Harvard Biochemist Jeremy Knowles Named To Top Arts And Sciences Post

Harvard Biochemist Jeremy Knowles Named To Top Arts And Sciences Post Veteran Computer Systems Designer Mayo Takes Helm as Bell Labs seventh President John L. Zabriskie Robert Gall Thomas Waldman Jeremy R. Knowles, a British-born chemist who has been at Harvard University since 1974, has been appointed dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In his new job, second in importance only to the presidency, Knowles oversees the finances, organization, and educational policies of Harvard College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Office of Continuing Education. Knowles was appointed by Harvard's new president, Neil Rudenstine, a professor of Renaissance literature. While some at Harvard see Knowles's appointment as an effort to emphasize the sciences at the school, Knowles disavows such parochialism. "I don't think my intellectual background is going to change the focus of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences," says Knowles. "It has been said that Neil Rudenstine, being a scholar of English literature, and I, a chemist and biochemist, are in a sense complementary. I hope that kind of alliance will only serve Harvard well." While Knowles expects to face many challenges as dean, he acknowledges that immense budgetary constraints will be among the toughest. Harvard, like many colleges and universities across the United States, is facing sharp budget cuts and freezes this year, and, says Knowles, money will continue to be "a serious constraint over the coming few years, at least." Although Knowles's first official day on the job was July 1, that day actually found him far from Harvard: He was in England at an Oxford University conference honoring Oxford biophysicist Sir David Phillips. Phillips is known for elucidating the crystal structure of lysozyme in 1965, the first enzyme to be so analyzed. "On my first day as dean," says Knowles, "I was giving a speculative scientific lecture on the origin of exons and introns." While Knowles's primary research interests involve mechanistic enzymology--"how enzymes work at the molecular level"--he says his research often spills over into other areas, such as the exons and introns he recently discussed at Oxford. Knowles, 56, was schooled at Oxford, where he received his Ph.D. in 1961. He served on the university's faculty as a fellow and lecturer until 1974, when he joined Harvard. Since 1979, he has been the Amory Houghton Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Harvard. --Rebecca Andrews John S. Mayo, formerly senior vice president for network systems and network services at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J., has been named Bell Labs' seventh president. He succeeds Ian M. Ross, who has been appointed to a new position to develop AT&T's business globally. Ross, who plans to retire in mid-1992, has become president emeritus. Mayo, 61, joined Bell Labs in 1955, immediately after he received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University. He began his career in computer research, working on the team that produced the first transistorized digital computer. He has been involved in the Telstar satellite program as well as the development of electronic systems for ocean sonar, the first long-distance digital switching system, and a range of microelectronic technologies. Mayo says his priorities are "to continue to enhance the flow of innovations coming out of Bell Labs, and to speed up the time it takes those innovations to go out to the marketplace." To that end, he says, the labs have been "revising and re-engineering the processes to do our work." For example, he notes, various operations, such as R&D and manufacturing, have been organized into teams, enabling the labs to "do things in parallel that we used to do in serial." Mayo says that while the 1984 breakup of the Bell system "is one of the driving factors" in the reorganization, the major influence has been market developments. Although the reorganization has resulted in the elimination of some labs, Mayo says, the goal of removing "unnecessary redundancy" is "not divestiture-driven; it's driven by good management." According to a recent report in Science (252:1480-82, 1991), some researchers at Bell Labs are concerned that the reorganization has resulted in a decrease in emphasis on basic science. Mayo acknowledges that these investigators "have to be reassured of AT&T's commitment to research." That commitment, he says, "has been restated every few days for many years, and is still being restated." Since joining Bell Labs, Mayo has served as director of the Ocean Systems Laboratory, executive director of the Ocean Systems Division and the Toll Electronic Switching Division, and vice president of electronics technology. Mayo is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Last year, President Bush presented him with the National Medal of Technology. --Barbara Spector John L. Zabriskie The board of directors of Merck & Co. Inc. of Rahway, N.J., has elected John L. Zabriskie senior vice president of the company. Zabriskie was formerly president of Merck Sharp & Dohme, the firm's domestic pharmaceuticals business. According to Merck officials, his new position is part of a reorganization of the company intended to address the international nature of its business and focus managerial attention on its strategic alliances and other interests. In his new position, Zabriskie is responsible for the Merck Chemical Manufacturing Division, which produces intermediate chemicals and active ingredients for most of Merck's human and animal health products, and for the Merck Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Division, which manufactures and distributes the company's human and animal health products. Zabriskie received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in 1961 and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Rochester in 1965. He has been with Merck since 1965. a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Arizona, Tucson, has been appointed the new director of the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo. Scientists at NCAR's Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division study the basic processes that cause atmospheric heating, cooling, turbulence, changes in moisture and density, and chemical exchanges, as well as the effects of topography and the development of storms and precipitation. Gall received his bachelor's degree in meteorology in 1967 from Pennsylvania State University. He received his master's degree in 1969 and his doctoral degree in 1972, both in meteorology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He did postdoctoral research at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. Gall is co-chief editor of the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. His research focuses on the development of hurricanes off the coast of Mexico and the potential increase in snowfall in the mountains of central Arizona. Metabolism Branch, has received the 1991 Artois-Baillet Latour Health Prize. The prize, consisting of 5 million Belgian francs (about $150,000), is awarded every two years by Artois Breweries of Belgium through a foundation established by the late Count Alfred de Baillet Latour, a former director of the company. Waldmann was honored for his contributions to the development of monoclonal antibodies in diagnosis and immunotherapy. He has characterized the interleukin-2 (IL-2) receptor, a molecule that appears on the surface of T lymphocytes in a variety of disease states. Along with his collaborators, he developed anti-Tac, the first monoclonal antibody to the IL-2 receptor (Journal of Immunology, 126:1393-7, 1398-1403, 1981; Nature, 300:267-9, 1982). He recognized that the IL-2 receptor can be used as a therapeutic target in the treatment of leukemias and lymphomas as well as autoimmune diseases, and that it also can be used in the prevention of transplant rejection. Earlier in his career, Waldmann developed methods that enabled researchers to analyze the functions of T lymphocytes (Lancet, 2:609-13, 1974; Journal of Clinical Investigation, 58:1297-1306, 1976). Waldmann received an A.B. degree from the University of Chicago in 1951 and an M.D. degree from Harvard University in 1955. He has been on the staff of the National Cancer Institute since 1956.

Harvard Biochemist Jeremy Knowles Named To Top Arts And Sciences Post

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