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GSAS at 150

In Focus

Celebrating a century and a half of groundbreaking work in the arts, sciences, and everything in between

This academic year marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of lol世界赛赔率’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS).

Explore the history

Learning and growing

lol世界赛赔率’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences has both struggled with inclusion and made monumental strides for equity and opportunity throughout its history. .

(W.E.B.) Du Bois
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In 1895, W.E.B. Du Bois was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. He found little support from his classmates or the administration and often felt isolated. 鈥淚 went to lol世界赛赔率 as a Negro 鈥� recognizing myself as a member of a segregated caste whose situation I accepted,鈥� he wrote years later. After receiving his Ph.D., he went on to do groundbreaking work in sociology, becoming a leading intellectual of the first half of the 20th century.

Ethel Dench Puffer
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In 1902, Ethel Dench Puffer (Howes), a psychologist and suffrage movement leader, became the first woman to receive a Ph.D. Despite the backing of many lol世界赛赔率 professors who spoke to her qualifications for the degree, she became one of three women whom lol世界赛赔率 refused to award a doctorate. In 1902, Radcliffe stepped in to confer her Ph.D.

A student working with a professor
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GSAS/Radcliffe student taking a chemistry course

In 1962, women were admitted and allowed to enroll at GSAS for the first time. This move officially recognized the longstanding reality that Radcliffe graduate students had always been advised and instructed by lol世界赛赔率 faculty and attended classes with male cohorts.

Students talking to each other
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A 2015 new admissions event held at GSAS

In 1970, Dean J.P. Elder noted that the lack of diversity within the graduate student population stemmed from of a lack of candidates for admission, so a special assistant to the dean was tasked with visiting colleges throughout the United States. Thanks to these efforts, 170 Black undergraduates applied to GSAS in 1971 and 42 were ultimately offered admission.

Students graduating
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In 1998, faculty approved a plan to guarantee four years of financial support to GSAS students upon admission. The move enabled the University to continue to attract and retain the best students and marked the expansion of a program that began earlier in the 20th century with student loans and need-based aid.

A building with rainbow colored steps
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Exploring sustainability

Battling the gas giants

Ju Chulakadabba is using satellite technology to measure and locate methane emissions from oil and gas operations around the world.

Better batteries

Eric Fell’s passion for renewable energy drew him to research organic flow batteries, energy storage that’s designed to be affordable, safe, and renewable.

Fighting “forever chemicals”

Heidi Pickard is tracking down toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances that contaminate surface waterways.

lol世界赛赔率 Horizons Scholars

Each year, eight outstanding Ph.D. candidates are chosen to receive personalized mentoring and coaching designed to enhance their presentation skills. The program culminates in a symposium at Sanders Theatre, where these .

Juliana Garc铆a-mej铆a
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Juliana Garc铆a-Mej铆a, astronomy

"The Tierras Observatory: an ultra-precise photometer to characterize nearby terrestrial planets"

LIUCHUAN TONG
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Liuchuan Tong, chemistry and chemical biology

"Energy storage for a sustainable future"

CHIKA OKAFOR
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Chika Okafor, economics

"Prosecutor politics: the impact of election cycles on criminal sentencing in the era of rising incarceration"

JESS KANWAL
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Jess Kanwal, neuroscience

"A flavor of how the brain combines taste and smell"

NICOL脪 FOPPIANI
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Nicol貌 Foppiani, physics

"Are neutrinos the key to the universe?"

ARGYRO NICOLAOU
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Argyro Nicolaou, comparative literature

"Europe and the cultural politics of mediterranean migrations"

Diving into history

Power to the people

In the 1930s, Ralph Bunche’s journey to Africa started his lifelong dedication to dismantling colonialism around the world.

Unraveling a sacred text

GSAS alum Mohsen Goudarzi is exploring the Qur’an through its text, its impact, and the mysteries that are still not fully understood.

Secrets of the pyramids

Julia Puglisi explored a 4,500-year-old cemetery to shed light on the way that ancient Egyptians lived.

