Graduate student Aaron Kuan named Harvard Horizons scholar

Cambridge, Mass. - April 25, 2013 - 

The Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) has named Aaron Kuan, a doctoral student in applied physics, among eight Harvard Horizon Scholars for 2013.

These students have been selected by the Harvard Horizons initiative as emblematic of the extraordinary achievements of Harvard University’s Ph.D. programs. They form the inaugural class of the Society of Horizon Scholars, a new fellowship cohort that will offer opportunities for long-lasting community, mentorship, and professional and academic growth.

The inaugural Horizon Scholars will each deliver a talk at the Harvard Horizons Symposium on May 6, 2013. Kuan's talk, which describes his research at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, is titled 

"Graphene Nanopores for Single-Molecule DNA Sequencing."

A multitalented individual, Kuan holds degrees in both physics (A.B.) and violin performance (M.M.), through the Harvard-New England Conservatory Joint Program. When not in the lab, he serves as music director for the Dudley House Orchestra, a graduate student group at Harvard. He recently described his research—and played his violin, too—in a podcast produced by Veritalk, a program run by GSAS students.

Harvard Horizons has curated a series of mentoring and professional development opportunities for the selected scholars. The mentoring sessions—on the art of effective communication, including voice coaching and oral and visual presentation tutorials—have helped prepare the scholars to present their ideas in compelling, short-format talks at the Harvard Horizons Symposium on May 6, from 4:30 to 6 p.m., at Sanders Theatre.

Harvard Provost Alan Garber, FAS Dean Mike Smith, and GSAS Dean Xiao-Li Meng will lead the celebration on May 6, which will also include a prerecorded welcome from Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust.

Faculty, staff, and students from across the University are invited to attend. The event is free, but tickets are required (limit 4 per person). Tickets are available at the Harvard Box Office and will also be available at Sanders Theatre starting at 2 p.m. on the day of the event.

2013 Horizon Scholars:

Edgar Barroso, Music “Enhancing Music, Social, and Entrepreneurial Innovation through Trans-Disciplinary Collaboration”

Stephanie Dick, History of Science

 “Aftermath: Following Mathematics into the Digital”

Alex Fattal, Anthropology 

“Guerrilla Marketing: Information War and the Demobilization of FARC Rebels”

Hansun Hsiung, East Asian Languages and Civilizations

“Textbook Enlightenment: Europe, Japan, and the Rise of Global Distance Learning, 1720–1877”

Fenna Krienen, Psychology 

“Big Brain Science: Strategies for Mapping the Human Brain”

Aaron Kuan, Applied Physics 

“Graphene Nanopores for Single-Molecule DNA Sequencing”

Liz Maynes-Aminzade, English

 “Macrorealism: How Fiction Can Help Us Understand a Networked World"

Jeff Teigler, Division of Medical Sciences

“Building Better Vaccines by Learning the Language of the Immune System”

About Harvard Horizons

The Harvard Horizons initiative is led by Xiao-Li Meng, Dean of GSAS, and Shigehisa Kuriyama, Reischauer Institute Professor of Cultural History. A cross-disciplinary faculty committee reviewed 55 applications, submitted in February, in which Ph.D. students presented synopses of their essential research ideas and short videos of themselves presenting their work. The faculty committee then selected 15 semi-finalists and conducted a round of interviews, after which the committee met to choose the eight Horizon Scholars, whose innovations and ideas represent the best new thinking in their disciplines.

Press release adapted from materials provided by Harvard GSAS.