard.edu
Hi all! My name is Elizabeth and I am a second-year law student at HLS. I am originally from San Diego and also attended Harvard for undergrad. I was in Eliot House and concentrated in Neurobiology with a secondary in Economics. Prior to law school, I studied for a Master’s degree at Oxford and traveled around Europe. I am excited to be part of Pfoho this year and look forward to meeting many of you. I am happy to talk about my experiences with classes, lab research, studying abroad, law school, or anything else!
Senior Common Room
Edo Airoldi is an Assistant Professor of Statistics at Harvard, affiliated with the FAS Center for Systems Biology. He received a PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University in 2006, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University from 2006-2008, in the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics and the Department of Computer Science. His research interests include statistical and computational elements of complex networks, and the study of signaling and regulatory dynamics driving metabolism, cellular proliferation, cellular differentiation and development in unicellular organisms, mammalian systems and cancer. He has published more than 20 papers in leading journals and peer-reviewed conferences, including Nature, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, PLoS Computational Biology, Political Science and Politics, Journal for Machine Learning Research and Bayesian Analysis.
Anya Bernstein Bassett is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies at Harvard College. She received her B.A. from Barnard College in 1990, and her Ph.D. from Harvard in 1997. Anya studies children, families, and young adults in American society and politics. She is particularly interested in family policy and the relationship between social class, child rearing, and life outcomes. She is also interested in the social and emotional development of college students. Anya is the author of The Moderation Dilemma: Legislative Coalitions and the Politics of Family and Medical Leave (University of Pittsburgh Press). She is currently studying how highly selective colleges can best support under-resourced students. In 2000, Anya received a Harvard Phi Beta Kappa Prize for Excellence in Teaching; she has been nominated for the Levinson Teaching Prize and for the John R. Marquand Award for Exceptional Advising and Counseling. She was voted a “favorite professor” by the Harvard College classes of 2010, 2011, and 2012. Anya lives in Newton, Massachusetts with her husband, Jonathan Bassett, the chair of the history and social sciences department at Newton North High School, and their children, Benjamin (15) and Sarah (12). In addition to her work and family, Anya enjoys swimming, biking, baking (mostly cookies for her hungry teenagers), and reading novels.
Jim Beck has been a non-resident premed tutor at Pfoho since 2005, and it continues to be one of his favorite activities. He is trained as a psychiatrist and psychologist, and does palliative care at the Cambridge Health Alliance, along with a little clinical and forensic psychiatry. Jim is the father of two and the grandfather of three. His partner, Elisabeth Hopkins, is a fellow member of the Senior Common Room. Jim enjoys rowing, cycling, and working out. He is happy to talk about almost anything with just about anybody.
Elisabeth Hopkins was born in Sweden and attended the Univeristy of Lund before moving to London to train as a Montessori teacher. After working in a small town west of Lyon, she started a school and a family (including 4 children) in New York City, where she lived for 14 years. She has lived in Brussels, taught a Swedish K/1 class, and obtained a master’s degree in Special Education from Columbia University. Elisabeth is now retired, and enjoys spending time with her grandchildren. She feels honored to be part of Pfoho and is eager to participate in Swedish and French tables in the dining hall, and to discuss the varied interests of children and students of all ages.
Nadine Bérenguier and Bernd Widdig
Nadine Bérenguier and Bernd Widdig came to the United States from France and Germany, respectively. They have been associated with Pforzheimer House since arriving in Cambridge from California in 1988. Nadine was then an Assistant Professor in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard and Bernd an Assistant Professor of German Studies at MIT. Between 1989 and 2003 they were Head Resident Tutors in Holmes Hall and were actively involved in language tables, among other activities. They have two daughters, Julia (21) and Heloise (16).
Currently, Bernd is Executive Director of the Boston University Study Abroad Office and Nadine is Professor of French at the University of New Hampshire, Durham. They live in the Agassiz Neighborhood of Cambridge, not far from Pforzheimer House. Bernd is an avid long distance cyclist and Nadine loves to sing; they both enjoy traveling, reading, gardening, and cooking for their friends.
Aaron Bernstein is on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School and the Center for Health and the Global Environment. His work examines the human health dimensions of global environmental change.
