Milestones

Milestones covers awards, honors and major publications by faculty and staff. Send your items to Wisconsin Week, 19 Bascom Hall, or e-mail: wisweek@news.wisc.edu

Published
Biruté Ciplijauskaité, professor emerita Spanish and Portuguese, published “Carmen Martin Gaíte,” (Madrid, 2000).

Honored
A. Baha Balantekin, professor of physics, was elected as chair of the Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society. Balantekin is widely acclaimed for his research at the interface of nuclear, particle physics and astrophysics as well as mathematical physics. His four-year term starts in April.

William S. Rhode, professor of physiology at the Medical School, received the Award of Merit of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology. For 30 years, Rhode has studied the cochlea, or inner ear, concentrating on the way sound is processed there and then sent to the brain.

Six professors have received Kellett Mid-Career Awards that promote the continued scholarly efforts of established faculty. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation sponsors the $60,000 awards. Winners are: Timothy Baker, professor of psychology, has frequently taught such classes as “Introduction to Psychology” and graduate classes on psychotherapy and assessment. John Doebley, professor of genetics, has been recognized for his excellence in teaching, commitment to academic service and scholarship in evolutionary biology research. Steven Nadler, professor of philosophy, is a leading scholar of early modern philosophy with a long list of books and articles, mainly on Arnauld, Malebranche and Spinoza, to his credit. Brenda Gayle Plummer, professor of history and Afro-American Studies, has written extensively on Afro-American history, foreign relations, and civil and human rights. John Valley, professor of geology and geophysics, studies the geochemistry and mineralogy of rocks to understand ancient, deeply eroded mountain belts. Work by Rick Vierstra, professor of horticulture, with the photoreceptor phytochrome established him as a world leader, being the first to identify and purify this important plant receptor.

Seven faculty have received 2001 Romnes Fellowships, a program that helps younger faculty further establish their scholarly careers. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation supports the $50,000 fellowships. This year’s winners are: Kathy Barton, associate professor of genetics, is acclaimed for her strong commitment to teaching, her outstanding service at the university and national levels, and her world-class research program on regulatory genes in Arabidopsis. Mitchell Duneier, associate professor of sociology, is an ethnographer working in the Chicago tradition of urban sociology. Aristotle Georgiades, associate professor of art, researches the more traditional approaches to being an artist involved with commercial galleries and not-for-profit exhibition venues. He also explores public art. Tao Han, associate professor of physics, is a member of the physics department’s Phenomenology Institute and is a world leader in collider physics and fundamental issues of particle physics. Kathryn Hendley, associate professor of law and political science, is the only American social scientist who has been undertaking careful, systematic case studies of Russian enterprises in transition. Laura L. Kiessling, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has played a high-profile role in elucidating the significance of multiple contacts in biological information transfer. David Mladenoff, associate professor of forest ecology and management, promotes greater understanding of human influences on managed forest ecosystems.