These medals are awarded for outstanding research or creative activity within the past five years that focuses on a single theme identified with the University of Georgia. The 2009 recipients are Wesley Allen, Dorothy Fragaszy,
Jessica Kissinger, Ping Shen and Yiping Zhao.
Wesley Allen
Associate professor of Chemistry
Wesley Allen, associate professor of chemistry, is a theoretical chemist who has been a leader in the development of new quantum chemical methods of unprecedented accuracy. He has made several important contributions to electronic structure theory, particularly his work on multi-reference coupled cluster methods, which establish a new gold standard for accuracy. He also carried out computations related to the structure and stability of hydroxymethylene,
an elusive singlet carbine species that has long been discussed but never before identified experimentally. Its definitive identification was possible only through Allen’s detailed and accurate computations. In a surprising discovery,
hydroxymethylene was then shown to be an example par excellence of quantum mechanical tunneling.
Dorothy Fragaszy
Professor of Psychology
Dorothy Fragaszy, professor of psychology, studies adaptive behavior in primates, specifically manipulation and problem solving including tool use. Her objective is to understand the genesis of adaptive behavior within the framework of evolution. In 2003, Fragaszy and her team documented capuchin monkeys’ routine use of heavy stones as hammers for cracking nuts, a discovery that excited primatologists around the world. Since then, she has discovered similarities in tool use—such as the prospective selection and transport of tools and nuts, and the repeated use of anvil sites and hammers—among wild capuchin monkeys, chimpanzees and ancestral humans. Her research provides insights into the physical, cognitive, ecological, social and developmental dimensions of tool use among primates. It also provides a new reference point for models of human evolution.
Jessica Kissinger
Associate Professor of Genetics
Jessica Kissinger, associate professor of genetics, is a molecular biologist who studies the evolution of genomes. Her 2003 discovery that pathogenic eukaryotic protists engaged in significant lateral gene transfer, a process for transferring genetic information between species, has profound implications for understanding these organisms’ ability to cause disease. Her papers on the Apicomplexa also opened a new window into genome evolution and the biology of several other important disease-causing organisms. Kissinger’s work has led to a new understanding of evolutionary processes generally. Her work shows how lateral gene transfer serves to move genes between organisms that cannot interbreed in the usual way.
Ping Shen
Assistant Professor of Cellular Biology
Ping Shen, assistant professor of cellular biology, established the fruit fly Drosophila as a model system for the study of feeding motivation, social behavior and alcoholism. His research showed that foraging motivation and food intake in Drosophila are regulat
ed by the same molecules, signaling pathways and neurochemical systems as those of mammals. Shen used the techniques of Drosophila genetics and developed novel tests to define neural circuits that modulate an animal’s willingness to take risks and work for food, which is difficult to do in other systems. His pioneering studies are helpful in understanding many human behaviors and disorders of biomedical importance, such as obesity and anorexia, which are increasingly understood as failures of motivated feeding behavior. He also uncovered an ancient anti-stress/pain pathway in Drosophila, which provides a powerful genetic model for future pain research.
Yiping Zhao
Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Yiping Zhao, associate professor of physics and
astronomy, combines nanofabrication techniques with fundamental studies of liquid-nanostructure interactions to develop devices with bioscientific and engineering applications. He has collaborated
with colleagues in different departments, including professors Rich Dluhy from chemistry and Ralph Tripp from infectious diseases, to develop plasmonic bio-sensors, specifically those based upon surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Their results suggest that these novel sensors can be used as diagnostic tools; they detect extremely low levels of virus in a minute sample while providing structural and quantitative information about the virus. Zhao and his team have filed 15 patents, 12 of which resulted directly from research on these projects during the past five years.
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