Five Women in Higher Education Honored With Notable Awards

Mariana Federica Wolfner, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, received the 2017 Recognition Award in Insect, Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology from the Entomological Society of America. She was honored at the society’s annual meeting in Denver.

Professor Wolfner is a graduate of Cornell University, where she majored in biology and chemistry. She holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stanford University in California.

Leslie Jill Patterson, a professor of English at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, received the 2017 Richard J. Margolis Award from the Blue Mountain Center in Blue Mountain Lake, New York. The award is given annually to a nonfiction writer whose work combines warmth, humor, wisdom, and concern for social justice.

Professor Patterson is a graduate of Abilene Christian University, where she majored in English. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in creative writing from Oklahoma State University.

Jessica R. Kramer, an assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of Utah, won the Dream Chemistry Award from the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences. She was honored for her research on the protective saccharide coat of cell membranes.

Dr. Kramer is a graduate of the University of Utah, where she majored in chemistry. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Shideh Dashti was chosen to receive the 2018 Arthur Casagrande Professional Development Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers. She is an assistant professor of geotechnical engineering and geomechanics at the University of Colorado.

Dr. Dashti is a graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mary Ann Klassen, senior lecturer in physics at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, received the Homer L. Dodge Citation from the American Association of Physics Teachers. The award recognizes a member’s contributions to the association.

Klassen is a graduate of Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, where she majored in astrophysics. She holds a master’s degree in physics from the University of Wyoming.