Young chemist wins $200k Shaw Scientist Award

UW Chemistry Professor Eric Strieter is one of two UW-Madison scientists to received a 2010 Shaw Scientist Award from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.

Strieter, assistant professor of chemistry, and Anjon (Jon) Audhya, assistant professor of biomolecular chemistry, will each receive  $200,000 unrestricted prize for each. 

This award provides needed support to young scholar-scientists engaged in groundbreaking research in the fields of genetics, cell biology and cancer research at critical stages in their careers.

Strieter studies the triggers that control proliferation of harmful bacteria in our bodies. For example, uncontrolled proliferation of certain bacteria in the lungs can impair lung function, especially in people with compromised immune systems.

The Greater Milwaukee Foundation created the Shaw Scientist Award from the James D. Shaw and Dorothy Shaw Fund. Dorothy Shaw, widow of prominent Milwaukee attorney James D. Shaw, directed that part of the fund be used to advance biochemistry, biological science, and cancer research at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee. Since the first grants were made in 1982, the Shaw Award has provided more than $12 million in grants to support cutting-edge research at the two institutions.

• Two young UW-Madison faculty win Shaw Scientist Awards (University Communications)
• Two UW assistant professors win science awards (The Cap Times)
  
• UW-Madison scientists win Shaw Awards (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
  

Category: Biological & Physical Sciences
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Gellman elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Professor Sam Gellman (Chemistry) has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.   

The academy is an honorary society that recognizes achievement in the natural sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities.

The press release can be found at:
http://www.amacad.org/news/a2z10.pdf

Congratulations Sam on this outstanding recognition!

Category: Biological & Physical Sciences
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L&S graduate programs highly rated by U.S. News and World Report

Several University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate programs — many in the College of Letters & Science — are ranked among the nation's best in the 2011 edition of U.S. News and World Report's "Best Graduate Schools."

Graduate school rankings are an indicator of the overall quality of the department and caliber of its teaching and faculty.

Not all programs are ranked every year. Those UW programs ranked this year (along with specialties ranked in the top 10 nationally) include:

• Chemistry: tied for seventh overall, with specialties ranked in analytical (eighth), biochemistry (fifth), inorganic (seventh), organic (ninth), physical (seventh) and theoretical (ninth).
• Computer sciences: tied for 11th overall, with specialties ranked in  programming language (10th), and systems (seventh).
  
• Biological sciences: tied for 15th overall, with a specialty ranked in microbiology (third).
• Earth sciences: tied for 13th overall, with specialties ranked in geochemistry (eighth) and geology (eighth).
• Mathematics: tied for 16th overall, with specialties ranked in analysis (10th) and logic (fifth).
• Physics: tied for 17
• Statistics: tied for 12th.

Other highly ranked UW-Madison programs include:

• School of Education: ninth overall. Specialties were ranked in curriculum and instruction (first), education policy (third), elementary education (second), secondary education (second), counseling and personnel services (second), administration and supervision (second), educational psychology (first) and special education (tied for ninth).
• College of Engineering: tied for 15th overall. Specialties were ranked in nuclear (second), chemical engineering (tied for sixth), industrial manufacturing (tied for 10th).
• School of Business: tied for 27th overall. The school's part-time MBA program was tied for 15th.th overall, with a specialty ranked in plasma (tied for second).
• Law: Tied for 28th. 
  
• Medicine:  Tied for 27th, with specialties ranked in primary care (tied for 12th), family medicine (fifth), rural medicine (eighth).
  

For more on the rankings, visit: http://www.usnews.com/

New via University Communications 

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Burkett, Turino receive 2010 Classified Employee Recognition Awards

Two staff members in the College of Letters & Science have been named winners of the 2010 Classified Employee Recognition Awards (CERA).

These annual awards recognize employees for their outstanding service to the public and students or for other significant contributions to UW-Madison.

The L&S recipients are:

• Jeff Burkett - College of Letters & Science - Chemistry Department
• Karen Turino - College of Letters & Science - Lubar Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions
  

Burkett has worked for the Chemistry Department for 22 years as the stockroom manager for the analytical and general chemistry teaching laboratories. 

As one reviewer said, "Jeff is the type of person who will stop what he’s doing to help students, TAs and faculty with any concerns or questions they may have."

Turino has been critical in administering and managing the Lubar Institute, an organization only four-years-old with a major outreach and public service commitment, but limited in staff. 

One review said, "for some four years, responsibility for managing every facet of the Institute's various operations has rested entirely on Karen" and she "is the clerical rock upon which the Institute has risen."

Congratulations to our recipients!

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L&S faculty take home eight Distinguished Teaching Awards

Each year, the Committee on Distinguished Teaching Awards honors faculty for teaching excellence. This year, the committee selected ten outstanding faculty — eight who teach in the College of Letters & Science.

Congratulations to the winners on this outstanding achievement! 

