42 faculty honored with Vilas professorships and awards

Extraordinary members of the University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty have been honored during the last year with awards supported by the estate of professor, U.S. Senator and UW Regent William F. Vilas (1840-1908).

Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorships

Sixteen professors were named to Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorships, an award recognizing distinguished scholarship as well as standout efforts in teaching and service. The professorship provides five years of flexible funding — two-thirds of which is provided by the Office of the Provost through the generosity of the Vilas trustees and one-third provided by the school or college whose dean nominated the winner.

The new Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professors are:

Jean-Michel Ané, Bacteriology

Tulika Bose, Physics

Angela Byars-Winston, Medicine

Michelle Chui, Pharmacy Social and Administrative Sciences

Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, English

Claudio Gratton, Entomology

George Huber, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Nancy Kendall, Educational Policy Studies

Glen Kwon, Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Sciences

Joshua Lang, Medicine

Sébastien Roch, Mathematics

Guilherme Rosa, Animal and Dairy Sciences

Laura Schechter, Agricultural & Applied Economics

Snežana Stanimirović, Astronomy

John Svaren, Comparative Biosciences

Mike Swift, Computer Sciences

Vilas Faculty Early Career Investigator Awards

Fourteen professors received Vilas Faculty Early Career Investigator Awards, recognizing research and teaching excellence in faculty who are relatively early in their careers. The award provides flexible research funding for three years.

The recipients are:

Mariel Barnes, La Follette School of Public Affairs

Ashley Brown, History

Jacob Brunkard, Genetics

Roomasa Channa, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

Jing Fan, Nutritional Sciences

Yanie Fécu, English

Simon Goldberg, Counseling Psychology

Line Roald, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Diana Rodríguez-Gómez, Educational Policy Studies

Ramathasan Thevamaran, Mechanical Engineering

Tyler Ulland, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Nina Varsava, Law

Daniel Wright, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Annette Zimmermann, Philosophy

Vilas Faculty Mid-Career Investigator Awards

Twelve professors received Vilas Faculty Mid-Career Investigator Awards, recognizing research and teaching excellence. The award provides flexible research funding for three years.

The recipients are:

Mathew Berland, Curriculum and Instruction

Tim Bertram, Chemistry

Tonya Brito, Law

Amy Claessens, Educational Policy Studies

Jonathan Engle, Medical Physics and Radiology

Holly Gibbs, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies

Elizabeth Hennessy, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies

Andrew Mehle, Medical Microbiology and Immunology

Nadav Shelef, Political Science and Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies

Erin Silva, Plant Pathology

Heather White, Animal and Dairy Sciences

Victor Zavala, Chemical and Biological Engineering