Distinguished University Professor Awardees

Janet Box-Steffensmeier

Vernal Riffe Professor of Political Science
Courtesy Professor of Sociology
Department of Political Science
College of Arts and Sciences

Professor Box-Steffensmeier pursues research and teaching interests in legislative politics, public opinion and voting behavior, as well as in methodology, including time series, event history and network analysis.

Susan Olesik

Professor
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Divisional Dean, Natural and Mathematical Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Olesik’s research is focused on developing new analytical separation concepts that drive the field toward new levels of performance in speed to analysis and chromatographic efficiency.

Roger Ratcliff

Professor
Department of Psychology
College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Ratcliff’s research in the field of cognitive psychology focuses on modeling rapid decision-making with applications in neuroscience, neuroeconomics, clinical psychology, and neuropsychology.

Frederick Luis Aldama

Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities
University of Texas at Austin
Adjunct Professor
The Ohio State University

Frederick Luis Aldama is the Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas, Austin, and holds an adjunct professor appointment at The Ohio State University.  He is the 2019 recipient of the Rodica C. Botoman Award for Distinguished Teaching and Mentoring and the Susan M. Hartmann Mentoring and Leadership Award. He is the award-winning author, co-author and editor of 40 books. In 2018, Latinx Superheroes in Mainstream Comics won the International Latino Book Award and the Eisner Award for Best Scholarly Work. He is editor and coeditor of eight academic press book series as well as editor of Latinographix, a trade-press series that publishes Latinx graphic fiction and nonfiction. He is creator of the first documentary on the history of Latinx superheroes in comics (Amazon Prime) and co-founder and director of SÕL-CON: Brown & Black Comix Expo. He is founder of the Obama White House award-winning LASER: Latinx Space for Enrichment & Research, as well as founder of the Humanities & Cognitive Sciences High School Summer Institute. 

Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska

Vice President for Knowledge Enterprise
Office of Knowledge Enterprise

Dorota A. Grejner-Brzezinska is Ohio State's vice president for knowledge enterprise, a University Distinguished Professor, and the Lowber B. Strange Endowed Chair in Engineering. She is also a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering. She recently served as the associate dean for Research in the College of Engineering and the senior associate vice president for research, corporate and government partnerships. 

She is also a director of the Satellite Positioning and Inertial Navigation (SPIN) Laboratory. Her research interests cover GPS/GNSS algorithms, GNSS/inertial and other sensor integration for navigation in GNSS-challenged environments, sensors and algorithms for indoor and personal navigation, image-based navigation using artificial intelligence (AI) methods, and mobile mapping. She published over 350 peer reviewed journal and proceedings papers, numerous technical reports and five book chapters on GPS and navigation and led nearly 60 sponsored research projects with the total budget of over $30mln.  

Dr. Grejner-Brzezinska is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), Fellow of the Institute of Navigation (ION), Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN), and the recipient of the 2016 ION Johannes Kepler Award, the 2005 ION Thomas Thurlow Award, the 2005 and 2015 United States Geospatial Information Foundation (USGIF) Academic Research Award, and the 2018 International Association of the Institutes of Navigation (IAIN) John Harrison Award. She served as President of the Institute of Navigation (2015-2017), and President of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) Commission 4, Positioning and Applications (2011-2015), and is an IAG Fellow. She currently serves as Principal Investigator for the NSF Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA) and is a member of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board and served on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

Dr. Brzezinska holds an MS and a PhD in Geodetic Science from The Ohio State University, and an MS in Surveying Engineering and Land Management Systems from the University of Warmia and Mazury, Poland. 

Barbara L. Andersen

Distinguished Professor of Psychology
Department of Psychology
College of Arts and Sciences
Professor
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
College of Medicine

Dr. Barbara Andersen conducts research related to health psychology and behavioral medicine. Her innovative work has made her among the first scientists to study the psychological aspects of cancer.

She joined Ohio State's faculty in 1989 and, as already mentioned is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology. By the way, the Department of Psychology was recently ranked as the number 13 department of psychology in the world, according to the 2018 Shanghai University rankings.

Dr. Andersen is also a professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program in the Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Her research has been continuously funded since 1985, and the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Cancer Society and the Department of the Army, among others, have supported her research on the biobehavioral aspects of cancer.

In 1995, she was one of 50 women scientists invited to the White House to attend a briefing on the Clinton Administration's initiatives in science and technology. In 2000, she received Ohio State's Distinguished Scholar Award and, in 2003, the American Psychological Association's Oustanding Contributions in Health Psychology Award.

Dr. Andersen earned a BS, magna cum laude, and a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois. During a postdoctoral research year at the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA, she began her research in cancer. She has authored or co-authored five books and more than 150 research articles on behavioral medicine topics.

Steven A. Ringel

Neal A. Smith Chair in Electrical Engineering
Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering
Associate Vice President for Research and Executive Director
Institute for Materials Research
Office of Research

Dr. Steven Ringel is known as "a visible, national and international leader in electronic materials and devices, and every year continues to contribute to the field, even in his growing leadership position at [Ohio State]."

In addition, he "studies global innovation and translational research between academia and industry." He has played an "important role in building larger cross-cutting communities in the university, considered important elements of university evolution and competitiveness."

He is currently the principal or co-principal investigator of 10 externally funded research programs from government sources, industry and foundations. His annual individual expenditures average more than $1.3 million a year for more than 15 years. His work is widely published, including 158 archival journal articles, three books edited, four invited book chapters and two patients.

Among his many honors, he is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a recipient of Ohio State's Distinguished Scholar Award, the College of Engineering's Scott Award, a four-time recipient of the College of Engineering's Lumley Research Award, and a National Science Foundation National Young Investigator Award.

