Karin S. Pfennig (1997), a biologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has received a $1.5 million New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health. An assistant professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, Pfennig will use the award to fund experimental research in understanding how individuals’ health status and external environment influence their behavior.

Yong Shi (SX 2002) in the Schaefer School of Engineering & Science at Stevens Institute of Technology has been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation for a project titled “MEMS Umbrella-Shaped Actuator with Active Structure for Medical Applications.”

Sigma Xi Members in the News for September 2008

Four Sigma Xi members were among those to receive 2008 awards from the Entomological Society of America. Tiffany M. Heng-Moss (SX 1996) won the Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching. Consuelo M. De Moraes (SX 1996) won the Early Career Innovation Award. David R. Coyle (SX 2003) won the Student Activity Award. And Preston Brown (SX 2007) won the Student Certification Award.

Four Sigma Xi members were among the 25 MacArthur fellows announced September 23 by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation:

Andrea Ghez (SX 2000) is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California at Los Angeles. Her work has opened important windows of galactic observation by overcoming previous limitations of ground-based instruments.

John Ochsendorf (SX 1998) is an associate professor of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a structural engineer and architectural historian who works to preserve historic structures and to reinterpret ancient technologies for contemporary use.

Adam Riess (SX 1992) is a professor of physics and astronomy at the Johns Hopkins University. His observations are taking us to the edge of the universe, telling the story of both its beginning and its end.

Marin Soljacic (SX 1997) is an assistant professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work on several aspects of electromagnetic waves holds implications for understanding fundamental principles of optical physics and for developing devices like switches for optical computers and wireless power transmitters.

The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.

Grace Ann Spatafora (SX 1982) in the Department of Biology at Middlebury College has been elected to the Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering.

Stephen Henderson Scheck (SX 1979), dean of liberal arts and sciences at Western Oregon University, will receive an alumni achievement award from the Fort Hays State University Alumni Association for his outstanding, unselfish contributions in service to the community both through his career and through philanthropy.

Robert Boily (SX 2005) has been invested as a Knight of the Order of the Pleiade by the Parliamentary Assembly of French-Speaking Nations, an international institution representing more than 40 countries and regions. The official presentation ceremony was held July 5, 2008 at the Frontenac Castle, in Quebec City, in the presence of dignitaries from Canada, the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia. The honor was given for distinguished contributions to the development of a scientific culture in the society. Later this fall, Boily will receive Sigma Xi's 2008 John P. McGovern Science and Society Award at the Society's annual meeting.

Marten denBoer (SX 1982) has been named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Cal Poly Pomona (formally California State Polytechnic University Pomona).

Peter Salovey (SX 1985) has been named provost of Yale University effective October 1.

Sigma Xi Members in the News for August 2008

William A. Tramontano (SX 1979) has been named Brooklyn College’s new provost and vice-president for academic affairs.

William "Bud" Baeslack (SX 1999) has been appointed provost at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He currently serves as dean of engineering at Ohio State University.

Allen Sessoms (SX 1968) has been named president of the University of the District of Columbia. He currently serves as the president of Delaware State University.

Jan Yarrison-Rice (SX 1991), professor of physics, has been named Miami University's Sigma Xi Researcher of the Year for 2008. Her research focuses on the physics of nanostructures, investigating the fabrication and optical characterization of nanostructures and devices.

Michael P. Toglia (SX 1977) will retire August 31 after 30 years on the faculty of SUNY Cortland. He is considered to be at the forefront of research in the fields of human cognition and information processing. Toglia will earn the designation of professor emeritus of psychology. He plans to move to Jacksonville, Florida, where he will chair the Psychology Department at the University of North Florida.

Jeffrey Scott Vitter (SX 1983) has been named provost and executive vice president for academics at Texas A&M University.

Sigma Xi Members in the News for July 2008

Robotic pioneer Yoky Matsuoka (SX 2001) at the University of Washington in Seattle was the subject of a recent NOVA episode on public television. She is a leading researcher in neurobotics, an emerging field that combines neuroscience with building robots. Her lab is working to develop advanced artificial hands and other body parts that will one day use signals directly from the brain to enhance the motor skills of those who have suffered amputation, spinal cord damage and other traumatic injuries.

In the July/August issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, veteran science reporter Cristine Russell (SX 1987) lays out a strategy for deciphering the exceedingly complex subject of global climate change, in terms of what is happening, what will happen and what to do about it. Her feature is accompanied by a Web-only sidebar with links to "all the climate sites journalists need to know."

Christopher John Rourk (SX 1992) has been elected president of the Japan-America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth. It's mission is to strengthen U.S.-Japan relations and encourage international understanding in the region.

Wanqiu Hou (SX 2007) in the Deptartment of Microbiology-Immunology at Northwestern University has been recognized by the Cambridge Who's Who Executive, Professional and Entrepreneurial Registry for showing dedication, leadership and excellence in all aspects of scientific research.

Stephen H. Cobb (SX 1988) has been named dean of the College of Science, Engineering & Technology at Murray State University.

Sigma Xi Members in the News for June 2008

George Timothy Flowers (SX 1987) has been named dean of the Graduate School at Auburn University.

Joseph M. DeSimone (SX 1986) has won the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's 2008 Lemelson Prize. DeSimone is a chemistry professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and also teaches chemical engineering at N.C. State University. In the past five years, most of his work in the field of polymers has focused on medical devices. That includes a stent that keeps blocked arteries open and then dissolves to prevent scarring, and bacteria-shaped vessels that can slip inside tumor cells to deliver therapeutic drugs.

David Morton (SX 2008), professor of integrative biosciences, recently received the "Outstanding Researcher Award" in the biological sciences from the Columbia-Willamette Chapter of Sigma Xi. He also just received a one-year, $40,000 grant from the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association to study a fruit fly gene that is related to a human gene associated with ALS. Morton and his team have discovered how to alter the fruit fly gene so that it suffers from neurodegeneration.

Mary Elizabeth Savina (SX 1972) has been named the the Charles L. Denison Professor of Geology at Carleton College. She joined the faculty there in 1978, after receiving her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Savina has served as a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer.

Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health honored and bid farewell to long-time faculty member Irtaza Siddique (SX 1975) with a retirement reception on May 29, his official last day. Siddique is a former professor of microbiology and public health and spent more than half a century serving the veterinary medical profession.

Vickie S. Baselski (SX 1981) and James T. Staley (SX 1997) have been awarded 2008 American Society for Microbiology Scientific Achievement Awards. A professor at the University of Tennessee, Baselski received the ASM's TREK Diagnostic ABMM/ABMLI Professional Recognition Award. Staley received the ASM's Roger Porter Award; he is founding director of the Astrobiology Program and a professor of microbiology at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Jack P. Strong (SX 1984), Boyd Professor and chairman of pathology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, is one of five foreign nationals in the U.S. and 15 worldwide chosen to receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon from His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. The decoration recognizes Strong's outstanding contributions to academic and cultural exchanges between Japan and the U.S.

Members in the News for April-May 2008

Members in the News for January-March 2008

Members in the News for October-December 2007

Members in the News for August/September 2007

Members in the News for June/July 2007

Members in the News for May 2007

Send items for Sigma Xi Members in the News to Charles Blackburn at cblackburn@sigmaxi.org

Find Out More About Becoming A Sigma Xi Member

Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
P.O. Box 13975
3106 East NC Highway 54
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Phone: 800-243-6534 or 919-549-4691
Fax: 919-549-0090

 
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