January 16, 2003

Faculty Honors

Guillermo A. Ameer, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, has received three external awards for his research: an American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant, a Victor M.G. Chaltiel Young Investigator Award from the National Kidney Foundation, and a Young Investigator Award from the AO Research Fund, an international organization dedicated to improve the treatment of patients with trauma and disorders of the musculoskeletal system.

He also is principal investigator for a team that has received a Northwestern Institute for Bioengineering Nanoscience and Medicine (IBNAM) Grant.

Vadim Backman, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, is one of 10 outstanding young scientists selected to receive the first General Motors Cancer Research Scholars Program Awards.

The new program provides a total of $1 million per year at the assistant professor level to support research projects in process. It is part of the GM Cancer Research Foundation, which has awarded more than $10 million to distinguished senior scientists for hallmark achievements in cancer research. Seven winners have subsequently won Nobel prizes.

Backman is developing advanced light scattering spectroscopy-based technologies for minimally invasive imaging, diagnosis, and characterization of preinvasive neoplastic lesions.

Jian Cao, associate professor of mechanical engineering, has received the 2002 Ford Motor Company Outstanding Young Investigator Award.

The award, which is given biennially to a person under the age of 35 who has made outstanding contributions to the field of flexible automation, was presented in Hiroshima during the Japan-U.S.A. Symposium on Flexible Automation.

Cao’s primary research interest is in developing computer-integrated systems for stamping sheet metal and composite sheet. Designing these systems involves understanding the mechanics of material deformation combined with cost-effective simulation tools, intelligent design algorithms and the implementation of advanced control theories.

Clarke L. Caywood, associate professor and former chair of integrated marketing communications, has received the Outstanding Educator Award from The Public Relations Society of America for outstanding contributions to the profession.

The Outstanding Educator Award recognizes excellence in teaching based on contemporary, research-based knowledge of public relations and contributions advancing public relations education. Caywood was recognized for developing the concept and practice of integrated marketing and communications.

Christopher D. Kennedy, assistant professor of linguistics, has been named by the American Council of Learned Societies as one of 15 scholars to receive the first Charles A. Ryskamp Fellowships.

The fellowships recognize young scholars in the humanities and related social sciences whose research contributions have advanced their fields and who have well designed and carefully developed plans for new research. The awards are funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Kennedy will use his fellowship to develop a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the syntactic and semantic properties of comparative constructions in a large set of the world’s languages.

Catherine Woolley, assistant professor of neurobiology and physiology, is the recipient of a W. M. Keck Foundation Distinguished Young Scholar in Medical Research Award.

Now in its fourth year, the Keck Young Scholars program is a five-year, $25 million initiative designed to support innovative research by young investigators who exhibit both extraordinary promise for independent basic medical research, as well as a clear capacity for academic leadership.

Under the program, Northwestern will receive an award of up to $1 million to support Woolley’s research activities for up to five years.