Faculty honors

James B. Whitfield, professor of entomology, was honored with the Thomas Say Award from the Entomological Foundation. This award recognizes significant and outstanding work in the fields of insect systematics, morphology, or evolution. Whitfield’s research focuses on the systematics and ecology of parasitoid wasps.

David Irwin, professor of psychology, has won a 2011 Best Article Award from the Psychonomic Society. His article, “Where Does Attention Go When You Blink?” was published in Attention, Perception and Psychophysics, the largest of the psychonomic journals.

Youness Lamzouri, professor of mathematics, was honored with the 2011 Dissertation Prize by the Canadian Mathematical Society. This annual award recognizes extraordinary performance by a doctoral student. Lamzouri will accept this award at the society’s winter meeting held in Toronto.

Paul J. Kenis, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, is one of six faculty members recognized as University Scholars. An expert in the field of microfluidics, his research program is focused on the development of novel microfluidic tools for applications in energy and health.

Benjamin J. McCall, professor of chemistry, is one of six faculty members recognized as University Scholars. McCall is active in a rapidly growing research area, astrochemistry. His research at the interface of astronomy and chemistry includes three major areas: observational molecular astronomy, chemistry of fundamental reactive ion species, and laboratory detection of molecules important in interstellar chemistry.

James M. Slauch, professor of microbiology, is one of six faculty members recognized as University Scholars. Slauch is internationally recognized for his work on Salmonella virulence, a major cause of food-borne illness. His research focuses on the interplay between the human host and bacterium in disease.

Lillian Hoddeson, professor emeritus of history, is the winner of the 2012 Abraham Pais Prize for the History of Physics. This prize is awarded by the American Physical Society for outstanding scholarly achievements in the history of physics. She is being honored for her contributions to writing the history of 20th-century physics and her studies of American research laboratories, specifically Bell Labs, Los Alamos, and Fermilab, and her biography of John Bardeen. Hoddeson will be honored and will give a lecture at the April 2012 annual meeting of the society in Atlanta.

Diane Koenker, professor of history, had been elected vice president/president elect of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies.

Douglas A. Mitchell, professor of chemistry, has been named a recipient of the 2011 National Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award. This award recognizes bold ideas from some of the nation's most promising new scientists. The $1.5 million award, given over a period of five years, supports young investigators who have proposed exceptionally creative research ideas that have the potential to produce important medical advances. Mitchell uses chemical methods to study the mechanisms that contribute to bacterial virulence and antibiotic resistance.

Harry C. Triandis, professor emeritus of psychology, won a Career Contribution Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. This award is given to a scholar who has made major theoretical and/or empirical contributions to social psychology and/or personality psychology or to bridging these two areas.

Jonathan Sweedler, professor of chemistry, was elected a fellow of the American Chemical Society. This award is given for outstanding accomplishments in chemistry and contributions to the American Chemical Society. Sweedler, who holds the James R. Eiszner Family Chair in Chemistry, is a bioanalytical chemist, with a focus on developing new methods to study the distribution and dynamic release of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides from individual neurons.

James Morrissey, professor of biochemistry, was recently awarded the Biennial Investigator Recognition Award for Contributions to Haemostasis by the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis. Morrissey was recognized for his distinguished record as a teacher and researcher.

Ed Seebauer, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was recently elected a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the organization’s highest grade of membership.

Thom Dunning, professor of chemistry, was elected a fellow of the American Chemical Society. This award is given for outstanding accomplishments in chemistry and contributions to the American Chemical Society. Dunning directs the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and holds the Distinguished Chair for Research Excellence in Chemistry. His research focuses on the development of techniques for the accurate solution of the electronic Schrödinger equation and on new computational approaches to enhance scientists’ understanding of, and ability to predict, the structure, energetics, and reactivity of molecules.

Catherine Murphy, the Peter C. and Gretchen Miller Markunas Professor of Chemistry, was elected a fellow of the American Chemical Society. This award is given for outstanding accomplishments in chemistry and contributions to the American Chemical Society. Murphy’s research focuses on the overlapping fields of materials chemistry, inorganic chemistry, biophysics and nanotechnology.

Ralph Nuzzo, the G.L. Clark Professor of Chemistry, was elected a fellow of the American Chemical Society. This award is given for outstanding accomplishments in chemistry and contributions to the American Chemical Society. Nuzzo’s investigates the chemistry of materials, with a focus on methods to fabricate high-performance devices that integrate materials in new ways.

F.K. Lehman (Chit Hlaing), professor emeritus of anthropology, was honored with his biography published in the Journal of Burma Studies. The article highlights his career and his contributions to the University over the course of 50 years.

