Sharon Haar, current professor of architecture and associate dean for research and students at the College of Architecture and the Arts, University of Illinois, Chicago, has been named chair of the architecture program by Monica Ponce de Leon, dean of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. A leader in the field of urban design, Haar will join Taubman College Jan. 1.           

Dr. Huda Akil, the Gardner C. Quarton Professor of Neurosciences in Psychiatry at the Medical School and co-director and senior research professor at the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, has received the Association of American Medical Colleges Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences. A pioneer of systems neuroscience, she has made seminal contributions to the understanding of the neurobiology of emotions and the interplay between pain, anxiety, depression, stress and substance abuse.

Dr. Gilbert S. Omenn has received the Association of American Medical Colleges David E. Rogers Award. A professor of computational medicine and bioinformatics, Internal Medicine, Human Genetics and Public Health, he directs the universitywide Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics as well as the global Human Proteome Project. Over five decades, he has led major public health studies and initiatives, championed the role of academic medical centers, and played a key role in forming health policy.

Stephen Maldonado, assistant professor of chemistry, LSA, has received the 2013 Michigan Green Chemistry Governor’s Award in the academic category. The award recognizes his group’s research on developing simple bench top electrochemical methods to make technologically important semiconductors such as silicon, germanium and gallium arsenide, representing a key step towards greening the semiconductor industry. The award was presented at the Michigan Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference in Grand Rapids.