Award Recipients

2012-13

Lisa Feldman Barrett, Distinguished Professor of Psychology

 A renowned psychologist, Professor Barrett focuses on the nature of emotion through the lenses of psychology and neuroscience. Her Interdisciplinary Affective Science Lab incorporates methods from social, clinical, and personality psychology; psychophysiology; cognitive science; cognitive neuroscience; and visual cognition. She is a research neuroscientist in the Massachusetts General Hospital Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program and at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. Her impressive scholarly work is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Army Research Institute. Professor Barrett is an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Phil Brown, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Health Sciences

Professor Brown is an internationally known scholar whose interdisciplinary research in medical sociology addresses environmental justice and social movements, mental health, and the health consequences and social impacts of environmental hazards. He is a widely published expert, and his research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Professor Brown founded Hospitals for a Healthy Environment and regularly assists state and federal agencies concerned with understanding and remediating environmental contamination.

Andrei Zelevinsky, Professor of Mathematics (awarded posthumously)

A brilliant mathematician, Professor Andrei Zelevinsky passed away soon after being selected for this distinction. His vision and the impact on his field will endure, as will the university's respect and gratitude for his scholarship, intelligence, and friendship.

Professor Zelevinsky’s colleagues at Northeastern and universities around the world regarded him as a “towering figure in modern algebra and representation theory” whose work created whole new areas of mathematical research. His work was funded by the National Science Foundation since his arrival at Northeastern in 1991. He was a Humboldt Research Award winner in 2004 and elected a fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2012. In addition to his scholarly accomplishments, Professor Zelevinsky helped organize The Math Circle, which continues to bring research-level mathematicians into the classrooms of K–12 students.

2011-12

Richard Daynard, Professor of Law

Driving Professor Daynard's scholarship has been his unwavering vision for a healthier citizenry worldwide. As president of the Northeastern University School of Law's Public Health Advocacy Institute and chair of the institute's Tobacco Products Liability Project, he helped lead the international movement to establish the tobacco industry's legal responsibility for tobacco-induced death, disease, and disability. He has also been a leader in the effort to combat the international obesity epidemic. Daynard's legal scholarship is extensive, and has been funded by grants and contracts from the National Cancer Institute, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the American Legacy Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Vladimir Torchilin, Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Professor Torchilin, an internationally recognized, highly distinguished scholar, has made extraordinary contributions in the fields of nanomedicine, drug delivery, enzymology, and immunology. In 2010, he was the world's second most-cited researcher in the fields of pharmacology and toxicology. His numerous awards from the National Institutes of Health include a $13.5 million National Cancer Institute Center of Cancer  Nanotechnology Excellence grant to create commercially viable nanoparticle-based cancer treatments.

2010-11

William Dickens, Professor of Economics

Judith Hall, Professor of Psychology

Sheila Puffer, Professor and Cherry Family Senior Fellow of International Business

Vincent Harris, William Lincoln Smith Chair Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Kim Lewis, Professor of Biology