2015 Faculty Awards and Fellowships

These are the awards and fellowships for the current year. Click the following links to view awards and fellowships from previous years: 2014, 2013, 2012.



Maxim Kontsevich, distinguished professor of mathemetics, received the Inaugural Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, launched by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and venture capitalist Yuri Milner. Read more


Alejandro Portes, professor of sociology, was inducted into the National Academy of Education in Washington D.C. He is one of sixteen elected to membership into this highly prestigious organization. Read more. 


David Ikard, Ph.D., professor and director of Africana Studies, has won the 2015 William R. Jones Outstanding Mentor Award by the McKnight Doctoral Fellows and the Florida Education Fund.


Michelle Maldonado, Ph.D., associate professor of religious studies, was selected as the Alumni of the Year for 2015 by the Graduate Theological Union.


Michael Miller, professor of history, has been named a Fellow of the American Academy in Berlin. Read more.


Kathryn Tosney, professor of biology and director of the UM-wide SEEDS program, is the 2015 recipient of the Viktor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize from the Society for Developmental Biology. Read more. 


Amina Gautier, Ph.D., professor of creative writing, has won a USA Best Book Award in the African American fiction category for her collection of short stories, Now We Will Be Happy. She also recently received the Gold Medal Award in short fiction from the Florida Authors & Publishers Association (FAPA). Read more.


Shigui Ruan, professor of mathematics, is one of the world’s leading scholars in the sciences, according to Thomson Reuters. Read more.


Chaoming Song, assistant professor of physics, has been selected as the winner of the 2015 Erdős–Rényi Prize in Network Science. Song was recognized for the breadth and depth of his influential work, ranging from network applications of self-similarity and renormalization group theory, to the in-depth analysis of big data on human mobility. From theory to applications, his work impacts a wide range of Network Science areas, developing outstanding theoretical and modeling works. Read more.


Karen Mathews, assistant professor of art history, has been selected as a an NEH Summer Scholar and will participate in an institute entitled "The Alhmabra and Spain's Islamic Past." Read more.


Michael Alessandri, professor of clinicalpsychology - department of psychology; director CARD, Autism Center - department of psychology has been awarded a certificate of recognition from the City of Miami Beach and a Rod Wellens Service Award for outstanding service to the department of psychology, university, and community.


Caleb Everett, associate professor of anthropology has received an inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellowship from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Read more.


Amina Gautier, assistant professor of English, has won a 2015 First Horizon Award, which is given each year for debut books and is a special distinction beneath the Eric Hoffer Award umbrella, for her short story collection At-Risk


Guido Ruggiero, professor of history, was awarded the 2015 Book Prize in Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque from the American Association of Italian Studies for his book The Renaissance in Italy: A Social and Cultural History of the Rinascimento. Read more.


Amina Gautier, assistant professor of English, has won the Elixir Press Award in Fiction for her book, The Loss of All Lost Things, which is forthcoming in 2016.


Adam Braunschweig, assistant professor of chemistry, receives Early Career Excellence Award in Physical Organic Chemistry from the Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry. Read more


Mary Lindemann, professor of history, has received a Senior-Fellow research award of the State of Lower Saxony (Germany) at the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbuettel, for a period of three months during the years 2014-2016.


Michael Antoni, professor of psychology, has been awarded a Cooper Fellowship by the College of Arts and Sciences.


Gina Maranto, senior lecturer of English Composition and director of Ecosystem Science and Policy, has been named a Center for Genetics and Society Fellow.


Lucina Uddin, assistant professor of psychology, received the NIMH Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists (BRAINS) award, which is intended to support the research and research career development of outstanding, exceptionally productive scientists who are in the early, formative stages of their careers and who plan to make a long term career commitment to research in specific mission areas of the NIMH.


Karl Gunther, associate professor of history, was elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.


Robin Bachin, Charlton W. Tebeau Associate Professor of History, received the 2015 Phi Beta Kappa Key of Excellence Award which recognizes innovative efforts to advance the civic purposes of higher education, especially in the arts, humanities, and sciences, through engaged scholarship and community outreach.


Kate Ramsey, associate professor of history, has been awarded the Gabelli Senior Scholar Award by the College of Arts and Sciences.


Anne Cruz, professor of Spanish, was elected President of the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (SCSC), which has a membership of approximately 2,000 national and international scholars of the early modern period (ca. 1450 – ca. 1660.). It is interdisciplinary in scope and publishes the journal Sixteenth Century Studies.


Steven Safren, professor of psychology, received the Pioneer Award from the International Association of Providers in HIV Care (IAPAC) Conference. The Pioneer Award recognizes the achievements of an individual whose career has made significant contributions to the field of HIV adherence science/practice. Recipients of this award have all demonstrated histories of leadership or advocacy that have enhanced knowledge, education, implementation, or policies in HIV care.


Steve Butterman, Associate Professor of Portuguese, has been named the Greenleaf Scholar-in-Residence and Visiting Professor at the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University for AY 2015-16. This appointment invites him to spend the spring 2016 semester in residence at Tulane, where he will conduct research on a current book project while teaching a graduate seminar in gender and sexuality studies in contemporary Brazil.


Laura Giannetti, Associate Professor of Italian, has been named the Speroni Chair Visiting Assistant Professor for Spring of 2016 in the Italian Department at UCLA.


Frank Palmeri, Professor of English, was awarded a prestigious Summer Stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities.


Viviana Díaz Balsera, Professor of Spanish, has won the Gold Medal in the 2014 Florida Book Awards Florida Non-Fiction Category for her book, La Florida: Five Hundred Years of Hispanic Presence.


Chris Cosner, Professor of Mathematics, has been awarded a Cooper Fellowship by the College of Arts and Sciences.


Hugh Thomas, Professor of History, has been awarded a Cooper Fellowship by the College of Arts and Sciences.


Louis Davidson-Schmich, Associate Professor of Political Science, will be a Fulbright New Zealand US Scholar based at the Victoria University of Wellington in Spring 2016.


Ken Voss, Professor of Physics, received the Provost's Award for Scholarly Activity.


Neil Johnson, Professor of Physics, received an ACC Distinguished Lecturer Award.


Aaron Heller, Assistant Professor of Psychology, and Elizabeth Simpson, Assistant Professor of Psychology, recognized as Rising Stars by Association of Psychological Science (APS). Read more.

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