Category: award

Senior Lecturer, undergraduate coordinator and Lothar Tresp Honoratus Honors Professor in the department of statistics Christine Franklin (no relation but a big part of our family) was awarded the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award by the United States Conference on Teaching Statistics at the USCOTS Award Banquet on Friday, May 17:

This biennial award is presented at the U.S. Conference On Teaching Statistics to an individual who, over an extended period of time, has made lasting contributions with broad impact to the field of statistics education especially, but not limited to, the teaching and learning of college-level statistics.

What a fantastic and richly-deserved bit of recognition of professor Franklin's positive impact on so many students over the years. To learn more about Franklin and her philosophy on teaching, please see the Focus on the Faculty feature on her from earlier this year. Big congratulations and thanks to professor Franklin for everything she does for our students and the Franklin College.

Image: courtesy UGA photgraphic services.

Congratulations and thanks for all you do.

Associate professor in the department of plant biology Peggy Brickman was one of two UGA professors to be named 2013 Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professors.

Senior associate dean Hugh Ruppersburg was named University Professor. The honor, first awarded in 1974, is bestowed selectively on UGA faculty who have had a significant impact on the university in addition to fulfilling their normal academic responsibilities. 

John Knox, associate professor of geography and faculty member in the atmospheric sciences program, was named one of three recipients of the Russell Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award.

Ivan Ingermann, an assistant professor of theatre and film studies, won the 2012 Suzi Bass Award for outstanding costume design of a play for his work on The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls at the Alliance Theatre. The Suzi Bass Award recognizes the best of Atlanta theater.

The National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration awarded $19,150 to Victor Thompson, an assistant professor of anthropology, in support of his archaeological project "Mound Key: The capital of the Calusa kingdom."

Labor Studies Journal named an article co-written by Andrew Herod, Distinguished Research Professor of Geography and adjunct professor of international affairs and anthropology, Best Article for 2012. The formal announcement will be made at the United Association for Labor Education Conference in Toronto on April 17-20. The article, "Dockers and Seafarers: What the Politics of Spatial Embeddedness and Geographical Scale Have Meant for Union Organizing in the European Maritime Trades," was co-authored by Leah Carmichael, a doctoral student in international affairs.

The American Academy of Religion awarded one of its highest honors to Carolyn Medine:

Medine, a University of Georgia professor in the department of religion and the Institute for African American Studies, has been selected to receive the 2013 Excellence in Teaching Award from the American Academy of Religion.

The professional society for scholarship and teaching in the field of religion, the AAR has more 10,000 members who teach in about 1,000 colleges, universities, seminaries and schools in North America and abroad. The award, announced on the AAR website, will be formally presented at the academy's annual meeting in November.

"I'm very humbled by this award," Medine said. "So many important teachers of religion have won this award that I feel honored, and a bit unworthy, to be included among them."

Medine teaches courses focused on how literature and art relate to religious experience, particularly Southern and African-American women's religious experience, within the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She has written extensively on the work of Toni Morrison and Harper Lee.

An important honor by her peers for Dr. Medine and one that brings great distinction to the Franklin College and UGA. Congratulations to Dr. Medine for bringing great instruction to her students.

National Science Foundation Career Awards are a bit of misnomer, in that they are titled as though the awards are given at a career pinnacle recognize achievement. In fact, they are early career awards to support, and widen, a promising scope of inquiry by a young researcher. Tianming Liu, assistant professor of computer science in the Franklin College, was presented with just such an award after he demonstrated a new way to map the human brain:

[Liu] will map the nerve fiber connection patterns between different brain regions-called nodes or landmarks-and use the maps to identify landmarks common to all healthy human brains.

Liu's research also aims to more accurately define the functions of brain landmarks within larger connected groups. The project will lay the groundwork for better understanding of disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, autism, and schizophrenia, among others.

Researchers have tried for years to clearly define the parts of the brain that control particular functions, such as language or sight. It has long been assumed that certain regions handle specific tasks. Recent research, however, indicates that individual brain functions are not confined to large, single parts, but rather depend on interactions between the nodes or landmarks scattered across the brain. Groups of connected landmarks specialize in particular functions, even though the individual landmarks might be far apart and in different regions.

Congratulations to Liu. This work will have a significant impact on our understanding of regions of the brain and the particular functions they guide. The federal awards programs at NSF also serve to motivate and inspire budding researchers and scientists to continue to think creatively.

Image: Brain landmarks on the cerebral cortex, courtesy of Tianming Liu and UGA.

Congratulations to Dan Colley, who was awarded the 2012 Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation Distinguished Life Sciences Scientist Award for his research in tropical medicine and parasitology.

Colley has focused for more than 40 years on the immunology of schistosomiasis, a debilitating chronic worm disease that affects 240 million people worldwide, most in the developing world.

Colley, a professor of microbiology, is director of the UGA Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, a center for research and education in parasitic and other global infectious diseases that is comprised of 19 investigators from eight UGA departments.

Congratulations to UGA Art student Rachel Columb:

The University of North Carolina-Asheville's Center for Craft, Creativity and Design has awarded 10 graduating seniors each with $15,000 in the form of a Windgate Fellowship, including Rachel Columb from the University of Georgia Lamar Dodd School of Art.

Universities from across the U.S. were invited to nominate two graduating seniors with exemplary skills in craft for one of the largest awards offered nationally to art students. Applicants completed an online application with images of their work and a proposal outlining how the $15,000 would enhance their careers.

Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Mathematics Sybilla Beckmann Kazez received a Teaching Excellence Award from the University System of Georgia Board of Regents:

The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences professor was chosen for the award that goes to one faculty member annually from research institutions in the university system. Awards also are given to one faculty member from the system's regional and state universities and one from the system's two-year and state colleges.

Beckmann Kazez is nationally recognized for her innovative approach to preparing elementary school mathematics teachers. Through her book Mathematics for Elementary Teachers and involvement in national and professional organizations, she has led substantial reform in mathematics education.

Henry F. Schaefer III, Graham Purdue Professor of Chemistry in the department of chemistry, has received the 2012 SURA Distinguished Scientist Award, the Southeastern Universities Research Association announced today:

The annual honor goes to a research scientist whose extraordinary work fulfills the SURA mission of "fostering excellence in scientific research." The award and its $20,000 honorarium will be presented to Schaefer on March 29 in conjunction with the SURA Board of Trustees meeting being held at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

In more than 30 years of academic service, Schaefer has focused his field of study on using theoretical and computational methods to better understand the movement and function of electrons in molecules and the application of insights gained to areas of broad chemical interest, including atmospheric chemistry, combustion and organic chemistry.

Attention UGA graduate students: a competition sponsored by the Provost’s Office, the Graduate School, and the Office of the Vice President for Research, the university will select a particularly promising graduate student for an award to attend the 10-week experience at Singularity University (SU) this coming summer.

The competition submission deadline is March 21, 2012.  Interviews with the finalists will be held April 10, 2012, 1:00-4:00 pm.  Complete eligibility requirements, application information, and submission instructions can be found on the Graduate School website.