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Robinson Professors

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, presented keynote lectures on “What Minerals Were Present at Life’s Origins?” at the Astrobiology Science Conference in Atlanta, and on “Mineral-Molecule Interactions” at the American Chemical Society meeting in San Diego.

Carma Hinton, Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and Chinese Studies, had a number of her films screened in Beijing as part of a documentary film series about the representation of China by Western filmmakers. The series was sponsored by the Italian Embassy in Beijing through its Italian Cultural Institute. The titles included “Small Happiness: Women of a Chinese Village”; “Abode of Illusion: The Life and Art of Chang Dai-ch’ien”; “Creative Exchanges: Sights and Sounds of the Silk Road”; and “Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home.” Her film, “The Gate of Heavenly Peace,” was screened at the University of Washington as part of a lecture and film series titled “Images in Crisis: The Politics of Visual Representation in the Twentieth Century and Beyond.”

John Paden, Robinson Professor of International Studies, published his newest book, “Postelection Conflict Management in Nigeria: The Challenges of National Unity.” He also presented a lecture to the U.S. Department of State’s Conflict and Stabilization Office on “Postelection Conflict Management in Nigeria,” testified to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on “Religious Extremism in Nigeria” and presented a lecture to the World Bank’s Africa Region Office on “Religious Extremism in Nigeria.”

Steven Pearlstein, Robinson Professor of Public and International Affairs, presented the keynote address at the Seventh Annual Award for Journalism in Recognition of Architecture/Engineering Achievement at the Northern Virginia Post of the Society of American Military Engineers. He also moderated a discussion with international business and policy leaders regarding financial and economic trends around the globe at the Export-Import Bank of the United States 2012 Annual Conference and presented the Department of Public and International Affairs’ annual Gortner Lecture, “The Politics of Polarization: A Modern Tragedy of the Commons.”

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, presented the opening lectures on scientific methodology at the Judicial Symposium on Scientific Evidence in the Courts held by Mason’s Law and Economics Center. His topics were “The Scientific Method,” “Elements of Scientific Decision Making” and “The History of the Use of Expert Witnesses.”

Robinson Professors

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, presented lectures on “origins of life” at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; the University of South Dakota; and the University of California, Davis. He also presented a lecture on “diamond synthesis” at Brown University, as well as lectures on “mineral evolution” at Brown University and the Smithsonian Institute. His work on deep carbon science was featured in an article in the American Chemical Society’s Chemical and Engineering News.

Carma Hinton, Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and Chinese Studies, was the keynote speaker at Denison University’s East Asian Film and Lecture Series, “Politics and Culture in Post-’89 China.” She also discussed the challenges of making her film, “The Gate of Heavenly Peace.”

Harold Morowitz, Robinson Professor of Biology and Natural Philosophy, was appointed a senior editor of Astrobiology, the official journal of the Astrobiological Society. He also wrote “The Planetary Biology Subcommittee Versus Richard M. Nixon,” which appeared in the February 2012 issue of Astrobiology.

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, participated in the Liberal Arts Council at the Western Governors University in Salt Lake City. He also attended the Economics Institute for Judges, in Orange, Calif., and presented “The Scientific Method, Elements of Scientific Decision Making and the Extinction of the Dinosaurs: The Scientific Method in Action.”

Robinson Professors

Spencer R. Crew, Robinson Professor of American, African American, and Public History, recorded a video about the Underground Railroad for New Jersey Public TV. He also presented “The Great Migration of African Americans: Making the ‘Color Line’ National” as part of New Mexico State University’s lecture series, Arriving in America: The Challenge of Immigrants and Minorities in Modern American History.

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, received the Outstanding Faculty Award, Virginia’s highest honor for educators at the state’s public and private colleges and universities, in February. He also presented a lecture on “Origins of Life” at the University of California, Davis.

Hugh Heclo, Robinson Professor of Public Affairs, presented “Ronald Reagan: The Making of a Politician” at the Seventh Annual Ronald Reagan Symposium at Regent University.

