Majestic Honorary Degree Celebrations Encaenia at Oxford University with Photos

It is an extraordinary experience to be a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College at Oxford University in England this Trinity term.

Yesterday, Fellows and many dignitaries were invited to take part and celebrate 9 honorary degree recipients. And what a tremendous list of awardees this is!

Below is a photo of the recipients, compliments of Oxford University.

I was absolutely thrilled to see the Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences Paul Krugman and also the National Medal of Science recipient Professor Mildred "Millie"  Dresselhaus of MIT plus the Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar as well as Sir Jonathan Ive is Chief Design Officer of Apple Inc and designer of the iMac, PowerBook, iBook, iPod, iPhone, iPad, AppleWatch and MacBookat Oxford on the list! The opera singer Jessye Norman was not able to attend this year.

The day began with peaches, strawberries, and champagne, and a procession in Radcliffe Square to the Sheldonian where the ceremony took place.

After the Encaenia ceremony at the Sheldonian the Quad at All Souls College was the site for drinks before a lavish lunch that took place at the Codrington Library with tea and coffee out in the Quad afterwards. Magically, the skies cleared up so the outdoor events took place on the bright green lawn.

I was absolutely thrilled to be able to speak to Professor Millie Dresselhaus and to even meet one of her granddaughters. I had met Professor Millie when I was a Visiting Scholar and Associate Professor at MIT and we would take part in female get-togethers with Professor Lotte Bailyn of the Business School. She told me yesterday how important it is to have technical female professors at business schools and I agree. We also spoke about several of our well-known colleagues in Operations Research at MIT.

The lunch was fabulous and the seating arrangement very carefully thought out.

The dessert was also wonderful.

My husband was seated in front of the former principal of Hertford College at Oxford University, Dr. John Landers . Hertford used to have an exchange program with his university, the University of Hartford, so we took the following photo.

Seated across from me was the head of public affairs at Oxford University and next to me an amazing female entrepreneur. the conversations just flowed. I continue to be very impressed by Oxford's website and we talked about the importance of getting news on research out by faculty.

After lunch we chatted on the lawn. You can see Pedro Almodovar strolling on the lawn below in red.  I had to have a photo taken with Visiting Fellow Richard Vokes, an anthropologist from Australia. I also took the photo of him, my hsusband, and the brilliant nabal historian Nicholas Rodger.

And, if you take a look at the photo above, which I took because I very much like my Math Fellows Professors Francis Brown and Constantin Teleman, I also serendipitously snapped Pedro Almodovar on the right in the red gown!

Then it was time to walk to Merton College of Oxford University (the university  has 38 grand colleges) to attend the Vice Chancellor's garden party. The Vice Chancellor is Dr. Louise Richardson, who was the Executive Dean at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, when I was a Science Fellow there in 2005-2006. It was great to see her and to shake her hand and to congratulate her on becoming the first female VC in Oxford's 800 year history!

The lawns are beautiful at Merton and the spread of food plus orchestra were grand.

And, later that evening, the remaining Visiting Fellows got together at a pub for dinner and to finish off a truly special day! The full list of Visiting Fellows during this past year is here.

Thank you to All Souls College plus Oxford University for memories that I will always treasure and for friendships made across disciplines! My only disappointment was not being able to personally congratulate Paul Krugman despite trying to find him after the lunch!

Dr. Mildred "Millie" Dresselhaus of MIT -- A Truly Inspiring Role Model

Some of you may have had the honor and privilege of meeting Dr. Mildred "Millie" Dressehaus of MIT, who is known as the Queen of Carbon for her outstanding research, is the recipient of the 2012 $1 million Kavli Prize as a Nanoscience Laureate, and has been awarded the National Medal of Science, among numerous other awards and honorifics.

She is also a truly outstanding human being and role model for females and males, alike -- and, I might add, also the mother of 4 children and a grandmother of 5.

At age 81, she still comes into her office at MIT to conduct research and to do her work.

I periodically write about inspiring people on this blog, because, as an educator, I believe that we can all learn from those who have been not only trailblazers but also have interesting life stories that demonstrate how one can overcome obstacles and, through hard work and passion, achieve great things.

Natalie Angier, in a wonderful column in today's Science section of The New York Times, "Carbon Catalyst for Half a Century," writes about Mildred Spiewak Dresselhaus, and, in an engaging interview, captures some of the remarkable aspects of her childhood, education, and scientific career.

Dresselhaus was born in the US and  is of Polish heritage. Since I speak Ukrainian, I can translate her maiden name "Spiewak," which means "singer," so, not surprisingly, she was talented in music, as the article notes, as was her brother. As a 6 year old, she took the subway from the Bronx to Greenwich Village (imagine  having a child do that today), with her violin and books since she had received a scholarship to a school there. She feared coming back home since the neighborhood was not considered to be safe. Her family was very poor and she often went without food and had a single set of clothing.

 I used to take the subway from the Bronx to the East Village, on the lower east side of Manhattan, for piano lessons, and would return at night, but would usually go with a friend, who also was going for her piano lessons.

She ended up at Hunter High School and went on the Hunter College, where her mentor there was Dr. Rosalyn Yalow, the Nobel Laureate, who continued to be in her life and wrote letters of recommendation for her throughout her life. I wrote about Yalow in this blog when she passed away last year, because her story had also resonated with me.

I met Dr. "Millie" Dresselhaus when I was at MIT for two years. She would take part in get-togethers of female faculty. I was a Visiting Scholar and a Visiting Associate Professor, back then, funded first by a National Science Foundation Visiting Professorship for Women and then by what is known now at UMass Amherst as a Conti Fellowship. Millie, if I may, would usually bring her knitting with her to our female faculty meetings. Those of you in operations research may be reminded of Dr. Brenda Dietrich of IBM, who also is an avid knitter. Coincidentally, when Dresselhaus received her PhD in physics from the University of Chicago she and her husband, who also is a physicist (she says there were no nepotism rules at that time) both had offers from IBM and MIT.

For those of you who have been engaged in the discussions regarding Anne-Marie Slaughter's recent attention-grabbing article in The Atlantic Monthly, "Why Women Still Can't Have it All,"  Professor Dresselhaus' advice as to how she managed such a high-powered career and had 4 children:

1. A good husband is a vital part of it, somebody who understands what you're trying to do and encourages it.

2.  I also had a good baby sitter. She worked for me for 29 years.

Coincidentally, my husband also has a PhD in physics and is a faculty member in engineering.