{"id":14781,"date":"2016-09-30T15:03:47","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=14781"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:29:18","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:29:18","slug":"hettleman-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=14781","title":{"rendered":"Four College faculty members honored with Hettleman awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four highly promising faculty members in diverse fields in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences have been awarded the Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prizes for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement by Young Faculty. \u00a0<\/span>The recipients, who were recognized at the Sept. 16 Faculty Council meeting, are: Tamara L. Berg<\/strong>, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science; Jillian Dempsey<\/strong>, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry; Matthew L. Kotzen<\/strong>, associate professor (with tenure) in the Department of Philosophy; and Lee Weisert,<\/strong> assistant professor in the Department of Music.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tamara
Tamara Berg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tamara L. Berg<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Berg was one of the first researchers to explore what has become a central research area in computer science: the integration of vision and language. Important applications include image database retrieval (a person provides a verbal description of images of interest, and relevant images are retrieved); human\/robot interaction; and surveillance.<\/p>\n

Kevin Jeffay, Gillian T. Cell Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and chair of Carolina\u2019s computer science department, said Berg\u2019s research \u201chas fused several traditional computing fields together to solve problems that few previously even recognized existed \u2013 because few could contemplate the advances she has achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her work has also established connections to non-computing disciplines, such as psychology (for issues of perception) and linguistics (for issues of semantic analysis), Jeffay said.<\/p>\n

Pietro Perona, the Allen E. Puckett Professor of Electrical Engineering and of Computation and Neural Systems at the California Institute of Technology, said what distinguished Berg is a \u201csuperior strategic vision\u201d that has enabled her to set trends rather than follow them. <\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, she has opened a new area of research in human-computer interaction by tracking gaze, Perona said. This not only reveals a great deal about how humans explore images, but it may also be used \u201cas a rich signal to teach computers what to look for in images.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Professor Alexei (Alyosha) Efros in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley, described Berg as a \u201conce-in-a-generation gem of a researcher\u201d who \u201ctackles really hard problems and produces solutions that work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to her academic work, Berg is also co-founder of Shopagon, a start-up in the computer vision and retail space that uses artificial intelligence algorithms to personalize the online clothing shopping experience.<\/p>\n

\"Jillian
Jillian Dempsey (photo by Lars Sahl)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jillian Dempsey<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dempsey\u2019s expertise in both molecular catalysis and materials characterization \u201cpositions her in the sweet spot of solar fuels challenges,\u201d said Jeffrey S. Johnson, chair of Carolina\u2019s chemistry department. During the past 3\u00bd years, Johnson said, \u201cJillian has developed a vibrant and amazingly productive research program\u201d that reflects a multi-pronged approach to studying the electron transfer processes that underpin sunlight-to-fuel energy conversion schemes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer systematic approach to examining reaction mechanisms has allowed her to identify pathways for energy conversion that proceed with unprecedented efficiency,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cShe has ambitious plans to cultivate new catalysts that exploit these pathways, and she approaches problems in innovative ways that challenge the status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor Harry B. Gray, with the California Institute of Technology, said Dempsey has made groundbreaking contributions that have shed new light on the mechanisms of electrocatalytic and photocatalytic reactions that produce hydrogen and other renewable fuels.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yale chemistry professor James M. Mayer said Dempsey was a rising star in the areas of inorganic chemistry, photochemistry, solar fuels, nanochemisty and electrochemisty.<\/p>\n

In only 3\u00bd years at Carolina, Dempsey has produced 11 peer-reviewed publications and is probably best known for her work on proton-coupled electrochemical processes, Mayer said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMore important than the visibility is the attitude of Professor Dempsey\u2019s research,\u201d Mayer added. \u201cHer work provides tools and insights that move the field forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew L. Kotzen<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kotzen is a rising star in epistemology, the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge, belief, justification and evidence.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew
Matthew Kotzen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recently, there has been a surge of research in the field of formal epistemology, which uses formal tools such as probability theory and formal learning theory to explore traditional problems in epistemology. With his excellent command of both traditional and formal epistemology, Kotzen has made himself one of the leading figures in this emerging field within a few short years, said Marc Lange, the chair of Carolina\u2019s philosophy department.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lange cited Kotzen\u2019s essay, \u201cThe Normativity of Humor,\u201d as an example of Kotzen\u2019s ability to connect his highly visible research with his excellence as a teacher, which was recognized by a Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Associate Professorship.<\/span><\/p>\n

The essay about humor was, in part, the product of Kotzen\u2019s discovery of a novel gateway to core philosophical topics that he later explored with students in the \u201cPhilosophy of Comedy\u201d course he introduced and taught.<\/p>\n

Topics in the course ranged from Plato and Hume, to contemporary accounts of what makes something funny, to the connections between humor and moral values.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhilosophy of Comedy\u201d is a richly interdisciplinary course, bringing to bear psychology, art history and religious studies as well as ethics, aesthetics, logic, epistemology and the philosophy of language,\u201d Lange said. \u201cIt has proven to be a superb way to introduce serious philosophy by way of discussion of a phenomenon (humor) that is simultaneously very familiar to our students, deeply mysterious and distinctively human.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Lange added, \u201cstudent reviews of the course have been very favorable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Lee
Lee Weisert (photo by Steve Exum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lee Weisert<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Weisert is a composer of instrumental and electronic music whose works employ novel technological frameworks to expose hidden sound sources and musical structures in a range of environmental phenomena. They also combine the principles and elements of science, mathematics and music to produce an original sonic landscape in a modern, and postmodern, extension of experimental music. The tradition of experimental music that began in Europe in the 1950s was then taken further in the United States as what has become a defining feature of recent \u201cAmerican\u201d music.<\/p>\n

Clarence Barlow, Corwin Professor of Composition at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a leader in the field, said Weisert\u2019s compositions draw on the rich tradition of experimental music while resisting being pigeonholed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis aesthetic embraces a non-teleological, objectivist stance, while simultaneously exuding a very personal and evocative style characterized by its invention, scrupulousness and wit,\u201d Barlow said. \u201cThe wide range of his musical materials\u2014traditional orchestral instruments, analog and digital synthesis and recordings of ice and subaquatic environments\u2014is reflective of his artistic ambition and curiosity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jay Alan Yim, coordinator of the Composition and Music Technology Program at Northwestern University, described Weisert\u2019s work as \u201cfusing an original conceptual approach with an innate musicality that makes the experience of hearing the music as rewarding as understanding the systematic means by which he composed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carolina music professor Allen Anderson said Weisert writes music of \u201cremarkable inventiveness, power and playfulness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith endless imagination he places the unheard and unremarked within earshot, opening up new sonic fields that pull the listener out of the everyday and habitual into magical and rejuvenating spaces.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Story courtesy of the <\/em>University Gazette<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four highly promising faculty members in diverse fields in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences have been awarded the Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prizes for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement by Young 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