Ten faculty receive WARF Mid-Career Awards

Ten UW–Madison professors have received Kellett Mid-Career Awards, which are designed to enhance the scholarly pursuits of established faculty.

The $60,000 awards are funded by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and selected by a committee of the UW–Madison Graduate School. It is one of a number of special programs supported each year by WARF’s block grant to the university.

The awards are named for William R. Kellett, a former president of the WARF Board of Trustees and retired president of Kimberly Clark Corp. who was integral to the formation of the UW System.

Mid-Career Awards support faculty who are between five and 20 years past tenure and are nominated by the colleagues. Here are this year’s winners:

James Andreoni, economics, studies the economics of altruism and philanthropy. Through theoretical modeling, analysis of survey data, and laboratory experimentation, Andreoni has helped shape a new view of economic behavior that includes a place for people who behave unselfishly.

Patricia Flatley Brennan, nursing and industrial engineering, evaluates how the World Wide Web can help patients recover faster and better manage their own health care. Tenured in both nursing and industrial engineering, she teaches courses in health care delivery, engineering design and health informatics. She is president of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Michael M. Cox, biochemistry, is internationally recognized for pioneering research on the mechanism of DNA recombination, a fundamental cellular process for the exchange of genetic information and the repair of DNA strand breaks that has important medical applications, especially with respect to gene therapy. He is an award-winning teacher and co-author of a widely used biochemistry textbook.

Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, communication arts, studies interaction, with an emphasis on communication in social and personal relationships. The author of more than 100 articles, book chapters and reviews on communication theory, she has served as president of the International Communication Association, and has been elected as a fellow of that association.

Michael Fox, Hebrew and Semitic Studies, is internationally recognized as one of the leading biblical scholars in the world. His books include, “Love Songs from Ancient Egypt” (1985); “The Song of Songs and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs” (1985); “Qohelet and his Contradictions” (1987); “The Redaction of the Books of Esther: On Reading Composite Texts” (1991); “Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther” (1991); “A Proverbs Commentary, vol. I” (1999). Fox was awarded the Weinstein-Bascom Professorship of Jewish Studies in 1990, an Honorary Doctorate of Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College in 1993 and a Halls-Bascom Professorship in 1999.

Richard E. Goodkin, French and Italian, has been a member of the faculty since 1989, and previously taught at Yale University. His books include “The Tragic Middle: Racine, Aristotle, Euripides” (1991) and “Around Proust” (1991). His latest book, “Birth Marks: The Tragedy of Primogeniture in Pierre Corneille, Thomas Corneille, and Jean Racine,” is forthcoming from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Robert J. Hamers, chemistry, is widely recognized for his pioneering research investigating atomic-level structure, electronic properties, bonding, and chemical reactivity at surfaces. By linking atomic-resolution microscopy with novel chemical analysis methods, his work is leading to new insights into fundamental chemical reaction mechanisms and new strategies for controlling chemical reactions on surfaces.

Gary Sandefur, sociology, has emerged as one of a handful of leading social demographers whose work combines both scholarly excellence and a serious engagement with important and pressing policy issues. He is internationally recognized for his work on American Indians, race and ethnicity, families, poverty and inequality, and public policy.

Thomas Sharkey, botany, is an acclaimed plant physiologist known for his research on photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, and emission of trace gases. He is director of the Biotron and serves on the University Committee. His teaching contributions range from Introductory Biology to a graduate level course in plant physiology.

Gurindar Sohi, computer sciences, does research and teaching in the area of computer architecture. He is especially interested in microprocessor architecture. He worked on a microprocessor architecture which helped lay the foundation for modern microprocessors such as the Pentium III. More recently he and his graduate students have been working on the architecture of circa-2010 chips which will have more than a billion transistors. He teaches a variety of courses in computer architecture, ranging from the sophomore to the advanced graduate level.