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2010 Distinguished Faculty Award recipients

Kenneth W. Harrow	Bruce R. Harte	Gregg A. Howe	Matt W. Mutka	Fang Z. Peng
Bernard G. Pope	Kenneth D. Rosenman	Douglas W. Schemske	Rodney T. Whitaker	Pamela S. Whitten

Kenneth W. Harrow | Department of English, College of Arts and Letters Kenneth W. Harrow is a leading scholar of African literature and cinema, postcolonialism, feminism, and African diaspora studies. Throughout his career, his research has focused on how Africa’s culture has evolved during and after its colonization by Western nations. In three single-authored books, a dozen edited volumes and more than 50 peer-reviewed articles, Harrow has established himself as one of the most important cultural critics of Africa and the African diaspora. Because of his eminence in the field, Harrow has served on the executive board of the African Studies Association and in 1989 was elected president of the African Literature Association. He has been awarded Fulbright fellowships to teach and lecture in Africa and also has taught and lectured in England, Senegal, Burkina Faso, France and Mexico. Harrow has taught a broad range of courses, from general education courses for non-English majors on topics such as human rights to advanced graduate courses on the emerging film scene in Africa. His courses are widely admired for their intellectual rigor and global focus. Says Harrow: “My gratitude to the university for this award occasions thoughts of all those with whom I worked, and those I taught, over the 44 years that I have been at MSU. I came with one of the early large cohorts of faculty hired to teach humanities, at the time John Hannah was creating a broad undergraduate program of general education. The ideal was to develop the basic requirements for what was deemed a necessary and strong education for all our students. That program has morphed over the years into several different forms, while the ideal has remained largely the same. Subsequently, I was fortunate enough to continue my work on African literature and cinema in the English Department, one of the most exciting and really exhilarating sites of intellectual ferment possible, thanks to our majors, but especially to our graduate students and faculty who have stimulated and nurtured colleagues brilliantly over many years. It is to them that I owe my deepest thanks.”

Bruce R. Harte | School of Packaging, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Bruce R. Harte has been an important force for the School of Packaging and the field of packaging throughout the years. He has advanced and validated this emerging field through pivotal research, teaching, mentoring and maintaining close relations with stakeholders in academia and industry. Recognizing early in his career that it was essential to foster multidisciplinary relationships for a field that few recognized as an independent discipline, he has been successful through his creative leadership in organizing collaborative efforts and including agricultural engineers, food scientists, nutritionists, horticulturists and other key professionals to address packaging problems. The results have been realized in several projects with different commodity groups in the state, including the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board, Chestnut Growers Inc., Cherry Central and Dairy Management Inc. Harte is a pioneer in developing “active packaging” systems that incorporate additives such as antioxidants or bacteriocides in packaging matrices. In recent years, his interest in developing packaging materials from renewable resources has led to significant research activities in food packaging made from polylactide. Says Harte: “I am humbled by the award as I know the significance that the university places upon it. I have had the opportunity to work with many good people throughout my career and they share in this award with me. I am very appreciative of all the support received from my family, colleauqes and alumni in making this a reality for me.”

Gregg A. Howe | MSU-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Natural Science Since joining the MSU faculty in 1997, Gregg A. Howe has become an internationally recognized leader in research on plant hormone biology and plant–insect interactions. He has made a number of seminal contributions to the understanding of the biosynthesis, perception and role in defense of the plant hormone jasmonate. Howe and colleagues were first to identify a receptor for jasmonate and demonstrate that it not only is essential for signaling in wounded tissues but also is translocated rapidly to other parts of the injured plant to protect healthy tissues. Much of his work has been published in the most prestigious general audience and scientific journals, including Nature and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Howe’s research program is funded by major grants from the U.S. Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He has served on numerous standing committees on campus and in professional societies and is a dedicated member of the editorial boards of several scientific journals. Says Howe: “It is an honor to receive a Distinguished Faculty Award. I greatly appreciate the many terrific colleagues and supportive research environment that make MSU a world premier institution in which to study plant sciences. I am particularly grateful for the privilege of having worked with many talented graduate students, undergraduates and postdoctoral researchers whose hard work and dedication have made this award possible.”

