>>For the Record

A Bell of a prize
The University's Center for Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flashes has captured a top international prize in high-performance supercomputing. The Gordon Bell Prize recognized the Flash Center's team, led by director Robert Rosner, for a simulation of a nuclear detonation within a white dwarf star. The simulation, which took several days of continuous calculation on one of the world's most powerful computers, will help scientists better understand how heavy elements come into existence, and help to establish the age of the universe.

Pernet is in the House
The International House interim board of governors has appointed former I-House resident Henry Pernet, AM'67, PhD'79, to a two-year term as director of the facility. Pernet, the board's unanimous choice for the position, will manage real-estate operations and I-House programming.

Speaking his language
Victor Friedman, professor in the linguistics and Slavic languages and literatures departments, has been awarded one of 175 research fellowships given by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Friedman will use the $35,000 award to continue his research on Balkan and Caucasian linguistics.

Let's get biological
As part of its Interfaces in Science program, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund has awarded the University of Chicago a five-year, $2.5 million grant to allow graduate students in the physical sciences to apply their field in the biological sciences as they work on projects that combine the two disciplines. The grant will support up to 12 students a year from physics, chemistry, computer science, statistics, and mathematics.

Franke-ly speaking
James Chandler, AM'72, PhD'78, the George M. Pullman professor in English language and literature and the College, will become the new director of the Franke Institute for the Humanities on July 1, succeeding J. Paul Hunter, the Barbara E. and Richard J. Franke professor in English language and literature and the College. Chandler, who chaired the group within the Humanities commission that recommended the
formation of the institute in 1989, says he would like it to become a resource and a generator for critical questions about the future of universities worldwide.

One Smart Mellon
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $500,000 endowment challenge grant to the Smart Museum of Art to support collaborations between the museum and the University. The grant, which must be matched one-to-one over the next three years, is the latest in a series of gifts from the foundation that have enabled the museum to mount exhibitions in which faculty members teach courses centered around Smart's collections.

Three cheers for Cherchi
Paolo Cherchi, professor of romance languages and literatures, has been awarded the Giuseppe Dessì prize for his work of fiction Herostraticon-Medaglioni di Astripeti, a series of meditations on provincial would-be writers seduced by the allure of literary glory. One of Italy's most prestigious literary awards, the annual competition confers three $5,000 prizes for poetry, narrative, and a book selected for its originality and meaningfulness.

Care Bayer
Bennet Leventhal, professor in psychiatry and pediatrics, has received the annual Bayer Institute Outstanding Physician Communicator Award, recognizing the positive influence of his communication skills on patient care. The annual award seeks to honor physicians who pair clinical competence with an ability to communicate with their patients. Leventhal works closely with the parents of children who have been diagnosed with autism or mental retardation.