April 28, 2005

Recent honorees include Borisy, Dallos, Faber

Gary G. Borisy, Leslie B. Arey Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology in the Feinberg School of Medicine and associate vice president for research at the University, has received the 2005 Carl Zeiss Lecture Award from the German Society for Cell Biology.

Borisy, who also is distinguished investigator in the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute, was honored for “outstanding international achievements in cell biology in the field of light and electron microscopy.”

Borisy’s research is directed at understanding the nano-machinery of cytoplasm as it is manifested in the process of cell division, in the crawling movements of cells and in the generation of cell form. His key contributions include the discovery of tubulin, elucidating microtubule dynamics, introducing novel techniques to analyze cytoskeletal function in living cells, dissecting the mechanism of chromosome movement, and understanding the supramolecular basis of the actin machinery in cell motility.

Peter Dallos, John Evans Professor of Neurosci-ence, has been named winner of the 2005 Hugh Knowles Prize for his contributions to the understanding of the workings of the inner ear. The prize is awarded by Northwestern’s Hugh Knowles Center to a scientist or clinician who has made an outstanding contribution to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of hearing disorders.

Dallos has worked for more than 30 years to understand the biophysics and neurobiology of the mammalian cochlea. Using techniques ranging from animal behavior to molecular biology, his laboratory has focused on delineating the physiological properties and functional roles of inner and outer hair cells, the two types of sensory receptors of the inner ear.

Most recently, Dallos and his colleagues discovered the molecule prestin, which functions as the distinctive molecular motor of outer hair cells.

Katherine T. Faber, professor of materials science and engineering, has been elected president of the American Ceramics Society for 2006-07.

She currently is president-elect of the organization that has more than 7,500 members in 80 countries.

Faber has written extensively on the mechanical behavior of ceramics, ceramic composites and coatings, electronic materials, particularly in structural applications ceramics. She is an expert on toughening of ceramics, interfacial properties, processing, and characterization of thermal and environmental barrier coatings.

Mary J. C. Hendrix, president and scientific director of Children’s Memorial Research Center, has been elected to the board of directors of Research!America, one of the nation’s leading not-for-profit, public education and advocacy alliances working to make medical and health research a higher national priority.

Hendrix, a highly honored scientist who assumed the presidency of Children’s Memorial Research Center in 2004, is professor of pediatrics and a member of the executive committee of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

Hendrix has been an outspoken and courageous advocate on behalf of scientific research, the need for collaboration between academic, government and industry sectors and the need for increased investment in medical research. She has testified on several scientific and medical ethics issues before key committees of Congress.

Samuel I. Stupp, Board of Trustees Professor of Materials Science, Chemistry, and Medicine and director of the Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine, is the recipient of the 2005 American Chemical Society Award in Polymer Chemistry.

The award recognizes outstanding contributions to polymer chemistry. Stupp was cited for “demonstrating the use of self-assembly to create polymers as nanoscale objects with defined shapes and internal order that mimic those found in biological systems.”

Reporting on the award, Chemical & Engineering News said, “Before ‘nano’ was hot, Stupp recognized the importance of the control and synthesis of materials with nanosizes. Colleagues refer to Stupp as a ‘central driving force in the rapidly advancing fields of polymer self-assembly and nanoscience.’”

His strategies for developing self-assembling and nanostructured materials include synthesis of molecules programmed for self-assembly, biomimetics and templated crystal growth or polymerization. Stupp also is interested in properties and devices built from novel materials created in his laboratory. One research focus is the development of biomaterials that promote regeneration and healing of human tissues, neurons and bone, while others include electronic, photonic and magnetic materials.

Celeste M. Watkins, assistant professor of sociology and African American Studies, has been awarded a two-year National Science Foundation Fellowship.

Watkins will spend the 2005-06 academic year at the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan, completing revisions to her book exploring institutional change in welfare offices, and will take her second year of leave in 2007-08.

Watkins’ areas of research specialization are urban poverty, social policy, HIV/AIDS, non-profit and government organizations, and race, class and gender. Her current project is an ethnographic analysis of the implementation of welfare reform in welfare offices. She also has begun a research project on the social consequence of HIV/AIDS for African-American women.