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News
2012
January
The American Astronomical Society has awarded the Helen B. Warner Prize for a significant contribution to observational or theoretical astronomy by an early-career scientist to Eric B. Ford, who is in the Department of Astronomy, “for his theoretical and computational research in the field of extrasolar planets, including ground-breaking work on the dynamical evolution of planetary systems and planet formation.” Ford‘s work has established the importance of mutual gravitational interactions within exoplanet systems and has aided the efficient design of new exoplanet searches.
February
Governor Rick Scot appointed English graduate, Erin J. O'Leary, to the Eighteenth Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission. O'Leary, 42, of Winter Springs, has been Of Counsel with Brown, Garganese, Weiss and D'Agresta P.A. since 2002. Previously, she was a trial court staff attorney with the Ninth Judicial Circuit from 1995 to 2002 and an assistant public defender with the Seventh Judicial Circuit in 1995. She received a bachelor's degree from the University of Florida and a law degree from Nova Southeastern University. She is appointed for a term beginning February 9, 2012, and ending July 1, 2012.
She is board certified by The Florida Bar as a specialist in Appellate Practice and has been appointed to the Florida Bar Appellate Court Rules Committee. Ms. O'Leary's practice is focused on the areas of appellate practice and complex litigation support. In those capacities, she represents clients on appeal to Florida's District Courts of Appeal, the Florida Supreme Court, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Additionally, she assists trial counsel by briefing complex legal arguments at the trial level in both state and federal courts.
March
Biology Assistant Professor Keith Choe is the recipient of the 2012 New Investigator Award from the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology section of the American Physiological Society. The award will be presented at the CEP Section Dinner on Monday, April 23 during the Experimental Biology meeting (a huge meeting that includes concurrent meetings of several societies and some 10,000 attendees) in San Diego, April 21-25, 2012. Congratulations to Keith on receiving this honor!
April
Kristopher Klann has been awarded Winner of the Outstanding New Advising Award - Primary Advising Role. Established in 1983, the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) Annual Awards Program for Academic Advising honors individuals and institutions making significant contributions to the improvement of academic advising. NACADA is a representative and advocate of academic advising and those providing that service to higher education.
SEC Announces 2012 Faculty Achievement Award Recipients including Political Science's Ken Wald. The awards honor professors from SEC universities with outstanding records in teaching and scholarship who serve as role models for other faculty and students.
In presenting the awards, the SEC becomes the only Division I conference within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) currently recognizing university faculty for their achievements, unrelated to athletics or student-athletes.
To be eligible for the SEC Faculty Achievement Award, a professor must be a teacher or scholar at an SEC university; have achieved the rank of full professor at an SEC university; have a record of extraordinary teaching; and have a record of scholarship that is recognized nationally and/or internationally.
"This diverse group of men and women share a passionate dedication not just for teaching, but for empowering their students with the knowledge and wisdom to make a difference in our world," said Dr. Bernie Machen, President of the University of Florida and President of the Southeastern Conference. "Some of the finest minds have studied on our campuses, and we have the SEC university professors to thank for helping to position them for success."
SEC Faculty Achievement Award winners, one from each university, will receive a $5,000 honorarium and become his or her university's nominee for the SEC Professor of the Year Award. The SEC Professor of the Year receives an additional $15,000 honorarium and will be recognized during the annual SEC Spring Banquet in May.
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said, "These winners are exceptional and have inspired their students and colleagues through a deep commitment to teaching and research in their chosen fields. The SEC is privileged to honor the men and women who motivate and encourage our students to be the best they can be."
Chosen by a selection committee of SEC Provosts, the SEC Faculty Achievement Awards and the SEC Professor of the Year Award are part of a set of non-athletically related academic initiatives the Southeastern Conference has undertaken through its SEC Academic Consortium to encourage academic leadership and collaboration within the SEC membership.
Walt Judd is the 2012 recipient of the José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany from the National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution.
This award is given to a botanist and scholar of international stature who has contributed significantly to advancing the field of tropical botany. The award will be presented at the Smithsonian's Botanical Symposium "Transforming 21st Century Comparative Biology using Evolutionary Trees" on April 20-21, 2012.
May
Principal investigator Leo Villalón received a 2012 Minerva Award for fiscal year 2012–2014. His project titled "Political Reform, Socio-Religious Change, and Stability in the African Sahel" was one of ten selected from a very competitive field.
