Milestones

APPOINTED

Ed VanGemert has been named associate director for Public Services for the General Library System, which includes management of public services within the GLS and the administration of member libraries. Van Gemert has been with UW–Madison Libraries since 1982, most recently as assistant director for public services in Memorial Library.

Robin Rider has been named associate director for collection development, management and preservation for the General Library System. Rider came to the UW–Madison Libraries in 1996 as curator and head of the Department of Special Collections. Recently, she served concurrently as acting university archivist and as the history of science bibliographer. In addition, Rider teaches in the Department of History of Science.

Bernard Trujillo, assistant professor, Law School, has been appointed an affiliate professor with Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies.

Wendy Warren Grapentine has been named director of the Wisconsin Public Utility Institute at the School of Business. Grapentine, who has a B.S. from the University of Colorado, served as news anchor and medical reporter for WKOW-TV Channel 27 from 1992-2001. Founded in 1982, WPUI’s mission is to advance the understanding of public policy issues in the electricity, gas and telecommunications industries.

David Zimmerman, professor, industrial engineering, has been appointed to the National Quality Forum Steering Committee. He has also been reappointed to the board of directors of the American Medical Directors Association Foundation and elected as secretary-treasurer of the foundation.

HONORED

Catherine Albiston, assistant professor, Law School, is the winner of the Law and Society Association’s Dissertation Prize. This award honors the best dissertation written on a law-and-society topic in the past year. Albiston’s dissertation is titled “The Institutional Context of Civil Rights: Mobilizing the Family and Medical Leave Act in the Courts and in the Workplace.”

Walt Brandli, cheesemaker, Babcock Hall dairy plant, completed a three-year apprenticeship and is now certified as a Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker by the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research. Brandli received his certification in Baby Swiss and Gouda cheeses. Developed by the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research, the program is the first advanced education program for cheesemakers in the country.

R. Alta Charo, professor, Law School, has joined the steering committee of the Millennium Forum Project of the Lasker Foundation, which is devoted to public and policymaker education on emerging issues in bioethics.

Charlie Chung-Ping Chen, assistant professor, electrical and computer engineering, is the recipient of the Outstanding New Faculty Award from the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Design Automation. This award recognizes a junior faculty member who demonstrates outstanding potential as an educator and/or researcher in the field of electrical design automation.

Shelley Alexander Cornia, costume designer for University Theatre, was awarded second place in costume design for her work on University Theatre’s “Trojan Women” in the American College Theatre Festival’s National Design Competition. She received a scholarship to a workshop with acclaimed designers Ming Cho Lee and Constance Hoffman.

Kurt Feavel, UW–Madison Police sergeant, and Kathern Paige, central campus community officer, received community service awards from the Madison Exchange Club at its annual crime prevention luncheon May 3. They were honored for providing training to more than 2,000 university employees in response to last fall’s nationwide anthrax scare.

Max Harris, executive director of the Wisconsin Humanities Council, won the 2002 David Bevington Award for the Best New Book in Early Drama Studies for his “Aztecs, Moors, and Christians: Festivals of Reconquest in Mexico and Spain” (University of Texas Press, 2000). The award is one of two presented annually by the Medieval and Renaissance Drama Study.

Yvonne Lee, senior academic librarian and head of the Check-in Unit in the Acquisitions and Serials Department, and Emily Newton Wixson, academic librarian, Steenbock Library, were recently named Librarians of the Year for 2002 by their peers in the General Library System. The awards are given annually to recognize outstanding contributions to campus library services by two unclassified staff members of the GLS, one who has worked for the system more than 10 years (Lee) and one who has been on the staff 10 years or less (Wixson). Lee has been with GLS for 35 years and plans to retire later this year. Wixson has received national recognition for her work in user education and is the chair of the Association of Wisconsin Special Libraries.

Elmer H. Marth, emeritus professor of food science, bacteriology, and food microbiology and toxicology, and Norman F. Olson, emeritus professor of food science, were recently named highly cited researchers (worldwide) in the agricultural sciences in the last two decades by the Institute for Scientific Information, publisher of “Current Contents.” Marth’s research was in food and dairy microbiology with an emphasis on food-borne illness. Olson’s research focused on dairy chemistry and technology with an emphasis on cheese. According to the ISI, frequency of citation is a key measure of the influence of a researcher on science and technology.

Thomas Mitchell, assistant professor, Law School, was asked by the Congressional Black Caucus to take the lead in drafting a proposal to establish an institute to work with poor, rural communities on land-based economic development projects and create a task force for policy analysis of laws impacting poor, rural landowners. The proposal has been disseminated to more than 100 organizations and individuals.

GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS

James Blanchard, associate professor, engineering physics, has received a two-year grant from the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Engineering Education Research Program to enable development of a high-performance insulating material for a microelectromechanical machines microbattery. Other team members include Douglas Henderson, associate professor, engineering physics and Amit Lal, assistant professor, electrical and computer engineering.

Susan Hagness, assistant professor, biomedical engineering and electrical and computer engineering, and Barry Vanveen, professor, electrical and computer engineering, have received a three-year grant from the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program. They will develop novel non- ionizing, non-invasive, microwave techniques for early-stage breast cancer detection, monitoring and treatment. Their research group includes Dan van der Weide, professor, electrical and computer engineering; Frederick Kelcz, associate professor, radiology; and Kennedy Gilchrist, professor, pathology and human oncology.

