Berkeleyan

Seventeen junior faculty receive Hellman Family funding

06 June 2007

The Hellman Family Faculty Fund, established in 1995, supports the research of promising assistant professors who show capacity for great distinction in their research. The awards were envisioned, in part, to provide support for junior faculty in the crucial period between the exhaustion of their start-up funding (if any) and the securing of initial grant monies.

At least two-thirds of the funds allocated each year support faculty in the physical and life sciences and engineering; up to one-third can support those in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

Seventeen awards have been announced for 2007. They will go to the following faculty, whose funded research projects are listed following their names:

Sabrina Agarwal, Anthropology, Understanding Bone Maintenance and Fragility Over the Life Course in a Neolithic Archaeological Population.

Gregory Barton, Molecular and Cell Biology, Identification of Mechanisms Preventing Autoimmunity Due to Toll-like Reception Activation by Self Nucleic Acids.

Deborah Blocker, French, How "Art" Became "Art": Discourses on the "Arts" in Early Modern Europe (1500-1800).

Joshua Bloom, Astronomy, Studying Black Hole Growth: A New Window with New Surveys.

Jose Carmena, Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences, Sensori-motor Neuroprosthesis for the Neurologically Impaired.

Fotini Chow, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Atmospheric Boundary Layer Dynamics Over Complex Terrain: Turbulent Processes and Land-surface Forcing.

Hillary Elfenbein, Business, On the Intuition That Some Negotiators Are Better Than Others.

Victoria Frede, History, The Making of Russian Atheism, 1780-1870.

Claire Kremen, Environmental Science, Policy & Management, How Does Biological Diversity Promote Ecosystem Services: A Mechanistic Study of Almond Crop Pollination in a Changing California landscape.

Arash Komeili, Plant & Microbial Biology, Biomineralization of Magnetic Minerals in Bacteria.

Lance Kriegsfeld, Psychology, Impact of Chrono-Neuroendocrine Disruptions on Adult Neurogenesis and Cell Death.

Abena Osseo-Asare, History, Bitter Roots: Medicine, Markets and the Search for Healing Plants in Africa.

Sheila Patek, Integrative Biology, Evolutionary Physiology of Communication in the Sea.

Irfan Siddiqi, Physics, Single Molecule Magnetometry: A Route to Testing the Limits of Quantum Mechanics.

Rachel Segalman, Chemical Engineering, Nanopatterning Organic Photovoltaics.

Sandra Smith, Sociology, Exploring Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Mobilization of Social Resources for Job-Finding.

Lisa Wymore, Theater, Dance & Performance Studies, Immersive Choreography: The Expansion of Perceptual and Haptic Formations of the body in Relationship to Real and Virtual Worlds Through the Development and Analysis of New Modes of Choreography Utilizing 3D Tele-Immersion Technology.