Honors and Accolades

Polansky Wins Lazarus Award...Susan Polansky, teaching professor of Spanish, won the 2006 Barbara Lazarus Award for Culture and Climate. Lazarus, who died in 2003, was associate provost for academic affairs. The award, which is given every year by President Jared L. Cohon as part of the university's Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, is awarded to faculty and staff who, like Lazarus, have demonstrated extraordinary leadership and demonstrable impact on improving the culture and climate in the Carnegie Mellon community. "We all know that Susan has established, and maintains, exceptionally strong standards in terms of ensuring that the culture and the climate of Modern Languages is warm, welcoming and supportive," said department head Dick Tucker. For more, see http://www.cmu.edu/cmnews/extra/060120_polansky.html.

Rousseau Named Sunningdale Institute Fellow...The U.K.’s National School of Government has named Denise M. Rousseau, H.J. Heinz II Professor of Organization Behavior, one of the first fellows of its Sunningdale Institute, a group of internationally rated academics and industry figures that advises government and public service organizations on operational and delivery issues. The institute offers knowledge exchange, consultancy, and learning and development activities for senior public servants. Fellows are available as speakers and to lead research projects, give advice to organizations and teams, and produce advisory documents. For more, see http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/whatsnew/2006/Rousseau.html.

Barth Receives Grant to Develop Seizure-Preventing Therapy...Alison Barth, assistant professor of biological sciences, has received a $50,000 grant from the Milken Family Foundation to accelerate the development of a novel therapy to treat epilepsy. Barth has developed a new approach to study the electrical activity of neurons following a seizure. Recent findings from Barth's lab show that the abnormal electrical activity of neurons following a seizure can be restored to normal by blocking a specific ion channel. Ion channels allow electrically charged atoms (or ions) into and out of cells. This activity starts and stops the electrical impulses by which neurons communicate with one another. For more, see http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/051209_epilepsy.html.

Designers Chosen to Present at “PGH 100”...Several School of Design faculty and students were chosen to make presentations at the “PGH 100,” the annual show of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the AIGA, the professional association of design. Student participants included Andy Babb, Tammy Chang, Michael Sui, Margaret Szeto and James Soracco. Faculty participants were Kristin Hughes (for design of the School of Drama posters) and Stacie Rohrbach (for design of the alumni newsletter).

Bier Receives NSF Funding To Build Mass Spectrometer...Mark Bier, associate research professor and director of the Center for Molecular Analysis in the Department of Chemistry, has received a $546,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Instrument Development for Biological Research program to build a heavy-ion mass spectrometer. This one-of-a-kind device will characterize with unprecedented sensitivity large biomolecules, such as protein complexes, virus particles and DNA. It may also provide a new tool for analyzing large man-made polymers used in nanotechnology. "This is a new frontier in mass spectrometry research," said Bier. "We anticipate that this work will help to advance research in proteomics, virology, molecular biology and nanotechnology." For more, see http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases06/060110_heavyion.html.

Goodstein and Schweizer Earn Luce Fellowships...Michelle Goodstein and Vanessa Schweizer have each earned a Clare Booth Luce Fellowship, which promotes the advancement of American women through higher education in the sciences, engineering and mathematics. Goodstein is a Ph.D. student in computer science and Schweizer is a doctoral student in engineering and public policy. For more, see http://www.cmu.edu/cmnews/extra/051101_luce.html.

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