April 22, 2004

Faculty honors

Mark Satterthwaite, Earl Dean Howard Professor of Managerial Economics and professor of strategic management, has been named the A.C. Buehler Professor in Hospital and Health Services Management.

A microeconomic theorist with a strong applied interest in healthcare, Satterthwaite has focused his research on how market mechanisms induce individuals to reveal the information about themselves that is necessary to achieve an optimal or almost optimal allocation.

A recent paper, “Is More Information Better: The Effects of “Report Cards” on Health Care Providers,” received the 10th annual research award from the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation.

Satterthwaite is a fellow of the Econometric Society and a founding member of the Game Theory Society. The National Science Foundation has awarded him several research grants.

Richard Silverman, professor of chemistry and of biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology and Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence, has been named the John Evans Professor in Chemistry.

Silverman is a bioorganic chemist with a special interest in the mechanisms of drug actions and the design of medicinal agents. He investigates the molecular mechanisms of action, rational design, and syntheses of medicinal agents and the mechanisms of enzymes. His group is studying drugs that function as specific inhibitors of particular enzymes, especially those involved in neurological diseases, convulsions, neurotoxicity, stroke and cancer.

He is author of three books, including the widely used text, “The Organic Chemistry of Drug Design and Drug Action,” and more than 200 articles in organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry and enzymology. He holds 21 patents.

Hendrik Spruyt, professor of political science, has been named the Norman Dwight Harris Professor in International Relations.

Spruyt’s research centers on the evolution of nation-states, exploring the historical, economic and political ramifications of models of social organization. His interests intersect comparative politics with international relations and include the formation of polities and their disintegration; international organization, particularly regionalism; comparative political economy; and the analysis of domestic institutions and foreign policy.

His book, “The Sovereign State and Its Competitors,” received the J. David Greenstone Award for Best Book in History and Politics in 1996. “Ending Empire: Contested Sovereignty and Territorial Partition” is forthcoming.

Spruyt joined the faculty in 2003 after teaching at Arizona State and Columbia universities and serving as a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton. He is co-editor of the Review of International Political Economy and a member of the editorial board of Acta Politica.