Proposals were solicited through a 2011 Broad Agency Announcement – the second in the program's history. The Department solicited proposals in seven topics of strategic importance and received a total of 330 white papers and 55 full proposals. The total amount of the awards is expected to be as much as $12 million over three years. More than 17 academic institutions, including two non-U.S. institutions, are expected to participate in the ten research efforts.
Jonathan E. Grey, Pharm.D., BCPS, has been awarded a 2012 ASHP Foundation Pharmacy Resident Practice-Based Research Grant. Dr. Grey graduated from the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts & Sciences in Gainesville and is currently an infectious diseases pharmacy resident at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Florida.
The Pharmacy Resident Practice-Based Research Grant Program supports practice-based research conducted by residents in ASHP-accredited pharmacy residency programs or by residents in pharmacy residency programs that have submitted an application for ASHP accreditation. This research must be related to the assumptions, beliefs and recommendations from the November 2010 ASHP/ASHP Foundation Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative (PPMI) Summit. The overarching goal of the PPMI is to ensure that pharmacists participate on interdisciplinary patient care teams as the health professionals who are responsible and accountable for patients' medication outcomes. A secondary goal of the program is to develop pharmacy residents' research skills while fostering development of mentoring relationships with more experienced senior investigators.
Dr. Grey will use his grant to conduct a study entitled "A Procalcitonin Guided Algorithm as a Tool for Pharmacy Implemented Antibiotic Stewardship in Lower Respiratory Tract Infections: A Prospective Study." He will receive guidance from senior investigator Lynne C. Krop, Pharm.D., BCPS, who is a clinical coordinator at Morton Plant Hospital and the hospital's director of the Postgraduate Year 2 Infectious Diseases Pharmacy Residency.
The purpose of Dr. Grey's study is to bring more attention to procalcitonin-guided antibiotic surveillance, a method which is widespread in Europe but is not used as frequently in the United States. Procalcitonin, a hormone precursor, is a biomarker that increases in the presence of a systemic bacterial infection and which tends not to be as elevated for fungal or viral infections. For patients with respiratory tract infections who are otherwise clinically stable, there are multiple studies showing that antibiotics can be stopped early in patients with low procalcitonin levels without any increase in adverse outcomes.
"This is important since unnecessary exposure to antibiotics leads to the rise of bacterial resistance," explains Dr. Grey. "It also puts patients at risk for potentially harmful antibiotic-associated side effects. Our study is one of the first to utilize clinical pharmacists and procalcitonin levels to identify patients who may be candidates for discontinuing antibiotics."
Dr. Grey is one of only six pharmacy residents nationwide to receive this grant. "Receiving the ASHP grant is a great honor to my investigational team," he says. "On a personal level, I hope this grant can lead to more research opportunities, since I am always hoping to bring more knowledge to the fields of antibiotic surveillance and pharmacy in general."
August
The life of the university is greatly enhanced by the quality of our doctoral students, and they take their direction from our many outstanding faculty members. In an effort to continue to promote doctoral studies and to recognize excellence in doctoral student mentoring by our faculty, awards are given each year to five faculty doctoral advisors selected on a competitive basis.
Two CLAS professors won the Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/Mentoring Award for the 2011-2012 competition. They are Gillian Lord, Spanish and Portuguese Studies and Konstantin Matchev, Physics.
Personal statements: Gillian Lord and Konstantin Matchev.
June
UF researchers develop "nanorobot" that can be programmed to target different diseases
University of Florida researchers have moved a step closer to treating diseases on a cellular level by creating a tiny particle that can be programmed to shut down the genetic production line that cranks out disease-related proteins.
In laboratory tests, these newly created "nanorobots" all but eradicated hepatitis C virus infection. The programmable nature of the particle makes it potentially useful against diseases such as cancer and other viral infections.
The research effort, led by Y. Charles Cao, Ph.D., a UF associate professor of Chemistry, and Chen Liu, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of pathology and endowed chair in gastrointestinal and liver research in the UF College of Medicine, is described online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education: UF employees
Three UF employees — Joseph Fantone, senior associate dean for educational affairs at the
College of Medicine; Donna Parker, associate dean for diversity and health equity at the College of Medicine;
and Albert Matheny, director of academic advising in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences — were
quoted in a June 7 Diverse Issues in Higher Education article about UF being a leading producer of black
undergraduates who go on to become medical doctors.
