VT College of Science Quarterly August 2014 Vol. 1 No. 1 | Page 8

– Ann Stevens recently
completed the research
residence component of
the American Society for
Microbiology/NSF Biology
Scholars Program. This
is an interdisciplinary
program for biologists
Ann Stevens
committed to improving
undergraduate biology education based on
evidence of student learning. The scholars are
selected through a competitive process that
identifies teaching excellence and national
leadership.
– Mike Strickland is the first author on a
paper with colleagues from Yale, Duke, and
Hebrew Universities. The paper, “Trophic cascade alters ecosystem carbon exchange” was
published in PNAS in July.
­– Birgit Scharf received a National Science
Foundation Career award of $897,000 over
five years.
– Brent Opell received a four-year National
Science Foundation grant with colleagues at
the University of Akron. The collaborative
award of $945,000 includes $423,000 for the
the Opell lab.
– Revathy Ramachandran, a doctoral student
in the Stevens lab, married
Raj Kishore Kamalanathsharma, a graduate
student in civil and environmental engineering, in
India July 14.

STATISTICS

Revathy Ramachandran and Raj Kishore
Kamalanathsharma

– Jonathan Stallings, a
LISA grad student, was the
first author on a PNAS paper about a metric to
measure collaboration and scientific impact.

MATHEMATICS

– Bud Brown received
the 2013 Mathematical
Association of America’s
Allendoerfer Award in
August for his paper “Why
Ellipses Are Not Elliptic
Curves” published in
June 2012 in Mathemat- Bud Brown
ics Magazine. This is the
sixth award Brown has received since 2000
from the Mathematical Association of America
which gives awards each year for excellence
in expository writing. Brown has received the

8

College of Science Quarterly

George Polya Award in 2000, 2001, and 2006,
and the Allendoerfer Award in 2003, 2010,
and 2013.

detection research and development, neutrino based
reactor monitoring for national security, and studies
PSYCHOLOGY
of fluxes for underground
– Richard Winett, was
detector development.
an author on a paper pub– Mitsuhiro (Mitsu)
lished by PLOS-One titled
Murayama has been
Mitsu Murayama
“Low and High-Volume of
awarded a 3M NontenIntensive Endurance Trainured Faculty Award for his work in three
ing Significantly Improves
dimensional transmission electron microMaximal Oxygen Uptake Richard Winett
scopy. The 3M Nontenured Faculty Award,
after 10 weeks of Training
previously known as the Non-tenured Faculty
in Healthy Men.
Grant (NTFG), is highly competitive and was
created more than 25 years ago by the 3M
PHYSICS
– The First Annual Kimballton Underground Technical Community in partnership with the
3M Community Giving Program, in order to
Research Facility User Group Meeting was
held in June at Virginia Tech. The facility hosts invest in individuals who will lead university
nine experimental groups from 13 universities teaching and research. The awards provide
$15,000 per year until tenure is achieved, for
and national laboratories and showcased the
up to three years. The program aims to help
experiments at KURF including Dark Matter
searches, solar neutrino detection research and promising faculty earn tenure and contribute
development, fundamental neutrino property to their academic fields.

Three earn teaching awards
Three members of the College of
Science have earned the Dr. Carroll B.
Shannon Excellence in Teaching Award.
The awards were presented to: Madeline
Schreiber, Associate Professor of Geosciences; Dana Hawley, Assistant Professor
of Biological Sciences; and Marlow Lemons, Advanced Statistics Instructor.
The award, made possible by an endowment established by Peter and Carroll
Shannon, is bestowed annually to faculty
members who demonstrate outstanding
teaching skills and methods, and dedication to learning.
Schreiber has focused her efforts on
enhancing the experience of undergraduate students studying geoscience by developing laboratory exercises to complement courses; writing a lab manual; and
creating a new course, Careers in Geosciences. One of Professor
Schreiber’s strengths is
her ability to bring her
research enthusiasm for
groundwater hydrology
into the classroom and to
share real-world examples
with her students.

Madeline Schreiber

Hawley is an advocate and practitioner
of student-centered learning and has
mentored more than 40 undergraduates
who have designed educational activities about birds for children who visit the
Price House Nature Center and Claytor
Lake State Park. She has also developed
a new course on Infectious Disease Ecology and was awarded the Department of
Biological Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award in 2012.
Lemons is noted for the wide range of
courses he teaches in statistics. Among
the 13 he has taught at Virginia Tech, he
developed a new course now required for
the major. His energetic and enthusiastic
teaching style earned him a “Best Professor” in the depart