Harold Morowitz, Robinson Professor of Biology and Natural Philosophy, had his 50 years of study on the origin of life theory detailed in “Not Your Grandfather’s Origin of Life Theory” in the Santa Fe Institute Bulletin, vol. 26, 2012.

Steven Pearlstein, Robinson Professor of Public and International Affairs, spoke at Grinnell College as part of a three-day symposium on the Global Economic Crisis; made a presentation to the TiE group of local entrepreneurs at the Tower Club in Northern Virginia; and moderated a panel on jobs and the economy at a gathering of United Auto Workers, local leaders and political activists in Washington, D.C.

Robinson Professors

Spencer R. Crew, Robinson Professor of American, African American and Public History, was interviewed by Annette Windhorn, coordinator of the Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lectureship Program, about the Underground Railroad for a podcast series to commemorate the Civil War sesquicentennial.

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, presented a lecture on mineral evolution at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

Steven Pearlstein, Robinson Professor of Public and International Affairs, presented the keynote address at the annual meeting of the Northern Virginia Chapter of NAIOP, the association of real estate investors and developers. He was also selected as an outstanding leader by a committee of experts on leadership convened by the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School.

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, participated in a meeting of the Liberal Arts Council of Western Governors University via phone conference. He also served on a selection committee for Marshall-Sherfield Fellowships in Washington, D.C.

Robinson Professors

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, presented a keynote lecture on mineral evolution at the Dasan Conference on Earth Evolution in Gyeong-ju, Korea. He also presented the lecture “Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life’s Origins” at Hampshire College, and “Mineralogical Coevolution of the Geo-Sphere and Biosphere” at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Harold Morowitz, Robinson Professor of Biology and Natural Philosophy, presented a lecture, “Life, the Fourth Geosphere,” as part of an Open Questions forum at the Potomac School in McLean, Va. He also wrote “Life on Venus,” which was published in Astrobiology, Vol.11, No. 9. He was appointed special articles editor of the Astrobiology Journal.

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, presented “Science and the Law” for the Judicial Advisory Council of the Law and Economics Center in Fairfax, Va. He also wrote with a student, “Problems with Problem Sets” for Physics Today, November 2011.

Robinson Professors

Hugh Heclo, Robinson Professor of Public Affairs, presented a paper on “American Conservatism and Bush 41” at the President George H.W. Bush Oral History Symposium at the Miller Center, University of Virginia.

John Paden, Robinson Professor of International Studies, briefed the Department of State on the crisis in Nigeria’s Plateau State. He also met with the governor of Plateau State and the Nigerian ambassador to discuss means of conflict resolution in Plateau State.

Steven Pearlstein, Robinson Professor of Public and International Affairs, addressed the Democratic Women’s Club of Montgomery County, Md., on “No-Growth Economy and What to Do About it.”

Robinson Professors

Spencer R. Crew, Robinson Professor of American, African American and Public History, served as town hall moderator and speaker at the 2011 American Association for State and Local History Annual Meeting in Richmond, Va.

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, participated in a seminar on origins of life at Montana State University. He also lectured on the Deep Carbon Observatory at the Sloan Foundation in New York, and on mineral evolution at the joint Carnegie-Japan symposium in Washington, D.C., and in Pisa, Italy.

Hugh Heclo, Robinson Professor of Public Affairs, wrote the chapter, “Whose Presidency Is This Anyhow?” in The Oxford Handbook of the American Presidency published by Oxford University Press.

Steven Pearlstein, Robinson Professor of Public and International Affairs, wrote an economic review, which was published in the Washington Post, on the book “Grand Pursuit, The Story of Economic Genius” by Sylvia Nasar.

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, was interviewed for National Geographic Weekend radio as the principal science consultant for the book “Big Idea.” He also participated in the Liberal Arts Council at Western Governor’s University in Salt Lake City.

Robinson Professors

Shaul Bakhash, Robinson Professor of History, spoke at a meeting at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., on recent political developments in Iran. He also spoke on Iran at a conference in Athens, Greece.

Spencer R. Crew, Robinson Professor of American, African American, and Public History, was the lead historian for a weeklong teacher workshop in Pueblo, Colo., titled “Investigating the Democratic Experience in America.”

