44 faculty honored with Vilas professorships and awards

Extraordinary members of the University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty and staff have been honored during the last year with awards supported by the estate of professor, U.S. Senator and UW Regent William F. Vilas (1840-1908).

Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorship

Sixteen professors were named to Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorships, an award recognizing distinguished scholarship as well as standout efforts in teaching and service. The professorship provides five years of flexible funding — two-thirds of which is provided by the Office of the Provost through the generosity of the Vilas trustees and one-third provided by the school or college whose dean nominated the winner.

The recipients are:

• Helen Blackwell, Chemistry
• Julie Chen, Art
• Azadeh Davoodi, Electrical & Computer Engineering
• Ankur Desai, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
• Felix Elwert, Sociology
• Anthony Garcia-Prats, Pediatrics
• Carl Grant, Curriculum and Instruction
• Sigan Hartley, Human Development & Family Studies
• Greg Nemet, La Follette School of Public Affairs
• Rajiv Rao, Spanish & Portuguese
• Kumar Sridharan, Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics
• Pallavi Tiwari, Radiology
• Beth Weaver, Cell and Regenerative Biology
• Claire Wendland, Anthropology
• Xinyu Zhao, Neuroscience
• Xiaojin (Jerry) Zhu, Computer Sciences

Vilas Early-Career Investigator Award

Twelve professors received Vilas Faculty Early Career Investigator Awards, recognizing research and teaching excellence in faculty who are relatively early in their careers. The award provides flexible research funding for three years.

The recipients are:

• Kaiping Chen, Life Sciences Communication
• Hilary Dugan, Integrative Biology
• Dominic Groß, Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Tomiko Jones, Art
• Luca Mastropasqua, Mechanical Engineering
• Peter McDonald, Curriculum and Instruction
• Natascha Merten, Population Health Sciences
• Lauren Schmitz, La Follette School of Public Affairs
• Reid Van Lehn, Chemical & Biological Engineering
• Aja Watkins, Philosophy
• Filiz Yesilkoy, Biomedical Engineering
• Zhou Zhang, Biological Systems Engineering

Vilas Mid-Career Investigator Award

Fourteen professors received Vilas Faculty Mid-Career Investigator Awards, recognizing research and teaching excellence. The award provides flexible research funding for three years.

The recipients are:

• Stephanie Budge, Counseling Psychology
• Michael Cardiff, Geoscience
• Tessa Conroy, Agricultural & Applied Economics
• Jenny Higgins, Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Jiaoyang Jiang, Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Michael Massoglia, Sociology
• Muhammed Murtaza, Surgery
• Andrew Quanbeck, Family Medicine and Community Health
• Susan Ridgely, Religious Studies Program
• David Rothamer, Mechanical Engineering
• Prashant Sharma, Integrative Biology
• Christy Tremonti, Astronomy
• Michael Xenos, Life Sciences Communication
• Wei Xu, Oncology

Vilas Researcher Award

Two members of the academic staff who are principal investigators received Vilas Researcher Awards in recognition of new and ongoing research of the highest quality and significance. The award provides research funding over two years.

The recipients are:

• Christine Wilson-Mendenhall, Center for Healthy Minds
• Daniel Grupe, Center for Healthy Minds