HHS secretary Donna Shalala and N.Y. Times journalist Natalie Angier will participate in June 6th award ceremony in NYC
The 2000 Weizmann Women & Science Award will be presented to Dr.Carla J. Shatz of Harvard Medical School. The award includes a $25,000 research grant.
The Weizmann Women & Science Award is given biennially to an outstanding woman scientist in the U.S. who has made a significant contribution through research in basic or applied science. The award aims to enhance the visibility of women in science, and to provide role models who will motivate and encourage the next generation of young women scientists.
This year only, in addition to the annual Women & Science Award, a special presentation will be made -- the Weizmann Women & Science Millennial Lifetime Achievement Award -- to Dr. Mildred S. Dresselhaus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Sara Lee Schupf, Chairwoman of the fifteen-member nominating committee, announced the award recipients today. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala will present the awards on June 6, 2000 at The New York Academy of Sciences, New York City. Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times journalist Natalie Angier will serve as moderator of the ceremony. Ms. Angier is the author of the national bestseller, Woman: An Intimate Geography.
Dr. Carla J. Shatz, recipient of the Women & Science Award, is Chair of the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. She has made many key discoveries about the mechanisms that control the development of neural connections in the brain. Her work has had the broadest implications in our understanding of brain development, including neurological birth defects.
Dr. Mildred S. Dresselhaus, recipient of the Weizmann Women & Science Millennial Lifetime Achievement Award, is Institute Professor of Electrical Engineering and Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She studies a range of problems in the physics of solids and has made vast contribution to scientific and engineering research. Moreover, she was the first and remains the only female of ten active Institute Professors at MIT, and has advanced the cause of women in science and engineering.
"Dr. Shatz and Dr. Dresselhaus represent two of the most outstanding scientists in the U.S.," said Ms. Schupf, who chairs the award nominating committee comprised of leading scientists from universities, foundations, medical centers and government agencies. "Not only are they acknowledged leaders in their important fields of research, but they are women who personify the importance of inspiring other women to enter the scientific research and medical fields."
Ms. Sara Lee Schupf, who is the namesake of the Sara Lee Corporation, is an active philanthropic leader with a particular interest in advocacy on behalf of connecting women to science.
The Weizmann Institute of Science, in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world¹s foremost centers of scientific research and graduate study. Its 2,500 scientists, students, technicians and engineers, pursue basic research in the quest for knowledge and the enhancement of humanity. New ways of fighting disease and hunger, protecting the environment, and harnessing alternative sources of energy are high priorities at Weizmann.
Editors: For media invitations to the award ceremony and photographs of the awardees, please call 212-895-7951.