Matt W. Mutka | Department of Computer Science and Engineering, College of Engineering Matt W. Mutka is recognized internationally for his contributions in the areas of computer systems and networking. Mutka conducts research for wireless and mobile systems, network-centric robotics, Internet-based teleoperations/telemedicine and pervasive computing systems, which have been supported by federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, as well as several industrial sponsors. Mutka’s interdisciplinary efforts in supermedia networking joint with MSU researchers in medicine, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and telecommunication is providing Internet users the ability to touch, feel and manipulate objects beyond their vicinity, even around the globe. Mutka has been active in educational scholarship. He is a leader in curriculum development for the graduate and undergraduate computer systems and networking courses at MSU. He has been active in pedagogical research that emphasized embedded computing systems as a catalyst to enhance computer engineering education and has contributed to the computer science capstone experience that involves external industrial sponsors. Says Mutka: “It is an honor and pleasure to receive this award. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with many talented graduate and undergraduate students at MSU, and this award, in part, reflects their efforts. I am extremely fortunate to have been able to learn from and collaborate with outstanding colleagues in Computer Science, the College of Engineering and elsewhere on campus. I greatly appreciate the opportunities and resources that MSU has made available to me to enable me to develop as a member of its faculty.”

Fang Z. Peng | Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering Fang Z. Peng’s expertise in power electronics for renewable energy, utility applications and hybrid electric vehicles and his innovative research contributions have brought distinction to Michigan State University. His pioneering research on multilevel converter technology has laid down the foundation for its widespread applications to utility power grids, high-voltage motor drives and renewable energy sources. He pioneered multilevel converter technology by solving the voltage unbalance problem, which was a major roadblock to implementation of this technology. His original solution opened new areas in alternative energy power conversion, utility power systems and large motor drives for industry, transportation and military applications. For these contributions to multilevel power converter technology and its application, he was elected one of the youngest fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. His inventions have resulted in more than 10 patents. Recent innovation from his research at MSU has created a new power conversion technology, the Z-source converter, which has been studied worldwide by his peers. Says Peng: “I thank my department for nominating me, and I am truly honored to receive this distinguished award. MSU has provided me the opportunities and resources to excel my research career. My graduate students have made great contributions to our high power electronics research program. I really appreciate it.”

Bernard G. Pope | Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Natural Science; and National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory Bernard G. Pope is renowned for his work in experimental particle physics. Even his thesis work, a collaboration with Nobel laureate Leon Ledennan, made a huge impact on his field. He has held numerous prestigious positions in the international particle physics community, most notably a faculty position at Princeton University and a staff scientist position at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, in Geneva. Pope joined MSU’s faculty in 1982 and helped build the particle physics group’s reputation of international prominence and excellence. He was selected by Gov. James Blanchard to serve on a statewide committee charged with attracting the superconducting super collider project to the state. Although the project was cancelled before breaking ground, Pope was not discouraged. He went on as a founding member of the DØ (DZero) Experiment, a collaboration of more than 500 scientists worldwide at the U.S. Department of Energy Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. In 1995, the great breakthrough of the collaboration came on discovering the massive top-quark. Says Pope: “I am very pleased and proud to receive this award. I view it as an endorsement of the physics-astronomy department in general and my sub-field of high energy physics in particular. Strong support from the university has allowed my colleagues and me the opportunity to represent MSU at large international science centers. Also it is a great pleasure for us to introduce MSU students to an area of exciting fundamental research.”

Kenneth D. Rosenman | Department of Medicine, College of Human Medicine Kenneth D. Rosenman is an internationally known leader and scholar in the field of occupational/environmental medicine. In 1990, he was elected to the Collegium Ramazzini, a select group of the top 200 occupational/environmental health specialists in the world. His work has been particularly recognized for developing the methodology to both track occupational/environmental disease and the approaches to use the data from tracking these conditions to prioritize and target interventions. Rosenman has had a continuously funded research program for the past 21 years that has averaged approximately $1 million per year. He has published 150 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and his research also has been presented in the news media and before congressional committees. One of his recent publications, “How much work-related injury and illness is missed by the current national surveillance system?” has been widely cited in the media, commentaries, abstracts and scientific peer-reviewed literature. His busy research program has been balanced by an active medical practice with referrals from physicians and patients from around the state. Says Rosenman: “It is wonderful to receive an award for doing things I love to do. I am honored to receive this recognition for accomplishments, which reflect more than the activity of one person and are really a reflection of the joint accomplishments and hard work of myself, members of my division and colleagues throughout the university. Much remains to be done in the field of occupational and environmental medicine, and I look forward to maintaining the quality and quantity of my work for many years to come at MSU.”