Along with Nobel Peace Prize recipient Eric Chivian, he co-authored the critically acclaimed book Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity. Dr. Bernstein is a past recipient of a Harvard University Zuckerman Fellowship (2008) and has received Stanford University’s Firestone Medal for Research. In 2009 he became the course director for Human Health and Global Environmental Change, offered jointly at the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School, the only such course offered at a medical school in the United States. He received his AB from Stanford University, his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and his MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his medical training in the Boston Combined Residency in Pediatrics and now practices pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston. Contact him at aaron_bernstein@hms.harvard.edu.
Andrew Biewener received his BS degree in Zoology from Duke University, and his PhD in Biology from Harvard University. He then moved to the University of Chicago, where he eventually became Professor and Chair of the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy. Biewener returned to Harvard in 1998 as Director of the Concord Field Station and the Charles P. Lyman Professor of Biology. He is currently Deputy Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Experimental Biology. He also served as Chair of the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from 2001 to 2010 and was President of the American Society of Biomechanics in 2001-2002. Biewener teaches in a general life sciences course: LS2 - Human Evolutionary Physiology and Anatomy along with the upper level course OEB 173 - Comparative Biomechanics. Biewener's laboratory focuses on the biomechanics and neuromechanical control of terrestrial and aerial locomotion of vertebrate animals, with relevance to biorobotics.
Dr. Warren Brown is an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He is best known for his discovery of "hyper-velocity stars" escaping the Milky Way; he also spends time building instruments for telescopes. Dr. Brown grew up in Sacramento, CA. He received his undergraduate degree at University of Arizona, and his PhD at Harvard, during which time (1999-2002) he was a resident tutor at Pfoho.
A W Crompton is an emeritus professor and former Chair of the Department of Organismic Biology where he was a faculty member between 1970 and 2001. During his tenure, he taught courses on the structure and function of vertebrates, and on introductory organismic biology and vertebrate paleontology. Dr. Crompton is also the former director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Born in South Africa, he emigrated to the United States in 1964 to assume the directorship of the Peabody Museum at Yale. His wife, Ann, who is also a member of the Senior Common Room, is a retired social worker and a dedicated weaver with a studio in Somerville. Dr. Crompton can be reached at acrompton@oeb.harvard.edu.
Emily Cahan graduated from North House in 1978 (“whoa – that’s a long time ago”) and she is currently a professor of Psychology at Wheelock College in Boston. She is actually a hybrid (“or half-breed, depending on your perspective”) psychologist/historian. In her junior year of college, she became interested in the history of psychology, in particular developmental psychology, and she has pursued and expanded on these interests to this day. She received her Ph.D. from Yale in 1987 after having written what was arguably the first dissertation on the history of psychology in the Yale Department of Psychology. In 1992, after enjoying a glorious post-doctoral fellowship (and living as a Resident Scholar in Wolbach) back at Harvard and working at the Harvard Extension School, she joined the Wheelock College faculty. Her publications focus on the social, intellectual, and institutional history of psychology. More recently, she has developed an interest in the history of children and childhood. She lives in Arlington Heights with her chocolate lab, Clio. If you are a student (or not) and you miss your dog you should feel free to visit and play fetch with Clio (she’s a wonder-dog). Her non-academic pursuits include travel off the beaten path, photography, and the cello.
David P. Davidson has served as Managing Director of Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) since September 2011. David has a two-decade affiliation with Harvard University, and now directs the overall program providing residential, retail, catering and card services on campus, and serving 5 million meals annually. He enjoys working with the academic community to serve as a test lab for new ideas. Prior to coming to Harvard, David worked at Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University, where he was instrumental in the implementation of the Yale Sustainable Food Project.
Arthur Dempster is Research Professor and Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Statistics. During his active years 1958 to 2005, he taught across the full range of courses offered by the small FAS Department of Statistics. He chaired the department for about 12 years at two different periods, and he supervised about 50 Ph.D. theses – many of whose recipients have gone on to become distinguished academics and professional statisticians. Among external projects, he has consulted at length with a major pharmaceutical firm, served as an expert witness in legal disputes over employment discrimination, participated in the development of a statistics group in a prominent climatological research institute, and helped advise US federal defense agencies concerned with control engineering. He is known as the co-inventor of a computer algorithm called EM that simplifies understanding and software development for a widely used type of statistical estimation procedure. His recent focus is on pushing development of an approach to formal uncertainty assessment that assigns probabilities to what we "don't know". This theory was originally proposed with a younger scholar 30-40 years ago, and is now known as Dempster-Shafer theory. Recently, on his 80th birthday, he and Glenn Shafer were granted honorary doctorates for this work by the University of Economics in Prague. If all this seems to make him unapproachable, don't believe it. He is available to discuss statistical analyses, and problems of uncertainty assessment, with anyone connected to Pforzheimer House.
