Awards, Honors, and Appointments

Two Brown Engineers Win Guggenheims

When the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation announced its annual award winners this spring, prizes went to four engineers. Two are at Brown.

William Curtin (left) and Jingming "Jimmy" Xu (below right) both received a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship Award along with 184 other scientists, scholars and artists from the United States and Canada. Winners were chosen from more than 3,000 applicants based on the foundations' criteria of "distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment."

The fellowships are known for their egalitarian spirit -- unknown artists, stay-at-home writers and self-taught musicians have won -- as well as for the creative freedom they afford.

Take Xu's project. The Charles C. Tillinghast University Professor wants to make a silicon laser. Because this dark gray, semi-metallic substance does not emit light, his effort is akin to making a cat bark. But Xu has a hunch: Remove silicon atoms -- thereby changing the element's structure -- and the experiment just might work.

While Xu is an experimentalist at heart, Curtin is a theoretician. The engineering professor will use his Guggenheim prize during his sabbatical in a Parisian laboratory where he is modeling how materials behave. Do cracks grow easily? Can the material withstand a lot of stress before breaking?

Curtin says forces small (interactions between two atoms) and large (rows of atoms sliding against one another) control a material's strength and toughness. He will devise models that take into account changes at these different scales.

Xu and Curtin join a roster of Brown engineers who've grabbed Guggenheims. Former professors Paul Symonds (1957) and Jerome Weiner (1965) won awards. So did Professor Emeritus Constantine Mylonas (1959), Professor Alan Needleman (1977), Professor Arto Nurmikko (1992), and Professor Kyung-Suk Kim (1996).

"The division may be small, but we're strong," Curtin says. -- Wendy Y. Lawton

Four faculty members are among the newest members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an honorary society of the world's leading thinkers in scholarship and science, public affairs and business, and the arts and humanities.

They are:

• Omer Bartov, the John P. Birkelund Distinguished Professor of European History, Department of History. Bartov is a leading authority on genocide and the Holocaust and has written or edited nine books. One, Murder in Our Midst: The Holocaust, Industrial Killing and Representation, won the Fraenkel Prize for excellence in contemporary history;
• Rodney Clifton, the Rush C. Hawkins University Professor, Division of Engineering. The former dean of engineering is an expert in solid mechanics and the mechanical behavior of materials, co-authoring more than 150 papers on these topics and winning numerous scientific awards, including the Prager Medal of the Society of Engineering Science;
• David Kertzer, the Paul R. Dupee Jr. University Professor of Social Science, professor of anthropology and Italian studies, and chair, Department of Anthropology. Kertzer specializes in politics and religion and is an authority on Italian society and history. One of his books, The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, was a finalist for The National Book Award for Nonfiction.
• C.D. Wright, the Israel J. Kapstein Professor of English, Program in Literary Arts. A poet known for her experimental style and Southern sensibility, Wright is the author of eleven books of poetry and prose, the most recent being Cooling Time: An American Poetry Vigil. Last year, Wright received a "genius" grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

"Election to fellowship in the AAAS is a singular honor for these distinguished members of our faculty and a source of great pride for the University," said Rajiv Vohra, dean of the faculty. "The range of their achievements -- from scientific research to social and historical scholarship to literature -- illustrates the breadth and excellence of intellectual life at Brown."

The Carnegie Corporation of New York named Muhammad Qasim Zaman, associate professor of religious studies, one of sixteen Carnegie Scholars for 2005 who will study themes focusing on Islam and the modern world. Zaman's research will explore internal criticism and religious authority in modern Islam. The goal of the corporation's new emphasis on Islam is to encourage the development and expansion of the study of Islam within the United States and to stimulate research on which to help build a body of thoughtful and original scholarship. Carnegie Scholars receive funding for up to two years to pursue their research.

Professor Kyung-Suk Kim of the Division of Engineering is this year's winner of the Ho-Am Prize in Engineering.

The Ho-Am Prize, founded in 1990 by Kun-Hee Lee, the chairman of Samsung, was named for the sobriquet of Lee's late father, Samsung founder Byung-Chull Lee. It is given annually to five people who have contributed to cultural, artistic and social development or furthered the welfare of humanity through distinguished accomplishments in their fields. The prize carries with it a cash award of 200 million Korean won.

