Inclusive Mentoring, a Flock of Fellows, & other Honors

The College of Arts & Sciences is pleased to celebrate the many awards and honors that faculty and staff have received over the past few months for their teaching, mentoring, research, and other accomplishments. Congratulations to all!

• Kerschbaum Honored for Inclusive Mentoring
• Four Arts & Sciences Faculty Named AAAS Fellows
• Abrahms Named Sloan Fellow
• So Many CAREER Awards!
• Other Awards, Honors, & Professorships

Stephanie Kerschbaum has spent much of her life’s work thinking about how we express ourselves. More specifically, how do we convey who we are to others? It’s a thread that’s woven through her chosen fields of rhetoric, communications, and disability studies. Tug on the thread a little more, and the ideas of access and inclusion start to unspool as well.

These overlapping interests give Kerschbaum, UW associate professor of English and director of the Expository Writing Program, a unique standpoint from which to approach teaching and mentoring. They provide her a framework to create environments focused on inclusion and perspective, which led to her being honored with the 2021 Lisa Ede Mentoring Award by the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric & Composition.

As Kerschbaum puts it, “I think a lot about what it means to include people, or to behave in a way that opens up space for other people. Part of being able to think about that comes from experiences of being included rather than being excluded.”

As a deaf woman, Kerschbaum has firsthand knowledge of what it feels like to be in spaces that are limiting. As a student at Ohio State University, with infrastructure for students who were deaf or hard of hearing, she learned what happened when classrooms were more accessible to her. She saw how much more fully she could participate. This led to questions about access as fundamental to participation in any kind of environment.

Kerschbaum’s interest in understanding how we communicate and interact with one another, combined with her awareness of the importance of access and inclusivity, makes her a natural fit as a mentor. It’s part of why the University of Delaware named her the inaugural Faculty Mentoring Fellow while she was on the faculty there, and why the Lisa Ede Mentoring Award Committee chose to honor her.

“[Kerschbaum] creates spaces for mentorship that are not egocentric,” the committee noted their review. “And…she mentors in ways that would typically be invisibilized by institutional structures.” 

The above is excerpted from a longer story about Stephanie Kerschbaum by Jess Gill.

When the American Association for the Advancement of Science named its 2021 AAAS Fellows in January 2022, four Arts & Sciences faculty were among the honorees. Fellows are recognized for “their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements” in science and engineering.

Emily Carrington, professor of biology and resident scientist at the UW’s Friday Harbor Laboratories, is honored for her research contributions in biomechanics and ecophysiology, as well as efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in science. Her research has shown how marine life in near-shore ecosystems responds to both short- and long-term fluctuations in the environment and has illuminated the many ways that expected shifts in oceans due to climate change will negatively impact shellfish, algae, and other organisms. Her investigations of the biomaterials that mussels use to adhere to underwater surfaces have also aided the design of wet adhesives and antifouling surfaces for biomedical and maritime applications.

Gabriela Chavarria, who joined the UW as executive director of the Burke Museum on March 1, is honored for her work on ecosystem sustainability, as well as leadership in education and conservation programs. Chavarria studies tropical bumblebees, and has long advocated for conservation of native pollinators. Also trained as wood anatomist, she has helped to combat illegal traffic of hardwoods. Chavarria has worked as a science adviser for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and most recently served as chief curator and president of the Science Division at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

Julie Kovacs, professor of chemistry, was selected for her studies of a large class of enzymes that promote biochemical reactions in living cells for functions such as suppressing tumor growth, removing toxic compounds, and synthesizing antibiotics. Kovacs’ research focuses on how the bonds between atoms in these enzymes shift as they catalyze reactions, revealing details of the underlying mechanism that these key cellular players use to carry out their functions. She is also studying how oxygen atoms form bonds with one another during photosynthesis, which could help the green energy industry develop efficient fuel-storage technologies.

