Lee Penn has been named a McKnight Presidential Fellow of the University of Minnesota. The McKnight Presidential Fellows Program is targeted at the most promising faculty who have been newly granted tenure and promotion to associate professor, to recognize their accomplishments and support their ongoing research and scholarship.

Citation: For the application of elegant optical and transport techniques to the study of spin dynamics and transport in metals and semiconductors and experiments probing the excitation spectra of inhomogeneously magnetized systems, particularly magnetic vortices.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that University of Minnesota chemistry assistant professor Christy Haynes is a recipient of the prestigious 2008 New Innovator Award. She is the first U of M faculty member to win this award which will provide $1.5 million over five years for her research to build a cell-by-cell human immune system to identify potential therapeutic approaches for treating allergic reactions and asthma. Read UMN IT News Item

Chris Leighton was recently selected as the "Emerging Leader Lecturer" at the University of California Santa Barbara Materials Department. Chris delivered a joint Materials Department / Materials Research Laboratory colloquium entitled "Tunable spin polarization in (Co,Fe)S2: Engineering half-metallic ferromagnets".

Jean-Luc Bredas was honored by the Materials Research Society with the lifeime title of Fellow of the Materials Research Society during its 2008 MRS Spring Meeting "For seminal contributions to the theoretical understanding and design of new organic materials for electronics and photonics."
The title of MRS Fellow honors MRS members who are notable for their distinguished accomplishments and their outstanding contributions to the advancement of materials research, worldwide.

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) has elected Renata Wentzcovitch as a Fellow. Each year only one in each thousand members is elected to this honor. An award ceremony for honorees will be held in May 2008 in Florida at the AGU Joint Assembly Meeting. The AGU describes itself as, "A worldwide scientific community that advances, through unselfish cooperation in research, the understanding of Earth and space for the benefit of humanity."

The Regents Professor position was established in 1965 by the Board of Regents to recognize the national and international prominence of faculty members. It serves as the highest recognition for faculty who have made unique contributions to the quality of the University of Minnesota through exceptional accomplishments in teaching, research and scholarship or creative work, and contributions to the public good. Read UMN News Item

Professor Uwe R. Kortshagen has been appointed as head of the University of Minnesota's Department of Mechanical Engineering effective July 1, 2008. He replaces James Ramsey, who has served as acting head of the department for the last year. Kortshagen, a Distinguished McKnight University Professor, has been a faculty member at the University of Minnesota since 1996. He has also served on the graduate faculty for physics, chemical engineering, and materials science and as director of graduate studies for the Department of Mechanical Engineering.Read more

Humboldt Research Award-- Outstanding scientists and scholars from all disciplines from abroad whose fundamental discoveries, new theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their own discipline and who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements in future are eligible to be nominated for a Humboldt Research Award. Award winners are invited to spend a period of up to one year cooperating on a long-term research project with specialist colleagues at a research institution in Germany.

The Office of the Provost and the Graduate School are pleased to announce the new recipients of the Distinguished McKnight University Professorship. The purpose of the Professorship is to recognize and reward our most outstanding mid-career faculty. Recipients are honored with the title Distinguished McKnight University Professor, which they hold for as long as they remain at the University of Minnesota.

The Office of the Provost and the Graduate School are pleased to announce the new recipients of the Distinguished McKnight University Professorship. The purpose of the Professorship is to recognize and reward our most outstanding mid-career faculty. Recipients are honored with the title Distinguished McKnight University Professor, which they hold for as long as they remain at the University of Minnesota.

Prof. Frank Bates is the recipient of the 2008 Sustained Research Prize of the Neutron Scattering Society of America with the citation: For his pioneering SANS experiments that probe the structure and thermodynamics of polymeric fluids and block copolymers. Read more

PSCF solves the Edwards self-consistent field theory (SCFT) for periodic phases formed by liquids containing block copolymers. It is designed to treat incompressible liquids that may contain any mixture of linear block copolymers, homopolymers, and small molecule solvents. It can describe 1, 2, and 3 dimensionally periodic structure structures with any type of unit cell (e.g., cubic, orthorhombic, triclinic, etc.) with any specified space group symmetry. The underlying modified diffusion equation is solved with an efficient pseudo-spectral method. Visit the Morse Group PSCF page

Citation: For pioneering work on the rheology, compatibilization, processing, and properties of polymer blends. Nominated by: Polymer Physics (DPOLY)

The McKnight Presidential Fellows Program is targeted at the most promising faculty who have been newly granted tenure and promotion to associate professor, to recognize their accomplishments and support their ongoing research and scholarship.

Established in 1955, the Regents Professorship is the University's highest recognition for faculty excellence. The award honors faculty whose especially distinguished accomplishments in teaching and scholarship or creative work have contributed uniquely to the University and to the public good.

The National Academy of Sciences today announced the election of 72 new members and 18 foreign associates from 12 countries in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. The election was held this morning during the business session of the 144th annual meeting of the Academy. Those elected today bring the total number of active members to 2,025. Read complete press release