As March roars in like a lion, UT boasts additional recognition and awards for faculty and alums: Plant Sciences Department Head Named WSSA Fellow; EECS Assistant Professor Wins NSF CAREER Award; Writing Center Director Wins SWCA Achievement Award; BCMB Associate Professor Wins NIH MIRA.
Senseman Receives WSSA Highest Honor
Scott Senseman, professor and head of the University of Tennessee Department of Plant Sciences, has been named a Fellow of the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA). The WSSA provides science-based information to the public and policymakers and fosters awareness of weeds and their tremendous impacts on managed and natural ecosystems.
Pulgar receives NSF CAREER Award
Hector Pulgar, assistant professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has received the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. The award will provide $500,000 over a five-year period for Pulgar to transform the dynamic robustness of the power grid against disturbances by expanding the limited capabilities of emerging power technologies.
Benson Receives SWCA Achievement Award
Kirsten Benson, director of UT’s Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center was recently awarded the 2021 Southeastern Writing Center Association (SWCA) Achievement Award. The award recognizes the outstanding, sustained body of work of a writing center director to their center, the SWCA, and the writing center community at large.
Fran Barrera Gets an NIH MIRA
Fran Barrera, associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology was recently awarded a MIRA (Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award) from the National Institute of Health (NIH). These grants provide investigators with greater stability and flexibility, thereby enhancing scientific productivity and the chances for important breakthroughs. The program also helps distribute funding more widely among the nation’s highly talented and promising investigators.