Ryan D. Enos is an assistant professor of government and a faculty associate of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science. He specializes in American politics with an emphasis on the politics of race & identity and voting behavior. His research focuses on how voting and other political behavior is affected by the context in which a person lives interacting with their identity. This leads him to an intersection of research in political behavior, political psychology, and geography. His current primary interest is in the effect of residential racial segregation on voter choice and participation. He earned his AB in political science and history from U.C. Berkeley and his MA and PhD in political science from UCLA. Before entering academia, he was a teacher at Paul Robeson High School in Chicago, IL.
A graduate of Pfoho in 1981, Guy is an internal medicine physician (Yale '85) who did solo practice for 5 years before taking down the shingle and transitioning to business. He is a 1994 graduate of the Yale School of Management, spent 5 years at BCG, a year on Wall Street, and a year as VP of Business Development for an emerging company before joining Fletcher Spaght, where he consults to startup and global health care companies and invests through Fletcher Spaght Ventures. He is a member of the Trustee board at Beth Israel Deaconess, and chairs the licensing board at Dubai Health Care City. His son James is a 2008 Pfoho graduated and his daughter Carina is a 2013 senior in Quincy. Guy’s wife, Kim (a Yalie) has been a very active mentor and advisor for Harvard students.
James H. Fowler earned a PhD from Harvard in 2003 and is currently Professor of Medical Genetics and Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. His work lies at the intersection of the natural and social sciences, with a focus on social networks, behavioral economics, evolutionary game theory, political participation, cooperation, and genopolitics. James was recently named a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, one of Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinkers, and Most Original Thinker of the year by The McLaughlin Group. His research has been featured in numerous best-of lists including New York Times Magazine's Year in Ideas, Time's Year in Medicine, Discover Magazine's Year in Science, and Harvard Business Review's Breakthrough Business Ideas. Together with Nicholas Christakis, James wrote a book on social networks for a general audience called Connected. Winner of a Books for a Better Life Award, it has been translated into twenty languages, named an Editor's Choice by the New York Times Book Review, and featured in Wired, Oprah's Reading Guide, Business Week's Best Books of the Year, and a cover story in New York Times Magazine.
John Girash was a non-resident tutor in Physics and Astronomy from back in the North House days, and has happily continued his relationship with Pfoho as a member of the Senior Common Room. After doing his grad work at the Center for Astrophysics, he moved down to the Science Center where he now works at the Bok Center, largely in support of faculty and TFs in the natural sciences. He is also a Lecturer in SEAS, where he teaches a practicum course. John lives in Arlington with his wife, kindergarten-age son, and grumpy cat. His bike commute takes him right by Pfoho so he trys to stop in a few times each month. Feel free to email him at girash@fas.harvard.edu if you would like to talk about science, education, or want to know when the next Harvard Alumni Jazz Band gig is (He’s on bari sax).
Merle Goldman is Professor Emerita of Chinese History at Boston University and an Associate at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard, and is the author of a number of books on modern Chinese history and culture. Two of her books, China's Intellectuals: Advise and Dissent (1981) and Sowing the Seeds of Democracy in China (1994), were selected by The New York Times Book Review as notable books in their respective years. The latter book was also selected by the American Association of Publishers, Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division, as the best book on government published in 1994. She is co-author of updated editions of China: A New History (with John K. Fairbank, 1998, 2006), and her latest book is From Comrade to Citizen: The Struggle for Political Rights in China.
