Faculty honors

The Center for Advanced Study has appointed new associates, an incentive to pursue the highest level of scholarly achievement. The new associates are Stephanie Hilger of Comparative & World Literature and Germanic Languages & Literatures, Bo Li of statistics, Gisela Sin of political science, Rebecca Stumpf of anthropology, and Assata Zerai of sociology.

Bruce Rhoads of geography and geographic information science received a lifetime designation as a fellow of the American Association of Geographers. THe honor recognizes his outstanding contributions to geographic research and education. He's a member of the inaugural class of AAG Fellows.

Martin Burke of chemistry, Cara Finnegan of communication, and Andrew Leakey of plant biology have been named University Scholars. A program that recognizes excellence in teaching, scholarship and service on the three University of Illinois campuses, this honor also provides $15,000 to each scholar to enhance his or her academic career.

Renske van der Veen of chemistry has been awarded a grant for his research from the Chemical Structure Dynamics and Mechanism (CSDM-A) program of the National Science Foundation.

Wei-Po Kwan of geography has recently received the 2018 AAG Stanley Brunn Award for Creativity in Geography. The award is given annually to geographers that demonstrate originality, creativity, and breakthroughs in their field. Mei-Po is the sixth recipient of this prestigious award.

The Center for Advanced Study has appointed new fellows to its permanent faculty, one of the highest forms of academic recognition the University of Illinois campus for outstanding scholarship. They include Hong Jin of biochemistry, Jamie Jones of English, Avital Livny of political science, Mauro Nobili of history, Yue Shen of astronomy , and Vesna Stojanoskn of mathematics.

Eric Darnell Pritchard of English has been awarded the 2017 Outstanding Book Award from the Conference on Community Writing for his book, "Fashioning Lives: Black Queers and the Politics of Literacy."

Mara Wade of Germanic Languages and Literatures has been approved as the Vice President of the Renaissance Society of America. According to the selection committee, Mara's appointment was based on her work in "bridging the world of the digital humanities with the world of scholarship on emblems, her broad connections in many fields, the historic depth of her commitment to the RSA, her strong record of receipt of international fellowships, and her dedication to teaching and lecturing widely."

Brent Roberts of psychology was awarded with an honory doctorate from the University of Basel's Faculty of Psychology. The award is in recognition of his novel, comprehensive research on life-long personality development.

Carla Cáceres of animal biology and Douglas G. Simpson of statistics have been elected 2017 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Founded in 1848, AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society. Fellows are chosen by their peers for their outstanding contributions to the field.

Lisa Ainsworth and Stephen Long of plant biology and crop sciences, Yi Lu of chemistry, and Brent Roberts of psychology have been named to the 2017 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list (previously known as the Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers list). The list recognizes "leading researchers in the sciences and social sciences from around the world," according to Clarivate Analytics.

Cara Finnegan of communication has been selected to receive the Rhetoric and Communication Theory division's Faculty Mentorship Award from the National Communication Association. This award honors her countless influences on students and advisees.

Brenda Wilson of microbiology has been annouced as 2017 Larine Y. Cowan Make a Difference Award for Leadership in Diversity. This honor recognizes leadership in being an outstanding advocate in advancing diversity at Illinois. The award is given in honor of Dr. Larine Y. Cowan, past director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Access (ODEA) at the University of Illinois.

Mikhail Lyubansky of psychology has been selected to receive the 2017 Larine Y. Cowan Make a Difference Award for Teaching & Mentoring in Diversity as a recognition of his tireless efforts in advocating for inclusion and access at Illinois. The award is given in honor of Dr. Larine Y. Cowan, past director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Access (ODEA) at the University of Illinois.

Emanuel Rota of French and Italian has been appointed as a CAS Associate for the academic year 2017-18. These appointments with the Center for Advanced Study provide an incentive to pursue the highest level of scholarly achievement. Professor Rota will be working on his project, "Before Unemployment: Work, Idleness and the Uber-working Class."

Eleonora Stoppino of French and Italian has been appointed as an IPRH Faculty Fellow for the academic year 2017-18. Professor Stoppino will be working on her project, "Ugly Beast, Talking Monkey: Contagion and Education in Medieval and Early Modern Culture."

Associate professor Kay Kirkpatrick and professor Thomas Nevins, both of mathematics, have been selected as 2017 Simons Fellows. The foundation funds faculty for up to a semester long research leave from classroom teaching and administrative obligations.