Douglas W. Schemske | Department of Plant Biology and Kellogg Biological Station, College of Natural Science; and Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Douglas W. Schemske is one of the leading evolutionary biologists in the world, and his work has had a major impact in several different areas. Two early papers on plant mating systems co-authored with theoretician Russell Lande sparked more than two decades of empirical and theoretical work on this topic. Together, these papers have been cited almost 1,100 times. He was the first researcher to apply modern molecular techniques to the study of complex phenotypic adaptations in the wild, and he is now a world leader in the study of plant speciation. A second set of papers in collaboration with Toby Bradshaw (University of Washington) transformed not just work on plants but all of evolutionary biology by detailing the genetic basis of adaptation in monkey flowers. Also, he has made major contributions to the understanding of the role of polyploidy in plant evolution, and his recent ideas on why tropical regions are more diverse than the temperate zone may well help solve a centuries-old mystery. Says Schemske: “I am very grateful to the faculty, students and staff at MSU for providing the intellectual atmosphere and resources that made this award possible. When I arrived on campus nine years ago, my hope was to establish a multifaceted research program catalyzed by the breadth and depth of expertise at MSU. Any success I have realized in this venture is a testament to the MSU philosophy of providing students and faculty with a wide range of interdisciplinary opportunities. This unique perspective has fostered a number of exciting research collaborations, far exceeding my expectations. These were made possible by the stimulating interactions I have had with colleagues throughout MSU, and in particular, Plant Biology, Kellogg Biological Station, Horticulture, Fisheries and Wildlife, and the Ecology, Evolution and Behavioral Biology program. I acknowledge all of their contributions, and I am honored to receive this award.”

Rodney T. Whitaker | Jazz Studies, College of Music Rodney T. Whitaker is an internationally known jazz artist and double bassist who has performed extensively on four continents. A collaborator with some of the leading musicians of our time – from Wynton Marsalis to Kathleen Battle, from Terrance Blanchard to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and from Marian McPartland to Chick Corea – Whitaker has made an indelible mark on jazz performance. His discography includes more than a hundred CD recordings. His latest CD, Get Ready (2009), a collaboration with Carl Allen, drummer and director of jazz studies at the Julliard School, was released to critical acclaim. It illustrates how Whitaker is continually developing a style through the creation of 21st-century soul jazz, which incorporates Motown rhythm-and-blues tunes with a jazz twist. Their CD tour will include performances at New York’s Lincoln Center and Washington’s Kennedy Center. His students point to the many extra educational opportunities Whitaker provides them by arranging performance opportunities on campus, on the road throughout Michigan, at national jazz festivals and abroad. Says Whitaker: “It's an honor and a privilege to be recognized by the university. Over the last 10 years, I have dedicated myself to building a highly competitive Jazz Studies program – which is considered to be one of the top 15 jazz programs in the nation. This could not have occurred without the support of my family, the university, the College of Music and the faculty/students. Thank you.”

Pamela S. Whitten | Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media, College of Communication Arts and Sciences Pamela S. Whitten is one of the world’s leading scholars in the area of telemedicine and telehealth, with a remarkable record of sustained productivity and grant funding. She has authored three books and more than 100 publications. Her work is theoretically motivated and practically grounded and has appeared in top journals, including Communications of the ACM, British Medical Journal, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Journal of Health Communication, Science Communication, Telemedicine and e-Health, and the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare. A central figure in the field, she has served on the board of directors of the American Telemedicine Association. Whitten has achieved a prolific record in obtaining grants—she has been a principal investigator or coprincipal investigator on funded grants that total nearly $10 million. Whitten’s studies of telemedicine implementation and use in health care settings have helped to define the field and demonstrate both the benefits that can be achieved as well as the challenges that health care organizations face in implementing telehealth technologies. Says Whitten: “I do research that tests the use of technology-based interventions to deliver healthcare services. I find the study of technologies within the complex realm of health services to be absolutely riveting. To design and deploy telemedicine solutions and then be able to test the impacts on health status, costs and communication is enormously rewarding. I am amazed and honored that others would judge my work to be of such significance to merit this award. Yet, I must share any research accomplishments with my fellow faculty research collaborators, graduate and undergraduate students, participating health care providers, and most importantly, patients willing to try these exciting interventions in the very personal experience of health care.”

Distinguished Faculty Award recipients | 2009

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