Category: Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award

Dennis Reidy

on February 18, 2016

Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award 2009

Dennis Reidy, a psychologist now working as an assistant professor at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, conducted research in one of the most difficult areas to study in a scientifically controlled setting—the relationship between aggression and sexuality in modern society. He has published papers on men’s aggression toward women and gay men—in particular, whether these tendencies should be considered psychopathic and whether they are linked to narcissism. Reidy initially designed innovative studies to assess traits, such as psychopathy and narcissism, as risk factors for aggressive and violent behavior; and his subsequent studies sought to identify situational factors that could reduce such behavior. His work has resulted in 10 manuscripts, six of them as first author, and six more are currently under review.

Noha Mesbah

on February 18, 2016

Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award 2009

Noha Mesbah, a microbiologist who will soon be on faculty at Suez Canal University in Egypt, studies how some living micoorganisms survive, even thrive, in extreme environments—in particular, those that exhibit concomitantly high-temperature, high-salt, and high-pH. She has developed innovative approaches for isolating and characterizing a number of novel microbial species representing a novel family and order. Characterizing the physiological processes of these polyextremophiles may one day help to find life in extraterrestrial locales. Mesbah has already published four peer-reviewed articles and is first author on three of four peer-reviewed journal papers derived from this work. She will be first author on at least two more and coauthor on two other manuscripts now in preparation.

Minchi Kim

on February 18, 2016

Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award 2008

Minchi Kim, educational psychology and instructional technology, explored the use of technology in Web-based learning environments at several educational levels. As a doctoral candidate, Kim studied how middle-school students use the Web to learn about general science; in much of her postdoctoral work, she investigated how high-school students learn chemistry by means of Web-based simulations. During her first semester at Purdue University, Kim led a research team in studying how physics graduate students develop physics-teaching skills through the use of a Web-based video analysis tool. Kim’s body of research provides insights for educators about the ways in which students—ranging from the relatively naive to the sophisticated—identify, explore, and solve scientific problems in Web-based learning environments.

Gino D’Angelo

on February 18, 2016

Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award 2008

Gino D’Angelo, a doctoral graduate in wildlife ecology, spearheaded a high-profile research project, funded by the Georgia Department of Transportation, to evaluate strategies for reducing deer-vehicle collisions. To establish a basic knowledge of deer’s sensory responses, D’Angelo first conducted a series of unprecedented laboratory studies of the animals’ hearing and vision capabilities. He then completed a field evaluation of roadside deer-warning reflectors, at Berry College in Northwest Georgia, that were based on these capabilities. The project, which required creative experimental design innovations, yielded a large amount of statistically valid data. As a result of this work, D’Angelo was invited to present his findings at several major national and international scientific conferences. The project’s overwhelming success prompted the Georgia DOT to award an additional $300K for follow-up research based on D’Angelo’s proposal.

Mariana Souto-Manning

on February 18, 2016

Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award 2007

Mariana Souto-Manning, a recent doctoral graduate in language education, established critical narrative analysis as a novel and creative methodology that combines critical discourse and narrative analyses in a mutually beneficial union. She applied this significant qualitative research methodology as a scholar of bilingualism in the early years. In her recently published article in the Bilingual Research Journal, she employs critical narrative analysis to question the legitimacy of specific bilingualism discourses in two Southeastern public schools. Her work shows how bilingualism discourse continues to reflect a deficit orientation and how such an orientation affects students’ educational experiences. Published in the summer of 2006, her work is already being employed by researchers in the U.S., China, Thailand and Israel. She is now an assistant professor in UGA’s Department of Child and Family Development.

Jolly Mazumdar

on February 18, 2016

Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award 2007

Jolly Mazumdar, a recent doctoral graduate in cellular biology, designed, performed and published experiments of exceptional clarity that led to a breakthrough in understanding the fatty acid metabolism of Toxoplasma, an important human parasite. Her work directly benefits drug development programs for several infectious diseases, including malaria and toxoplasmosis. She performed a number of careful studies in tissue culture and mouse models to demonstrate the essentiality of the pathway for sustained parasite growth, both in culture and for pathogenesis in the animal. In the process, she also produced an important data set that will help researchers move forward with this research. Her outstanding research and presentation skills led to a prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where she is working in a leading cancer research lab.

Kesannair Praveen

on February 18, 2016

Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award 2006

Kesannair Praveen, a recent doctoral graduate in infectious diseases, explores different ways of killing tumor cells and virus-infected cells. While at UGA, he discovered and described unique genes from T cells and natural killer cells, which are integral to the body’s defensive process. Once these genes were isolated, Praveen was able to clone them and study how the two types of cells are different, which is illuminating the ways that different aspects of the immune system combat cancer. He is now a member of a leading cancer immunology research team at the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago.

Carrie B. Oser

on February 18, 2016

Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award 2006

Carrie B. Oser, a recent doctoral graduate in sociology, uses a combination of analytical methods to study the effects of different substance-use programs. She looks not only at clients’ results, but also how these programs affect the agencies and communities in which they play a role, including exploring HIV-risk reduction in rural probationers and the effectiveness of underage drinking and prenatal substance abuse interventions. Currently an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky, she is PI or Co-PI on grants from NIH/National Institutes on Drug Abuse that total over four million dollars.

Hannah K. Knudsen

on February 18, 2016

Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award 2005

Hannah K. Knudsen, a recent doctoral graduate in sociology, analyzes decision-making processes in large organizations. Her research encompasses many areas, including drug abuse treatment programs and the mental health effects of the September 11^th terrorist attacks. Drawing on earlier work on drug abuse in the workplace, she determined that although Americans mourned the lives lost in the September 11^th attacks, there was no lasting impact in terms of alcohol consumption and depression. As an assistant research scientist at the Center for Research on Behavioral Health and Human Services Delivery, Dr. Knudsen’s current work focuses on implementation of drug-abuse treatment innovations. Substance-abuse treatment organizations have considerable difficulties changing their practices due in part to high employee turnover rates. She helped identify the behaviors that cause this problem and now is finding ways to reduce turnover in the workplace. Dr. Knudsen’s publication record “unparalleled in scope and productivity,” said Thomas F. Hilton, Program Official for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. She has published 10 journal articles in the past two years and participated in five conference presentations in 2004.

Rupal Thazhath

on February 18, 2016

Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award 2005

Rupal Thazhath, a recent doctoral graduate in cellular biology, studies a little-understood mechanism that affects normal cell functions such as movement and cell division. Cells have an internal support system of filaments made of a protein called tubulin. These filaments also occur in motile, hair-like structures called cilia found in many tissues including lungs. Dr. Thazhath analyzed changes that occur in tubulin during cell division. She discovered that if tubulin does not undergo an obscure biochemical process called glycylation, a cell will not divide but may develop multiple nuclei and eventually swell grotesquely or die. She also discovered that the process of glycylation controls assembly of cilia. Many types of diseases are caused by abnormal function of cilia including polycystic kidney disease, respiratory distress and infertility. Dr. Thazhath’s discoveries — which her nominators called “stunning and unexpected” — was published in Nature Cell Biology, Molecular Biology of the Cell and The Journal of Cell Biology. She was an invited speaker at the 2003 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology’s Ciliate Molecular Biology Conference.