Jim Best of geology has been named the 2018 recipient of the Lamarck Medal from the European Geosciences Union. The Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal is established by the EGS Division on Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, and Paleontology in recognition of the scientific achievement of Jean Baptiste Lamarck. It is reserved for scientists for their exceptional contributions to either stratigraphy, sedimentology, or paleontology.

Thomas Kehl-Fie of microbiology has been named a 2017 Vallee Scholar. The Vallee Scholars Program recognizes outstanding early career scientists by providing $250,000 in discretionary funds for basic biomedical research. Candidates are competitively selected based on their originality, innovation, and quality of the proposal, in addition to their record of accomplishment.

D. Fairchild Ruggles of medieval studies has been awarded a grant from the The Getty Foundation as part of its Connecting Art Histories initiative. Fairchild's project is entitled "Mediterranean Palimpsests: Connecting the Art and Architectural Histories of Medieval and Early Modern Cities."

John Vasquez of political science has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Conflict Processes Section of the American Political Science Association. Founded in 1903, the Association is the leading professional organization for the study of political science and serves more than 12,000 members in more than 80 countries.

Francina Dominguez and Nicole Riemer of atmospheric sciences, Prashant Jain of chemistry, Robert Morrissey of history, Diane Beck of psychology, Rebecca Stumpf of anthropology, Antonio Augoustakis of medieval studies, and Robert DeVille of mathematics have been honored with the Campus Distinguished Promotion Awards. For their extraordinary academic contributions, each receives a discretionary fund to support their scholarly activities.

Kami Hull of chemistry has been awarded the Amgen Young Investigators Award. The award recognizes young chemists who are making significant contributions to the field of organic chemistry and pharmaceutical research.

May Berenbaum of entomology has been awarded Honorary Membership by the British Ecological Society. Honorary membership is the highest honor received by the BES, as it recognizes exceptional contributions at international level to the generation, communication, and promotion of ecological knowledge and solutions.

Thomas Rauchfuss of chemistry has been awarded the ACS Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry sponsored by Strem Chemicals by the American Chemical Society. The award recognizes individuals who advanced inorganic chemistry by significant service in addition to performance of outstanding research.

Paul Hergenrother of chemistry has been awarded the George & Christine Sosnovsky Award for Cancer Research by the American Chemical Society. The award is for outstanding achievements in the explanation of chemical and biochemical pathways underlying human cancers which lead to the discovery and development of improved cancer therapeutics.

James Kilgore, a research scholar in the Center for African Studies, the Center for Global Studies, and in LAS Global Studies, has been awarded an Open Society Foundation 2017 Soros Justice Fellowship. It will allow him to lead an effort to advance more effective and less punitive policies on the use of electronic monitoring in the criminal justice system.

John Lynn of history has been awarded a Public Scholar award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The award is one of only 28 such awards totaling $1.3 million given out this year, the third year for the program. This is the first such award for a U of I faculty member.

Francina Dominguez of atmospheric sciences has been awarded the Henry G. Houghton Award by the American Meteorological Society. The Henry G. Houghton Award is given to an early career scientist in recognition of research achievements in the field of physical meteorology and hydrometeorology.

Mark Hertzman of history, Soo Ah Kwon of Asian American studies, and John Karam of Spanish and Portuguese have been selected as Conrad Humanities Scholars for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. These awards, funded by a gift from Arlys Conrad, are designed to support the work of exceptionally promising associate professors in humanities units with the aim of enhancing retention of the University's strongest scholarly leaders.

Center for Advanced Study has appointed seven new members to its permanent faculty — one of the highest forms of academic recognition the University of Illinois campus for outstanding scholarship. They are Antoinette Burton and Harry Liebersohn of the Department of History; Martine Gruebele, Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, and Catherine Murphy of the Department of Chemistry; and Gary Dell of the Department of Psychology

Avital Livny and Stephen Chaudoin of the Department of Political Science have been selected as the 2017-2018 Linowes Fellows at the Cline Center for Democracy. Linowes Fellows are expected to play a leadership role in the annual David F. Linowes Lecture on Public Policy.

Hans-Friedrich Köhn of the Department of Psychology is a recipient of the 2017 Best Reviewer Award from the Psychometric Society. The Psychometric Society is an international nonprofit professional organization devoted to the advancement of quantitative measurement practices in psychology, education, and the social sciences.

Beverly Smith assistant director of the Native American House has been accepted to be a member of the Higher Learning Commission Peer Corps. The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) was founded in 1895 as an independent corporation. It serves as one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States.

