Eight UO scientists honored with 2009 Research Innovation Awards
Eight University of Oregon faculty members were honored June 4 as the 2009 recipients of the UO Research Innovation Awards from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies for outstanding achievements in their fields.
The eight winners were:
Gregory Bothun and Raymond Frey, both of the physics department; Jennifer J. Freyd, psychology; Eugene Humphreys and Ray Weldon, geological sciences; James A. Isenberg, mathematics; Shawn Lockery, biology; and David R. Tyler, chemistry.
Greg Bothun
Bothun has published some 200 research articles, mentored 19 doctoral students in observational astrophysics and authored a often-used graduate-level textbook.
He has been a national leader in innovator in the use of instructional technology and the delivery of course materials.
Ray Frey
Frey works in the world of elementary particles, or high-energy, physics. He played a key role in experiments that discovered W and Z particles, international work that contributed to the foundational construct of modern physics.
He has published more than 500 papers.
Jennifer Freyd
Freyd, a leader in the psychology of trauma, studies the causes and impacts of interpersonal violence such as child abuse.
She was a Presidential Young Investigator and is a fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation and American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Eugene Humphreys
Humphreys studies the physical processes involved in continental tectonics and volcanism. His research has taken him throughout the western U.S., the Andes Mountains and western Mediterranean.
He is a fellow of the Geological Society of America and American Geophysical Union.
Ray Weldon
Weldon, named a Presidential Young Investigator in 1990, focuses on active geological faults and earthquakes, providing insights that have been incorporated into earthquake forecasting and insurance rates.
Through his international efforts, he has worked, taught and collected colleagues throughout the world.
James Isenberg
Isenberg pursues equations important to the understanding of such things as black holes, wormholes, gravitational radiation and the Big Bang.
He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and has been a fellow at institutes in Germany, England, Austria, Sweden and France.
Shawn Lockery
Lockery studies lowly roundworms but he has shed insight on the cellular mechanisms of information processing underlying human and animal behavior.
He is a Guggenheim Fellow and winner of the National Institutes of Health Career Award and two young investigator awards.
David Tyler
Tyler is known for creating plastic that is environmentally friendly -- degrading into harmless chemicals -- and for speeding chemical reactions, which allowed for new methods for making ammonia.
Author of 180 research articles, he also studies how light interacts with molecules.
This year's winners all came from the Science Division of the UO's College of Arts and Sciences. They were noted for their collective work in the liberal arts tradition that "contributes to the thriving and essential study of the natural and physical sciences."
"Science and Innovation" was the focus for this year's awards, which were presented during a two-hour, well attended ceremony in the Erb Memorial Union. The ceremony was sponsored by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF) and Klarquist Sparkman LLP, which provides legal services to businesses, universities, government agencies and individuals in the areas of patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright procurement, licensing, enforcement and defense.
More about the awards and past winners
(All photos by Jack Liu)
