Faculty and University Distinctions
Faculty in National Academies and Learned Societies
The faculty at the UNC-Chapel Hill are distinguished by their academic accomplishments.
According to the latest available data, UNC-Chapel Hill ranks sixteenth among public
research institutions in terms of the number of faculty members who have been inducted into the National Academies,
including the National Academy of Sciences (10, including one retired faculty member), the National Academy of Engineering
(5, including one retired faculty member), and the Institute of Medicine (19, including two retired faculty members). In addition, Chapel Hill counts 33
of its faculty (including one retired faculty member) among the members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
(Source: The Center for Measuring University Performance: The Top American Research Universities Annual Report 2008. Updated: 04/09.)
Numerous faculty members have
brought distinction to the State and the University through professional
achievements that have led to their induction in nationally distinguished
learned and professional societies.
Winners of Prestigious External Awards
Over the years, many UNC-Chapel Hill faculty have been winners
of external awards. UNC-Chapel Hill ranks thirteenth nationally among public
research institutions in terms of the number of prestigious awards that their
faculty members have received in the arts, humanities, science, and health.
(Source: The Center for Measuring University Performance: The Top American Research Universities Annual Report 2008. Updated: 04/09.)
2009 NIH Director's Pioneer Award
- Joseph DeSimone, Chancellor's Eminent Professor of chemistry, was chosen for the 2009 National Institutes of Health's NIH Director's Pioneer Award . DeSimone will use the award to develop new methods for delivering promising biological therapeutics to specific locations in the body in a safe and effective fashion.
- UNC News Services release
2009 Franklin Fellows Program
- Jeffrey Frelinger, Kenan Distinguished professor, department of microbiology and immunology, was awarded the Franklin Fellowship offered by the U.S. Department of State. Franklin Fellows work on global issues of vital importance to the United States while enhancing their knowledge of foreign policy and government operations.
2009 Microsoft New Faculty Fellowship Award
- Svetlana Lazebnik, assistant professor of computer science, has received a Microsoft
New Faculty Fellowship Award. This unrestricted $200,000 gift from Microsoft Research is yearly awarded to five early-career professors in recognition of innovative
computing research. Lazebnik is exploring new ways for computers to interpret digital images.
- UNC News Services release
2009 NSF Faculty Early Career Development Awards
- Garegin Papoian and Muhammad Yousaf, assistant professors of chemistry, have received Faculty Early Career Development Awards from the National Science Foundation. These awards
support the research of promising young faculty in the early stages of their careers in the chemical and life sciences.
Papoian will use the award to develop detailed computational models of the way cells of higher organisms move around and sense their environment. Yousaf will use the award to develop new surface chemistries to study how cells polarize and migrate.
- UNC News Services release
2008 Lemelson-MIT Prize
- Joseph DeSimone, Chancellor's Eminent Professor of chemistry, has been awarded the 2008 Lemelson-MIT Prize for his work in green chemistry and for bringing that work from the lab into industry. The $500,000 prize is awarded to “individuals who turn their ideas into inventions and innovations that change the world we live in and improve life for all of us.”
- UNC News Services release
2008 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Sawyer Seminars
- Banu Gökariksel, assistant professor of geography and Sarah Shields, associate professor of history, were selected to participate in the Mellon Foundation's 2008 Sawyer Seminars program , which provides support for comparative research on the historical and cultural sources of contemporary developments.
2008 Pew Scholars Foundation
- John F. Rawls, assistant professor of cell and molecular physiology was chosen as a 2008 Pew Scholar. The Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences is designed to support young investigators of outstanding promise in the basic and clinical sciences relevant to the advancement of human health. Scholars are awarded $60,000 per year for a four-year period.
2008 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award
- Dr. Joseph “Alex” Duncan, assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases, received the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in the Medical Sciences, which provides $700,000 over five years to support young physician scientists through the transition from post-doctoral training to developing independent research careers as young faculty. Duncan is currently researching the role of specific pathogens in disease prevention and treatment.
2008 Rita Allen Foundation Scholar
- Ian Davis, assistant professor of pediatrics at the school of medicine and Lineberger Cancer Center, has been appointed as a Rita Allen Foundation Scholar, which supports scientists in the early stages of their research careers. Davis's research involves the molecular genetics of childhood cancers.
2008 Ellison New Scholar Award in Aging
- Arjun Deb, assistant professor at the School of Medicine, has received the Ellison Medical Foundation's 2008 New Scholar Award in Aging for his work in cardiac stem cell research. The New Scholar awards provide support for promising young investigators as they establish their own labs and organize new research programs.
- UNC News Services release
2008 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease
2008 Camille Dreyfus Teacher Scholar
- Garegin Papoian, assistant professor of chemistry, has been named a 2008 Camille Dreyfus Teacher Scholar for his work studying biophysical processes using advanced computational methods. This award recognizes outstanding young faculty members in the chemical sciences.
- UNC News Services release
2008 Sloan Research Fellows
- Dmytro Arinkin, assistant professor of mathematics, and Zefang Wang, assistant professor of molecular biology, have both been awarded Sloan Research Fellowships for outstanding early-career scientists by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Arinkin plans to use the fellowship to further his collaborative mathematics research with the Langlands Project, while Wang plans to use his to fund his research in gene splicing.