Dr. Ringel earned a BS in electrical engineering and an MS in engineering science from Pennsylvania State University and a PhD in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. He joined Ohio State's faculty in 1991.

Clark S. Larsen

Professor
Anthropology; Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology
College of Arts and Sciences

Clark Spencer Larsen is one of the most respected, productive and engaged physical anthropologists working today. He is an internationally known authority on bioarchaeology, with a research focus on the history of the human condition, viewed from the perspective of health, quality of life, adaptation and lifestyle during the last 10,000 years of human evolution.

Larsen co-directs the Global History of Health Project, a large, collaborative effort aimed at creating a worldwide comparative database documenting biological aspects of past health as gleaned primarily from stressors present in skeletal remains. The project is perhaps the best example to date of a worldwide collaboration in academic anthropology, involving hundreds of researchers from Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.

Since 2009, he has also been co-director of bioarchaeology studies at the monumental site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey. This locality is considered one of the most important Neolithic sites in Europe, occupying a central position in discussions of the development of complex societies.

Complementing these projects is Larsen's ongoing work on the study of prehistoric and colonial sites in southeastern U.S., particularly Georgia and Florida. He continues work in the region and currently focuses on the pre-colonial and early colonial occupations at St. Catherines Island (Georgia).

Larsen is co-director of the Field School in Medieval Archaeology and Bioarcheology at Badia Pozzeveri, in Lucca, Italy, an academic program aimed at training students in archaeological and bioarchaeological field and lab methods.

Larsen has three single-authored books. The first, Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton (Cambridge University Press) set the standard for the field and is widely regarded as the bible of bioarchaeology. His second book, Skeletons in Our Closet (Princeton University Press), introduced bioarchaeology to a more general audience and was widely praised for melding science and history in lively but authoritative prose. Larsen next published an introductory physical anthropology textbook, Our Origins: Discovering Physical Anthropology (W.W. Norton). The book has quickly become one of the leading introductory anthropology texts in the country.

In addition to these solo projects, Larsen has co-authored seven bioarchaeological monographs and a volume illustrating key hominin fossils, an invaluable resource for institutions lacking cast collections. His collaborative work has been featured in Science, Scientific American, Newsweek and the New York Times.

In 2016, Larsen was elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, on of the most prestigious honors an American scholar can receive. He was elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2006, and recently elected to a second term as council delegate (anthropology) to this prestigious group.

He served as the president of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA), the leading professional organization in the field and served as editor-in-chief of the organization's flagship journal, the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. In 2008, the AAPA awarded Larsen the prestigious Gabriel Lasker Distinguished Service Award.

In summing up Larsen's extraordinary contributions to the field and to Ohio State, a nominator said, "Dr. Larsen has been a prodigious scholar, a tireless advocate for the science of bioarchaeology, a model of disciplinary service, a generous mentor and a highly effective administrator who guided the resurrection of a department at The Ohio State University.

Larsen received his BA in anthropology from Kansas State University; an MA in anthropology and PhD in biological anthropology from the University of Michigan.

David Weinberg

Professor
Astronomy
College of Arts and Sciences

David Weinberg, an observationally oriented theoretical astrophysicist, studies the formation of galaxies and large scale structure and observational probes of the matter and energy content of the universe. He joined Ohio State as an assistant professor in 1995 and became chair of the Department of Astronomy in 2015. He is a founding member of Ohio State's Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics, a joint initiative of the Astronomy and Physics departments.

Nominators and colleagues from Princeton, Berkeley and the UK's Institute for Computational Cosmology, agree: "David Weinberg is one of the most original and creative astrophysicists of his generation — clearly one of the leading lights in the field of cosmology."

They further agree that, "He has made Ohio State's astronomy group a powerhouse of modern astrophysical research. By playing an active leadership role in some of the most influential projects in cosmology in the past decades, by being heavily involved in the most ambitious, upcoming experiments, David has cemented the department's reputation and made it an attractive choice for grad students and postdocs who want access to the hottest areas of the field."

Weinberg has played central roles in some of the world's most ambitious cosmological surveys. He helped design and execute the million-galaxy map of large scale structure by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and he was elected Spokesperson of the SDSS-II collaboration in 2005. In 2008 he became Project Scientist of SDSS-III, which has made the most precise measurements to date of the cosmic distance scale and the most comprehensive map of chemical elements throughout the Milky Way galaxy. Since 2011 he has served on the Science Definition Teams and Formulation Science Working Group for NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), which will become NASA's flagship astrophysics mission after its launch in the mid-2020s.

Weinberg is co-investigator on the team designing WFIRST's single largest program, an enormous map of hundreds of millions of galaxies that will be used to measure the expansion of the universe and the clustering of dark matter.

It is easy to document his impact. The author or co-author of more than 270 refereed articles, which have nearly 60,000 citations, Weinberg has made the Thomson-Reuters list of most highly cited space science researchers for three years in a row. He has written influential papers on cosmological simulations of galaxy formation, the structure of intergalactic gas, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, measurements and interpretation of galaxy clustering and observational methods for probing the accelerating expansion of the universe. In 2006, he received The Ohio State University Distinguished Scholar Award, and in 2015, the American Astronomical Society's Lancelot M. Berkeley New York Community Trust Prize for Meritorious Work in Astronomy.

Combining a love of science and art, Weinberg's long-term collaboration with MacArthur Award winning artist Josiah McElheny produced amazing glass sculptures inspired by cosmology. An End to Modernity (2005), The Last Scattering Surface (2006), The End of the Dark Ages (2008), Island Universe (2009) and A Study for The Center is Everywhere (2012). These sculptures have been exhibited in galleries and museums across the U.S. and Europe, including the Wexner Center for the Arts, London's White Cube Gallery, Madrid's Reina Sophia Museum and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art. Weinberg also served as script consultant for the film, Dark Matter, winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize for a science-based feature film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The Dark Matter Rap, his 6-minute historical recap of the dark matter problem, has been a hit with professional colleagues and two decades of undergraduate cosmology classes.