Kim directs the division's Nano and Micromechanics Laboratory. Research there includes engineering analysis, design, and manufacturing and technical-assessment technology of advanced structural materials as well as microelectronic devices. He also invented several scientific instruments and analytical methods.

Sheila Bonde, a Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence and professor of history of art and architecture, is the new dean of the Graduate School at Brown University, succeeding Karen Newman.

In her role as dean, Bonde has primary responsibility for the continued enhancement of graduate education at Brown University, a central priority in the Plan for Academic Enrichment, and will serve as a member of the President's Cabinet.

As the senior academic officer in the Graduate School, Bonde guides its growth and identify ways to improve student recruitment as Brown pursues its Plan for Academic Enrichment. She will be Brown's primary advocate for graduate education and will represent the University in national discussions about graduate education.

James S. Miller '73, the former dean of admissions and financial aid at Bowdoin College, has joined the University as the Marilyn and Charles H. Doebler IV Dean of Admission. Miller succeeds Michael Goldberger, who is now BrownÕs director of athletics.

Miller, who reports to Provost Robert J. Zimmer, will work with the provost, the dean of the College and others to develop outreach, recruitment and selection programs that will yield a diverse and highly talented student body.

Assistant Professor of History Robert O. Self was selected by the Organization of American Historians to receive the James A. Rawley Prize for American Babylon: Race and Struggle for Postwar Oakland, a book dealing with the history of race relations in the United States.

Howard P. Chudacoff, professor of history, and Elmo Terry-Morgan, associate professor of Africana studies, are the recipients of the Karen T. Romer Awards for Undergraduate Advising and Mentoring.

The prize is presented by the Office of the Dean of the College to faculty or administrative staff who have demonstrated commitment to students' academic and personal concerns beyond the formal requirements of teaching and advising. It is named for the former associate dean of the College who was known for her dedication to supporting the academic needs of students.

Martin B. Keller, M.D., the Mary E. Zucker Professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown Medical School, is the recipient of this year's Voice of Mental Health Award for his scholarly contributions on the subject of suicide prevention.

The award was presented on June 13 by the New York-based Jed Foundation, whose mission is to reduce the suicide rate among college and university students.

Keller, who is also executive psychiatrist-in-chief at the University's seven affiliated hospitals, has been the principal investigator of three separate studies aimed at developing acute, continuation, and long-term treatment strategies for treating children and adolescents with unipolar and bipolar depression, the two most common mental illnesses associated with suicidal ideation and behavior and completed suicides. In addition to conducting these and other research projects on mood and anxiety disorders, he was chairman of a consensus conference on the risk factors and prevention strategies related to suicide in college students, and participated with the design of intervention studies to identify and reduce the risk factors for, and rates of, suicidal behavior and completion among these students.

The worksite health programs offered by the University's Benefits Office and the Health Promotion Committee recently received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Rhode Island Chamber of Business and Industry and the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce. The Health Promotion Committee works in collaboration with the Good Health Benefit at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island to coordinate special programs designed to promote health awareness and encourage positive health behaviors among Brown employees.

Sleep researcher Mary A. Carskadon, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Brown Medical School, received the Sleep Research Society's first Outstanding Educator Award when the Associated Professional Sleep Societies held its annual meeting June 21 in Denver. Carskadon, director of the E.P. Bradley Hospital Sleep and Chronobiology Research Lab, focuses her research on the relationship between the body's internal circadian timing system and sleep/wake patterns, particularly in children and adolescents.

Robert Klaber '07 is one of twenty undergraduates from the United States and Canada to be selected as a Goldman Sachs Global Leader. Klaber, a co-founder of DormSnacks Inc., which delivers dorm necessities to Brown students, was selected for his academic and leadership potential. The Goldman Sachs Leadership Program "addresses the need to help develop young people who can lead across borders," according to the Goldman Sachs Foundation.

Robert Sand '06 and Evelyn Duran '06 have been named Truman Scholars by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. They are among seventy-five students from sixty-five U.S. colleges and universities to be selected on the basis of leadership potential, commitment to public service, intellectual ability, and the likelihood of making a difference in the world. Each receives $30,000 for graduate study, priority admission and supplemental financial aid at graduate institutions, leadership training, career and graduate school counseling, and internship opportunities.