To read more about the recipients and their work, see: http://www.news.wisc.edu/17913

• Emily Auerbach, professor of liberal studies and the arts and English, Van Hise Outreach Award
• Richard Avramenko, assistant professor of political science and integrated liberal studies, William H. Kiekhofer Award
• Donald Davis, associate professor of Languages and Cultures of Asia, Class of 1955 Distinguished Teaching Award
• Judith Leavitt, Ruth Bleier WARF Professor of medical history, history of science and women’s studies and UW Foundation Chair Rupple-Bascom Professor, Chancellor’s Award
• Mahesh Mahanthappa, assistant professor of chemistry, Emil H. Steiger Award
• Kirin Narayan, professor of anthropology, Chancellor’s Award
  
• Antonia Schleicher, professor of African languages and literature, Chancellor’s Award
• Tracy Schroepfer, assistant professor, School of Social Work, Chancellor’s Award

The recipients will receive their awards at a ceremony on Wednesday, April 21 at 3:30 p.m. at the Pyle Center.

News via University Communications

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L&S faculty honored by American Chemical Society

On March 23, four University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty members and one former student were recognized by the American Chemical Society at its annual meeting in San Francisco.

Honored were:

- Lawrence F. Dahl, professor emeritus of chemistry: Dahl has won the F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry for building large molecules containing metals, such as nickel, platinum and gold. He says these record-setting nanosized metal clusters, generally containing 50-165 close-packed metal atoms, could become the basis for nanotechnology materials with useful catalytic, electronic, magnetic and optical properties. Dahl mentored 95 Ph.D. students during his tenure at UW-Madison and continues to perform research during retirement.

- Clark Landis, professor of chemistry: Landis won the Award in Organometallic Chemistry for influential contributions to a branch of chemistry that combines metals and organic compounds, with a focus on the use of catalysts to build the long-chain molecules called polymers. His studies helped explain the behavior of the catalysts that plastics manufacturers use to make billions of pounds of polyethylene and polypropylene. Landis has helped discover how catalysts control whether a developing molecule will take the "left-hand" or a "right-hand" shape. Identical molecules with these mirror-image shapes can have distinct biological properties.

- Sang-Hee Shim (Ph.D. chemistry) and Martin Zanni, associate professor of chemistry: Shim and Zanni won the Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry for studies that have revolutionized the technology of infrared spectroscopy, which uses light to obtain information about the structure and composition of molecules. During her Ph.D. work with Zanni, Shim learned to control light with extreme precision, and then used it to study changes in amyloid fibers, which are strongly implicated in Alzheimer's disease. Zanni became the first person to receive this award as both student and mentor; Shim is now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

- Helen Blackwell, associate professor of chemistry: Blackwell won the society's Cope Scholar Award for studies of chemical communication among bacteria. Using "quorum sensing," bacteria can change behavior when their population passes a threshold. Quorum sensing can explain how bacteria can quietly persist at low concentrations, and then suddenly become pathogenic. Blackwell has designed and built synthetic molecules to prevent bacteria from orchestrating group activities such as infection or forming drug-resistant biofilms, and is also examining how bacteria use quorum sensing to interact with higher organisms.  Blackwell will formally receive the award at the next society annual meeting in Boston.

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Four L&S faculty named Romnes Award winners

Six of UW–Madison's most promising rising faculty have been named recipients of this year's Romnes Faculty Fellowships.

Four of these rising starts are in the College of Letters & Science.

The award, supported by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), recognizes an exceptional faculty member who has earned tenure within the last four years. Each winner, selected by a Graduate School committee, receives an unrestricted $50,000 award for research support.

The Romnes award is named for the late H. I. Romnes, former chair of the board of AT&T and former president of the WARF board of trustees.

The L&S awardees are:

• Barry Burden, political science, who joined the UW–Madison faculty in 2006 and is currently the director of graduate studies in the political science department. His research has included third-party candidate strategies, election administration in Wisconsin, and the degree to which the values, experiences and interests that shape legislators as individuals also shape their policymaking decision in government.

• Qiang Cui, chemistry, whose research covers a range of topics in theoretical and computational chemistry and biophysics. He is working on computational models to probe the physical mechanisms of energy and signal transduction in complex molecular systems including biomolecular motors, ion pumps and channels.

• Jordan Ellenberg, mathematics, a renowned number theorist whose research topics range from analysis to algebra, including applications of topology to pattern classification, fluid dynamics and statistics. His honors include three medals in the International Mathematical Olympiad, a Sloan Research Fellowship and a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. He is also active in promoting and publicizing mathematics to broader audiences, writing pieces for the popular press and co-organizing the “Math and…” colloquium series at UW–Madison.

• Bradley Postle, psychology, a cognitive neuroscientist who uses cutting-edge brain imaging and stimulation techniques to study memory and cognition. He is a popular teacher and is associate editor of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.
  

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