- UNC News Services release
2008 Beckman Young Investigators Award
- Steve Rogers, assistant professor in biology, and Zefeng Wang, assistant professor in pharmacology, are both winners of the 2008 Beckman Young Investigators Award. The national award, given to 16 recipients by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation of Irvine, Calif., supports the research of promising young faculty members in the early stages of their careers in the chemical and life sciences.
- UNC News Services release
2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- Oliver Smithies, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the School of Medicine, is a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2007 . Smithies, along with Mario R. Capecchi of the University of Utah’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Sir Martin J. Evans of the Cardiff University, shared the 2007 Nobel Prize "for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells."
- UNC News Services release
2007 Beckman Young Investigators Award
- Garegin Papoian, assistant professor of chemistry, won a $300,000 Beckman Young Investigators Award. This Arnold and Mable Beckman Foundation award supports the
most promising young faculty members in the early stages of academic careers in the chemical and life sciences.
2007 Burroughs Wellcome Grant
- Norman E. Sharpless, assistant professor of medicine and genetics at the School of Medicine has been awarded one of 11 Clinical Scientist Awards in Translational Research
by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The five-year, $750,000 awards are intended to support established, independent physician-scientists who are dedicated to translational research and mentoring physician-scientist trainees.
- UNC News Services release
2007 Searle Scholar
- Mark Zylka, assistant professor of cell and molecular physiology at the School of Medicine, was named a 2007 Searle Scholar, with $240,000 over three years in support of his research on neural circuits and pain. The award supports exceptional young faculty across the biomedical sciences and in chemistry.
- UNC News Services release
2006 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences
- Karen Mohlke, assistant professor of genetics, was named a 2006 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, which provides $240,000 over four years in support of her research. This marked the third consecutive year that a member of Carolina's faculty has won this very prestigious award.
2006 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar
- Jeffrey Johnson, assistant professor of chemistry, was named a 2006 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar for his research in the application of polarity reversal concepts in the discovery of new catalysts and chemical reactivity.
2006 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigators in Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases
2006 NIH Director's Pioneer Award
- Gary Pielak, a professor of chemistry, was chosen for the 2006 National Institutes of Health's NIH Director's Pioneer Award, which supports exceptionally creative scientists who take highly innovative approaches to major challenges in biomedical research.
(Sources: Office of Research Development, Carolina Roadmap Office, and UNC News Services. Updated: 4/2009.)
Advisors to Federal Agencies
Many Carolina faculty members serve on federal advisory committees that play an important role in shaping programs and policies of the federal government. These committee members provide the expertise and professional skills that parallel the program responsibilities of their sponsoring agencies. They also are the public's voice in the federal government's decision-making process. Use Carolina's Federal Advisory Committee Resource to learn more about our faculty who are serving in this important advisory capacity. If you have questions, please contact
karenregan@unc.edu.
(Source: Office of Federal Affairs. Updated: 05/2008.)
University Recognitions
Ranked in Top Five for Nanotech Research
The business trade magazine Small Times has ranked UNC-Chapel Hill fifth in its research category for the university's work in nano- and microtechnology. The magazine's annual survey, 2009 University Report and Rankings , identified which institutions are the best of the best in micro- and nanotechnology research and commercialization. (Source: UNC News Services release; Updated: 5/09)
Second-Ranked Research Library in the South
The Association of Research Libraries and the Chronicle of Higher Education rated Carolina's library system seventeenth in the U.S. and second in the South. The survey ranked research university libraries by number of volumes in the library, number of volumes added, number of current serials, total expenditures, and permanent staff. (Source: Chronicle of Higher Education. Updated: 04/08).
Fourth Most Powerful Supercomputer at a Southern University
Carolina's Dell research computing cluster, called Topsail, was ranked fourth among supercomputers at universities in the South and 10th among all universities by the TOP500 Supercomputer Sites Project. The project ranks the world's most powerful computer systems twice a year.
One of the "Top American Research Universities"
In The Top American Research Universities 2007 Annual Report, Carolina ranked ninth among public universities nationwide, and first in the south. This publication is produced by The Center for Measuring University Performance, at Arizona State University. The rankings are based on a number of measures such as research funding, private support, faculty awards, faculty membership in National Academies, and doctoral and postdoctoral advanced training. (Source: The Center for Measuring University Performance. Updated: 04/08.)
A Leader in Biotechnology
Carolina fared well in a comprehensive survey of university biotechnology transfer and commercialization conducted by the Milken Institute, a publicly-supported economic think tank in Santa Monica, California. The survey ranked educational institutions worldwide on their biotechnology publications and patents, as well as their technology transfer. Carolina ranked 28th, 41st, and 25th, respectively, and was among the top four institutions in the South in all categories. Additionally, the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area was ranked 20th by the Institute among biotechnology clusters.
Fifth among Public Universities
The latest rankings by U.S. News and World Report rank Carolina fifth among public universities and twenty-seventh overall. Detailed statistical tables prepared by the UNC Office of Institutional Research compare UNC-Chapel Hill with public university peers Universities of California-Berkeley, Virginia, Michigan at Ann Arbor, and California-Los Angeles.
A Leader in Entrepreneurship
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ranks sixth in the south and twenty-fourth overall among university entrepreneurship programs, according to Entrepreneur Magazine and the Princeton Review. (Source: Entrepreneur Magazine; updated: 12/2006.)