Nobel laureate Amartya K. Sen, one of the world's foremost welfare economists, has been chosen to deliver Harvard's commencement address on June 8, the University will announce today.

Sen, who is Lamont University professor emeritus, is now Master of Trinity College in Britain. His work in developing nations on the impoverished won him the Nobel Prize for economics in 1998.

In an interview, Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine said that Sen's pioneering work reflects the values the University wants to exhibit at its first commencement of the new millennium.

"I think what he brings will be a genuinely important and, in effect, original vision," he said. "[He's known for] creating a really powerful conception with a good deal of evidence about the ways in which economic development and important freedoms and rights are interdependent."

Sen, 66, has conducted research in a range of fields in economics and philosophy, including social choice theory, welfare economics, the theory of measurement, development economics and moral and political philosophy.

Sen's colleagues praised his choice as commencement speaker.

"Amartya Sen is well known to everyone in the field," said Jeffrey Williamson, chair of the economics department. "Even if you're living on the moon, you know who he is. With his amazing contributions and research, he's been a steady presence."

"He's won every conceivable honor except the one he will be receiving in June. Normally, there is some jealousy or Monday-morning quarterbacking about all these awards, but there is none for Amartya. It's just a warm, soft and fuzzy feeling," Williamson added.