Douglass Henderson, associate professor, engineering physics, and Paul Wilson, assistant professor, engineering physics, have been awarded a three-year grant from the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Engineering Education Research Program. They will develop new Monte Carlo methodologies to simulate the changes an atom undergoes throughout its life in a nuclear system.

Janet Hyde, professor, psychology and women’s studies, has received a grant from the American Psychological Association to organize a pre-conference symposium on the Biological Substrates of Human Sexuality for the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex this summer. The funds provide support for graduate students to participate.

Thomas Best, assistant professor, biomedical engineering, will oversee research on mechanisms of skeletal muscle injury and healing by David Manthei, senior, biomedical engineering, who has received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship. Each fellowship provides funding for three years. Manthei will begin his master of science work in the department this summer.

The following have been named 2002-03 fellows at the Institute for Research in the Humanities: Mark Csikszentmihalyi, professor, Chinese, Henry Drewal, professor, art history, Ivan Ermakoff, assistant professor, sociology, Hong Jiang, assistant professor, geography, Rebecca Walkowitz, assistant professor, English, and Lee Palmer Wandel, professor, history. Senior fellows are Sally Banes, professor, theatre and drama, Lynn Keller, professor, English, Rudy Koshar, professor, history, Ullrich Langer, professor, French and Italian, Florencia Mallon, professor, history, Michael Shank, professor, history of science, and David Sorkin, professor, history. New senior fellows are Claudia Card, professor, philosophy and David Loewenstein, professor, English.The Dana-Allen Dissertation Fellowship holder is Joann Skrypzak, senior teaching assistant, art history.

PUBLISHED

James B. Rawlings, professor, chemical engineering, has co-authored a textbook entitled “Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design Fundamentals” (Nob Hill Publishing, April 2002) with University of Texas Chemical Engineering Department chair John Ekerdt.

OTHER MILESTONES

Larry Bank, professor, civil and environmental engineering, was the plenary session speaker at the 16th National Conference on Undergraduate Research held at UW-Whitewater April 25-27. Bank spoke as part of a panel that discussed research on terrorism threats. Bank has conducted research on building vulnerabilities and making buildings safer from terrorism incidents.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics recently awarded UW–Madison’s AIAA student chapter with its outstanding student branch award in the Midwest region. The award honors the group’s achievements in the 2000-2001 academic year. Dan Kammer, professor, engineering physics, is the group’s faculty adviser.

The Fusion Technology Institute has received a one-year grant from the Department of Energy to study the design and performance of a chamber to convert fusion energy. The grant is part of a larger program, “High Average Power Lasers,” and will be conducted in conjunction other labs. Principal investigators are Gerald Kulcinski and Greg Moses, professors of engineering physics. Other members of the research team include Robert Peterson, senior scientist; Donald Haynes, assistant scientist; and nine other faculty, scientists and graduate students from the Fusion Technology Institute.

The editors and designers of Cooperative Extension Publications have been honored by the Agricultural Communicators in Education, winning several awards for excellence in print and electronic publishing. Gold Award in Electronic Publications: Meg Gores, editor, and Jody Myer-Lynch, designer, for “Garden Facts,” an online series of fact sheets on common garden pests. The series is written by UW-Extension integrated pest management specialist Karen Delahaut based on a concept developed by the Urban Agriculture/Horticulture Team. Gold Award in the One- to Three-Color Popular Publications: Linda Deith, editor, and Jody Myer-Lynch, designer, for “Growing Raspberries in Wisconsin.” The publication was written by UW-Extension specialists Brian Smith (UW-River Falls) and Daniel Mahr, Patricia McManus and Teryl Roper (UW-Madison). Silver Award in the One- to Three-Color Popular Publications: Rhonda Lee, editor, Susan Anderson, designer, and John Merrill, writer, for “HomeWorks News.” Bronze Award for One- to Three-Color Popular Publications: Meg Gores, editor, and Jody Myer-Lynch, designer, for “A Landowner’s Guide to Woodland Wildlife Management.” The publication was written by UW-Extension specialists Darrel Covell, Scott Craven and Robert Ruff. Silver Award in Technical Publications: Linda Deith, editor, and Susan Anderson, designer, with illustrations by Jody Myer-Lynch for “Biological Control of Insects and Other Pests of Greenhouse Crops.” Daniel Mahr and Susan Mahr, UW-Extension specialists, co-authored the piece.

The Wisconsin Union and the Wisconsin Union Directorate won five awards at the recent annual meeting of the Association of College Unions International. First place, Web Design for the Wisconsin Union Web site: Janet Trembley, Margaret Tennessen, Mary Rohrdanz and Alissa Gauger. Second place, Promotional Campaign for Terrace Music Summer Campaign 2001: Janet Trembley, Tim Hough, Jennifer Zahn and Marc Kennedy with Lisa Mumm, Lori Lukowski, Sandy Lucas and Yoseph Teklemariam. Third place, Promotional Campaign for Wisconsin Union Theatre 2001-2002 Series: Janet Trembley, Amy Allan and Mary Rohrdanz. First place, Promotional Campaign for “Club 770” icons: Jennifer Pfafflin. First place, “None of the Above” Category for “Emmie,” the WUD music magazine: Charles Ubaghs and Jennifer Pfafflin.