Weinberg received a BS in physics, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale University; and PhD in astrophysics from Princeton University. Before joining Ohio State he held postdoctoral fellowships at Cambridge University, UC Berkeley, and the Institute for Advanced Study.

John Byrd

Professor
Department of Internal Medicine
College of Medicine

John C. Byrd, MD, the D. Warren Brown Designated Chair of Leukemia Research and director of the Division of Hematology, is a physician and researcher whose discoveries hold the promise of being effective in some of the most vulnerable groups of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Byrd works to identify initial therapy protocols for certain vulnerable groups of patients and combinations of agents to secure the long-term control of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Most recently, he published a paper about a new drug that promotes high response rates that are durable in patients with CLL while producing minimal side effects. He continues his laboratory efforts to search for effective combinations of therapeutic agents for many types of leukemia. His international reputation for translating laboratory work with his team to improve patient lives has resulted in numerous scientific collaborations. He holds 10 patents, and his work is published in nearly 400 peer-reviewed publications.

Byrd earned his medical degree from the University of Arkansas and completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Peter W. Culicover

Professor
Department of Linguistics
College of Arts and Sciences

Peter W. Culicover, PhD, Humanities Distinguished Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics, is an internationally recognized authority on linguistic theory.

An internationally recognized authority on linguistic theory, he is a pioneer in cognitive science and its relationship to mental representations of language, syntax, grammar and language acquisition. He has written or co-written 16 books, more than 75 articles in peer-reviewed publications and dozens of other addresses and conference proceedings. His many awards include the prestigious Humboldt Research Award, designation as a Fellow of three major professional organizations and many university awards.

Culicover earned his doctorate in linguistics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Julia F. Andrews

Professor
Department of History of Art 
College of Arts and Sciences

Julia Andrews is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities in the area of modem and contemporary Chinese art — a fact that becomes more impressive (though perhaps less surprising) upon realization that she herself is largely responsible for the establishment of what has become a thriving subfield of art history.

Andrews’ first book, Painters and Politics in the People’s Republic of China, 1949-1979, won the prestigious Joseph Levenson Prize from the Association of Asian Studies in 1996 as the year’s best book on modern China. In the process, the work established Andrews as the foremost authority on art of the Mao period. A nominator called that “an achievement of the very highest order, which will permanently reconfigure the study of modern Chinese art in English and which sets new standards of scholarship in that field.”

“Andrews was one of the first American art historians to conduct dissertation research in mainland China following the formal establishment of U.S.- China relations in 1979,” a nominator wrote. “She can thus legitimately be described as a pioneer in the history of Chinese art in the United States.”

She has organized Chinese art exhibitions at some of the most prestigious venues in the Western world, and her latest work, Art of Modern China, received the 2013 International Convention of Asia Scholars Book Prize in the Humanities.

Andrews also has compiled a long and impactful record of service since arriving at Ohio State in 1987. She served as the founding director of the Institute for Chinese Studies, in which capacity she coauthored a grant proposal that brought almost $2 million to increase undergraduate course offerings and enrollments. Andrews also served as associate director and later as director of Ohio State’s East Asian Studies Center.

“The field of modern Chinese art history owes a tremendous debt to Professor Andrews for her illuminating scholarship, engagement with museums, generosity with colleagues and dedication to the next generation of scholars,” another nominator wrote.

Andrews earned her undergraduate arts degree at Brown University, her master’s at Harvard and her doctorate from University of California, Berkeley.

James A. Cowan

Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 
College of Arts and Sciences

Jimmy Cowan has made important contributions to understanding the inorganic chemistry of biological processes, with particular emphasis on structure, function and mechanism. Often he has tackled problems where the answers have had broad significance and impact.

He is an internationally recognized authority in bio-inorganic chemistry, dealing with man-made metallo-nuclease mimics and several other transition metal ion catalyzed processes that are important for biological function. One of his early advances was devising a means to understand the biological chemistry of magnesium — a complex metal to both study and understand — which required the design of an experimental strategy to investigate both its coordination chemistry and reactivity. Cowan’s lab developed a range of revolutionary physical and chemical methods to provide clear insights and a molecular perspective on how magnesium ion functions as an essential metal cofactor. “His discoveries have directly led to development of catalytic metallodrugs and a new paradigm for drug design,” a nominator wrote. 

Cowan also has made seminal discoveries in the field of cellular iron chemistry. “Iron is an essential element and dysfunction of its biochemistry underlies many diseases, and so that research has afforded molecular insights on these problems and has also advanced the fundamental understanding of the biological chemistry of iron cofactors,” wrote another nominator.

He is a prolific researcher of international repute, having authored more than 220 articles in some of the most competitive journals in his field, as well as authoring a primary textbook that is already entering its third edition, and establishing five patents. He also is an active member of his department and the university, serving on curriculum committees, search committees and the CBEC Building Committee.

“Cowan’s is an extremely ambitious, multidisciplinary research program where he brings together a fundamental strength in mechanistic organic chemistry, as well as inorganic and physical chemistry, applying various techniques to solve difficult biochemical problems,” a nominator wrote.

He earned his bachelor’s at the University of Glasgow and his doctorate the University of Cambridge. He has been at The Ohio State University since 1988.

Ulrich W. Heinz

Professor
Department of Physics 
College of Arts and Sciences

Joshua Dressler

Frank R. Strong Chair in Law 
Moritz College of Law

Joshua Dressler is, without exaggeration and by nearly any accepted standard, the country’s leading academic authority in the field of criminal law — and among the leaders in criminal procedure.

