David E. Meyer, known as one of the most famous psychologists living today, has been selected as the 2016 Henry Russel Lecturer. It is one of the university’s highest honors for a senior member of its active faculty.
Meyer is the Clyde H. Coombs and J.E. Keith Smith Distinguished University Professor of Mathematical and Cognitive Psychology and professor of psychology, LSA.
His selection as the Henry Russel Lecturer recognizes his research that has appeared in numerous books and scientific periodicals, and his prolific mentorship of young scholars. Meyer has helped produce generations of highly productive cognitive scientists taking professional positions at major universities and research institutions throughout the U.S. and overseas.
In addition, four faculty researchers will receive the Henry Russel Award, one of the highest honors the university bestows upon junior faculty. They are:
• Julia Adler-Milstein, assistant professor of information, School of Information, and assistant professor of health management and policy, School of Public Health.
• Jeremy N. Bassis, assistant professor of atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences, College of Engineering, and assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, LSA.
• Clare H. Croft, assistant professor of dance, School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
• Christopher R. Friese, assistant professor of nursing and assistant research scientist, School of Nursing.
The honorees are selected for recommendation by the Russel Awards Faculty Advisory Committee. It is chaired by Janet A. Weiss, dean of the Rackham Graduate School.
The Henry Russel Lectureship is awarded each year to a U-M professor in recognition of exceptional achievements in research, scholarship or creative endeavors, and an outstanding record of teaching, mentoring and service.
Meyer will deliver the Russel lecture Feb. 22, 2016.
Meyer’s teaching and research are sponsored by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Mental Health, and Office of Naval Research. They have dealt with fundamental aspects of human perception, attention, learning, memory, language, movement production, reaction time, multitasking, executive mental control, human-computer interaction, personality and cognitive style, cognitive aging, cognitive neuroscience, mathematical models and computational models.
Reports of his research have appeared in books and periodicals such as Science, Psychological Review, Cognitive Psychology, Memory & Cognition, Journal of Experimental Psychology, and Journal of Memory and Language. Reports on his research also have appeared in volumes of the Attention and Performance symposium series, among other publications.
Meyer also has served extensively on journal editorial boards, grant review panels, and administrative committees in his professional field. Meyer is a fellow in the Society of Experimental Psychologists, American Psychological Society, American Psychological Association, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
The American Psychological Association has honored him with its Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, and he received the William James Award for Lifetime Scientific Contributions from the Association for Psychological Science.
Adler-Milstein, who joined the university faculty in 2011, focuses research on policy and management issues related to the use of information technology in health care delivery.
She examines the progress of health IT adoption, its impact on health care costs and quality, and the relationship between organizational structure and health IT use. Her work on health IT adoption focuses on health information exchange.
Her 34 publications in peer-reviewed journals have appeared in Health Affairs, Disease Management, American Journal of Managed Care, and Annals of Internal Medicine and Management Science, among many others. Her awards and fellowships include the American Medical Informatics Association New Investigator Award and Carnegie Junior Faculty Development Fellowship.
Bassis, who joined the faculty in 2009, is a world leader in glaciology. His research studies the often complicated array of dynamic processes that affect the evolution of ice sheets and glaciers and how they interact with and respond to past, present and future climate change.
He was the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. Currently, Bassis has support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Department of Energy for eight current grants and projects.
His community engagement also is notable. He initiated a partnership with elementary school science teachers in the Ypsilanti school district. The goal is to increase awareness of Earth and polar science among underrepresented minorities through hands-on activities.
Croft specializes in American dance of the 20th and 21st centuries, cultural policy, feminist and queer theory, and critical race theory. Croft asks how history might look differently if dancers, audiences and choreographers were seen as equal partners in creating meaning in dance.
From 2002-05, Croft worked in the Dance and Media programs of the National Endowment for the Arts. She has served on the board of directors of the Congress on Research in Dance, and on national arts grant selection panels.
Her writing about dance has appeared in professional journals and in several daily newspapers including The Washington Post. She recently published “Dancers as Diplomats,” is editing the anthology “Meanings and Makings of Queer Dance,” and a website of performances documented in the Duderstadt Video Studio. Croft has received the American Society of Theatre Research’s Biennial Sally Banes Publication Prize, and won the Society of Dance History Scholar’s Selma Jeanne Cohen Award.
Friese’s program of research is focused on the improvement of quality of care for cancer patients. Active projects include an outcomes effectiveness study of Magnet hospital care for surgical patients, and an examination of nursing practice environments in outpatient chemotherapy settings. He lectures widely on evidence-based oncology nursing practice, nursing work force, and health care policy.
His research has been published in Medical Care, Cancer, Health Services Research, Nursing Research, and has been presented at national and international meetings. In 2008, Friese was awarded a Pathway to Independence research grant to study outcomes of care for patients with cancer from the National Institute of Nursing Research.
He was named to the Scientific Program Committee for Health Services Research of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing as a Fellow. Most recently, he received the Rosemary Carroll-Johnson Distinguished Award for Consistent Contributions to the Nursing Literature.
The Russel Award and the Henry Russel Lectureship were established in 1925 with a bequest from Henry Russel of Detroit. He received three degrees from U-M.
