Up-and-coming faculty receive 1999 Romnes Fellowships

Eight UW–Madison faculty have been awarded 1999 Romnes Fellowships for extraordinary achievement at an early stage in their careers.

The $50,000 fellowships have been funded since 1975 by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), and awarded by the research committee of the UW–Madison Graduate School. The fellowship provide research support for faculty who have received tenure within the past four years and have already made an impact on their fields.

The awards are named after the late H.I. Romnes, former chair of the board of AT&T and former president of the WARF Board of Trustees.

Winners are:

• Che Yeon-Koo, associate professor of economics. Che joined the department in 1991, after receiving his Ph.D. from Stanford University. He has distinguished himself with contributions to the fields of industrial organization and law and economics.

• Theresa Compton, associate professor of medical microbiology and immunology. Compton studies aspects of molecular pathogenesis of human cytomegalovirus (CMV), a significant opportunistic pathogen.

• Gloria Ladson-Billings, professor of curriculum and instruction. Ladson-Billings is a senior fellow in urban education at Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform. She is nationally noted for her work on successful teachers of African American children and critical race theory in education.

• Li Chiao-Ping, associate professor of kinesiology. As a choreographer and director, Li has created, produced and performed in over 50 works for the stage and screen throughout North and South America.

• Thomas Loeser, associate professor of art. Loeser teaches beginning and advanced woodworking, furniture-making and sculpture courses to undergraduates and graduate students. Loeser designs and builds one-of-a-kind furniture using traditional techniques to explore contemporary ideas about function.

• Regina M. Murphy, associate professor of chemical engineering. Murphy uses the tools of the chemical engineer to study the molecular basis of Alzheimer’s disease with the goal of designing new, effective therapies.

• Monica G. Turner, associate professor of zoology. Turner is among the founders, and the acknowledged international leader, of the field of Landscape Ecology. This growing discipline addresses the dynamics of large, spatially complex ecological systems.

• David Wood, associate professor of computer sciences. Wood’s research focuses on the design and implementation of high-performance “servers” that form the computational infrastructure for the Internet and World Wide Web.