Three professors in the College of Letters & Science have received Vilas Research Professorships, created by the trustees of the estate of professor, Senator and Regent William F. Vilas for the advancement of learning.
Mark S. Seidenberg (Psychology), Gurindar "Guri" Sohi (Computer Sciences) and Monica Turner (Zoology) were among seven University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty members honored Monday with the awards.
Candidates for the professorships possess unusual qualifications and promise, having been recognized nationally and internationally for the quality of their research. The professorships provide a $10,000 salary supplement, $50,000 annually for research expenses and a retirement supplement for faculty who serve at least 15 years as a Vilas Research Professor.
Seidenberg
Seidenberg, the Hilldale and Donald O. Hebb Professor of Psychology, investigates basic questions about the nature of language and how it is acquired, used and represented in the brain. He studies reading acquisition in children, the causes of dyslexia, low reading achievement in minority children, and spoken language acquisition, using the tools of modern cognitive neuroscience: behavioral research, computational models and neuroimaging.
The co-director of the Language & Cognitive Neuroscience Lab in the Department of Psychology, he has pioneered the use of computational models to link behavior and its neurobiological bases.
Sohi
Sohi has been at UW-Madison since 1985 and is the John P. Morgridge Professor and E. David Cronon Professor of Computer Science. His specialty is computer architecture: the design of computer hardware. His research has focused on the design of high-performance microprocessors and computer systems, the results of which can be found in almost every high-end microprocessor on the market today.
He has taught classes ranging from introductory courses to the advanced graduate level, and many former students are employed by leading computer companies. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Turner
Turner, the Eugene P. Odum Professor of Ecology in the Department of Zoology, is a pioneer in the field of landscape ecology. She has conducted research in Yellowstone National Park on the role of forest fires, insect outbreaks and climate change for more than 25 years.
Turner also studies ecological effects of land-use and climate change in Wisconsin, how past and current land-use patterns affect Southern Appalachian forests, and how to sustain our landscapes in the face of environmental change. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, she is currently president-elect of the Ecological Society of America.
Meanwhile, six L&S faculty members were named to Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorships, an award recognizing distinguished scholarship as well as standout efforts in teaching and service. Overall, 15 UW-Madison professors received awards.
The professorship provides $75,000 in flexible funding over five years — two-thirds of which is provided by the Office of the Provost through the generosity of the Vilas trustees, and one-third provided by the school or college whose dean nominated the winner.
The L&S Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorship recipients were:
- Amy Barger (Astronomy), an observational cosmologist who studies galaxies and supermassive black holes in the distant universe
- Kristin Eschenfelder (Library and Information Studies), who researches information access, sharing and rights management
- Shi Jin (Mathematics), who works on numerical computation and applied analysis of physical problems
- Stephen Kantrowitz (History), a historian of race, politics and citizenship in the 19th-century United States
- Rob Nixon (English), an award-winning author who works on environmental literature, postcolonial studies, creative nonfiction, African literature, world literature and 20th-century British literature
- Susan Webb Yackee (Public Affairs and Political Science), who researches and teaches about the U.S. policy-making process, public management, regulation, administrative law and interest group politics