Faculty Awards and Honors - 2022 Issue 1
Leonid Baryland, professor of mathematics, has been honored with a Humboldt Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany. The award recognizes his pioneering work in the theory of differential equations and their applications in the life sciences, material sciences, and physics.
David Hughes, professor of entomology and biology, has included in the inaugural list of “America’s Greatest Disrupters” by Newsweek as well as the list of “Most Creative People in Business 2021” by the magazine Fast Company, a publication dedicated to the power of disruptive innovation. He was recognized for his work on PlantVillage, an artificial intelligence–enhanced smartphone app and cloud-based knowledge system that serves as a resource to farmers around the world, who learn how to diagnose and treat plant diseases.
Nicole Lazar, professor of statistics, has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. She was selected for “significant contributions to empirical likelihood and neuroimaging analysis, and for leadership to the profession.”
The NEID instrument team, led by Penn State Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Suvrath Mahadevan, was recognized by NASA with the Group Achievement Award, which is presented to groups who have distinguished themselves through outstanding contributions to NASA’s mission. The team is being recognized for “the development and delivery of the state-of-the-art NEID radial velocity spectrograph and port adapter to the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope on Kitt Peak.
Steinn Sigurdsson, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State, has been elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He was elected “for contributions to theoretical astrophysics, including work on compact object binaries and the dynamical evolution of dense stellar systems, gravitational radiation sources, and aspects of extrasolar planets."
Aleksandra (Seša) Slavković, professor of statistics and associate dean for graduate education in the college, has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. She was selected for “novel contributions to the development of statistical disclosure techniques and algebraic methods, for contributions to graduate research, and for contributions to editorial and other publication activities of the IMS and other statistical organizations.”