IN THIS ISSUE: LAS | |ENGINEERING | ITI | SECRETARIAT | LAS & FAA |
liberal arts and sciences
Marshall Scott Poole, a professor in the department of communication, has been awarded the 2008 Steven H. Chaffee Career Productivity Award from the International Communication Association. The award honors a scholar for sustained work on a communication research problem over an extended period. The research must have comprised multiple projects and publications and generated second-generation work among students and other scholars. Scott was honored at the ICA conference in Montreal in late May.
Justin Rhodes, a professor of psychology and an affiliate in the Institute for Genomic Biology, has won the Young Scientist Award from the International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society. It was the first year for the award, which was established to recognize the distinguished contributions of members of the society.
M. Christina White, professor of chemistry, is one of 15 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholars for 2008 chosen by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.
The award provides a $75,000 unrestricted research grant to young faculty members in the chemical sciences who are within the first five years of their academic careers and who have created an independent body of outstanding scholarship and demonstrate a commitment to education. The research accomplishments in 2008 represent new paradigms in quantum chemistry, bioengineering, ultrafast and single molecule spectroscopy, and novel materials synthesis.
engineering
Professor Dusan Stipanovic, of the Information Trust Institute, the department of industrial and enterprise systems engineering, and the Coordinated Science Laboratory, was awarded a fellowship from Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The award will allow him to further develop his research and to collaborate with scholars in Germany.
Stipanovic is an expert in the control and coordination of the motion of trustworthy systems composed of multiple dynamic agents – that is, objects capable of moving on their own. Such agents have been used for a variety of applications, ranging from collection of climate data to the cleaning of airport runways, and inventive new uses are continually being found.
information trust institute
Two groups of researchers in the UI Information Trust Institute had their work honored by one of the leading forums for cutting-edge research in systems science. Both groups are doing work that promises significant long-term benefits to the general public, by improving the technical standards for online computer systems and by making electric power consumption cheaper and less wasteful.
The researchers won Best Paper awards in their respective tracks at the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, which took place Jan. 5-8.
Jay Kesan, a professor of law, and co-author Rajiv Shah won Best Paper award in the track on Electronic Government for “An Empirical Examination of Open Standards Development.”
In the Electric Power Systems Restructuring track, the Best Paper award was won by “An Integrated Architecture for Demand Response Communications and Control,” written by students Michael LeMay and Rajesh Nelli with George Gross, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Carl Gunter, a professor of computer science.
Kesan’s paper brought new insights to current efforts to streamline and shorten the process by which technical standards are developed for computers and communications. Standardization is crucial in allowing for interoperability and intercommunication among different systems.
LeMay’s paper, which emerged in part from the work of ITI’s Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid Center, introduces a new system called the Meter Gateway Architecture that could lower electricity consumers’ power bills, while at the same time preventing excess emissions and fuel consumption.
The Association for Computing Machinery, one of the world’s leading organizations of computing professionals, has bestowed a major new award on David M. Nicol, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, the Information Trust Institute, and the Coordinated Science Laboratory.
ACM’s Special Interest Group on Simulation named Nicol the 2007 recipient of their newly instituted Distinguished Contributions Award.
Nicol has devoted most of his research effort over the last 25 years to finding better ways to develop and analyze simulation models. Nicol’s most recognized contribution has been the development of a method for synchronizing simulation solution that he mathematically proved would always be almost optimal.
secretariat
At an awards luncheon April 16, The Secretariat named Jane Baumgartner its 2008 Office Professional of the Year. Baumgartner works in the Office of the Provost.
Others nominated: Terry Davis, department of psychology; Barbara Russell, International Programs and Studies; Danita Moberley, food science and human nutrition; Selena Douglass, Bureau of Educational Research; Tanya Jackson, College of Medicine; Brenda Deaville, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute; and Lori Stalter, Division of Intetcollegiate Athletics.
liberal arts and sciences & fine and applied arts
The UI’s Ninth Letter Literary and Arts Journal, published by students and faculty members in the department of English and School of Art and Design, has received recent national recognition.
Vol. 4, No. 2 was one design out of 155 selected from more than 4,300 entries by a jury for the “365: AIGA Annual Design Competitions 29” for outstanding design produced in 2007. Founded as the American Institute of Graphic Arts in 1914 and now known as AIGA, the professional association for design is the oldest and largest membership association for designers.
Ninth Letter will become a part of a permanent historical record of graphic design – the AIGA Design Archives (http://designarchives.aiga.org); the physical artifact will become a part of the association’s Design Archives housed at the Denver Art Museum, and will be published in the AIGA annual 365: AIGA Year in Design. In 2008, Ninth Letter will be part of a public exhibition at the AIGA’s National Design Center in New York in December.
Also, three editions of Ninth Letter were selected from more than 8,500 entries to receive awards of excellence in the International Academy of Visual Arts and the Communicator awards competition. Singled out for recognition with Gold Communicator Awards, for outstanding overall design: Vol. 3, No. 2; Vol. 4, No. 1; and Vol. 4, No. 2.