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HATTIESBURG
- Six Southern Miss faculty members and one graduate student
are recipients of the university's Research, Scholarly and
Creative Activity Awards presented annually for individual
contributions to research and academic fields.
The awards
were presented at a dinner Thursday, April 24 that capped
off the university's first LETTERS (Lives Enriched Through
Their Endeavors: Research and Scholarship) Day.
"This
inaugural event has focused on our faculty awarded for their
outstanding and significant contributions," said Dr.
Anita Davis, assistant professor of choral music education
and chair of the University Research Council (URC).
The awards
honor faculty members' lifelong contributions to their research
and academic fields. Each of these recipients have achieved
national recognition through scholarly publications, funded
research or creative activities, said Davis.
The URC
awards committee evaluated 22 applicants submitted by deans
from across the university. The faculty winners were each
awarded $2,500 cash, and another $2,500 was awarded to each
individual's department for further assistance with research
and teaching duties. The graduate recipient received a $500
award.
This
year's recipients are: Basic Research - Dr. Yuan Luo, assistant
professor of biology and Dr. Ras Pandey, professor of physics;
Applied Research - Dr. Robin Overstreet, professor in the
College of Marine Sciences, Department of Coastal Sciences,
Marine Parasitology and Pathobiology and Dr. Marek Urban,
professor of polymer science; Creative Research - Dr. Thomas
Fraschillo, professor of music and director of bands; and
Graduate Research/Creative Endeavor - Monique LeBourgeois,
psychology.
A Southern Miss
faculty member since 1998, Luo holds a doctorate from State
University of New York and bachelor's and master's degrees
from Peking University in Beijing, China. Luo's current research
is focused on herbal medicines for disease prevention.
Pandey
holds a doctorate from the University of Roorkee in India
and has been a Southern Miss faculty member since 1988. His
major research interests are biomimetics and scientific computing.
Overstreet's
research is focused on the use of parasites and other disease
conditions to indicate environmental, aquaculture and public
health. He holds a doctorate from the University of Miami,
Institute of Marine Sciences. Overstreet, a longtime senior
researcher with the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory since 1969,
has been on the Southern Miss faculty since the formation of the Department
of Coastal Sciences in 1998.
Urban
earned a doctorate from Michigan Technological University
and has been a member of the Southern Miss faculty since 1999. His major
research areas are film formations and advanced polymeric
materials.
Fraschillo,
a Southern Miss Faculty member since 1984, holds a doctorate from The
University of South Carolina. He is an international music
scholar with extended work in Italian musical composition.
LeBourgeois
received her master's degree from Southern Miss and will complete her
doctoral degree in experimental psychology this month. Working
with Dr. John Harsh, she has been involved with beginning
a pediatric sleep research program at Southern Miss.
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