IN THIS ISSUE: Broadcasting & Beckman | communications | engineering | LAS |
Steve Drake, who has joint appointments with WILL-TV’s VideoWorks and at the Center for Healthy Minds at the Beckman Institute, won two 2006 Telly Awards for a 10-minute video he filmed, produced and edited for the center. The video, which looked at the real-world applications of the center’s research, won awards in both educational and public relations video categories. The awards honor local, regional and cable television commercials and programs, as well as video and film productions.
communications
Ronald E. Yates, the dean of the College of Communications, has been named the first Tom and June Netzel Sleeman Professor in Business Journalism. Alumnus Tom Sleeman established the professorship to honor his wife, June, who earned a degree in journalism from the UI. She died in 1999. Yates will be honored at an investiture ceremony Sept. 18.
engineering
Taekjip Ha, professor of physics, will receive the Michael and Kate Barany Award for young investigators from the American Biophysical Society at the society’s annual meeting on March 5 in Baltimore. Ha is being honored for his development and application of novel single-molecule physical methods and techniques, and for his groundbreaking discoveries in the single-molecule research field. Ha co-invented the single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer methods, and is well recognized for his work in manipulating single molecules to elevate their behavior and interactions.
Nick Holonyak Jr., professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering, will be inducted into the Consumer Electronics Industry Hall of Fame next month at the Consumer Electronics Association’s annual forum in San Francisco. Holonyak’s most noteworthy contribution to consumer home entertainment occurred in the early 1960s when he developed the light-emitting diode, which used crystal alloys to make semiconductors emit red light visible to the human eye.
liberal arts and sciences
Ryan Bailey received a 2006 Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award, one of only 12 Dreyfus awards given in the U.S. in biochemistry, chemistry and chemical engineering.
Kara Federmeier, a professor of psychology and in the Beckman Institute, received the 2006 Young Investigator Award from the Society for Psychophysiological Research. The society’s purpose is to foster research on the interrelationships between the physiological and psychological aspects of behavior.
Fnu Govindaiah, research scientist in neuroscience in the department of molecular and integrative physiology and affiliate at the Beckman Institute, will receive the 2006 Society for Neuroscience Postdoctoral Travel Award. The award includes free registration at the society’s annual meeting in Atlanta, and $1,000 toward travel. The award is given to outstanding postdoctoral fellows and research scientists and recognizes Govindaiah for the scientific merit of his work with Charles Cox, professor of molecular and integrative physiology. Govindaiah will present his findings at the meeting.
Art Kramer, a professor of psychology and in the Institute of Aviation, and co-director of the Beckman Institute, received a 10-year MERIT Award (Method to Extend Research in Time) from the National Institutes of Health. Fewer than 5 percent of NIH-funded scientists receive MERIT awards, which are given to researchers with a track record of scientific excellence and productivity during the previous 10 years.
Peggy Miller, a professor of psychology and of speech communication, has been appointed a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University for the 2006-2007 academic year, honoring her for her research on the cultivation of children’s self-esteem through self-enhancement practices in parent-child discourse.
Andrzej Wieckowski, professor of chemistry, has won the 2006 Gold Medal of the International Society of Electrochemistry. The award may be given every two years to the person judged to have made the most significant contribution to electrochemistry in recent years.