Alyssa Goodman is Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University, and a Research Associate of the Smithsonian Institution. Goodman's work focuses in three areas: studies of star formation, e-Science, and data visualization. The star formation research is aimed at understanding how interstellar gas arranges itself into new stars, and the associated investigations use a variety of observational techniques covering the spectral range from X-ray to radio. In her e-Science work, Goodman leads the "Seamless Astronomy" efforts at the CfA, which focus on making modern software tools more useful in astronomical, and other scientific, research. Goodman's Viz-E-Lab, located at 160 Concord Avenue, hosts a variety of computing and display hardware and software used in both data visualization and "Seamless Astronomy" research. Goodman teaches Harvard courses on Astronomy and Data Visualization.
Woody Hastings and his wife Hanna were co-Masters of PfoHo (called North House at the time) from 1976 to 1996. Hanna died in 2009. Woody continues to attend activities at PfoHo and enjoys the vitality of life in the House, especially talking with tutors and students.
Woody is the Paul C. Mangelsdorf Research Professor of Natural Sciences at Harvard and a member of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Before retiring from teaching Woody taught a Freshman Seminar on Bioluminescence and an upper level undergraduate course entitled “Circadian Biology: from cellular oscillators to sleep regulation”. Correspondingly, his laboratory research, which has been supported primarily by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research, was concerned with both bioluminescence and circadian rhythms. His book on the subject with colleague Therese Wilson, entitled "Bioluminescence: Living Lights, Lights for Living", will be published by Harvard University Press in February 2013.
Woody is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Microbiology, the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars and an elected honorary member of the Alpha Kappa chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard University.
Woody was an undergraduate at Swarthmore College, obtained his PhD from Princeton in 1951 and was a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins from 1951-1953. He joined the faculty at Northwestern University in Evanston in 1953, moving in 1957 to the University of Illinois in Urbana and to Harvard as Professor of Biology in 1966.
Mel Hodder, Senior Vice-President, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, has been a financial advisor and stockbroker through a long career. Weathering the cycles, being part of the making and un-making of firms, managing and protecting personal and institutional funds is never dull. He just celebrated a 50th reunion with his HBS class, and two years ago he rowed a 50th reunion race at the Henley with his remaining teammates from the Harvard lightweight crew team. Ask him about a career as an artist or where to find the best powder skiing.
Lissa Hodder unwillingly accepted retirement after 40 years in the classroom, working with students and teachers of many descriptions (including, most recently, Harvard undergraduates from UTEP, the Undergraduate Teacher Education Program). She continues to work with students and teachers through Breakthrough, now Breakthrough Greater Boston, with the planned opening of a second site in Dorchester at Tech Boston Academy. Ask her anything about teaching or about schools or about how to be a woman "who does it all" in the old days, including Harvard-Radcliffe Phi Beta Kappa, and attending Literary Exercises for umpteen years.
John W. Hutchinson is Lawrence Professor of Engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). Along with his students and collaborators, Professor Hutchinson works on problems in solid mechanics concerned with engineering materials and structures. Buckling and structural stability, elasticity, plasticity, fracture and micro-mechanics all figure prominently in the research. Examples of ongoing research activities are (1) efforts to extend plasticity theory to small scales, (2) development of a mechanics framework for assessing the durability of thermal barrier coatings for gas turbine engines, (3) the mechanics and simulation of ductile fracture, and (4) the mechanics of thin films, coatings and multilayers.
Dr. Charles ("Kip") King, A.B. (Harvard '74), J.D. (Yale '79), Ph.D. (MIT ' 97), has wide-ranging and successful careers as an academic, astronomer, economist, entrepreneur, and lawyer. Intellectually curious and dedicated to education and public service, Dr. King enjoys meeting new people, especially students, and discussing new ideas together. As an academic, Dr. King has published articles in a broad range of scholarly journals, among them: the Astrophysical Journal, Journal of Adolescent Health, Journal of the American Medical Association, Contemporary Economic Policy, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, New England Journal of Medicine, Nicotine & Tobacco Research, Organization Science, Review of Network Economics, and the Yale Law Journal. Dr. King has also authored business cases, including a best seller, for the Harvard Business School. Dr. King has testified before the U.S. Senate against the marketing of tobacco to teens and has served as an expert witness, both nationally and internationally, in litigation involving the fraudulent marketing of pharmaceuticals, antitrust violations and a variety of economic and marketing matters. Dr. King served on the faculty of the Harvard Business School from 1997 to 2003 and as a Faculty Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Before returning to academics, Dr. King helped found and served as president for several high-tech startups in the computer and software industry. Previously, Dr. King worked for New Haven Legal Assistance Association and as a corporate attorney at Ropes & Gray in Boston. Dr. King lives in Lincoln, where he enjoys spending time with his teenage son, kayaking, and cross-country skiing.
