Accomplishments - June, 2016
Pravas Deria, Chemistry and Biochemistry, is a 2016 recipient of a Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. The awards provide seed money for research by junior faculty at Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) member institutions. Deria’s research involves porous hybrid material relevant in energy-related applications. With the aid of this award, he plans to develop conducting 3D porous materials such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) suitable for electro- and photoelectron-catalytic applications.
Michele Leigh, Cinema and Photography, has been selected as a 2016-1017 Fulbright Scholar. During her four months in Russia, Leigh will conduct research in Moscow on women who worked in the Russian film industry before the Revolution. The outcome of this research will be a book tentatively titled: “Archaeologies of Influence: Uncovering the Women Who Helped to Build the Russian Film Industry 1908-1917.”
Dubravka Ban, Mathematics, recently received a Collaboration Grant for Mathematics from Simons Foundation. Ban received the five-year grant, which runs from September 2016 through August 2021, for her application, “Representations of p-adic groups and lwasawa modules.” The grant, totaling up to $35,000, provides funds for collaboration, travel and research expenses. Ban pursues research projects with collaborators from Purdue University and the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York.
Matt Gorzalski, university archivist, is the recipient of the 2016 Emerging Leader Award from the Society of American Archivists (SAA). The award will be presented at the combined annual meeting of the SAA and the Council of State Archivists, set for July 31 to Aug. 6, in Atlanta. The award recognizes an early career archivist who completes archival work of broad merit, demonstrates leadership promise, and/or performs commendable service to the archives profession. The awards committee praised Gorzalski’s strong scholarship record, noting that numerous publications have featured his research, writings and presentations, and noted his dedication to raising awareness of archives and the use of historic records in classroom instruction, utilizing hands-on digitization exercises to teach critical skills.
Cindy Buys, School of Law, will receive the Illinois State Bar Association’s Human Rights Section Gertz Award at the organization’s annual meeting, June 18, in Rosemont. The award “recognizes long-standing, continuing and exceptional commitment by an individual or an organization to the protection or advancement of human rights.”
