Awards
John Vandermeer, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, Margaret Davis Collegiate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and professor of natural resources and environment, LSA, will receive the 2009 Imes and Moore Faculty Award for exceptional contributions toward recruiting and mentoring graduate students in the natural sciences who come from disadvantaged and non-traditional backgrounds. He will receive a certificate of recognition and $3,000 at the fall meeting of LSA faculty.
Jianzhi Zhang, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, LSA, has been awarded a four-year, $1.2 million National Institutes of Health grant to pursue functional genomic approaches to duplicate gene evolution. The grant will allow Zhang and researchers to tackle a series of questions regarding functional divergence of duplicate genes, by computational and experimental studies.
L. Lacey Knowles, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and associate curator, Museum of Zoology, LSA, has been awarded a Visiting Miller Research Professorship Award from the University of California, Berkeley, for fall 2009. Her project involves working with empiricists and population genetics theoreticians across departments and museums to explore biodiversity dynamics and more.
The Frontiers Master’s Program team has won the inaugural U-M Distinguished Diversity Leaders Award. The team includes Deborah Goldberg, Elzada U. Clover Collegiate Professor of Ecology an Evolutionary Biology; Mark Hunter, program chair and professor of natural resources and environment; Beverly Rathcke, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and associate chair for graduate studies; and Christy Byks-Jazayeri, graduate program assistant and recruiter. The award was created to honor those who demonstrate extraordinary commitment and dedication to diversity at U-M. An event is planned for May 5 to recognize the winners. The prize is $2,500 for professional development activities.
