Seven Women Faculty Members Who Have Received Honors or Awards

Naomi Halas, the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University, is the recipient of the 2018 American Chemical Society Award in Colloid Chemistry. The award is given annually to to recognize significant contributions to colloid research.

Dr. Halas holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from La Salle University and a master’s degree and Ph.D. both in physics from Bryn Mawr College.

Avital Rodal, associate professor of biology at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, has been awarded the Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. This is the first year the award has been given. It recognizes faculty members across the country who are committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists.

Dr. Rodal holds a bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Gillian Brunet, assistant professor of economics at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, has been awarded the Allan Nevins Prize in American Economic History by the Economic History Association. The award is given annually on behalf of Columbia University Press for the best dissertation in United States or Canadian economic history. Dr. Brunet’s dissertation focused on state-level effects of World War II spending in the United States.

Dr. Brunet holds a bachelor’s degree in government and mathematics from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Margarita Lopez-Uribe, an assistant professor of entomology and the Lorenzo L. Langstroth Early Career Professor at Pennsylvania State University, has received the Early Career Professional Research Award from the Entomological Society of America. The award recognizes an early professional who has made outstanding research contributions to the field of entomology.

Dr. Lopez-Uribe holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of the Andes in Colombia, a master’s degree in genetics and evolution from the Federal University of Sao Carlos in Brazil, and a Ph.D. in entomology from Cornell University.

Leanne Knobloch, a professor of communication at the University of Illinois, is the 2018 recipient of the Charles H. Woolbert Research Award from the National Communication Association. The award is given annually to an article or book chapter that has stimulated new ideas of communication phenomena. She is recognized for co-writing the article “A Model of Relational Turbulence: The Role of Intimacy, Relational Uncertainty, and Interference From Partners in Appraisals of Irritations,” which was published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

Dr. Knobloch holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Danielle Rudes, associate professor of criminology, law, and society at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, has received the 2018 Teaching Award from the American Criminology Society.

Dr. Rudes has taught at George Mason since 2008. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Irvine.

Diana Six, professor of forest entomology and pathology at the University of Montana, is the recipient of the 2018 Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Pioneer Award presented by the American Computer and Robotics Museum and Montana State University. The award honors scientific, technical and literary pioneers who have made significant contributions to the understanding and preservation of the biodiversity of life on Earth.

Dr. Six holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural biology from California State Polytechnic University, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in entomology from the University of California, Riverside.