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, presented lectures on mineral evolution at the Geochemical Society meeting in Prague, and at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Mont. He was also elected councilor of the International Society for the Study of the Origins of Life.

Hugh Heclo, Robinson Professor of Public Affairs, wrote the chapter “The Once and Future Chief Executive” in the book “The Presidency in the 21st Century,” edited by Charles Dunn.

Carma Hinton, Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and Chinese Studies, chaired a panel titled “Learning from Long Bow: Research and Reflections on One Chinese Village” at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting. She was also a discussant for a symposium titled “Just Images: Ethics and Chinese Documentary” at Harvard University. She gave the graduation address at the Putney School in Vermont. She also delivered four lectures on Chinese culture for the City University of Hong Kong: “Tethered Tiger, Captured Dragon: Clearing Out Demons from Mountain Woods”; “Water, Fire, and Strange Creatures: Traditional Elements in Contemporary Chinese Painting”; “Destruction, Survival and Transformation: Traditional Huizhou Architecture and Its Fate through Revolution and Reform”; and “Ruins, Gate, and Square: Changing Symbolism of Imperial Structures.”

John Paden, Robinson Professor of International Studies, presented a paper on “Responses to the Boko Haram Extremist Movement in Northern Nigeria: The Challenge of Grassroots Engagement” at an international conference in Germany.

Steven Pearlstein, Robinson Professor of Public and International Affairs, won a Gerald Loeb award for lifetime achievement in business and financial journalism.

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, gave the keynote address at the Conference on University-Community Partnerships at Aurora University on “Scientific Literacy: What It Is, Why We Don’t Have It, and How We Can Get It.”

Robinson Professors

Spencer R. Crew, Robinson Professor of American, African American and Public History, was a featured expert on the broadcast of PBS’s “History Detectives,” regarding the use of John Brown’s pike during the raid on Harper’s Ferry.

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, presented the following lectures: “The Co-evolution of the Geo- and Biosphere” at the U.S. Geological Survey Western Region Colloquium; “Deep Microbial Life” at the University of Bremen; “The Carbon Cycle” at the Institute de Physique du Globe in Paris, France; “Mineral Surfaces” at the University of Liverpool, England; and “The Origins of Life” at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

Hugh Heclo, Robinson Professor of Public Affairs, coached high school students from the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School representing Virginia in the “We the People: the Citizen and the Constitution” competition held annually in Washington, D.C. They won the gold medal.

Carma Hinton, Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and Chinese Studies, served on the jury at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, judging eight documentaries from around the world competing for Best Documentary and Outstanding Documentary Awards.

John Paden, Robinson Professor of International Studies, presented a paper on “Post-Election Conflict Management in Nigeria: The Challenge of National Unity” at a conference on West Africa in St. Louis. He also participated in a forum on Nigeria sponsored by the Open Society Foundation.

Robinson Professors

Spencer R. Crew, Robinson Professor of American, African American and Public History, was an historical advisor for Songs of Freedom, which was awarded two New York State Emmy Awards.  This project incorporates live action film, storytelling and contemporary arrangements of traditional spirituals to tell the exciting story of one family’s flight to freedom along the Underground Railroad. The complete project includes the film, an original storybook and website.

Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, gave lectures on “Unanswered Questions in Deep Carbon Science” at SUNY, Stonebrook; “Recent Advances in Deep Carbon Science” at Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C.; and, “Mineral Surfaces and the Origins of Life” at the Materials Research Society’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco, Calif. He also appeared on an NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation) TV show on the “Origins of Life.”

John Paden, Robinson Professor of International Affairs, presented “Notes on the Nigerian Election” to a senior U.S. Department of State group. He also presented “Asia at Mason and Mason in Asia: Past, Present and Future” to the Mason Asia Interest Group, sponsored by the Office of Global Strategies, Provost’s Office. And he presented a lecture to the Foreign Service Institute on “Religious Identity Factors in the Nigerian Election.”

James Trefil, Robinson Professor of Physics, served as an external reviewer for the Liberal Studies program at DePaul University. He also attended the Liberal Arts Council of the Western Governor’s University in Salt Lake City, Utah.