Stefan Stoll, professor of chemistry, is honored for developing new techniques and tools in chemistry, particularly novel algorithms and methods for electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. Stoll uses this unique form of spectroscopy to measure distances as small as a few nanometers — roughly 1/5000th the diameter of the thinnest human hair. He applies this to study the structure of cellular proteins and discern the conformational changes that they undergo while performing their functions, such as catalyzing reactions or regulating heartbeat. These fundamental insights broaden our understanding of the human body and how it works.

In addition to these Arts & Sciences faculty, Richard Ladner, UW professor emeritus of computer science & engineering, was also named an AAAS fellow. 

Briana Abrahms, assistant professor of biology and inaugural Boersma Endowed Chair in Natural History and Conservation, has received an early-career fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Abrahms’ research group integrates animal bio-logging technology, Earth observation, and big data analytics to advance understanding of the causes and consequences of wildlife responses to global change across marine and terrestrial systems. In addition to advancing basic ecological theory, Abrahms is passionate about developing data-driven, publicly available tools that bolster capacity to conserve the natural world.

“How do animals make decisions in the face of global change, and what are the consequences of those decisions for individual fitness, populations, and interactions with other animals and humans? This is a big question my group is working to answer, which can inform both biodiversity conservation and human sustainability,” Abrahms says. “We’re becoming increasingly interested in understanding how species responses to environmental change can have unanticipated and often negative consequences for social-ecological systems, so that we can reduce unwanted outcomes in the future.”

Sloan Foundation early-career fellowship candidates are nominated by their peers, with fellows selected by independent panels of senior scholars based on each candidate’s research accomplishments, creativity, and potential to become a leader in their field. Fellows receive $75,000 to apply toward research endeavors. Also receiving a Sloan Fellowship is UW computer science & engineering assistant professor Yulia Tsvetkov.

The CAREER Award is the most prestigious honor that the National Science Foundation (NSF) bestows on faculty early in their career. It supports “junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.” Over the past six months, an impressive seven Arts & Sciences faculty have been selected for this honor.

CAREER Award recipients from the College include professors Matthew Golder and Dianne Xiao in the Department of Chemistry, Cynthia Vincent and Bobby Wilson in the Department of Mathematics, Armita Nourmohammad and Matthew Yankowitz in the Department of Physics (with Yankowitz jointly appointed in Material Sciences & Engineering), and Yen-Chi Chen in the Department of Statistics.

“Our success in obtaining so many CAREER Awards is a great indicator of the excellence of our Mathematical and Physical Science departments, and the very high caliber of faculty that they are hiring,” says Daniel Pollack, Arts & Sciences divisional dean of natural sciences. “This is an impressive group.”

NSF selects CAREER Award recipients based on submitted proposals, looking for faculty who are building a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.

Honorary Awards
Publication Awards
Professorships (New Appointments)
Other Honors

Honorary Awards

Briana Abrahms, assistant professor of biology, received the International Bio-Logging Society Early Career Award, which recognizes early-career researchers who are challenging themselves, or the field, and are making significant contributions to advancing bio-logging science through innovative projects focused on conservation outcomes, improving animal welfare, or engaging the public. Abrahms also was named a 2022 Sloan Research Fellow (see story above).

Patricia Shehan Campbell, professor of music, was presented with an Honorary Membership by The Society for Ethnomusicology at its recent annual international meeting. Campbell was recognized for working tirelessly in the development of a pedagogical thrust in the field of ethnomusicology, and for her consistent focus on the study of children’s musical cultures.  

James De Yoreo, affiliate professor of chemistry and materials science & engineering, and Battelle Fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”

Joël-François Durand, professor of composition and acting director of the School of Music, won First Prize at the European Composer Competition, Category Chamber Music (7 to 12 players), for his composition for viola and ensemble, Geister, schwebende Geister, written for UW faculty violist Melia Watras in 2020.

Angela Fang, assistant professor of psychology, received the 2022 AWIS Award for Early Career Achievement in STEM from the Seattle Chapter of the Association for Women in Science. The award acknowledges Fang’s dedication and leadership in her field and the role model she has become for those at all stages of their careers.  