Brian C. Freeman, professor of cell and developmental biology and in the Institute for Genomic Biology, has been selected to receive the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. This award is given to scientists and scholars for their outstanding research record. Winners have the opportunity to spend up to one year cooperating on a long-term research institution in Germany. Freeman will work alongside colleagues from the Technical University of Munich.

Kristin L. Hoganson, professor of history and gender and women’s studies, was recently honored with a 2011 fellowship by the American Council of Learned Societies. Hoganson’s project is titled “Prairie Routes: Making a Global Heartland.”

Dan Shao, professor of East Asian languages and cultures, was recently honored with an American Research in the Humanities in China program award. Shao was awarded this for her project "Chinese by Definition: Bloodline, Nationality Law, and State Succession, 1909-1997.

John A. Rogers, professor of chemistry, materials science and engineering, mechanical science and engineering, bioengineering, and electrical and computer engineering, won the 2011 Lemelson-MIT Prize. The annual award recognizes outstanding innovation and creativity. Rogers will accept the $500,000 prize and present his accomplishments at a ceremony during the Lemelson-MIT program’s annual EurekaFest at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in June. Rogers is renowned for his recent pioneering work with semiconductor materials and flexible, stretchable electronics.

James M. Lisy, professor of chemistry, will receive a Humboldt Research Award honoring a lifetime of research achievements. Recipients are each awarded a prize of more than $86,000 and extended an invitation to pursue research of their choice with colleagues in Germany. Lisy will work at Ruhr University in collaboration with professor Martina Havenith-Newen. Lisy uses molecular beam and laser spectroscopy techniques to study properties of molecular and ionic clusters. He is internationally recognized for his research on ion solvation.

So Hirata, professor of chemistry, has been named a Scialog Fellow by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. His three-year $100,000 grant is among seven awarded to early-career scientists for research in solar energy conversion. Hirata’s research focuses on organic photovoltaic materials.

Yasemin Yildiz, professor of Germanic languages and literatures, received a Collaborative Research Fellowship for 2011-2012 from the American Council of Learned Societies for the project “Citizens of Memory: Muslim Immigrants and Holocaust Remembrance in Contemporary Germany.” The project, which will result in a book, will be conducted jointly with professor of English Michael Rothberg and an independent scholar in Berlin.

Lilya Kaganovsky, professor of Slavic languages and literatures, comparative literature, and media and cinema studies, has been awarded an International and Area Studies Fellowship by the American Council of Learned Societies, the Social Science Research Council, and the National Endowment for Humanities. Her award is for her second book project, The Voice of Technology: Soviet Cinema’s Transition to Sound, 1928-1935.

James Slauch, professor of microbiology, was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. Slauch studies Salmonella bacteria, particularly the molecular mechanisms that cause Salmonella infections and allow the bacteria to elude the immune system.

Wilfred van der Donk, the Richard E. Heckert Endowed Chair in Chemistry, was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. His research focuses on harnessing enzyme functions for the discovery and design of new anti-inflammatory agents and antibiotics.

Luisa-Elena Delgado, associate professor of Spanish, received an honorable mention at the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities' annual award reception for her article "The Sound and the Red Fury: The Sticking Points of Spanish Nationalism," published in the Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies (2010).

Brian C. Freeman, professor of cell and developmental biology, has been awarded the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Recipients are honored for their outstanding research record and invited to spend up to one year cooperating on a long-term research project with colleagues at a research institution in Germany.

Eli Michael Sarnat, postdoctoral research associate in the department of entomology, has been named a Rubenstein Fellowship by Encyclopedia of Life (EOL). The program serves early-career scientists who wish to use EOL as a platform for outreach and encouraging other young scientists to do the same. EOL is a global partnership between the scientific community and the general public with its goal to make knowledge about the world’s organisms freely available to anyone through its online repository.

Carol Symes, professor of history, has been awarded the John Nicholas Brown Prize of the Medieval Academy of America for her book A Common Stage: Theater and Public Life in Medieval Arras (Cornell University Press, 2007). The prize recognizes an outstanding first book in the field of medieval studies. The book also won the 2008 Herbert Baxter Adams Prize from the American Historical Association, the David Pinkney Prize from the Society for French Historical Studies, and the 2008 David Bevington Award for Best New Book in Early Drama Studies from the Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society.

Adrian Burgos, professor of history, has been named to a 12-member panel of experts and historians who will seek to determine the facts of baseball’s beginnings and its evolution. The committee, named by Major League Baseball commissioner Allan H. “Bud” Selig, will compile and evaluate information that pertains to the game’s founding and its growth. The panel also will seek to tell the story of baseball’s beginnings and explore not only the game’s broadest origins, but also its development in local communities.

Scott Denmark, professor of chemistry, will receive the Senior Award in Heterocyclic Chemistry from the International Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry. Denmark will receive the award at the 23rd International Congress on Heterocyclic Chemistry in July in Glasgow, Scotland.

