Faculty honors

Deborah E. Leckband, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was invested as the Reid T. Milner Professor. Leckband has advanced the method of surface force measurements in order to study cell adhesion, molecular recognition, and the mechanical properties of proteins. Her goal is to determine the design rules for controlling cell and biomolecular interactions with materials.

Edmund G. Seebauer, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was invested as the James W. Westwater Professor. Seebauer has focused his research on surface chemistry and transport in semiconductor-based microelectronics, nanotechnology, and catalysis. His work seeks to develop this fundamental science base, while simultaneously applying the findings to practical applications. See also October.

Renée Baillargeon, professor of psychology, was invested as the Alumni Professor of Psychology. Baillargeon focuses her research on two areas of infant cognition: physical reasoning and psychological reasoning. Her findings have helped challenge the traditional characterization of infants as limited sensorimotor processors incapable of thought, and suggest that skeletal causal frameworks guide, from the start, infants' reasoning and learning about physical and psychological events.

Edward Diener, professor of psychology, was invested as the Joseph R. Smiley Professor. Diener researches the measurement of well-being; temperament and personality influences on well-being; theories of well-being; income and well-being; and cultural influences on well-being. See also June.

Lawrence Hubert, professor of psychology, statistics, and educational psychology, was invested as the Lyle H. Lanier Professor. Hubert has focused his research on the extensive development of what is now commonly referred to in literature as combinatorial data analysis. These methods have the generality to encompass an enormous variety of inference and analysis tasks relevant to the varied types of data collected in the behavioral and social sciences.

Todd J. Martinez, professor of chemistry, was invested as the Edward William Gutgsell and Jane Marr Gutgsell Endowed Chair. Martinez has interests in the area of theoretical chemistry, specifically in the development and application of new methods for accurately and efficiently capturing quantum mechanical effects, which are crucial in understanding chemical bonding, molecular transformations, and reactions involving light.

James L. Best, professor of geology and geography, was invested as the Threet Professor of Sedimentary Geology. Best has worked internationally pioneering research in the interactions between turbulent flows, sediment transport, and the resultant shape of the beds of rivers, lakes, and the deep sea. His research has applications in both contemporary environmental management and the interpretation of ancient sedimentary successions.

Jeffrey S. Moore, professor of materials science and engineering in the Department of Chemistry, was invested as the Murchison-Mallory Endowed Chair in Chemistry. Moore is internationally recognized for his work in the field of organic materials and polymer chemistry. Among the significant advances Moore and his coworkers have made, is the synthesis of the largest known pure hydrocarbon and a class of helical foldamers that are the most versatile and extensively studied to date.