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Geophysicist Robin Bell and climate modeler Richard Seager have been appointed Palisades Geophysical Institute senior scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in recognition of their leadership and outstanding research contributions to their fields.

Donald W. Landry has been named chair of the department of medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Landry, who has been serving as the department's interim chair, is the founding director of the experimental therapeutics division and has also served as director of the division of nephrology since 2003.

Y. Lawrence Yao, professor and chair of Columbia University's Manufacturing Research Laboratory, has been selected as one of the 2008 College of Fellows of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). Yao serves as associate editor of SME's two peer-reviewed journals, the Journal of Manufacturing Processes and the Journal of Manufacturing Systems.

Lewis Cole, professor and former chair of the Film Program at the School of the Arts, was a 1968 graduate of Columbia College and author of thirteen screenplays, including State of the Union and Durley, and four published books, including This Side of Glory.

Columbia University has established its first interdisciplinary post-graduate program in Latin American and Caribbean studies. The master's degree will be offered under the auspices of the Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS) at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).

The program is led by Pablo Piccato, associate professor of history and the new director of the Institute of Latin America Studies, which has supported scholarship and professional achievement in the field of Latin American studies for more than 40 years.

"This new degree program is a natural product of the University's strengths and builds on its solid foundation of expertise in Latin America," said Pablo Piccato, a distinguished historian who previously served as director of undergraduate studies in Columbia's history department and associate director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race.

Students who enroll in the one-year graduate program will have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge about the politics, economies, societies and cultures of the region, and will emerge with the grounding to become leaders in business, journalism and public service. The interdisciplinary nature of the program will allow students to tailor their courses of study and take classes throughout the entire University, including the Mailman School of Public Health and the Columbia Business School.

To complete the program, students are required to take 30 credits of graduate coursework, which includes a thesis that demonstrates the student's ability to apply formal training in Latin American and Caribbean studies toward a specific and original research problem. By graduation, students must also demonstrate knowledge of two languages of the region, which may include Spanish, Portuguese and/or a regional indigenous language. The Institute for Latin American Studies is now accepting applications for the 2009 fall semester; the deadline for applying is April 1, 2009.

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