As Associate Dean and Chief Technology Officer for the Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at Harvard University, Henry Leitner provides vision and leadership in the development and implementation of technology-based initiatives that serve both the administrative and academic areas, including online teaching and learning. He has oversight responsibility for dozens of IT staff and hundreds of servers, a first-rate computing lab, as well as a growing collection of Harvard Extension School and Summer School technology courses that collectively enroll thousands of students annually. Dr. Leitner also directs the Master’s of Liberal Arts in Information Technology degree (the ALM in IT) at the Harvard Extension School, a graduate program of study in which adult learners are exposed to modern software engineering methodologies, theoretical and formal areas of computer science, advanced topics in cryptography, nanoscale science, digital media arts and sciences and enterprise computing, as well as the latest trends in IT management.
Since 1986, Dr. Leitner has been a Senior Lecturer on Computer Science for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard, where he has taught a number of large introductory courses, including CS-1 (currently), CS-50 and CS-51. In 1999, he received the Petra T. Shattuck Excellence in Teaching Award, and in 2006 he was honored for 25 years of teaching at the Extension School. He co-founded Articulate Systems, Inc., a company that pioneered the use of voice recognition technology on the Apple Macintosh computer as well as the Indian Computer Academy, a nonprofit institute based in Bangalore, India. He received his master's degree and his doctorate from Harvard University, and his undergraduate degree from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.
Mark Libenson is a 1980 graduate of Pfoho (then known as Noho). He fondly remembers co-chairing the Noho Hoco way back when and spent most of his time in Wolbach where he met his wife-to-be (see SCR member Lisa Muto). After spending a year studying Literature and Linguistics at the University of Florence with Lisa, both returned to Montreal where Lisa got her PhD in Italian and Mark went to med school. Mark spent the next twenty years at Tufts, first in training in Pediatrics and Neurology, and then on the faculty of Tufts Medical School as a Pediatric Neurologist. In 2005, Mark came full circle and returned to Harvard by joining the faculty at Boston Children’s Hospital as Director of the EEG laboratory, specializing in clinical neurophysiology, intensive care neurology, and fetal neurology. Mark would be happy to speak to undergraduates interested in medicine, Pediatrics, or Neurology (or anything else).
Irving M. London, MD, was born in Malden, Massachusetts and was graduated from Harvard College in 1939 with a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude. Dr. London simultaneously earned a second bachelor’s degree from Hebrew College in Roxbury.
At Harvard, he worked to bring talented refugee students from Nazi-occupied Europe to Cambridge, and went on to graduate from Harvard Medical School in 1943. After an internship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, Dr. London joined the military from 1944 to 1946 as a captain in the Medical Corps before returning to Columbia as a member of the faculty of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. London was the founding chair of the department of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and was instrumental in the establishment of the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, of which he served as director. He continues to co-direct HST 140: Molecular Medicine. Dr. London and his wife, Huguette Piedzicki (1925-2002), have two sons, Robb and David, and two grandchildren, Jacob and Danielle.
John Maher John Maher was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and became a political activist soon after graduating from Harvard College. In the sixties, he was a New Left organizer and a leader of Vietnam Summer and the anti-war movement. Later, he taught in the Boston and Somerville public schools, led the Education Department at Oxfam America, and developed Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts into a major political force rooted in low income and immigrant communities. He loves talking with students – he wrote Learning from the Sixties: Memoir of an Organizer with such discussions in mind. His wife, Ellen Sarkisian, is a member of the Senior Common Room and, like Mr. Maher, is an avid tennis player. Doubles anyone? Email: john@n2nma.org.
