Robert J. Lefkowitz, James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, received the 2007 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, America’s top prize in medicine. The honor, which is seen by some as a possible precursor to the Nobel Prize, recognizes Lefkowitz for discoveries of how receptors transmit signals from hormones, drugs, and other stimuli to trigger action within the cell. Lefkowitz also won the 2007 Shaw Prize for this research.
John Hope Franklin, James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History, was awarded the John W. Kluge Prize, which was created in 2003 to honor extraordinary achievements in fields not covered by Nobel Prizes. Franklin also received a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the advancement of learning and for being a champion of civil rights in America from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, the nation’s two oldest learned societies.
Earl H. Dowell, William Holland Hall Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, was awarded the prestigious American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 2007 Walter J. and Angeline H. Crichlow Trust Prize. Dowell was cited for “pioneering contributions to aeroelasticity, structural dynamics, and unsteady aerodynamics, which had an enormous influence on aerospace technology, and for contributions to education and public service in aerospace engineering.”
Three Duke professors won Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, one of the highest honors the U.S. government bestows on young scientists. Silvia Ferrari, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, Jonathan Mattingly, associate professor of mathematics, and Tannishtha Reya, assistant professor of pharmacology and cancer biology in the medical school, were among the 56 researchers who received the award.
Three junior faculty members were awarded National Science Foundation Early Career Awards, which recognize outstanding teachers and scholars who are likely to become academic leaders. Shivnath Babu, assistant professor of computer science, was honored for a project on problems posed by the increasing complexity, scale, and dynamics of networked computing systems. Rebecca Willett Lu, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, was recognized for her research on information processing and its many applications. Stefano Curtarolo, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at the Pratt School of Engineering, won the Early Career Award as well as an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator award for developing computational tools to predict the recipes for advanced materials for many high-tech jobs, from automotive, aerospace, and marine industries to nanotechnology and future sources of energy.
At the 2006 Founder’s Day Celebration, the University Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award, given by the Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church, was presented to Erwin Chemerinsky, Alston & Bird Professor of Law and professor of political science. Chemerinsky, who joined the Duke faculty in 2004, is one of the most prolific and well-respected constitutional law scholars in the United States.
Seymour Mauskopf, professor of history, was honored by the Duke Alumni Association with the Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award. Mauskopf was also the director of Duke’s Program in Science, Technology, and Human Values and, from 1995 to 2003, director of the Focus Program, an innovative interdisciplinary living and learning experience for first- and second-year students.