When MIT President Susan Hockfield visited Portugal November 24-26, 2009 on behalf of MIT, the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) and the MIT Portugal Program, she was eager to see that country for the first time. Fittingly, during her visit she was awarded a first-of-its-kind honorary degree for Portugal – a doctorate honoris causa jointly presented by three leading universities: the University of Porto, the Technical University of Lisbon (IST-UTL), and the New University of Lisbon (UNL).
Following the award ceremony, President Hockfield visited Prime Minister José Sócrates at his residence in Lisbon, together with Portugal's Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Mariano Gago, and the country's Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor. A Number of “Firsts”  MIT President Susan Hockfield The honorary degree was presented to President Hockfield on November 25, at the august Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, which dates back to 1779. At the start of the ceremony, President Hockfield sat on the right side of the ornate main hall, with staff and other visitors; after being presented the honorary degree, she sat on the left side, with the faculty of the three degree-granting institutions, signifying her new membership among them.
The awarding of a joint degree to President Hockfield reflects MIT Portugal’s efforts to engender greater collaboration among Portuguese universities. The program is accomplishing this via four university consortia it has set up to collaboratively offer seven national PhD and master’s degree programs in cutting-edge areas of bioengineering, engineering design and advanced manufacturing, and sustainable transportation and energy systems (also “firsts” in Portugal). Students enrolled in these programs study and conduct research at several Portuguese universities, and, upon graduation, are awarded national certificates (another first).
Praise for President Hockfield
In his introductory remarks, E.R. de Arantes e Oliveira, President of the Academy of Sciences – an alumnus of MIT’s Departments of Civil Engineering and Aeronautics and Astronautics – traced the impressive history of the academy, noting, for example, that Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein had been members.
MIT Portugal National Director Professor Paulo Ferrão then praised President Hockfield as a “noted neuroscientist in the area of brain development, Professor of Neurosciences in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, and since December of 2004, the 16th (and first female) President of MIT.”  Prof. Paulo Ferrão President Hockfield “has characterized her actions by strongly imparting dynamism to the role of science, technology and the research university in society and in world development,” he said, adding that her example “is one of modernization, of renewed investment in research, of demanding standards and competitiveness that stimulate and attract the best. It is an example of how knowledge can and must shape the future, a future that we wish now to share.” Prof. Ferrão lauded in particular President Hockfield’s emphasis on interdisciplinary research, and the convergence of fields of knowledge. He cited a recent speech by President Hockfield in which she gave as examples the collaboration between doctors and engineers at MIT’s Koch Institute for cancer research in the search for more efficient treatments; also, MIT’s efforts to develop bio-fabricated batteries that could, among other things, contribute to the development of viable electric vehicles. This is the same kind of multidisciplinary approach that characterizes MIT Portugal research and education efforts, he noted. Shared Values In addition to expressing her appreciation for being awarded a unique honorary degree, President Hockfield said she and her MIT colleagues “have felt a deep kinship of values and world view” with their Portuguese partners – “a shared appreciation for the role of science and engineering in tackling the world’s most pressing challenges, and a commitment to producing innovations and innovators that together drive economic growth.”  President Hockfield signs official documents In addition, President Hockfield said that “those shared values point to one of the most intriguing features of scholarship, particularly in science and engineering. For as long as we in the West have had universities – at least since the University of Bologna, and the ancient universities of Portugal – it has been a defining aspect of academic life that the same ideas are pursued simultaneously, around the globe. In a world too often fractured by conflict, this tradition of the global intellectual commons represents an important convening force for humankind, and a potent force for unified global action and the advancement of the common good.” (Read President Hockfield's speech here.) President Hockfield also holds honorary degrees from the China’s University of Tsinghua, Brown University, the University of Edinburgh, the University of New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and the Watson School of Biological Sciences at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. In addition, she is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Distinguished Audience Among those attending the ceremony were Minister Gago and Secretary Heitor; the rectors of the three degree-granting universities; the President of Lisbon’s Academy of Sciences; representatives of other members of MIT Portugal’s university consortia; the Director of MIT Portugal at MIT, Prof. Daniel Roos; and President Hockfield's family -- her husband, Dr. Thomas N. Byrne, Clinical Professor of Neurology and Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Senior Lecturer in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and their daughter, Elizabeth. Photos: Inês Santos |