Jim McCarthy is Harvard’s Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography in two academic departments, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology plus Earth and Planetary Sciences. He also teaches in Environmental Science and Public Policy. From 1982 – 2002 he was Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. He received his undergraduate degree in biology from Gonzaga University, and his Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. His research relates to ocean ecosystems and climate change, from plankton to whales. He teaches courses on oceanography, global change biology, and marine ecosystems. He has travelled to the Arctic and Antarctic and enjoys literature on the history of polar exploration. When he is not in the classroom or his library, look for him on a ski slope, a fishing stream, or under an old Audi. Jim and his spouse Sue were Masters of Pforzheimer House from 1996 – 2009. Sue has worked in early childhood education and on the editorial staff for scientific journals. Now in retirement, she is enjoying gardening and exploring art through quilting and embroidering. She also enjoys contemporary and historical fiction and traveling with Jim to high latitudes.
Giuliana Minghelli is Associate Professor in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University where she teaches Italian literature and film studies. Her book, In the Shadow of the Mammoth: Italo Svevo and the Emergence of Modernism, appeared in 2003. Recently, her work has focused on visual studies and cinema, with essays on the documentaristic vision from neorealism to postmodernism and the intersection of photography and literature. She is currently working on a book project on the representation of history through landscape in postwar Italian literature and an edited volume entitled "Italian Culture in the Age of Mechanical reproduction."
Lisa Muto is a Harvard College and Pforzheimer House (then North House) graduate and recalls her days in the house fondly. She and her husband, Mark Libenson, still count former NoHoers among their closest friends and they were very pleased that their daughter, Sara ('10), was assigned to the House and gave them an opportunity for some trips down memory lane. Lisa spent a year at the University of Florence on a Rotary Fellowship after graduation and then moved to Montreal with Mark, where he went to medical school and she went to graduate school at McGill University. When they moved back to Boston for Mark's internship in Pediatrics, Lisa went to the Harvard College Office of Career Services for help in converting her academic CV to a resume and, serendipitously, she was hired by OCS as the Director of Fellowships and the Associate Director of OCS, and so she began a career in university administration. She moved from OCS to Harvard Medical School as the Director of Administration for the Department of Health Care Policy and later Director of Strategic Projects for the school. She is currently the Associate Dean for Institutional Planning and Policy at Harvard Medical School and works on academic planning as well as special projects for the dean. In addition to their daughter, Sara, Lisa and Mark have a son, Andrew, who is a junior at Berklee College of Music.
Ellen Sarkisian works at the Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, where you might have seen her if you had a class videotaped. (She might have seen you too, but when she viewed the class with the lecturer or discussion leader, she was watching the teaching, not evaluating you.) If you are interested in talking about what captivates you in your classes, she would love to hear from you. Or if you are interested in talking about teaching abroad, she can share her experiences of teaching in Africa and Asia. She lives near the Quad with her husband, John Maher, and she can be seen biking to a tennis game or to the QRAC.
Larry Miller is CEO of a social network analytics company he founded with Nicholas Christakis, Activate Networks. He has been a founder or manager at 7 previous startups, primarily focused on health care analytics. He is a physician by training (HMS ‘78) and was a Quincy House resident in the last century (‘73). He and his wife, Ellen Williams (‘75) are the parents of Jay (’09), Katie (’13) and David (’14). He’d be happy to speak with students about ideas, career plans, etc.: lgmiller@comcast.net
Keith Moskow, FAIA received a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College and a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. He has received design awards from the American Institute of Architects, The Boston Society of Architects, and the Municipal Arts Society of New York. Keith is principal of Moskow Linn Architects, Boston, MA, and is the author of four books on architecture. For additional information see www.moscowlinn.com.
JP Onnela is an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is interested in a broad range of theoretical and applied problems in network science. His current research focuses on the statistical and mathematical analysis and modeling of social networks and their connection to human health; network methods and theory; and online social systems and social media. Prior to joining Biostatistics, he spent two years as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School, one year as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School, and two years as a Research Fellow at Wolfson College, University of Oxford. He obtained his doctorate at Helsinki University of Technology, now Aalto University, in 2006. Email him with questions.
Hanspeter Pfister is Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. His research in visual computing lies at the intersection of visualization, computer graphics, and computer vision. It spans a wide range of topics, including bio-medical visualization, 3D reconstruction, GPU computing, and data-driven methods in computer graphics. Before joining Harvard, he worked for over a decade at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories where he was Associate Director and Senior Research Scientist. Dr. Pfister has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He is the recipient of the 2010 IEEE Visualization Technical Achievement award. He has authored over 40 US patents and over 70 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, including 18 ACM SIGGRAPH papers, the premier forum in Computer Graphics. He is co-editor of the first textbook on Point-Based Computer Graphics, published by Elsevier in 2007 and Technical Papers Chair for SIGGRAPH 2012. You can contact him at pfister@seas.harvard.edu.