“That stature would rank him as a leading figure at any law school in the country or, for that matter, in the English-speaking world,” wrote a colleague in nominating him to become a 2014 Distinguished University Professor.

The core of that lofty status comes from his 1987 book, Understanding Criminal Law, now in its sixth edition, and his 1994 Cases and Materials on Criminal Law, also currently in its sixth edition. Both works are considered the leading sources in their subject matter.

“It is no exaggeration to say that Professor Dressler is the architect of the current structure of instruction and understanding of the criminal law field in the United States,” a nominator wrote. “The comprehensiveness of his treatment of criminal law and criminal procedure, as well as its foundational nature, makes the full impact of his influence difficult to measure.”

Dressler is one of the most widely cited authorities in his field by other researchers, and he has been selected as editor-in-chief of the most recent edition of the Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice. He also has built the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law into the top journal in its field.

Dressler also is a gifted teacher. He was named a Distinguished University Lecturer here in 2005 and has been sought out to teach as a visitor at Berkeley, Michigan and Texas, to name only a few. He also has served on countless professional and academic committees and has edited numerous other prestigious publications.

One nominator wrote: “Some great legal scholars tend their own scholarly gardens, burnishing their individual pieces of scholarship for publication in law reviews and books. Others seek influence largely through the production of reference works and casebooks. Yet others invest more of their energy to teaching and institutional service, while still others turn their attention to law reform projects around the world. Joshua Dressler is the rare creature in the legal academy who has had major influence in every single one of those domains.”

Dressler earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and has been at The Ohio State University since 2001.

Yasuko Rikihisa

Professor
Department of Veterinary Biosciences 
College of Veterinary Medicine

Charles M. Atkinson

Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor
School of Music
College of Arts and Sciences

Charles Atkinson’s contributions to the field of medieval musicology, especially to the history of chant and music theory and the nexus where these two meet, are unequaled, and the finest musicologists around the world hold his work in the highest regard.

In addition, he has devoted himself to a lifetime of service to the profession (including a distinguished term as president of the American Musicological Society), to the university and the School of Music.

And to his teaching, one former student wrote that Atkinson has “a deep and abiding interest in working with students at all levels,” with a teaching style that “makes some of the most complex theoretical issues accessible and understandable to even the most novice listener.”

Atkinson’s very first journal article, published in 1977 in the Journal of the American Musicological Society, received the AMS’ Alfred Einstein Award, the highest honor available to a young American musicologist. His latest book, The Critical Nexus: Tone-System, Mode and Notation in Early Medieval Music (Oxford University Press, 2009), is the culmination of more than 40 years of research and writing, and received the most coveted award in North American musicology, the Otto Kinkeldey Award.

“His scholarly career has been marked by his making himself the absolute master of some very important and prickly areas in medieval studies: The origins of music writing; the tonal systems of early medieval music; the notion of musical mode,” wrote a peer in support of his nomination.

Atkinson received his bachelor’s from the University of New Mexico, his master’s from the University of Michigan and doctorate from the University of North Carolina. Additionally, he studied at the Juilliard School and at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.

Randy J. Nelson

The Dr. John D. and E. Olive Brumbaugh Chair in Brain Research and Teaching
Distinguished Professor, College of Medicine; Social and Behavioral Sciences
Professor and Chair
Department of Neuroscience
Professor
Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology

Carlo Croce

John W. Wolfe Chair in Human Cancer Genetics
Chair
Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics 
Director, Institute of Genetics; Director, Human Cancer Genetics Program

Carlo Croce’s research in the field of cancer genetics has quite literally transformed the manner in which cancers are diagnosed and treated, leading to better outcomes for patients.

His research has uncovered early genetic events that lead to leukemia, lymphoma and lung, nasopharyngeal, head and neck, esophageal, gastrointestinal and breast cancers.

More recently, he discovered the novel role of microRNAs in the genesis of various cancers — a discovery that could lead to breakthroughs in other genetically based diseases such as Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, immune system disorders and cardiovascular disease.

His work has earned him some of the most prestigious awards and recognition scientists can receive, among them his election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the seventh-most cited author in all of biology, according to Thomson Reuters Essential Science Indicators.

“Dr. Croce’s contributions to our understanding of the genetic and molecular underpinnings of cancer are monumental,” a colleague wrote in support of the nomination. He has been consistently pioneering, highly original and has shown an unfailing instinct for important problems that are solvable by the application of imaginative science.”

Ann Hamilton

Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor
Department of Art

For more than two decades, Ann Hamilton has created provocative, complex site-specific installations that weave together various media, themes and materials in ways that astonish and inspire.

Hugh Davies, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, has curated a number of Hamilton’s installations and considers her one of the preeminent artists of the contemporary generation. He writes, “I believe Ann Hamilton ranks among the best of her peers on a national and international basis, in that she continually produces intellectual, political and visually stimulating work that allows viewers to engage themselves wholeheartedly.”

She gained wide acclaim for her 1991 exhibit, Indigo Blue, a rounded pile of 48,000 blue work shirts laid on a platform, which was a stark visual representation both of the nameless, faceless “blue collar workers” and the equally anonymous women behind those workers who wash, fold and mend their clothes. Originally installed in Charleston, South Carolina, as a tribute to the importance of the indigo plant to the South, a version still is on permanent display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Since that time, Hamilton has installed pieces for exhibit across the nation and around the world.

Ohio State has its own permanent Hamilton installation: Verse, an inlaid mosaic of words culled from three wildly different books about the beginning and end of history, spans the 6,000 square feet of the Thompson Library’s Buckeye Reading Room. Every day, this tapestry of words is traversed, touched and talked about by streams of students, staff, faculty and visitors.

