Five Women Scholars Honored With Prestigious Awards

Amy N. Finkelstein, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has won the John Bates Clark Medal from the American Economic Association. The award recognizes economists who have made significant contributions to the field before the age of 40. Her research focuses on the economics of the healthcare industry.

Dr. Finkelstein is a summa cum laude graduate of Harvard University. She holds a master’s degree from Oxford University, where she studied as a Marshall Scholar, and a Ph.D. in economics from MIT.

Carolyn Vallas, assistant dean for diversity at the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia, has been selected to receive the 2012 DuPont Minorities in Engineering Award from the American Society for Engineering Education. She will receive the award at the society’s annual conference this June in San Antonio. Vallas joined the school 15 years ago and is the director of its Center for Diversity in Engineering.

Allison Hyngstrom, assistant professor of physical therapy in the College of Health Sciences at Marquette University in Milwaukee, has been selected to receive the 2012 Eugene Michels New Investigator Award from the American Physical Therapy Association.

Dr. Hyngstrom has been on the Marquette faculty since 2008. She is a graduate of Augustana College and holds a master’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Northwestern University.

Jennifer Larson, a fifth-year graduate student at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, received the Women in Toxicology Graduate Student Achievement Award from the Society of Toxicology. She was presented the award at the society’s annual meeting in San Francisco.

Larson was honored for her research on the toxic metals, arsenite and cadmium and their effect on bladder cancer.

Patricia J. DeCoursey, professor of biology at the University of South Carolina, received the 2011 South Carolina Environmental Awareness Award from the South Carolina General Assembly. Professor DeCoursey was honored for her work to restore the W. Gordon Belser Arboretum, a 10-acre preserve donated to the university.

Dr. DeCoursey earned her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.