Carrie Freshour, assistant professor of geography, has been awarded the Rickie Sanders Junior Faculty Award from the Feminist Geography Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers. This award is offered in recognition for "outstanding intersectional and anti-racist contributions to geography and the public in scholarship." The board noted Freshour’s reserach and advocacy around food supply systems and essential workers, and her mentoring of geography students in community-serving public research projects. 

Matthew Golder, assistant professor of chemistry, received the Thieme Chemistry Journals Award from Thieme Chemistry. The award is presented to promising researchers worldwide in the early stages of their academic career, as selected by editorial board members of the journals SYNTHESIS, SYNLETT, and SYNFACTS. Golder also received an NSF CAREER Award (see story above).

Anne Greenbaum, professor of applied mathematics, has been selected as the 2022 Sonia Kovalesky Lecturer by AWM/SIAM (Association for Women in Mathematics/Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics), in recognition of "her long lasting and significant impact on many aspects of numerical linear algebra.” The lecture prize is awarded to an individual in the scientific or engineering community whose work highlights the achievements of women in applied and computational mathematics. 

Jacob Grumbach, assistant professor of political science, received the 2021 Emerging Scholar Award from the American Political Science Association, Political Organizations and Parties Section. The award is given to a scholar who has received their PhD within the last five years and whose career to date demonstrates unusual promise.

Dianne Harris, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and professor of history, has been named a fellow of the Society of Architectural Historians. Fellows are “individuals who have distinguished themselves by a lifetime of significant contributions to the field, which may include scholarship, service to the Society, teaching, and stewardship of the built environment.” Harris is best known for her contributions to the study of “race and space.” Her research is united by a sustained focus on the relationship between the built environment and the construction of racial and class identities.

Paula Heron, professor of physics, will receive the Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service from the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). The award is presented "in recognition of exceptional contributions to the association at the national, sectional, or local level." Heron has served on several AAPT committees, co-chaired an AAPT/APS joint task force, and served on the editorial board of The Physics Teacher, an AAPT publication.

Samson Jenekhe, professor of chemistry and Boeing-Martin Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, for contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”

Sándor Kovács, professor of mathematics, was named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society "for contributions to birational algebraic geometry and service to the profession."

Victoria Meadows, professor of astronomy, has been named an AAS Fellow by the American Astronomical Society. Meadows was honored for "pioneering work in developing the field of exoplanet astrobiology, including decades of scientific leadership and service, and an exceptional commitment to training the next generation of astrobiologists.”

Christian Novetzke, professor of international studies and comparative history of ideas, has received a 2022 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship that will support research and writing of a book exploring Savitribai Phule, a “low-caste” or Shudra social reformer of the 19th century, and her political poetry and thought on a wide range of subjects, including religion, caste, gender, history, slavery, colonialism, and education.

Myung Oh, assistant professor of naval science and Lieutenant, US Navy, received a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (NCM) “for meritorious service while serving as Assistant Professor of Naval Science at the University of Washington Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps Unit, from June 2020 to February 2022.” Oh served as academic advisor to 54 midshipmen and 9 officer candidates, ensuring their academic success at UW.

James Pfeiffer, professor of anthropology and public health, was awarded the George Foster Practicing Medical Anthropology Award from the Society of Medical Anthropology. The career achievement award “recognizes those who have made significant contributions to applying theory and methods in medical anthropology, particularly in diverse contexts, to multidisciplinary audiences, and with some impact on policy."

Chandan Reddy, associate professor of gender, women & sexuality studies, has been appointed Norman Freehling Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan. The prestigious fellowship provides funding for a visiting scholar conducting humanities-related research to be in residence at the institute for up to one year. 

Gunther Uhlmann, Walker Family Endowed Professor of Mathematics, was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa at the University of Helsinki.

Bianca Viray, professor of mathematics, has been awarded the American Mathematical Society's Joan and Joseph Birman Fellowship for Women Scholars. The fellowship gives exceptionally talented women extra research support during their mid-career years. .