Olga Viso, director of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, describes Hamilton as “one of the major forces in contemporary art,” and that’s evidenced by an exhaustive list of honors and accolades, among them the Heinz Award for Arts and Humanities, a Guggenheim Fellowship and induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

And somehow, in the midst of making art, writing about art and earning five honorary degrees from five prestigious schools of art, Hamilton continues to provide exemplary service and instruction within the university’s Department of Art. She leads intensely collaborative graduate seminars that encourage an open exchange of ideas and artistic vision. She serves on the Graduate Studies Committee and has contributed immeasurably to the rise in stature the graduate program has experienced recently, earning the ranking of sixth among public institutions.

“Ann is someone who gives everything and more to everything she does — her art, her teaching, her presence in the community and the larger art world, as well as her family,” Viso said.

Hamilton received her bachelor of fine arts in textile design in 1979 from the University of Kansas. She earned a master of fine arts in sculpture from the Yale University School of Art in 1985.

Rattan Lal

Professor of Soil Science
Director, Carbon Management and Sequestration Program
School of Environment and Natural Resources

Rattan Lal is one of the world’s preeminent soil scientists whose standing as an international expert on agricultural sustainability and climate change weighs heavily both in the research and public policy arenas.

“Dr. Lal has raised the stature of this institution with work that is world-renowned and of enduring significance,” President Gordon Gee said. “Emanating from a laboratory in Columbus, his insights have reduced hunger on the other side of the globe. He is the epitome of a Distinguished University Professor. Like the soil he studies, he is essential.”

A professor in CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources, Lal’s work focuses on carbon sequestration (the storage of carbon in soils and plants), studying soils in the United States, Africa, Latin America and India, and aiding in applying the technique of no-till to farms throughout the world. No-till is the best way for soils to store carbon and increase fertility.

His other areas of research include soil processes and atmospheric greenhouse effects, sustainable management of soil and water resources, restoration and rehabilitation of degraded soils, agro-forestry, tropical agriculture and agricultural development in the Third World.

Lal frequently testifies before the US Senate regarding carbon credits and carbon sequestration. His work on managing and protecting fragile soils has drawn international attention. During 1998-2000, he was lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which in 2007 shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore.

Lal’s numerous recognitions are as global and as substantive as the work he conducts, and include the 2009 M.S. Swaminathan Award (named for the father of the Green Revolution in India) for his leadership role in agricultural research; a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Certificate from IPCC; and the 2005 Borlaug Award, named after Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Green Revolution “father” Norman Borlaug.

“It is so fitting that the university is honoring Rattan Lal,” said Bobby Moser, vice president for agricultural administration and dean of CFAES. “He is recognized around the world as a leader in his discipline. He is walking the path of Norman Borlaug, making a difference in the lives of many.”

Lal earned an undergraduate degree from Punjab Agricultural University in India in 1963, a master’s from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi (1965) and a PhD from The Ohio State University (1968), where he has been on the faculty since 1987.

Before joining Ohio State’s faculty, Lal was a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney (1968-69) and a soil scientist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria (1970-1987).

Ellen Mosley-Thompson

Professor
Department of Geography 
Director, Byrd Polar Research Center

Ellen Mosley-Thompson is a pioneer whose research has played a key role in charting historical global climate change.

She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and was a contributing author to a 2007 Nobel Prize-winning report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

As director of The Ohio State University’s Byrd Polar Research Center and co-founder of the Ice Core Paleoclimate Research Group, Mosley-Thompson plays a vital part in climatological research through the collection and analysis of ice cores from around the globe. Much of the ice core collection has been done through “on the ground” fieldwork in remote areas by Mosley-Thompson herself.

In fact, she was the first woman to lead a “remote camp” drilling project to the Plateau Remote in Antarctica and has been instrumental in promoting the participation of women in the geosciences and field research in remote areas.

Mosley-Thompson teaches students from kindergarteners to collegians as well as alumni, colleagues and community groups on climate change and its effects.

She also has popularized climate science through TV and film: She consulted for an IMAX film on Antarctica, was featured in a Discovery Channel investigative report and was highlighted in CNN’s America’s Best Science and Medicine.

As one colleague wrote, “Ellen’s spirit, enthusiasm and caring are evident in the vigor with which she disseminates knowledge to students and the general public. It is the rare faculty member who excels in all three professional roles — research, teaching and service. Ellen Mosley-Thompson is one of these rare multidimensional faculty.”

Mosley-Thompson received her master’s and doctorate in geography from Ohio State and has been a part of the Ohio State community ever since.

Prabir K. Dutta

Robert K. Fox Professor of Chemistry
Department of Chemistry

Prabir Dutta’s contributions of scientific expertise in both his research and teaching have resulted in extraordinary innovations important to international scientific and technological communities.

In his extensive research career, Dutta has made significant contributions in several areas of study.

In the area of sensor technology, Dutta developed sensors monitoring the operation of auto engines, leading to valuable information that improves public health, safety and auto efficiency. His research in sensors has drawn support from commercial partners and national laboratories and attention from both mainstream and scientific media.

Dutta also has contributed groundbreaking research in the scientific study of zeolites — microporous materials with numerous scientific uses. His expertise in zeolite-based systems that convert light into electricity is paving the way for the development of alternative energy sources.

“Prabir continues to lead one of the most exciting research programs in the world in this area,” a colleague wrote.

Dutta’s expertise provides unique insight to the student community. He is the driving force behind the Research Experiences to Enhance Learning initiative, an NSF-funded program that adds a research component to the general chemistry lab curriculum. Now used throughout Ohio, Dutta’s innovative initiative affects hundreds of students every day.

