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Last Issue:
Tuesday,
December
18
2007
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Winners of the 2007-08 Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Awards
By Rhonda Malone
Published on 13-Feb-07
Editor's note: Technical difficulties prevented the publishing of all six photos online, so Outlook chose not to run any until the problem could be fixed.
Winners of the 2007-08 Distinguished Scholar-Teacher awards represent a broad range of academic excellence. The program honors tenured faculty members who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments as educators. The following honorees are being recognized for such notable achievements as mentorship and publication in their respective fields. Below are the six members of the 2007-08 class. Each scholar will present a lecture during the school year.
William Goldman, a professor of mathematics since 1986, is a distinguished mathematician recognized for numerous contributions to geometry and topology.
His research uses symmetry to classify geometric structures on topological spaces. His 1999 book Complex Hyperbolic Geometry is a tour de force of scholarship and technical prowess. His more than 60 research publications have created new, fruitful, on-going areas of research. His international reputation is demonstrated by his continuous support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), service as editor-in-chief of Geometriae Dedicata, and as an elected officer of the American Mathematical Society. He gave invited lectures at more than 20 distinguished venues in just the past two years.
Goldman's teaching philosophy that learning mathematics is doing mathematics has guided his efforts with students, in directing the Department's VIGRE program, and in creating the NSF-funded Experimental Geometry Lab. As a result of his efforts, he might be called a star maker. These stars include a Blair High School student who won the International Mathematics Olympiad, former undergraduate student Sergey Brin, who cofounded Google, and another who just received tenure at Amherst. He has supervised roughly 20 Ph.D.s. His postdoctoral advisees include the chair of the mathematics department at the University
of Chicago and a professor at Brown.
Samir Khuller, professor of computer science, is a leading researcher in the development of computer algorithms focusing on problems where the solution space is vast, and hence approximately optimal solutions must be obtained. Khuller's pioneering work has led to applications to optimizing delivery routes and assigning people to jobs. His highly productive research program has resulted in more than
60 refereed journal articles
and 65 proceedings papers
that have been cited more
than 1,600 times. He has been editor, co-editor or associate
editor of four different journals. His work has been supported by NSF, including a CAREER award.
Khuller has taught a variety of courses, all of which are extremely popular with
students from across a diverse array of majors and research interests.
A teacher with an uncanny ability to reduce the most difficult problems into easily comprehensible ones, he has been a recipient of the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Department's Teaching Award and awards for Outstanding Contributions to Seniors. He has successfully mentored high school through post-doctoral students, including some of the department's most gifted past students who singled him out as their most influential teacher/mentor, including a Philip Merrill Presidential Scholar and an assistant professor at Harvard University.
Robert Levine, professor of English, is a gifted teacher and internationally renowned scholar in the field of 19th-century American literature. Through his studies of such writers as Herman Melville, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass and Martin Delany, Levine has deepened our understanding of major figures in American letters as well as directed attention to the work of less well-known African American writers. Levine's prodigious scholarly output—seven books in 10 years—has earned him accolades as "one of the leading scholars in the field." Levine's scholarly accomplishments led
to his appointment as the new editor of the Norton Anthology of American Literature, 1820-1865. It should be a source of pride to the university that Levine's dedication to the diversification of the study of 19th-century American literature came as a direct result of his participation in the campus "Curriculum Transformation Project."
Levine is also an excellent mentor and advisor. Those with whom he has worked closely during their graduate studies describe him as generous and inspiring. Finally, Levine has worked to build communities intersecting the worlds of teaching and scholarship. He established "Local Americanists," lecture series that invites distinguished scholars to discussions and dinners with local faculty and students.
K. J. Ray Liu, professor and associate chair for graduate studies and research of electrical and computer engineering, with a joint appointment in the Institute for Systems Research, conducts scholarship focusing on signal processing and communications. His award-winning work has led to better wireless transmission technology, improved computer security and even better cancer diagnosis. He
has published more than 400 refereed papers.
Liu is an accomplished mentor, teacher and curriculum designer. In his classroom
teaching, Liu has been committed to giving students real-life problems to work on, and to fostering the intellectual power of his students by getting them to "learn to ask." He is the lead investigator on a five-year,
$1 million NSF project that funds the research of 22
undergraduates each summer.
In his graduate mentoring,
Liu is known for his tireless commitment to student
success. He has graduated 31
Ph.D. students. He undertook the leadership of a two-year effort in the revision of the graduate curriculum in communications and signal processing. He also had a major role in
the revision of the undergraduate curriculum in signal processing, including the development of a new capstone course that has garnered rave reviews from students.
Paul M. Pietroski, professor in both linguistics and philosophy, began his academic career in 1990 and has since gained an international recognition for his pioneering research in theoretical linguistics. In his 2005 book, Events and Semantic Architecture, and dozens of papers in leading journals, Pietroski has developed a conception of meaning in natural language that departs from traditional analyses of meaning in terms of truth conditions. Instead, he treats meanings as constraints on how speakers and interpreters of a language can evaluate expressions. In the judgment of linguist Noam Chomsky, Pietroski's approach offers "a very significant and sharp shift of perspective, which he develops and defends quite effectively."
Among the many beneficiaries of Pietroski's research are the university's students. Pietroski is an energetic, engaging and tremendously conscientious teacher. His course evaluations are consistently among the best in the department, whether for introductory classes or graduate seminars. As one student expressed it, "Very rarely, some lucky students are graced with the gift of a teacher that combines all three characteristics of brilliance in the subject, an ability to communicate and explain the subject to others, open-mindedness and accessibility. During my four years in the Philosophy Department I was one of those lucky students,and the gift was Paul Pietroski."
John Steinbruner, professor in the School of Public Policy, is also director of the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland. He has had an impressive career as a researcher and policy analyst, serving as a driving force in policy development. His scholarship focuses on the security implications of globalization. His analyses appear in such classic volumes as The Cybernetic Theory of Decision Making. He is the author or co-author of seven books or monographs, 55 articles and the editor or co-editor of three volumes. His influential work has enabled him to lead efforts to change the dominant paradigm of security policy from confrontation to cooperative security with the former Soviet Union and China. He has been a member of the National Academy of Science's Committee on International Security and Arms Control, the Council on Foreign Relations and co-chairs the Committee on International Security Studies of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, where he is a fellow.
Steinbruner's desire to improve security policy led him to significantly redesign the School of Public Policy's secuirty curriculum. Another innovative aspect of his teaching arose through a collaboration with Sergey Rogov, a Russian arms control expert. They obtained several major grants for joint curriculum development and interaction between Maryland students and faculty, and those at Rogov's institution. Steinbruner's courses receive very high appraisals, both in the form of quantitative evaluations and student testimonials. Further tribute to his dedication to student education: he supervises more Ph.D. candidates than any other public policy faculty member.
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