Jennifer Anolik, assistant professor of medicine in the Immunology and Rheumatology Unit, has been chosen to give the Dubois Memorial Lectureship by the American College of Rheumatology. The honor each year goes to a scientist in recognition of outstanding research on lupus, an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks its own tissues. Anolik is pioneering new ways to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is part of a team of rheumatologists who have pioneered the use of the cancer drug rituximab to treat lupus.
The Medical Center Board recently announced winners of the Chairman's Excellence Awards. The honors are given to recognize Medical Center employees whose professional and personal standards exemplify quality patient care. This year's recipients:
Four faculty members have been selected to receive the University Dean's Award for Meritorious Service in Ph.D. Defenses. They are Christopher Brown, professor of optics; James Farrar, professor of chemistry; Thomas Hsiang, professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Susan Gustafson, professor of German. The awards were given at the Doctoral Commencement ceremony on May 20.
John Howell, assistant professor of physics, has won the 2006 Adolph Lomb Medal from the Optical Society of America for his "innovative contributions in quantum optics." The medal is presented to scientists who have made noteworthy contributions to optics before the age of 35. Howell will receive the award at the society's annual meeting, held this year at the Riverside Convention Center in Rochester, October 8 to 12.
Zheng-Gen Jin, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine and the Cardiovascular Research Institute, has won the 2006 Thomas R. Lee Career Development Award from the American Diabetes Association, which includes an $842,400 grant to study how diabetes dramatically increases risk for cardiovascular disease.
Hyun (Michel) Koo, assistant professor of dentistry, and Yen-Tung Andy Teng, associate professor of dentistry, are two of three researchers worldwide to receive the Innovation in Oral Care Award jointly sponsored by the International Association of Dental Research and GlaxoSmithKline. Recipients received research grants of up to $75,000 to advance oral care programs. Koo and Teng will receive the awards in Brisbane, Australia, on June 28.
The World Education Fund, a nonprofit organization founded by graduate student Joe Lanning '00, associate director of enrollment for College admissions, recently received the Outstanding Community Organization Award from the United Nations Association of Rochester for efforts to promote global peace and to draw awareness to the "plight and educational needs of African children orphaned due to AIDS."
President Joel Seligman received the South District Community Ambassador Award for 2006 from Rochester City Councilman Adam McFadden on April 30 in recognition of Seligman's emphasis on community-university relations and his support of the Brooks Landing project.
Marvin Stillman, manager of environmental compliance, has been honored with an Environmental Quality Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At a ceremony in New York City on April 21, the agency cited Stillman's exceptional commitment to helping the University and Strong Memorial Hospital become and maintain the status of good environmental "citizens" of Rochester. "He is truly outstanding in his field," says Richard Pifer, associate vice president for University Facilities and Services. "Part of what makes this award special is that the EPA called us and suggested that they would like to recognize him." As manager of hazardous waste, Stillman's operation serves the entire University.
In his work, Mathews focuses on ways to use powerful computers to learn more about one of life's most complex and versatile molecules. Before joining the faculty, Mathews played a key role in an effort that has become one of Rochester's most successful exports, a computerized method to predict the structure of RNA molecules, which commonly have loops, twists, and turns and are much more complex in shape than any roller coaster imaginable.
For 20 years, Mathews's graduate advisor, Douglas Turner, professor of chemistry, has worked closely with mathematician Michael Zuker, now at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, to understand RNA and then develop computer programs to predict the structure of RNA molecules; the team's methods are widely recognized as among the best in the world. Mathews is continuing that work to learn more about RNA structure and shape and is coupling the work of Turner, Zuker, and others to develop new ways to identify the most useful snippets of RNA.
Scott has consistently earned critical acclaim for her vivid prose, insights into human behavior and relationships, and lush descriptions. In Liberation, Scott traces the story of Adriana Nardi, who played a pivotal role in her previous novel Tourmaline. Now a 70-year-old woman, married and living in the United States, Adriana loses herself in memories of her girlhood on Elba and her attachment to an AWOL African soldier.
The English-Speaking Union of the United States is an educational organization that promotes scholarship and global understanding through the widening use of the English language throughout the world. The group's Ambassador Book Awards, which are decided by a committee of writers, editors, and former publishers, are presented in the categories of poetry, fiction, biography and autobiography, and American studies. Copies of the winning books are sent to the international branches of the English-Speaking Union located in 52 nations around the world. Previous winners in the fiction category have included Grace Paley, John Updike, Philip Roth, and Annie Proulx.
Submissions: Received an award? Published a new work? Spoke at a conference? We want to hear about it. Send faculty/staff news to Currents at
. Include photos, if available.
Maintained by Office of Communications
FYI--Faculty/Staff News
ix Ph.D. candidates at the University have been selected as winners of this year's Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student. They are Sylvia Alajaji from the Department of Musicology, Lisa Carlson and Amy Ensign from the Department of Chemistry, Rodman King from the Department of Philosophy, April Miller from the Department of English, and Jose Perillan from the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Provost Charles Phelps and Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Bruce Jacobs presented the awards along with a $500 prize to each winner during a luncheon on April 25.
David Mathews '02 (PhD), '03M (MD), professor of biochemistry and biophysics, has been awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship to continue his research on RNA, a molecule that is crucial to life and is a target of growing importance for pharmaceutical companies developing new drugs to treat disease. The award, designed to identify young investigators "who show the most outstanding promise of making fundamental contributions to new knowledge," brings Mathews $45,000 to build his research program during the next two years.
Mathews
Author Joanna Scott, the Roswell S. Burrows Professor of English, has
received the Ambassador Book Award for Fiction for her most recent novel, Liberation. The award, presented by the English-Speaking Union of the United States, is given annually to authors whose works make an outstanding contribution to interpreting the life and culture of the United States to other English-speaking people. This year's award will be presented in a ceremony in New York City on June 15.
Scott
Please send your comments and suggestions to:
Office of Communications.