“He has sustained an extraordinary record of academic and scholarly accomplishments that have significantly advanced knowledge and technological applications across a broad range of basic scientific and engineering disciplines,” a nominator wrote.

Dutta received one master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, a second master’s and his doctorate from Princeton University and has been an Ohio State faculty member since 1983.

Ruth Colker

Heck-Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law
Moritz College of Law

Ruth Colker is one of the most influential figures in the field of disability law in the United States. Her scholarly work has influenced the United States Supreme Court and the U.S. Congress alike. At the same time, she has contributed path-breaking empirical and theoretical scholarship to the field of disability legal studies and also has maintained a record of innovative teaching and substantial service.

“There are many ways to define scholarly excellence for a member of a law faculty, including influence in the courts, influence in the legislature and recognition by other legal academics,” a nominator wrote. “Professor Colker has attained the pinnacle of our profession by attaining excellence in each of those areas.”

She published the first widely adopted casebook on the law of disability discrimination that still is the leading text in the field. She also authored an empirical article that documented the Americans with Disabilities Act protected far fewer Americans than the law had intended, and her work was frequently cited during hearings that led up to significant amendments to the law in 2008.

Among her nominators, in fact, was Richard Thornburgh, who was U.S. attorney general when the original law was passed in 1990 and has actively worked to maintain the law’s effectiveness.

Colker earned her bachelor’s and JD from Harvard University and served in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice before entering the academic field in 1985. She has been at The Ohio State University since 1997, and in that time has been a University Distinguished Lecturer (2001), earned a Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award (2002) and received a Distinguished Scholar Award (2003).

She is the first faculty member from the Moritz College of Law to be designated a Distinguished University Professor.

Fritz Graf

Professor and Chair 
Department of Greek and Latin

Fritz Graf’s many scholarly and pedagogical accomplishments nearly defy summation within a small space. Suffice it to say that he has made invaluable contributions to two fields: Classics and the history of religion.

Nominators on two continents describe Graf as a “towering figure” who has “changed the face of the study of Greek and Roman religion, magic and mythology, ancient epigraphy and Latin literature.” He is praised for his depth and breadth of knowledge, the originality of his scholarship and his personal charisma — a dynamic combination, in and out of the classroom.

“I honestly do not know of another scholar who has this vast expertise in so many different areas of ancient religion and who wears his learning so lightly, with such modesty and good humor,” writes another nominator.

With five books to his credit and two others underway, scores of presentations at national and international symposia and conferences, and many terms of service on the boards of professional organizations, Graf nonetheless finds time to work closely with graduate students and help them secure prestigious academic appointments of their own.

He currently serves Ohio State as a university senator and director of the Center for Epigraphical and Palaeographical Studies, as well as chair of the Department of Greek and Latin.

“Professor Graf’s distinguished list of accomplishments clearly demonstrates his standing as one of the leading classicists in the world with an unparalleled record in publication, teaching and service,” wrote a colleague.

Graf joined Ohio State in 2002. He received his doctorate in 1971 from the University of Zürich.

Richard Steckel

Professor
Department of Economics

Janice Kiecolt-Glaser

S. Robert Davis Chair of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry
Director, Division of Health Psychology 

Janice Kiecolt-Glaser’s colleagues pepper her with praise that includes the words “superstar,” “pioneer,” and “revolutionary,” — such is the level of their respect for her work in the field of psychoneuroimmunology.

Her groundbreaking research on the adverse effects of stress on the immune system has made her one of the world’s leading experts on the topic. She has studied the impact of stresses on marital interactions, caregiving for Alzheimer’s patients and wound healing, all of which have the potential to make a profound impact on global healthcare delivery, economics and patient outcomes.

“Janice is an extraordinarily accomplished investigator, a person with deep understanding of the human condition, exceptional good sense, balanced judgment and a commitment to the highest possible ethical and scientific standards,” one colleague said.

In her 30 years as an Ohio State faculty member, Kiecolt-Glaser has published nearly 200 scientific papers, the majority of which have appeared in the most prestigious journals. Her impact as a scholar also can be reflected by her service on numerous editorial boards and at conferences sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and her leadership positions in scientific societies. She has received several awards from the American Psychological Association and was elected president of the Division of Health Psychology in that organization. She’s a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She received The Ohio State University’s Distinguished Scholar Award in 1993.

“Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser is a major scientific leader,” another colleague said. “She is preeminent, even on the world stage.”

Kiecolt-Glaser also is credited with developing Ohio State’s post-doctoral training program in psychoneuroimmunology, which has become one of the most prestigious and competitive in the country.

She received her PhD from University of Miami in 1974.

James Phelan

Humanities Distinguished Professor
Department of English

James Phelan, a faculty member in English at Ohio State since 1977, is internationally known and highly respected for his work in narrative studies.

Phelan’s research focuses on rhetorical approaches to narrative, looking at narrative as a complex communication involving its audience’s understanding, emotion and ethics.

He is the author of five books and more than a hundred essays and reviews. His work is taught in universities around the world, demonstrating his far-reaching influence on the study of narrative.

As one nominator noted, “James Phelan is the first name that comes to mind as essential reading in debates concerning narrative, rhetoric and ethics — areas of crucial relevance across the academic spectrum in the humanities and social sciences, from literary and cultural studies to law, linguistics and philosophy.”

“He is that rarest of colleagues whose intelligence, dedication, forethought and sustained accomplishment have truly altered an entire field,” another scholar wrote. “He is one of the world’s most prolific and important scholars of narrative; his several books and myriad essays comprise a rich canon of ideas built around a strong commitment to narrative as a rhetorical project.”

Since 1993, Phelan has been the editor of Narrative, the leading journal in the field of narrative studies.