Erik S. McDuffie of the Department of African American studies and Michelle M. Rivera of the Department of Communication have received American Council of Learned Society (ACLS) Fellowships. McDuffie received the ACLS Fellowship, which awards fellowships to individual scholars working in the humanities and related social sciences. Rivera was awarded the Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows Program, which places recent humanities PhDs in staff positions at partnering government agencies and non-profits. In 2017, the ACLS will award over 300 scholars across a variety of humanities disciplines.

Aron Barbey of psychology, Jonathan Inda of Latino/Latina Studies, and Susan Koshy of English have been awarded David Dodds Henry Lectureship Funds in support of the culminating research event of the University of Illinois' Sesquicentennial Celebration. The symposia will highlight Illinois' strengths in interdisciplinary research, exploring issues as diverse as human health, race and justice, the arts and the humanities, agriculture and the environment, and the legacy of the land-grant institution.

L. Elena Delgado of Spanish and Portuguese has been awarded the competitive Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory Senior Research Fellowship for the years 2017-19 to advance on her book project, "Habits of the Heart: Affective Attachments in the Public Sphere." The Unit will provide fellowship support to help Elena undertake the research necessary to completing the book.

Jim Kuklinski of political science has been awarded the American Political Science Association Political Psychology Section's 2017 Hazel Gaudet Erskine Political Psychology Career Achievement Award. The award is an honor to Hazel Gaudet Erskine, a prominent social scientist and a member of a multiple univerisity research project that studied the effect of mass media on society in the late 1930s. Kuklinski is the second recipient of the award.

Rachel Whitaker of the Department of Microbiology has been named an Allen Distinguished Investigator by the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, which will bring $1.5 million over the next three years to her research of microbial evolution. Whitaker is one of five new ADIs recognized by the Frontiers Group for pioneering research in epigenetics, aging, and evolution.

Kathryn Clancy of the Department of Anthropology was elected to the Biological Seat on the American Anthropological Association Executive Board. The American Anthropological Association is the world's largest association for professional anthropologists and has more than 10,000 members.

Don Wuebbles of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences has been named a Presidential Fellow for the University of Illinois System. An expert in climate change, air quality, and environmental issues, Wuebbles will focus on ways to promote urban sustainability throughout the U of I system by capitalizing on science, technology and human analysis.

Ruby Mendenhall of sociology and African American studies and Patricia Gregg of geology have been named faculty fellows at Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications for 2017-18. Mendenhall will examine the physiological effects of exposure to nearby gun crimes such as shootings as a way to document the public life and health of African-American mothers. Gregg will expand current efforts in volcano model-data fusion into a scalable data assimilation strategy that will provide a framework for volcano hazards research worldwide.

Four LAS faculty members were elected members of the National Academy of Sciences. They are John Cronan, professor and head of microbiology and a professor of biochemistry, Jeffrey Moore, the Murchison-Mallory Professor of Chemistry, Donald Ort, the Robert Emerson Professor of Plant Biology, and Gary Parker, the W.H. Johnson Professor of Geology.

John Gerlt, the Gutgsell Chair in biochemistry, received the 2017 Gordon Hammes Lectureship from the Division of Biological Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. The award recognizes a single individual whose scientific contributions have had a major impact on research at the interface of chemistry and biology.

Professor Thomas Nevins of mathematics, Associate Professor Dana Rabin of history, Professor Rebecca Stumpf of anthropology, and Professor Andrew Suarez of entomology are the recipients of the Dean's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

Carla Beatriz Rosell of english and Supriya G. Prasanth of cell and developmental biology are the recipients of the Lynn M. Martin Award for Distinguished Women Teachers.

Justine Murison of English and Sarah West of Spanish and Portuguese are the recipients for the Humanities Council Teaching Excellence Award. Murison and West are recognized for their efforts in humanities instruction.

Gretchen Adams is the recipient of a 2017 Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching by Instructional Staff. Adams, a professor of chemistry is recognized for her efforts in the classroom.

Robert Rushing's new book, "Descended from Hercules: Biopolitics and the Muscled Male Body on Screen" (Indiana University Press) won the Film and Media Studies book prize from the American Association for Italian Studies. Rushing is an associate professor of French and Italian.

Bob Morrissey, associate professor of history, was named the Mellon Faculty Fellow in Environmental Humanities. His term will last from the fall of 2017 until 2020. In this role, he will serve as the primary supervisor for the Environmental Humanities Research Group.