Vol.24, No. 02	Sept. 11, 1998

PEOPLE: News of Columbians

In an unusual ceremony honoring two collaborators simultaneously, the University of York (England) conferred honorary degrees on Professor SHEILA B. KAMERMAN and Professor Emeritus ALRED J. KAHN of Columbia's School of Social Work in July. Recognizing Kamerman's and Kahn's contributions to cross-national social policy research, York Professor John Ditch said in his presentation address: "they have used their knowledge and understanding in efforts to increase the focus on policies that can foster the well-being of children and to emphasize that it is possible for the U.S. to learn from the experience of others."

DAVID L. EPSTEIN, associate professor of political science, and XIAOBO LU, assistant professor of political science at Barnard, have been named National Fellows by the Hoover Institution for the 1998-99 academic year. The two are among 12 National and Peace Fellows who will conduct a year's worth of social science research at the Stanford University institute. Epstein, a specialist in both game theory and American political institutions, will investigate whether voting districts carved out to elect minorities to Congress actually reduce overall minority representation. Lu, who studies corruption and reform in communist and post-communist nations, is looking at regulatory mechanisms being developed as China and Russia complete the transition to market economies.

KENDALL THOMAS, professor of law, has received a residential award from the American Academy of Berlin for 1998-99. He will do a comparative analysis of affirmative action laws in the United States and Germany.

RICHARD AXEL, Higgins Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, will receive the 1998 Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Neuroscience Research at a dinner at the Pierre Hotel in New York on Sept. 16. He will receive a silver medallion and a $50,000 cash prize.