At Ohio State, he already has received several of the university’s highest awards, including the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2004, the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2007 and the Arts & Sciences Research Award for Exemplary Service in 2007.

Phelan received his PhD from The University of Chicago in 1977.

Avner Friedman

College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Director, Mathematical Biosciences Institute

Avner Friedman, a professor of mathematical and physical sciences at The Ohio State University for the past six years, is well known at the university as a skilled teacher and mentor for students of all levels.

Friedman’s main research focus is in partial differential equations, an area in which he has helped develop the theories and models currently used to analyze a wide class of problems. He has published more than 400 research articles and 20 books. In addition, he has given hundreds of invited lectures and served on more than a dozen editorial boards and numerous scientific advisory committees.

One of Friedman’s greatest accomplishments is the creation of the Mathematical Biosciences Institute (MBI), one of the biggest and best programs of its kind today. He has served as director of the institute since its creation in 2002.

The primary goal of the MBI is to develop mathematical theories, statistical methods and computational algorithms to solve fundamental problems in the biosciences. It is designed to involve mathematical scientists and bioscientists in the solutions of these problems and to nurture a community of scholars in mathematical biosciences.

Friedman’s work with the MBI has made him one of the most visible applied mathematicians in the world and he is well respected among his colleagues.

“He has influenced generations of mathematicians with his ideas, results and programs. His boundless energy and vision have led to the creation of a national institute that has made Ohio State the top university in mathematical biosciences,” a colleague said.

Friedman received his master’s and PhD in mathematics at Hebrew University.

Geoffrey Parker

College of Humanities
Associate, Mershon Center

Clara Derber Bloomfield

William G. Pace III Endowed Chair in Cancer Research
Professor of Hematology and Oncology
Department of Internal Medicine
Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center and Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute

Clara D. Bloomfield is an internationally recognized physician scientist whose three decades of groundbreaking research on adult leukemia and lymphoma have changed the way these patients are treated.

The inaugural cancer scholar and senior adviser to The Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) and Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute also is the first clinical researcher to be awarded the Distinguished University Professor Award.

Under her leadership as director of the CCC-James from 1997-2003, external peer-reviewed funding for cancer more than tripled, over 80 world-class faculty cancer researchers were recruited and one of the most successful human cancer genetics programs in the world was created.

She has mentored more than 70 post-doctoral or medical research fellows and junior faculty — many who have become leaders in the field — and has been a successful mentor for women in academic medicine.

“The exceptional experiences under her guidance have enforced my strong interest to clinically relevant research in leukemia,” said nominator Claudia Baldus, assistant physician in hematology at the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. “She was not only an inspirational and knowledgeable mentor, but also an exceptional caring person who made it a pleasure and an honor to be one of her scholars,”

Bloomfield is considered the world’s authority on the clinical significance of chromosomal findings in adult acute leukemia, resulting in more than 400 articles. Her scientific accomplishments have resulted in numerous honors and awards, including election to the Institute of Medicine (one of only three Ohio State faculty to be inducted); receipt of the Joseph H. Burchenal Clinical Research Award from the American Association for Cancer Research; and the Distinguished Service Award for Scientific Advancement from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. She is the first woman to receive the latter two awards.

Nationally, Bloomfield has been instrumental in developing strong teaching programs for clinical researchers and has worked tirelessly for increasing funding for patient-oriented and translational researchers.

Her accomplishments are clearly distinguished — not merely excellent — in research and scholarly activity, teaching and service. Her achievements in translating basic research to clinical practice in leukemia and lymphoma, mentoring clinician scientists and advancing female academics and her service to OSU and the international scientific community are truly extraordinary,” said nominator Michael Caligiuri, director of CCC-James.

Bloomfield received her MD from the University of Chicago and joined Ohio State in 1997.

Malcolm H. Chisholm

Distinguished Professor of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Professor of Chemistry
Department of Chemistry

David L. Denlinger

Department of Entomology

Albert de la Chapelle

Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics

Albert de la Chapelle was recruited to The Ohio State University in 1997 to launch and lead the Division of Human Cancer Genetics. The program now includes more than 200 faculty, scientists, staff, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students.

His “groundbreaking discoveries established a relationship between genetic mutations and diseases, and he has located the regions of chromosomes responsible for more than 20 human diseases...His landmark research work has been reported in more than 450 peer-reviewed papers and 131 reviews and book chapters in the world’s leading biomedical journals,” wrote his nominator.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences; a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences; one of 12 fellows of the Academy of Finland; and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the European Molecular Biology Organization and the European Society for Clinical Investigation. He holds MD and PhD degrees from the University of Helsinki in Finland.

John N. King

Department of English

John King joined the Ohio State faculty in 1989 after 18 years on the English faculty at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Internationally regarded as an innovative scholar, King is a specialist in Renaissance and Reformation English literature.

He is the author or editor of nine landmark books, with two more in progress, and more than 100 articles and reviews.

He is the recipient of a number of prestigious research awards for humanities scholars, including fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Humanities Center, the Lilly Endowment and a visiting lectureship at Oxford University. He earned his doctorate at the University of Chicago.

According to one nominator, King’s scholarship “has shaped developments of intellectual across religious and political history, art history, women’s studies, printing history, librarianship, manuscript studies and the Renaissance Bible.

Kevin R. Cox

Department of Geography

Kevin R. Cox received his bachelor's degree from Cambridge University and a master's degree and doctorate from the University of Illinois. He joined The Ohio State University's faculty in the Department of Geography in 1965. Colleagues credit him as being pivotal to the department's rise to one of the top five departments of geography in the United States.