Los Angeles Times: Daniel Smith
Political science professor Daniel Smith was quoted in a June 1 Los Angeles Times article
about a federal judge rejecting a key part of Florida's new election laws, which would have applied
to the 62 counties not subject to the Voting Rights Act.
Associated Press: Daniel Smith
Political science professor Daniel Smith was quoted in a June 1 Associated Press story about the
U.S. Justice Department demanding a halt to the search for non-U.S. citizen voters in Florida because
the process appears to violate federal law.
Associated Press: Chris McCarty
Chris McCarty, director of the Survey Research Center, was quoted in a May 29 Associated Press article about Florida's consumer confidence rebounding
three points in May. The article was the result of a News Bureau news release.
November
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New podcast of Tiny Tech on iTunes
Step into the world of nanotechnology with Tiny Tech. Tiny Tech is a series of radio modules focusing on the science and engineering of the very small. Each module presents an aspect of nanoscale objects, ranging from the effects of size on chemical and physical properties to new technological applications in fields as diverse as electronic devices and medicine.
Tiny Tech is a production of WUFT and the Center for Nanostructured Electronic Materials (CNEM), a National Science Foundation Center for Chemical Innovation, and are broadcast every Friday at 2:38 pm on WUFT. Modules are written by CNEM faculty and students, who carry out research on the chemistry of nanotechnology at the University of Florida, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Georgia (http://cnem.chem.ufl.edu/).
September
Professor Rebecca Butcher has been named one of 25 New Scholars in Aging by the Ellison Medical Foundation. The objective of the program is to support new investigators of outstanding promise in the basic biological sciences relevant to understanding lifespan development processes and age-related diseases. The award is $100,000 per year, for a four year period. Dr. Butcher's award will support her work on the identification of chemical signals that influence development, metabolism, and lifespan in the model organism C. elegans.
December
The Cave of the Nymphs of Pharsalus
Congratulations to Dr. Robert Wagman on a great success at the Cave of the Nymphs near Farsala, Greece, where he delivered a lecture on "The Cave of the Nymphs of Pharsalus: Archaeological Survey and Prospects for Sustainable Use of Space," followed the next day by a heavily attended public on-site tour of the cave.
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship
Jeffrey D. Needell, a professor in the Department of History since 1987, has just been awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities which will allow him to complete his research on a new book, "The Afro-Brazilian Political Role in Nineteenth-Century Rio de Janeiro and the Movement for Abolition." While Brazilian slavery's abolition (1888) was resisted for years, it was finally achieved, and this in parliament, without prolonged violence, and despite slaveholders' control of the government and both major parties. This apparent contradiction has been poorly explained as the victory of an urban movement and slaves' resistance, without informed analysis of how, in fact, these actually interacted with each other and with the formal political structure. Even the Abolitionist movement's mobilization of Afro-Brazilians in Rio de Janeiro, critical to the victory, has been more assumed than explored. This project, begun in 2007, will attempt to bring all of these components back into play, recovering the way they impacted upon one another.
The History of Science Society Presents the Joseph H. Hazen Prize for Excellence in Education to Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis
The History of Science Society (HSS) has awarded the Joseph H. Hazen Education Prize to Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis, Professor, History of Science at the University of Florida. The prize is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding contributions to the teaching of history of science.
Smocovitis has an impressively diverse teaching portfolio that spans many schools and departments at the University of Florida. She teaches a wide range of courses in the Departments of History and Biology on topics in the history of science and medicine, exploration and the environment, evolution, ecology, and ethics.
Chair of the Hazen Prize Committee, Sara J. Schechner, remarks, "Dr. Smocovitis has proven herself to be a skilled educator, a passionate advocate for the history of science in both the academy and general population, and an exemplar of both academic and civic engagement."
Smocovitis earned her bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Western Ontario and her Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell in 1988. She has received UF and CLAS Teaching Awards and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She also is a member of the Society for the Study of Evolution, the Botanical Society of America and the History of Science Society. Smocovitis has received research grants from the National Science Foundation, the American Philosophical Society and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The History of Science Society is the world's largest society dedicated to understanding science, technology, medicine, and their interactions with society in historical context. Over 3,000 individual and institutional members across the world support the Society's mission to foster interest in the history of science and its social and cultural relations.
The Joseph H. Hazen Educational Prize is named in honor of a long-time supporter of the HSS and was endowed by his daughter, Cynthia Hazen Polsky.
Prizes were formally presented Saturday during the HSS's annual meeting at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina.