Sabine Wilke, professor and chair of the Department of German Studies and Joff Hanauer Distinguished Professor in Western Civilization, was awarded a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Through the fellowship, she will conduct research at the University of Tübingen/Germany in Fall 2022 and help them build a regional, national, and international network for studies in the environmental humanities. The award is given to strengthen ties between German universities and institutions world-wide.

Publication Awards

Nyan-Ping Bi, teaching professor of Asian languages and literature, and her co-authors (Yuehua Liu, Tao-chung Yao, Liangyan Ge, and Yaohua Shi) have received the 2021 McGuffey Longevity Award from the Textbook & Academic Authors Association for their long-running successful textbook series, Integrated Chinese. The McGuffey Longevity Award recognizes textbooks and learning materials whose excellence has been demonstrated over time.

Radhika Govindrajan, associate professor of international studies and anthropology and director of the Jackson School of International Studies South Asian Center, received honorable mention in the 2021 Diana Forsythe Prize from the American Anthropological Association (AAA), for Animal Intimacies: Interspecies Relatedness in India’s Central Himalayas. The award recognizes books in the feminist anthropology of science.

Zaid Harchaoui, associate professor of statistics, and his UW team received an Outstanding Paper Award from NeurIPS, the Conference and Workshop on Neural Information Processing Systems, for “MAUVE: Measuring the Gap Between Neural Text and Human Text using Divergence Frontiers.” The team included UW students Krishna Pillutla, John Thickstun, and Rowan Zellers; UW-AI2 postdocs Swabha Swayamdipta and Sean Welleck; and UW Allen School Professor Yejin Choi.

Sonnet Retman, associate professor of American ethnic studies, received the Constance M. Rourke Prize from the American Studies Association for the best article in American Quarterly. The committee noted that they chose the article “Memphis Minnie’s ‘Scientific Sound’: Afro-Sonic Modernity and the Jukebox Era of the Blues” on the basis of its originality and methodological breadth.

Maya Sonenberg, professor of creative writing in the Department of English, received the Richard Sullivan Prize for her third collection of stories, Bad Mothers, Bad Daughters. The collection will be published by the University of Notre Dame Press.

Stefan Steinerberger, assistant professor of mathematics, won a SIGEST award for an article co-written by George Linderman on “Dimensionality Reduction via Dynamical Systems: The Case of t-SNE.”

Professorships (New Appointments)

Brandi Cossairt, professor of chemistry, was appointed to the Lloyd E. and Florence M. West Endowed Professorship of Chemistry.

Estelle Lingo, professor and chair of the Division of Art History in the School of Art + Art History + Design, was appointed the Floyd & Delores Jones Endowed Chair in Art.

Scott Magelssen, professor of drama and head of History, Theory, and Criticism in the School of Drama, was appointed to the Donald E. Petersen Faculty Fellowship in Drama.

Robin McCabe, professor of music, was appointed to the Michiko Morita Miyamoto Professorship in Piano.

Alshakim Nelson, associate professor of chemistry, was appointed to the Bernard and Claudine Nist Faculty Fellowship in Chemistry.

Ted Poor, associate professor of music and interim associate director of the School of Music, was appointed to the Donald E. Petersen Faculty Fellowship in Music.

Craig Sheppard, professor of music and chair of Keyboard in the School of Music, was appointed to the Michiko Morita Miyamoto Professorship in Piano.

Other Honors

Sabine Lang, professor of international studies and director of the Center for West European Studies, has been appointed by the EU Commission in Brussels as the Jean Monnet Chair in Civil Society, Inclusion, and Diversity in the European Union (CIDEU), European Studies, awarded by the EU Commission in Brussels.

Robin McCabe, professor of music, has been appointed Artistic Advisor of the Beijing Royal School, the first private K-12 international school in China to open a study-abroad arts program. McCabe will be working in tandem with faculty in Beijing, arranging faculty exchanges, visitations, residencies, and master classes as well as providing on-site advice and tutorials to develop an intensive arts curriculum.