At the annual board meeting of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies (AIAS) held in Boston on October 2, 2005, Robert D. McChesney, Interim President of AIAS, presented the first annual AIAS Student Paper Prize award to Ted Callahan, a graduate student in anthropology at Boston University.

Mr. Callahan’s paper entitled “Respiration and Reproduction on the Roof of the World: Cultural and Physiological Adaptations to Chronic Hypoxia in a High-Altitude Kyrgyz Nomadic Population” was selected by an AIAS board committee based on scholarship, application of extant literature, and overall contribution to Afghanistan studies. Undergraduates and graduate students in all disciplines were invited to submit scholarly works that focused on Afghan history, culture and society. The 2005 prize winner received a certificate and a check for $500.

The annual prize will henceforth be named the John F. Richards prize in honor of his contributions as the first President of AIAS.