Benjamin Mantell '06 and Eric Perlmutter '06 are among the 320 U.S. college and university students to be named Goldwater Scholars by the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. The scholarship program supports study in the fields of mathematics, engineering, and the natural sciences as preparation for careers in these areas. Mantell is concentrating in biology; Perlmutter is concentrating in mathematics and physics.

Brown students won first- and second-place awards in the undergraduate division of the S. Randolph Edmonds Young Scholars Competition for scholarly papers on black theater.

Sponsored by the Black Theatre Network, the competition is judged by a jury of black theater professors at universities and colleges across the nation.

Darnell Fine '08 won first place for The Internalization of White Superiority: An Analysis of Mulatto by Langston Hughes. Nadia Maccabee '08 won second place for Fires in the Mirror: What Really Caused the Crown Heights Riots? Examining the Complexities of the Black and Jewish Moralist Cultures.

Each was a student in Associate Professor Elmo Terry-Morgan's Africana Studies course, "Voices Beneath the Veil (AF 111)."

Four students and recent graduates are this year's Howard R. Swearer International Fellows. The fellowships, presented by the Swearer Center for Public Service and named for Brown's fifteenth president, enable international service work during the summer. The recipients are:

• Morgan Chessia '05.5, a neuroscience concentrator. She will travel to the Dominican Republic to address HIV/AIDS infection among Haitian women;
• Anna V. Kubin '06, a history concentrator. She will volunteer at Casa de Acogida Maria Amor, a refuge for victims of domestic violence in Cuenca, Ecuador;
• Kira Neal '05, a Latin American studies concentrator. She will work at New Dawn Maya Middle School in Capol AA, Guatemala;
• Jessica Weisberg '06 a comparative literature concentrator. She will work for Intag, an activist newspaper based in Intag, Ecuador.

Sidney Goldstein, the G.H. Crooker University Professor Emeritus and professor Emeritus of Sociology, is the recipient of the Laureate Award from the Paris-based International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. The honor is presented annually to a population scientist who demonstrates outstanding contributions to the advancement of the field of population sciences and distinguished service to the profession as well as to the 2,000-plus members of the organization.

Goldstein is an international expert on problems of urbanization and population movement, especially in developing countries.

Jennifer Hughes received an $875,000, three-year award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for marine microbiology research. Because bacteria and other microbes make up 98 percent of the ocean's biomass, understanding this invisible world is critical to understanding the health of Earth's oceans.

Hughes will conduct lab and open-water experiments to try to determine the abundance and variety of marine microbes and their distribution across different geographic and genetic scales. The work will take her to Bermuda, Hawaii, and Narragansett Bay.

A Manning Assistant Professor and an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Hughes was asked to apply for the award by the Moore Foundation, which funds projects that focus on science and environmental conservation.

Karen Tashima, M.D., an associate professor of medicine, won a 2005 HIV Leadership Award from TheBody.com, the largest online HIV/AIDS resource. Tashima, an attending physician at The Miriam Hospital, was nominated for outstanding clinical care by some of the website's 600,000 monthly visitors then chosen by a panel of physicians from the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She is the only woman to have won in the clinical category.

The entire Brown wrestling team has been recognized by the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) for having the highest grade point average of any team in the nation.

In addition, Doran Heist '06 was named to the NWCA All-Academic Team. Heist, who is concentrating in chemistry, maintains a perfect 4.0 grade point average.

The Bears finished the season with a 6-9 record (2-3 in the highly competitive Ivy League in which two teams were nationally ranked).

The men's ultimate Frisbee team, which competes in the Ultimate Players Association college division, won the national championship May 29 in Corvallis, Ore. The team ended the season with a 31-game winning streak.

Brown women's crew finished third overall at the 2005 NCAA Women's Rowing Championships held on Lake Natoma in Sacramento, Calif., on May 29, securing the team's string of top three finishes at every NCAA Championship.

In addition, the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association named Phoebe Murphy its Regional Assistant Coach of the Year for New England. In addition to her role in the NCAA finish, Murphy helped guide the Bears to their second straight EAWRC team title.

Photos by John Abromowski