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Associates Award for Creativity in Research

Download Nomination Guidelines

Nomination Deadline: Extended to NOVEMBER 2, 2007. Please send materials to the Office of Research Advancement, CUB-325, Mail Code 0706.

Overview

The Associates Awards for Creativity in Research are the highest honors the university faculty can bestow on its members for distinguished intellectual and artistic achievements.

Creativity in research includes the written publication of ideas, artistic creation, and artistic performance. Creativity may stem from a single brilliant idea or from a signficant body of work that forms a coherent whole. Creativity in research leads to major impacts on a discipline, on the interface between different disciplines, or on the creation of viable new areas of scholarly inquiry.

2007 Recipients of The Associates Award for Creativity in Research

Cheng-Ming Choung, Professor of Pathology

Cheng-Ming Chuong is a pathbreaking medical biologist whose scholarship follows a unique course to answer fundamental questions about the inner workings of nature. His work explores anatomical features of animals order to address questions ranging from morphogenesis – that is, why organs, tissues, and the cells which comprise them take the shapes and forms that they do – to stem cell regeneration.

Dr. Chuong’s experiments examine, at the molecular and cellular level, the mechanisms that determine the exquisite patterns of feathers, or how it is that chicken beaks and duck bills are formed differently. These experiments probe fundamental aspects of human and animal biology. But they also point the way toward potential breakthroughs in medicine in areas such as stem cell differentiation and tissue regeneration, and in techniques for effective tissue replacement and engineering.

His research has received prominent placement in the nation’s leading scientific publications: His recent articles have appeared in the journals Science and Nature. His scholarship draws the attention and admiration of researchers in many different fields because of the multifaceted approach he employs, using the tools of biology, paleontology, and engineering to explore the parameters of anatomical development.

Dr. Chuong has received numerous prestigious grants and awards from federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. The impact of his work stretches far beyond the university’s walls, and is regularly highlighted in newspaper and television features.

As a recent commentary in the journal Science noted regarding his work, “Darwin would be pleased,” an appropriate testimony to the importance and creativity of his research.

Mark Thompson, Professor of Chemistry

The research of Mark Thompson, Professor of Chemistry, combines rigorous study of the fundamental characteristics of novel materials with its imaginative application to cutting-edge technologies.

Prof. Thompson’s work explores the molecular building blocks of materials used throughout industry, medicine, and consumer technology. His research has led to major advances in high-efficiency organic light-emitting diodes, which can be placed on thin films and used to generate light in products ranging from flat-panel video screens to new types of room lighting on flexible plastic sheets. He has built on this work to create new kinds of organic solar cells as well.

Prof. Thompson has also made key contributions in biomedical engineering via the development of nanotube and nanowire human implants which serve as sensors for numerous specific molecules within the body.

His research has led to over 70 patents, and to major collaborations with other universities and with corporations across the globe. Prof. Thompson’s work thus is not only of profound importance to his colleagues within the academy, but to society as well: The technologies his lab has developed are already on their way to being an integral part of the cell phones, televisions, lighting, and medical devices of tomorrow.

Previous Recipients

1963
Busemann, Herbert, Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Webb, John L., Pharmacology

1964
Anton, Bruce R., Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Giulford, J. P., Letters, Arts and Sciences

1965
Lovell, Colin R., Letters, Arts, and Sciences
McElderry, Bruce R., Letters, Arts, and Sciences

1966
Christensen, Francis, Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Hartman, Olga, Biological Sciences

1967
Bandy, Orville L., Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Waterman, John T., Letters, Arts, and Sciences

1968
Brodie, Arnold F., Biological Sciences
Golomb, Solomon W., Electrical Engineering/Systems

1969
Grings, William W., Psychology
Spitzer, William G., Physics, Astronomy, Electrophysics

1970
Adamson, Arthur W., Chemistry
Schulz, Max F., English

1971
Bavetta, Lucien A., Dentistry
Porto, Sergio P. S., Letters, Arts, and Sciences

1973
Dunn, Arnold, Biological Sciences
Moote, A. Lloyd, History

1974
Greene, Donald J., English
Taylor, Howard S., Chemistry

1975
Dales, Richard C., History
Moore, Sally F., Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Vogt, Peter K., Microbiology

1976
Hellwarth, Robert W., Electrical Engineering
McClelland, Charles A., Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Parker, Hershel, Letters, Arts, and Sciences

1977
Stephens, Philip J., Chemistry

1978
Bessman, Samuel P., Pharmacology & Nutrition
Schnepp, Otto O., Letters, Arts, and Sciences

1979
Bau, Robert, Chemistry
Birren, James E., Psychology

1980
Ritcheson, Charles, History
Slavkin, Harold C., Dentistry
Stone, Christopher D., Law

1981
O'Toole, James, Management & Organization
Warshel, Arieh, Chemistry

1982
Cope, Jackson I., Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Heidelberger, Charles, Medicine

1983
Jones, Peter A., Biological Chemistry
Wittig, Curt F., Physics

1984
Benson, Sydner W., Chemistry
Maki, Kazumi, Physics

1985
Finch, Caleb E., Gerontology
Olah, George A., Chemistry

1986
Reed, Christopher A., Chemistry
Rosenau, James N., International Relations

1987
Massry, Shaul G., Medicine
Pollack, Daniel, Music

1988
Benedict, William F., Pediatrics
Reed, Irving S., Electrical Engineering

1989
Banner, Lois W., S.W.M.S.
Lawler III, Edward E., Business Administration

1990
Dalton, Larry R., Chemistry
Goldstein, Joshua S., International Relations

1991
Bengston, Vern L., Gerontology
Breuer, Melvin A., Electrical Engineering

1992
Susskind, Miram M., Molecular Biology
Waterman, Michael S., Biological Sciences

1993
Aki, Kei, Geological Sciences
Dear, Micheal J., Geography

1994
Resnik, Judith, Law
Garmire, Elsa, Electrical Engineering

1995
Bergman, Richard N., Physiology & Biophysics
Kinder, Marsha, Cinema Television

1996
Adleman, Leonard, Computer Science
Pike, Malcolm, Preventive Medicine

1997
Klein, Malcolm W., Letters, Arts and Sciences
Aoun, Joseph, Letters, Arts and Sciences

1998
Barnouw, Dagmar, Letters, Arts and Sciences
Lai, Michael, Microbiology

1999
Biederman, Irving, Letters, Arts and Sciences
Shih, Jean C., Pharmacy

2000
Prakash, G.K. Surya, Chemistry
Thompson, Richard F., Psychology & Biological Sciences

2001
Myron F. Goodman, Molecular Biology
William H. Steier, Electrical Engineering

2002
Barry Glassner, Sociology
Charles G. Sammis, Geophysics/Materials Science

2003
Adrian Raine, Psychology
John E. Wills, Jr., Chinese History

2004
Terence Langdon, Engineering
Elyn Saks, Law

2005
Stephen Hartke, Music
Larry Swanson, Biological Sciences, Psychology & Neurology

2006
Theodore Berger, Biomedical Engineering
David James, Critical Studies

Last updated: Thursday, July 17, 2008, 1:33pm PDT