Kudos, December 2013

As always, our faculty continue to distinguish themselves with major career accomplishments, bringing great honor to UGA and the Franklin College. Recent honors and awards include:

Debra Mohnen, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Robert A. Scott, professor of chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology and associate vice president for research, were named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Professor of physics Michael Geller was an invited speaker at the BIT third annual World Congress of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the Qujiang International Conference Center in Xi'an, China. The title of Geller's talk was "Universal quantum simulation with prethreshold superconducting qubits."

Geography professor and associate provost for international education Kavita Pandit was elected to the board of directors for NAFSA, the world's largest nonprofit professional association dedicated to international education with nearly 10,000 members in 150 countries.

Richard Steet, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, received $18,000 from the Yash Gandhi Foundation to evaluate mutations in a specific gene that give rise to I-cell disease and Pseudo-Hurler polydystrophy.

Erin Dolan, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and Senior Scholar in Biology Education, and Lillian Eby, professor of psychology and director of the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research, were awarded $382,213 by the National Science Foundation to study mentoring in research universities.

Associate professor of computer science Kang Li received $440,725 from the National Science Foundation to improve the security of cloud computing, which allows users to run applications and access files over the Internet.

Rick LaFleur, Franklin Professor of Classics Emeritus and head of the department of classics 1980-2001, has been awarded the Anthony Papalia Award for Excellence in Teacher Education by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.