Cathy Murphy, professor of chemistry, will receive the 2011 Inorganic Nanoscience Award, given by the Division of Inorganic Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. This award recognizes a mid-career scientist who has demonstrated sustained excellence, dedication, and perseverance in research in the area of inorganic nanoscience. Murphy will receive the award at the fall ACS meeting.

Richard T. Rodriguez, professor of English, will receive the 2011 Book Award from the National Association for Chicano and Chicana Studies for his work, Next of Kin: The Family in Chicano/a Cultural Politics. The judges were drawn to the singular importance of its subject—the family as a cultural and political entity.

Edelyn Verona, professor of psychology, has won the 2011 Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to the Scientific Study of Psychology from the Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy.

Ralph Nuzzo, professor of chemistry, has received the Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The award is granted to researchers whose fundamental discoveries, inventions, or novel theories have influenced essentially their fields of research and who are expected to continue as top researchers. The award winners work on research projects of their choice in Germany together with a native colleague for up to one year.

May Berenbaum, head and professor of entomology, will receive the 2011 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, an international award that recognizes outstanding “scientific knowledge and public leadership to preserve and enhance the environment of the world.” Berenbaum was lauded for her expertise on bees and the causes behind declining bee populations, as well as advancing the field of entomology and explaining its significance. The Tyler Prize consists of a $200,000 cash prize and a gold medal. Berenbaum will deliver a public lecture at the Davidson Conference Center of the University of Southern California, which administers the Tyler Prize, on April 14.

Helaine Silverman, professor of anthropology, was invited to Geneva by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights to participate in a meeting on access to cultural heritage and human rights. Silverman was the only American in the small group of international cultural heritage experts convened to discuss this topic, present opinions, and answer questions with participating representatives of the U.N. member states.

Richard Powers, professor of English, has been included on a shortlist for the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Award for his book, Generosity, which explores the biochemistry of happiness. This award is the United Kingdom’s premier prize for the best science fiction literature. This year’s award will be announced April 27.

Eric Oldfield, professor of chemistry, will be awarded the 2011 Avanti Award in Lipids for his pioneering research using NMR methods to investigate lipid membrane structure and for his work in drug discovery, targeting lipid biosynthesis. The award is given annually by the Biophysical Society to an investigator who has made “outstanding contributions to our understanding of lipid biophysics.” The winner receives an honorarium.

Benjamin McCall, assistant professor of chemistry, was designated a 2011-2012 Helen Corley Petit Scholar by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This scholarship is in recognition of McCall’s outstanding research and teaching accomplishments.

Lisa Ainsworth, professor of plant biology, was named one of the President’s Medallists for 2011 by the Society for Experimental Biology. These medals are the society’s major award for research and are presented annually to biologists of outstanding merit in the early phases of their career. The award is presented at the society's annual meeting, which will be in Glasgow, Scotland, this year.

Ryan Bailey, professor of chemistry, has been selected to receive a 2011 Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The two-year fellowship program awards fellows $50,000 to pursue their choice of research topics. Bailey’s research interests lie at the interface of bioanalytical and biomaterials chemistry. His group is developing chip-integrated arrays of photonic sensors to detect signatures of diseases at their earliest stages and then help clinicians choose the best course of personalized treatment.

Ping Ma, professor of statistics, received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation. The award supports the early career development of professors who best exemplify the role of teacher-scholars. To facilitate geophysical discoveries that can enhance our understanding of the Earth’s deep interior using current computing resources, Ma proposed a family of novel statistical methods under a subsampling framework. The theory to be established will benefit a wide spectrum of research in science and engineering.

Donald Burkholder, an emeritus professor of mathematics, has been elected a 2011 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was cited for “distinguished contributions to probability theory, particularly the theory of martingales, and his work in stochastic processes, functional analysis, and Fourier analysis.”

Ramona Curry, professor of English and media and cinema studies, won a 2011 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, which will give her time to finish her book, Trading in Cultural Spaces: How Chinese Film Came to America.

Christopher Fennell, associate professor and associate head of anthropology, received the Council of Graduate Schools’ Gustave O. Arlt Award for outstanding scholarship in the humanities. Fennell was honored for his book Crossroads and Cosmologies: Diasporas and Ethnogenesis in the New World.

Cathy Murphy, professor of chemistry, has been named the Peter C. and Gretchen Miller Markunas Professor of Analytical Chemistry. Murphy earned the honor through her research focused on developing inorganic nanomaterials for biological and energy-related applicateions and understanding the chemical interactions of nanomaterials in their surroundings.

Yi Lu, professor of chemistry, has been named the Jay and Ann Schenck Professor of Chemistry. Lu’s research lies at the intersection of chemistry and biology. He has pioneered products that test for water contaminations using catalytic DNA technologies.