Katherine (Kate) Stanton serves as the assistant dean of undergraduate education and a lecturer in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Her current research focuses on the intimate experiences of colonialism. Next spring, she's teaching a course on gender and the postcolonial novel. Kate is married to John Scanlon, also at Harvard; they have a young son, Hugo, who delights in running around the Quad.
Diane Weinstein has worked at the Bureau of Study Counsel for more than twenty-five years. She has found it to be a fabulous environment in which to work, both because Harvard students are so engaging, and also because the office has fostered an ambience of ongoing reflection about its own work. Her work involves helping students with a broad range of issues, but a special interest of hers is students from urban public schools, who are often the first in their families to attend an elite college. She leads groups on topics like speaking up in class and managing procrastination. She came to Harvard (in 1969) as a graduate student in Classics, and she spent five years as a resident tutor and teaching fellow at North (now Pforzheimer) House. That residential work with students prompted her to switch careers and become a counselor, though she still teaches at the Harvard Extension School, as well as for the Bureau's Reading Strategies Course. She also oversees the peer-tutoring program at the Bureau, where she hears a great deal about students' experiences as learners at Harvard. She lives in Cambridge, and is married to a writer/teacher, with whom she has two grown children and one grandchild.
Ellen Williams is a graduate of Harvard College (“Winthrop House, sorry guys!”), Harvard Medical School, and Harvard Graduate School of Education. For many years, she practiced medicine, worked on medical school admissions, did pre-med advising, and taught at HMS in various capacities. In the past few years, she has turned her attention to education in Boston and spent last year starting a new charter school and this year teaching 7th grade science in Roxbury. She has three children, two of whom live in Lowell House and one of whom lives in Adams House as a pre-med tutor. She is happy to talk to students about medicine, K-12 education, motherhood, or really anything. She can be reached at ekw817@mail.harvard.edu or at 617-270-3147.
House Committee
Matt Chuchul '13
HoCo Co-Chair
mchuchul@college.harvard.edu
Christine Hu '13
HoCo Co-Chair
christine.hu@college.harvard.edu
Laura Derouin '13
Treasurer
lderouin@gmail.com
Elizabeth Harvey '14
Secretary
eaharvey@college.harvard.edu
George Fu '13
Social Co-Chair
gxfu@college.harvard.edu
Emma Templeton '13
Social Co-Chair
emma.templeton@college.harvard.edu
Audrey Anderson '13
Publicity Co-Chair
audreyanderson@college.harvard.edu
Tracy Lu '14
Publicity Co-Chair
tlu@college.harvard.edu
Nix Maasdorp '13
Photographer
maasdorp@college.harvard.edu
Benjana Guraziu '13
Stein Club Co-Chair
bguraziu@college.harvard.edu
Jordan Tung '13
Stein Club Co-Chair
jtung@college.harvard.edu
Christine Shrock '13
Quartermaster
rescls@yahoo.com
Antonio Sweet '13
Design Chair
antoniosweet@college.harvard.edu
Pforzheimer Representatives
Andrew Lorey '13
IM Athletics
alorey@college.harvard.edu
Hi Pfoho! As Pfoho's Intramural Athletics Representative, it is my responsibility to get members of the Pfoho community involved in sporting events of all kinds. In addition to vanquishing opponents on the soccer, football, and frisbee fields, I am a junior who is concentrating in Anthropology, pursuing a secondary field of concentration in Human Evolutionary Biology, working at the Harvard Map Collection, and participating in a tutoring program assisting students in Dorcester. I'm an avid hiker, and I also enjoy playing the guitar and the saxophone. Opportunities exist during the fall, the winter, and the spring to play (almost) any sport imaginable, and all Pfoho affiliates are welcome to participate! If you have any questions or would like to learn more about Harvard's IM program, please consult the "IM Athletics" page, which is listed under the "House Life" tab above. I look forward to seeing you on the field!
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Pforzheimer House
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