The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has announced Bryant University Dr. Charles J. Smiley Chair Professor of Science and Technology Hong Yang, Ph.D., Vice President for International Affairs, among 50 Radcliffe Institute fellows for 2022-23. Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute is recognized as one of the world’s leading centers for interdisciplinary exploration, bringing scholars, artists, and practitioners together to pursue research, expand human understanding and address critical questions that demand insight from across disciplines.
The Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellowship program offers fellows the opportunity to pursue their work in a vibrant interdisciplinary community that serves as an incubator for work at the frontier of knowledge and practice. With access to Harvard’s resources, the fellows develop new tools and methods, challenge artistic and scholarly conventions, and illuminate the past, present and future. This year’s fellows were drawn from 14 countries.
Yang is a distinguished research scientist who has been a member of the Bryant community since 1998. Recognized as a U.S.-China Public Intellectual Fellow by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, he is the founding director of Bryant University’s U.S.-China Institute. He was elected as a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2019 “for his creative contribution to understanding the terrestrial ecosystems, for his outstanding accomplishments in developing and using molecular and isotopic tools to investigate the impacts of past climate changes, and for his extraordinary commitment to training of young scientists.”
Yang's research focuses on molecular investigations of modern and ancient organisms, global climate changes, and anthropogenic alterations of physical environments. During his fellowship, Professor Yang will work with a group of Bryant and Harvard faculty, staff and students to design education curricula and experiential learning programs on climate change and sustainability to attract diverse college students, especially woman and international students. He will also deliver public lectures about his research on climate change to the Harvard community and about global impact of future climate change to the general public through online platforms. He is in the company of many distinguished scholars and exciting projects for the 2022–2023 fellowship class. To name just a few:
Alexandra Bell is a multidisciplinary artist who explores the complexities of narrative, information consumption and perception. During her time at Radcliffe, she will develop a speculative newspaper that will use public art and multimedia to engage her “readers” with issues that disproportionately affect Black and other marginalized communities.
Writer Rahul Bhatia is a contributor to the Guardian and the New Yorker. Bhatia cofounded a multimedia journalism platform to explore vital issues in India. He will use his fellowship year to write a book that illuminates how Hindu nationalists used powerful identification tools that were intended to help India’s poor to instead reframe Indian democracy and citizenship in ethno-nationalist terms.
Jennifer Finney Boylan is the author of 16 books, a trustee of PEN America, guest columnist for the New York Times, and a transgender rights activist. During her fellowship, Boylan will draw on the archives of Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library to write a novel inspired by the pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart.
Tawanna Dillahunt works at the intersection of human-computer interaction; environmental, economic, and social sustainability; and equity. She will analyze data in which black and brown Detroiters shared visions for alternative economies, new ways of thinking about technology, and ideas for amplifying marginalized voices.
Yahya Modarres-Sadeghi, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will collaborate with Harvard biologist George Lauder and his students to design and build a robotic fish that will enable the study of fish behavior in unexplored ocean environments.
Susan A. Murphy will spend her fellowship furthering her pathbreaking work to improve real-time sequential decision making in mobile health. Murphy works with algorithms that pool data from individuals and can be deployed on wearable devices to help deliver interventions or guidance for those struggling with chronic disorders such as substance abuse or mental illness.
Yang held visiting appointments at Brown University and at Yale, and was an honorary professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and three Chinese universities. He has received numerous scientific awards, honors and recognitions, including the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Award in Molecular Biology and Evolution. Yang is the author of more than 100 scientific articles and a co-editor of three books on geobiology, ecology, and conservation of Chinese Dawn Redwoods. He currently serves as co-chair of the American Council on Education (ACE) Internationalization lab at Bryant, part of a collaborative learning community of 13 colleges and universities selected this year to analyze current activities and develop strategic plans to achieve internationalization goals and strengthen global engagement.
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For nearly 160 years, Bryant University has been at the forefront of delivering an exceptional education that anticipates the future and prepares students to be innovative leaders of character in a changing world. The University delivers a uniquely integrated academic and student life experience with nationally recognized academic programs at the intersection of business, STEM fields and the liberal arts. Located on a 428-acre contemporary campus in Smithfield, R.I., Bryant is recognized as a top 1% national leader in student education outcomes and ROI and regularly receives high rankings from U.S. News and World Report, Money, Bloomberg Businessweek, Wall Street Journal, College Factual and Barron’s. Visit www.bryant.edu.
