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Faculty and Student Highlights

Taryn Allen (Ph.D. candidate, Psychology & Neurosciences) was awarded the Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Child Psychology Graduate Student Fellowship by the American Psychology Association (APA).

Wilkins Aquino (Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering) has joined the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. Professor Aquino comes to Duke from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has broad interests in computational mechanics, including computational inverse problems and their applications in engineering and biomedicine, chemo-mechanics, machine learning in mechanics, multiscale problems, fluid-structure interaction, acoustics-structure interaction, and generalized finite element methods, among others. He is also a member of the fields of Applied Mathematics, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, and Computational Science and Engineering at Cornell University.

Staci Bilbo (Assistant Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience) has been awarded the Frank Beach Award in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology for showing exceptional promise for making significant contributions to the field of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology.

Elizabeth Brannon (Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience) is the co-editor of the book Space, Time and Number in the Brain, a study of mathematical cognition and the ways in which the ideas of space, time and number are encoded in brain circuitry, a fundamental issue for neuroscience.

Harris Cooper (Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience) has started a new psychology journal, Archives of Scientific Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association.

Marc Deshusses (Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering) is the new director of the Energy Engineering Degree program. He will begin working with the Engineering Faculty Council this fall.

Dwayne Dixon (Ph.D. candidate in Cultural Anthropology) has donated his zine collection to the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture. Dixon’s donation includes a variety of zines on punk music, feminism and general activism from the the 1980s and 1990s.

Jeffrey Farner-Budarz (5th-year Ph.D. student, Civil and Environmental Engineering) has received the 2012 Jeffrey Taub award. The Jeffrey Taub Award is voted on annually by the environmental engineering students and goes to the current student who best exhibits maturity of thought and independence, and who best integrates past training with the environmental engineering profession. Jeff’s advisor is Professor Mark Wiesner.

Xue Feng (3rd-year Ph.D. student, Civil and Environmental Engineering) has been awarded a 2012 Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. In her doctoral research, Xue aims to study how seasonal and interannual climate variability propagates through seasonally dry ecosystems (such as in the northeast region of Brazil), by building theoretical models with probabilistic frameworks. Understanding the connections between climate and hydrology, biogeochemical cycling, as well as plant and ecosystem response will provide a basis for evaluating sustainable management efforts in seasonally dry regions. The fellowship will provide a 3-year annual stipend of $30,000 along with a $10,500 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees. Xue is a student of Professor Amilcare Porporato.

Tierney Foster-Wittig (4th-year Ph.D. student, Civil & Environmental Engineering) has been selected as a fellow in the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training Program (IGERT) in Wireless Intelligent Sensor Networks (WISeNET), which began June 1, 2012. The fellowship is for 12 months and is provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Tierney is a student of Professor John Albertson.

Brian Goldstone (Ph.D. Cultural Anthropology ’12) has accepted a position as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Society of Fellows in the Humanities at Columbia University.

Kristina Jacobsen (Ph.D. Cultural Anthropology ’12) has accepted a position as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Northern Arizona University in the Department of Anthropology.

Kendra Kaiser (1st year Ph.D. student, Earth & Ocean Sciences) has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Louisa Lombard (Ph.D. Cultural Anthropology ’12) has accepted a position as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

David Needham (Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering) will establish the Center for Single Particle Science and Engineering at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Denmark. His research will be supported over the next five years by $5 million from the Danish National Research Foundation, plus $1 million for the host university. Dr. Needham is one of six international scientists to receive this award.

Jeffrey Peirce (Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering) has been appointed the Director of Graduate Studies in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Desiree Plata (Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering) has joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She comes to Duke after serving as a visiting professor in the Department of Chemistry at Mount Holyoke College and as a visiting professor in the Departments of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. Her work focuses on the development of novel chemicals, materials, and engineered systems to include performance, cost and environmental metrics.

Dimitri Putilin (Ph.D. candidate, Psychology & Neurosciences) was awarded the Kenan Instructorship in Ethics. The title of his course is “Ethics Through the Looking Glass: Religious and Psychological Perspectives.”

David Rubin (Juanita M. Kreps Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience) received an honorary degree from Denmark’s Aarhus University on September 14, 2012.

