Milestones
APPOINTMENTS
Frederick R. Blattner, genetics, has been named Oliver Smithies Professor of Genetics effective July 1.
David P. Brown, business, has been named Harold G. and Margaret W. Laun Professor in Finance retroactive to Sept. 1
Edward B. Churchwell, astronomy, has been named Albert E. Whitford Professor of Astronomy effective July 1.
Steven N. Durlauf, economics, has been named Kenneth J. Arrow Professor of Economics effective July 1.
Mike Eaves, an all-American hockey player at UW–Madison who went on to play and coach in the National Hockey League, has been named head men’s hockey coach. Eaves has spent the past two seasons as head coach of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. He succeeds Jeff Sauer, who retired from the position effective at the end of the 2001-02 season.
Robert P. Hawkins, journalism and mass communications, has been named Louis A. and Mary E. Maier Bascom Professor retroactive to Jan. 1.
Andrew J. Policano, business, has been named Kuechenmeister-Bascom Professor in Business retroactive to Sept. 1.
John J. Wild, business, has been named Robert and Monica Beyer Professor in Accounting retroactive to Jan. 1.
Keith E. Yandell, philosophy, has been named Julius R. Weinberg Professor of Philosophy effective July 1.
HONORED
Timothy B. Baker, professor, psychology, has received the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Distinguished Mentor Award. The award honors the high quality of training that the professor provides to graduate students, leading to their professional success. Baker has more than 12 former students serving as professors in major research universities and medical schools.
Amy J. Barger, astronomy assistant professor, has been awarded the American Astronomical Society’s Newton Lacy Pierce Prize for 2002. This honors outstanding achievement in observational astronomy by an astronomer younger than 36. Barger studies the faint light of distant galaxies, seeing them as they were in their youth, 10 billion years before the present day. Barger also has been awarded a Sloan Fellowship for outstanding young faculty.
June Dahl, member of the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center and co-founder of the Wisconsin Cancer Pain Initiative, recently received the American Pain Society’s Distinguished Service Award.
Debra Gordon, senior clinical nurse specialist, UW Hospital, received the Clinical Practice Award from the American Society of Pain Management Nurses. She is a former board member of the American Alliance of Cancer Pain Initiatives and current member of the Wisconsin Cancer Pain Initiative.
John K. Harting, professor of anatomy, Medical School, has received this year’s Pre-Clinical Teaching Award. He was chosen to receive this honor by the senior class of the Medical School in recognition of being the best teacher and most helpful mentor during the students’ first two years in Medical School. The award was presented March 21 at Match Day, the annual event in which fourth-year Medical School students learn where they will spend their residencies.
Gregory L. Landry, professor of pediatrics, Medical School, has received this year’s Clinical Teaching Award. He was chosen to receive this honor by the senior class of the Medical School in recognition of being the best teacher and most helpful mentor during the students’ third and fourth years in Medical School.
Gerda Lerner, Robinson-Edwards Professor of History, is the 2002 recipient of the Bruce Catton Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Historical Writing. This prize is awarded every two years by the Society of American Historians. Lerner will be the first woman to receive this honor. She has also been selected by the National Women’s History Project as one of five women to be honored during National Women’s History Month 2002. She is featured on a poster entitled “Women Sustaining the American Spirit.”
Kevin Mitchell, a graduate student in the laboratory of Brian Fox, has received this year’s Sigrid Leirmo Memorial Award in Biochemistry. The award is designated for a graduate or postdoctoral student who displays clear promise as a research scientist. It is given in appreciation of the student’s willingness to contribute to the intellectual and technical potential of his or her fellow students and colleagues through selfless help of others. Mitchell, who directs the day-to-day research efforts of two undergraduates in the Fox lab, will receive his Ph.D. degree later this year.
Suzan A. Morschhauser, senior student services coordinator, Medical School, and Don Schlach, emeritus professor of medicine, Medical School, have received the Regular Fellow Award. They were chosen to receive this honor by the senior class of the Medical School in recognition of being the best teachers and most helpful mentors during the students’ Medical School career. The awards were presented March 21 at Match Day, the annual event in which fourth-year Medical School students learn where they will spend their residencies.
GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS
Avshalom Caspi and Terrie Moffitt, professors in the psychology department, have received a five-year grant renewal from the National Institute of Mental Health on “Major Mental Disorders from Childhood to Adulthood.”
John Curtin, assistant professor, psychology, has received a two-year grant from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for “Alcohol Effects on Explicit Cue Versus Contextual Fear.”
Craig Grau, professor, plant pathology, has been named a fellow of the American Phytopathological Society. This honor is reserved for fewer than 0.25 percent of the membership.
Susan Hagness, assistant professor, biomedical engineering, and electrical and computer engineering, recently received a three-year grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health to fund her project, “Dielectric Characterization of Human Breast Tissue.” Co-investigators on the project include John Booske (professor, electrical and computer engineering), Kennedy Gilchrist (professor, pathology and laboratory medicine), Frederick Kelcz (associate professor, radiology) and Mary Lindstrom (associate professor, biostatistics).
Lih-Sheng (Tom) Turng, assistant professor, mechanical engineering, has received a research grant from the National Science Foundation to study an innovative process for producing complex injection-molded parts. Turng is associate director of the College of Engineering Polymer Engineering Center.
Weijia Zhou, associate scientist and director of the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics, has received a grant from the NASA Advanced Life Support Program. This grant will support the development of active imaging spectroscopy tools for in-vivo detection of green fluorescent protein and monitoring plant health for space and terrestrial applications.
PUBLISHED
Gerda Lerner, Robinson-Edwards Professor of History, publishes her latest book, entitled “Fireweed: A Political Biography” (Temple University Press).
Amy Weinmann and colleagues from the laboratory of Peggy Farnham in the Department of Oncology have been recognized by the Faculty of 1000 for publishing an article considered a “Must Read.” It is highlighted in the Feb. 18 issue of “The Scientist” and is published in volume 16 of “Genes and Development.”
Elmer H. Marth, emeritus professor of food science, bacteriology, and food microbiology and toxicology, and James L. Steele, professor of food science, are editors of the second edition of “Applied Dairy Microbiology” published recently by Marcel Dekker Inc., New York.
OTHER MILESTONES
Gerda Lerner, Robinson-Edwards Professor of History, will be a featured extra on an upcoming episode of the ABC prime-time drama “Once and Again.” The episode, in which Lerner is depicted as doing a book signing, will air in April.
The administrative, life science research, and payload development offices and laboratories of the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics have moved to the University Research Park. The move provides the center with new and better-equipped laboratory space for its biotechnology and life science research activities. The WCSAR payload operation center and robotics laboratory remain on the main engineering campus at 101 Mechanical Engineering.