Four Women Scholars Honored With Awards

Sultana N. Nahar, a research scientist in the department of astronomy at Ohio State University, received the 2013 John Wheatley Award from the American Physical Society. Dr. Nahar was honored for “efforts to promote physics research and teaching through collaboration, mentoring, and philanthropy” and for being an “advocate and role model of Muslim women scientists.”

Dr. Nahar holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Dhaka University in Bangladesh. She holds a master’s degree in quantum optics and a Ph.D. in atomic theory from Wayne State University in Detroit.

Susan Gilbert, professor and chair of the department of biology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, received a National Institute of Health Merit Award in recognition for the high quality of her work over time. The $2 million award is given to “facilitate creative, innovative research that will have an exceptional impact.”

Dr. Gilbert is a graduate of Randolph-Macon Women’s College. She earned a doctorate in cell biology from Dartmouth College.

Elizabeth Harris, associate professor of creative writing at the University of North Dakota, received the Heim Translation Award from the PEN American Center. She was honored for her translation of Tristano Dies by the late Italian author Antonio Tabucchi. The translated text will be published by Archipelago Books.

Professor Harris has been on the faculty at the University of North Dakota since 2004. She previously taught at Bluffton College in Ohio. Harris is a graduate of the University of Minnesota. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University and two master or fine arts degrees from the University of Arkansas.

Vandana Khanna was named a winner of the 2014 Miller Williams Arkansas Poetry Prize. Khanna, originally from New Delhi, India, is an instructor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She was selected for her collection entitled Afternoon Masala. The book will be published in the spring by the University of Arkansas Press.

Khanna holds a master of fine arts degree from Indiana University.