Grace Schwartz (3rd-year Ph.D. student, Civil and Environmental Engineering) has been awarded a 3-year graduate scholarship from the Environmental Research and Education Foundation to support her research on the potential risks associated with coal combustion products and their disposal. Grace is a student of Professor Heileen Hsu-Kim.

Guglielmo Scovazzi (Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering) has joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He received an M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. Before coming to Duke, he was a Senior Member of the Technical Staff in the Computer Science Research Institute at Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM). Dr. Scovazzi’s research interests include finite element and advanced numerical methods for computational fluid and solid mechanics. His research emphasizes accurate computational methods aimed at reducing the overall design/analysis costs in multiphase porous media flows, highly transient compressible and incompressible flows, turbulent flows, and complex geometry systems in solid mechanics.

Kathleen Sikkema (Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience) developed a mental health intervention that was added this month to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP).

Andrew Stershic (2nd year Ph.D. student, Civil and Environmental Engineering) has been awarded a Computational Science Graduate Fellowship from the Department of Energy. In his doctoral research, Andrew aims to build multi-scale computational models that permit the efficient consideration of micro-scale fracture of brittle materials (e.g., concrete) within structure-scale analysis, with special consideration of impact loading. Such analysis will allow for greater safety and reliability in civil engineering structures, especially in cases of extraordinary loads, such as the impact of explosives on a concrete high-rise or on a nuclear reactor. The fellowship will provide full tuition plus a $36,000 yearly stipend for up to four years. Andrew is a student of Professor John Dolbow.

Ashley Thomson (3rd-year Ph.D. student, Civil and Environmental Engineering) was granted a Vietnam Fulbright U.S. Student Program for ten months, beginning September 2012. This program provides grants to colleges and universities to fund individual doctoral students who conduct research in other countries, in modern foreign languages and area studies for periods of six to 12 months. Ashley is a student of Professor Claudia Gunsch.

Jonathan Ticknor (2nd-year Ph.D. student, Civil & Environmental Engineering) has been awarded a Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Fellowship. This 3-year award will support his efforts to study mercury nanogeochemistry in the environment and develop a predictive model for mercury bioavailability in contaminated ecosystems. Jonathan is a student of Professor Heileen Hsu-Kim.

Anna Wilson (3rd-year Ph.D. student, Civil and Environmental Engineering) has been awarded a 2012 Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. In her doctoral research, Anna will investigate the microphysical processes playing a role in orographic enhancement of convection and tropical cyclones propagating across the Southern Appalachians. A quantitative understanding of the microphysical processes taking place will illuminate appropriate strategies to prepare populations for extreme hydrological events and to develop sustainable water management practices in the many areas across the globe situated at the foothills of major mountain ranges. The fellowship will provide $12,000 per year towards tuition plus a $30,000 yearly stipend for 3 years. Anna is a student of Professor Ana Barros.

Sarah Wilson (Ph.D. candidate, Psychology & Neurosciences) co-hosted the workshop “Working to Improve the Lives of Women with Obstetric Fistula” in Moshi, Tanzania with Assistant Professor Melissa Watt of the Duke Global Health Institute.

Tiffany Wilson (4th-year Ph.D. student, Civil and Environmental Engineering) has accepted an appointment as a fellow in the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training Program (IGERT) in Wireless Intelligent Sensor Networks (WISeNET), which began June 1, 2012. This Fellowship is for 12 months and is provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Tiffany is a student of Professor John Albertson.

Professor Hsu-Kim Receives Presidential Early Career Award

Heileen Hsu-Kim (Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering) has been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. for scientists in the early stages of their research careers. Awardees are selected for their pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and their commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach. Dr. Hsu-Kim’s work focuses on the interactions of mercury with the environment. The White House press release is available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/23/president-obama-honors-outstanding-early-career-scientists

Music Department's Mini-Symposium Marks Graduate Student’s Discovery of Lost Sonata

On Friday, September 7, 2012 the Department of Music presented a mini-symposium to mark the discovery by Duke graduate student Angela Mace of the manuscript of Fanny Hensel's Easter Sonata. Susan Youens of Notre Dame gave a talk comparing the settings of Heinrich Heine's poetry by Fanny Hensel and Clara Schumann. Mace and her advisor, R. Larry Todd, gave short presentations about the Easter Sonata, followed by a discussion. Following the symposium, pianist Andrea Lam performed the Easter Sonata as part of a concert by the Claremont Trio, presented by Duke Performances.