Professor Cox is an internationally recognized scholar in three distinct areas: the geography of voting, behavioral geography and the politics of urbanization and local-global influences. His scholarship spans issues not only of geography but also of political science and sociology. In his nomination letter, Randall B. Ripley, dean of social and behavioral sciences, wrote: "These topics are of enormous importance in a world that is increasingly democratized, influenced by perception as much as actuality, urbanized and broadly affected by forces of globalization."

Nominators in the Department of Geography wrote that "Cox's record epitomizes the scholar-teacher ideal to which we aspire." For example, under his leadership the undergraduate curriculum was revised, new courses were added, and student services were revitalized. These endeavors led to a quadrupling of highly qualified undergraduate geography majors, wrote Lawrence A. Brown, chair of geography.

Cox is the author, co-author or editor of 10 books — and two more that will be forthcoming in 2004; more than 70 articles in prestigious journals; and about 30 book reviews, as well as several other editorials, and research and government reports. The National Science Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation have provided major portions of external funding for his research.

He has served on numerous editorial boards, including the discipline's flagship journal, The Annals of the Association of American Geographers. In addition, he has received prestigious recognitions including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Honors Award of the Association of American Geographers, and Ohio State's Distinguished Scholar Award. He has served has included the university's post-doctoral fellowship committee; the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences' curriculum committee; and in the Department of Geography as chair of the curriculum committee, among others.

Eric Herbst

Department of Physics
Department of Astronomy
Department of Chemistry

Eric Herbst received his AB in chemistry from the University of Rochester and his master's and doctorate from Harvard University. He joined Ohio State's faculty in 1991 and is a professor in the departments of Physics, Astronomy, and Chemistry.

Professor Herbst is internationally regarded as a pioneer and one of the leading researchers in the field of molecular astrophysics in the world. In 1973, he and William Klemperer wrote "The Formation and Depletion of Molecules in Dense Interstellar Clouds," a seminal paper about which Herbst's nominators wrote, "This paper literally started the field of molecular astronomy."

To date, he has more than 240 papers published in peer-reviewed journals. Alexander Dalgamo, Phillips Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University, wrote that Herbst's papers "all have something unique to say and are mandatory reading for entering graduate students and seasoned practitioners alike."

He has conducted a significant amount of collaborative research with another Distinguished University Professor, Frank De Lucia, in the area of molecular spectroscopy. Herbst's research has been consistently well funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA.

His research has spanned across physics, astronomy and chemistry; and during the course of his career, he has taught basic and advanced courses in the three departments. He has been recognized with the Alfred Sloan Foundation Award, the Max Planck Research Prize, Ohio State's Distinguished Scholar Award and twice with awards for graduate teaching, among others. In addition, he currently serves as a science editor for the prestigious Astrophysical Journal. He also has served on numerous departmental committees, the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences' promotion and tenure committee and the university's selection committee for the Distinguished Scholar Award.

Brian D. Joseph

Kenneth E. Naylor Professorship
Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures
Department of Linguistics

Brian D. Joseph earned his AB from Yale University and his master's degree and doctorate in linguistics from Harvard University. He joined Ohio State's faculty in the Department of Linguistics in 1979 and received a joint appointment in the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures in 1997, where he holds the Kenneth E. Naylor Professorship.

In his nomination letter, Humanities Dean Michael J. Hogan wrote "Joseph is considered the leading scholar in Greek linguistics today. But he is also an internationally recognized scholar in the field of Balkan linguistics." Hogan also wrote "He was chair of linguistics from 1987 to 1997, presiding over a department that rose during that decade to eighth among this nation's programs in linguistics in the National Research Council ratings."

Joseph has given more than 60 presentations as an invited speaker, authored or co-authored five books; co-edited seven books; more than 160 articles/chapters in books/notes; and edited or co-edited seven journal volumes. He has served as editor or on the editorial board of several journals and is currently the editor of Language, the Linguistic Society of America's prestigious, international journal.

He has taught virtually every course in the Department of Linguistics. He also has been a visiting professor at several other institutions, including the University of Illinois, the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and the University of the Aegean, Rhodes, Greece. In addition to the College of Humanities' Exemplary Faculty Award, he is the recipient of the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, the Distinguished Scholar Award and the Faculty Award for University Service.

He has served on dozens of committees, including service on the selection committee for Distinguished University Professors three times, the provost's committee for review of Selective Investment proposals, in the College of Humanities as chair of the Affirmative Action advisory committee and on the Department of Linguistics' promotion and tenure committee. 

Linda J. Saif
Food Animal Research Program

Lonnie G. Thompson
Department of Geological Sciences

Matthew S. Platz
Department of Chemistry

Charles C. Capen
Department of Veterinary Biosciences

Frank C. DeLucia
Department of Physics

Joseph H. Lynch
Department of History

Gregory A. Caldeira
Department of Political Science

Jessie Lai-Sim Au
Pharmacy, Medicine, and Biomedical Engineering

Richard E. Petty
Department of Psychology

Bruce E. Bursten
Department of Chemistry

Arthur J. Epstein
Department of Physics
Department of Chemistry

Lawrence A. Brown
Department of Geography

Karl Rubin
Department of Mathematics
(no longer with the university)

Liang-Shih Fan
Department of Chemical Engineering

Susan L. Huntington
Department of History of Art

George F. Martin, Jr.
Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy

Bunny C. Clark
Department of Physics

Harvey M. Friedman
Department of Mathematics

Leo A. Paquette
Department of Chemistry

Daryl H. Busch
Department of Chemistry
(no longer with the university)

John P. Hirth
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
(no longer with the university)

David O. Edwards (1988)
Department of Physics

Robert Rapp (1989)
Department of Materials Science and Engineering

George R. St. Pierre (1988)
Department of Materials Science and Engineering

J. Robert Warmbrod (1989)
College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Science

Arnold M. Zwicky (1989)
Department of Linguistics