Awards, honors and fellowships

Prof. Danna Freedman has been awarded a 2022 MacArthur "genius grant" for her work in developing molecules that “have great storage and processing computing capacity,” reports the Associated Press.

Prof. Danna Freedman has been honored as a recipient of a 2022 MacArthur Fellowship, “one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for intellectual and artistic achievement,” reports Michael T. Nietzel for Forbes. “Using molecular chemistry [Freedman] is designing molecules that can act as qubits—the building blocks of quantum systems - to address fundamental questions in physics,” writes Nietzel.

Washington Post reporter David Lynch highlights the work of Ben S. Bernanke PhD ’79, one of the recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize in economic sciences, who was honored for his research on the role banks play during financial turmoil. “Bernanke demonstrated that bank failures — rather than resulting from the downturn — were responsible for making it so deep and so long. When banks collapsed, valuable information about borrowers disappeared, making it difficult for new institutions to channel savings to productive investments,” notes Lynch.

The 2022 Nobel Prize in economic sciences was awarded in part to Ben S. Bernanke PhD ’79 for his research showing that “bank failures can propagate a financial crisis rather than simply be a result of the crisis,” reports Jeanna Smialek for The New York Times. When asked about his advice for younger economists, Bernanke noted “one of the lessons of my life is, you never know what is going to happen.”

Ben S. Bernanke PhD ’79 has been honored as one of the recipients of this year’s Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, reports the Associated Press. Bernanke was recognized for his work examining the Great Depression and “showing the danger of bank runs — when panicked people withdraw their savings — and how bank collapses led to widespread economic devastation,” notes the AP.

Ben Bernanke PhD ’79, former chair of the Federal Reserve, has been awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in economic sciences, reports Allison Morrow for CNN. Bernanke “received the award for his research on the Great Depression,” says Morrow. “In short, his work demonstrates that banks’ failures are often a cause, not merely a consequence, of financial crises.”

Ben Bernanke PhD ’79 has won a share of the 2022 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on banks and financial crises, reports Micahel T. Nietzel for Forbes. Bernanke and his fellow winners are credited with significantly improving “our understanding of the role of banks in the economy, particularly during financial crises,” says The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Prof. Laura Kiessling speaks with Ryan Cross and Emily Sweeney at The Boston Globe about the work of Stanford professor Carolyn R. Bertozzi, daughter of  MIT professor emeritus William Bertozzi, who won this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Bertozzi’s work “changes the way people think about doing science. There have been further advances, but they all build on her work,” says Kiessling.

Prof. Richard Hynes is one of the winners of this year’s Lasker Award, reports Benjamin Mueller for The New York Times, for his work describing how “cells bind to their surrounding networks of proteins and other molecules — findings that pointed the way toward treatments for a number of diseases.”

Prof. Richard Hynes is one of three honorees for the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, reports Maddie Burakoff for the AP. Hynes and his fellow awardees “helped launch the field of integrin research, which has since led to new strategies for treating diseases,” writes Burakoff.

Prof. Richard Hynes is one of the three recipients of the 2022 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for his contributions to the field of integrin research, reports Martin Finucane for The Boston Globe. Hynes and his colleagues “provided a greater understanding of the diseases that can result when integrin function is perturbed.”

Prof. Peter Shor and three other researchers have won the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for their work in the field of quantum information, reports Martin Finucane for The Boston Globe. Shor “invented the first quantum computer algorithm that was clearly useful. Shor’s algorithm can find the factors of large numbers exponentially faster than is thought to be possible for any classical algorithm,” the Breakthrough Foundation noted in its citation.

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation has named Prof. Peter Shor one of the four winners for the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for his work in the field of quantum information, reports Michael T. Nietzel for Forbes. “The laureates honored today embody the remarkable power of fundamental science,” says Yuri Milner, one of the prize founders. “Both to reveal deep truths about the Universe, and to improve human lives.”

Prof. Peter Shor, an expert in quantum algorithms, has been named one of four recipients for the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, reports Ian Sample for The Guardian.

Prof. Peter Shor has been named one of four honorees for this year’s Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for his contributions to the field of quantum information, reports Daniel Garisto for Scientific American. All of Shor’s work, “led to new views of quantum mechanics and computing,” writes Garisto.