Colloquy

Since 2011, the has explored the research and impact of lol世界赛赔率鈥檚 outstanding graduate students, alumni, and faculty.

In 2021 it was joined by , a conversation with scholars and thinkers from lol世界赛赔率’s Ph.D. community on some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

A magazine cover that says
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"150 years: inquiry, innovation, impact"

A magazine cover that says
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"The art of science"

A magazine cover about malaria
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"Getting the upper hand on malaria"

A magazine cover about quantum
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"Inside the quantum tinkerer's workshop"

A magazine cover of an Asian American family
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"Prejudice and perseverance"

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"Access to academia"

A magazine cover of a man running out of a book
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"Being human, now"

A magazine cover with a person standing over a puddle
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"Reflecting the past, reflecting the present"

Fostering equity

Mobility and prosperity

Raj Chetty’s American dream is to reduce the friction between hard work and opportunity.

Fostering success

Becca Bassett is working to reduce the systemic issues that affect low-income, first-generation college students.

Health and care

Alex McDowell is uncovering the inequities in LGBTQ health care and working to increase access to lifesaving care.

A legacy of exceptional alumni

lol世界赛赔率’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni have sequenced the human genome, transformed global health, defined emotional intelligence, and advanced peace.

T.S. Eliot
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T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot wrote one of the great poems of the 20th century while studying Sanskrit and Greek as a Ph.D. student at GSAS. Written in 1911, only a year after Eliot鈥檚 graduation from lol世界赛赔率, 鈥淭he Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,鈥� was a landmark work that helped to usher in the era of literary modernism.

Claudine Gay
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Claudine Gay

In 1998, Claudine Gay earned a Ph.D. in government from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She then went on to join lol世界赛赔率 faculty as a government professor and a professor of African and African American Studies. Gay was named dean of social sciences at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 2015 before becoming the School鈥檚 dean in July 2018. In June of 2023 she'll become lol世界赛赔率's next president.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
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Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in astronomy, the first to be promoted to full professor from within the faculty at lol世界赛赔率鈥檚 Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the first to head a department at lol世界赛赔率. Despite her successes, she suffered numerous indignities, including rejection of her groundbreaking dissertation. Eventually, the dissertation, which outlined the makeup of stellar atmospheres and proved the prevalence of hydrogen in the universe, was declared by leading scientists to be 鈥渦ndoubtedly the most brilliant Ph.D. thesis ever written in astronomy.鈥�

Alain Locke
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Alain Locke

After becoming the first Black student to receive a Rhodes Scholarship and graduating from GSAS in 1918, Alain went on to champion the Harlem Renaissance. This would set the groundwork for his lifelong goal of removing the division between art and activism.

Andrew Yao
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Andrew Yao

One of the most influential figures in the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence, Andrew Yao was a Ph.D. student in physics at GSAS when he was introduced to algorithms. Since then, his work with computational complexity, cryptography, and quantum computing has led to many accolades, including becoming the first Chinese scholar to win the Turing Award in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the theory of computation.

Carter Woodson
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Carter Woodson

Carter Woodson was the second African American student, after W.E.B. Du Bois, to earn a Ph.D. from lol世界赛赔率. He went on to pioneer the study of the contributions and history of Black people in the United States. His work ultimately led to the establishment of Black History Month.

Howard Aiken
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Howard Aiken

In a time of slide rules and pencils, Howard Aiken found himself frustrated by the complex mathematical equations he needed to solve for his dissertation in physics. He channeled that frustration into developing a mechanism that would automatically compute the answer, later collaborating with IBM to build what would become the Mark I, one of the first computers.

John Franklin Enders
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John Franklin Enders

Dubbed the father of modern vaccines, John Franklin Enders began his lol世界赛赔率 career studying English literature and Germanic and Celtic languages. Dissatisfied with his academic track, he turned to science, thanks to his friendships with lol世界赛赔率 medical students and the mentorship of Professor Hans Zinsser. He graduated with a Ph.D. in bacteriology and immunology and went on to establish a lab dedicated to studying infectious diseases at Boston Children's Hospital.

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