March 9, 2006

Faculty honors

Ronald R. Braeutigam, professor of economics and associate dean of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, has been reappointed as the Harvey Kapnick Professor in Business Institutions for an additional five-year term through Aug. 31, 2010.

Braeutigam teaches microeconomics, industrial organization and public policy in the department of economics. He is past president of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics and was director of the Business Institutions Program from 1995 to 2004.

His research interests include theory and application of microeconomics, industrial organization and public policy.

Lawrence J. Christiano, professor of economics, has been reappointed as the Alfred W. Chase Professor in Business Institutions.

A macroeconomic theorist with strong applied interests, Christiano has published more than 50 articles on econometric modeling, monetary policy and institutions, the business cycle and time series analysis, and the nature of fiscal policy in a global economy.

His articles have appeared in various publications, including Journal of Political Economy and the Journal of Economic Theory.

Christiano, who joined Northwestern in 1992, is a research affiliate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a consultant to the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago, Cleveland and Minneapolis and a regular visitor to the European Central Bank, to collaborate on research.

Micaela di Leonardo, professor of anthropology and performance studies, is spending the 2005-06 academic year in Santa Fe, N.M., in a National Endowment for the Humanities residential fellowship at the School of American Research.

She is finishing her historical ethnography of political economy and public culture in New Haven, Conn., "The View from Cavallaro's: History, Power and Public Culture in New Haven.”

di Leonardo has been engaged in ethnographic research on race, gender, urban representation and economic restructuring in New Haven since 1987. She is focusing on one changing neighborhood in the context of larger political and economic shifts, especially in terms of race and gender politics. This emphasis counters the bent of most urban studies, which often fail to connect the residents of American neighborhoods to cities and the global forces that affect them.

This month, di Leonardo, with Northwestern faculty Nancy MacLean (history) and Dorothy Roberts (law), will join her seven other interdisciplinary scholars in a six-day Advanced Seminar at the School of American Research on New Landscapes of Inequality.

Mark C. Hersam, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, has received the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society’s Robert Lansing Hardy Award for 2006.

The Hardy Award recognizes people who have exceptional promise in the field of metallurgy. The winner receives a $500 stipend from the Ford Motor Company.

Hersam’s research focuses on developing scanning probe microscopy techniques that enable sensing, characterization and actuation at the single molecule level. He also has ongoing materials science projects that include exploration of molecular rotors, carbon nanotubes, polymer micelles and DNA/protein interactions.

Wallace J. Hopp, Breed University Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, has received the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Education Award.

The award recognizes his contributions to the development of manufacturing-related curricula, fostering sound training methods and inspiring students to enter the profession of manufacturing.

SME is the world’s leading professional society supporting manufacturing education.

Hopp’s research focuses on the development of models for understanding and managing production systems.

Surendra P. Shah, Walter P. Murphy Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, a noted expert in the science and engineering of concrete materials, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest honors accorded to an engineer.

Academy membership honors those who have made “outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature.” Membership also rewards accomplishment in “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”

Shah was cited for his work on advanced cement-based materials and for promoting interdisciplinary research and education on concrete materials.