OSU selects outstanding research faculty

Friday, September 14, 2007

The OSU A&M Board of Regents announced at their meeting Friday that eight OSU faculty members will receive 2007 Regents Distinguished Research Awards for outstanding achievement in research at the university’s fall convocation on Oct. 11. The eight faculty selected have demonstrated continued excellence in research throughout their academic careers while achieving national and international acclaim in their respective fields of study.

Kaladi S. Babu, Professor, Physics
Dr. Babu specializes in high energy physics and is considered a world expert in particle physics modeling building and the unification of various forces, known as “Grand Unification.”  The physics of the neutrino is another area in which Babu is considered an internationally recognized leader.  He co-authors the “Table of Particle Physics”—the most widely used reference manual in high energy physics.  His research has been funded continuously by the Department of Energy with funding of over $3M.  Babu has published over 150 research papers in international refereed journals with over 6000 citations to his credit.  He has presented over 60 invited talks at national and international conferences and workshops.

William Barrow, Professor and Sitlington Chair in Infectious Diseases, Veterinary Pathobiology
Dr.  Barrow arrived at the CVHS in 2001, where he continued his research on infectious diseases with a special emphasis on mycobacterial pathogenesis and drug discovery/development.  Barrow’s drug development program evolved, allowing his research team to be more competitive in the area of NIH grants.  He was instrumental in coordinating a team of CVHS scientists to create a biodefense contract awarded by NIH/NIAID.  The agreement aimed to develop, validate, and use in vitro screening assays to speed up the development of new-generation antimicrobials that can be used against bioterrorism pathogens and emerging infectious agents.  The contract was awarded for seven years with a cap of $40M.  The CVHS was one of ten institutions worldwide that received one of these contracts in 2003, one of two academic institutions and the only veterinary college in the United States.

B. Wade Brorsen, Regents Professor and Jean & Patsy Neustadt Chair, Agricultural Economics
Dr. Brorsen’s primary area of research is price analysis, emphasizing measuring the efficiency of markets and suggesting ways to increase the efficiency of markets, particularly futures and options markets.  His diverse work consists of over 140 refereed journal articles.  His work is mainly empirical but has also contributed to the econometrics literature.  His recent work on farmer marketing, conducted jointly with Kim Anderson, has provided a research base for Anderson’s extension program, consistent with the land-grant mission.  The work has led to changes in extension programs across the nation.  The old model of marketing education emphasized supplying producers with price forecasts and education on using futures markets.  The new model emphasizes adjusting production plans based on market signals and managing risk in the whole farm business.

Amanda W. Harrist, Associate Professor, Human Development & Family Science
Dr. Harrist’s research focuses on understanding young children’s adaptive and maladaptive social behavior during early and middle childhood, emphasizing family interactions as a context for developing social competence and the peer group as a context in which social problems are maintained, exacerbated or diminished.  Her primary research goal has been to understand better the development of children’s social competence in the family and peer contexts.  Harrist believes she has had an impact in two ways: (1) through developing the concept of parent-child synchrony beyond the infant period and (2) by highlighting the importance of children’s peer contexts as places that shape development.  Harrist is principal investigator for an intervention program for first graders called Families and Schools for Health (FiSH) that targets psychosocial issues in the families and peer groups of overweight children.  The project received $1M from the USDA.  Data have been collected from 1200 first graders, their teachers and parents, and as part of the project, data will be collected through third grade.  The hard-to-reach rural sample promises great research impact. 
 
Robert Mayer, Professor, English
Dr. Mayer’s research has developed along several distinct but related lines over a period of twenty years:  the history of history-writing in early modern Britain, the history and theory of the early English novel, eighteenth-century fiction on screen, and the career of Sir Walter Scott, poet and historical novelist, in respect to the history of authorship and of reading.  In advancing this work, Mayer has done research in this country and in the United Kingdom, often supported by external funding.  He has given numerous papers and organized panels at national and international meetings, and he has published refereed articles in major journals and three books he has authored, edited, and co-edited.  The work has given him considerable visibility at the national and international level.  Evidence of this includes participation in a distinguished lecture series at the Horning Center for the Humanities at Oregon State University; publication in a special issue of Eighteenth-Century Fiction, entitled Reconsidering the Rise of the Novel; serving as a commentator on the NPR radio series What’s the Word?; and participation in the founding of the Defoe Society.
 
Ramesh P. Rao, Professor and Paul C. Wise Chair in Finance, Finance
Dr. Rao’s research interest is in corporate finance with special emphasis on corporate governance and information signaling issues.  The field of corporate governance is an outgrowth of the agency theory literature.  His interest in agency issues dates back to work on his dissertation, where he examined the conflict between public utility regulators and utility managers and how it impacts the choice of capital structure by electric utilities.  Rao’s research in corporate governance has covered shareholder activism, board structure, compensation structure, ownership structure, inter-security agency conflicts, corporate charter amendments and capital structure.  His research has resulted in over 55 refereed publications.  Rao has also presented his research at various universities in the U.S. and abroad, including New Zealand, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.  Rao has co-authored the textbook Contemporary Financial Management Fundamentals, published by Thomson Southwestern, for use by undergraduate business students.  Rao is also the co-editor of the Journal of Applied Finance.

Jeffrey D. Spitler, C.M. Leonard Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Dr. Spitler has worked in the ground source heat pump area for 14 years.  His first research involved the development of a ground loop heat exchanger design tool suitable for any size commercial building, which automated many of the calculations and iterations that would have been required previously.  This design tool is widely used in North America, Asia and Europe.  Development and use of this design tool revealed areas where additional research was needed.  This additional research included the development of a test apparatus and analysis procedures for the determination, in situ, of the thermal conductivity of soil and rock surrounding a test borehole.  Based on this work and subsequent refinements, there are now a number of companies that offer this testing throughout North America.  Spitler developed the first energy calculation models for ground source heat pump systems that have now been incorporated into the most widely used energy calculation programs. 
   
Barbara J. Walker, Professor, Curriculum and Educational Leadership
Dr. Walker’s work in reading diagnosis and remediation is recognized worldwide by organizations such as the International Reading Association and the College Reading Association.  She has a distinguished publication record with 27 peer-reviewed journal articles authored, along with seven books and 11 book chapters.  Her publications center on two distinguished themes:  reading diagnosis and instructional techniques for struggling readers and reading teacher education.  Her research has been published in educational journals such as the Journal of Teacher Education and the Elementary School Journal.  Her textbook, Diagnostic Teaching of Reading, is in its sixth edition and is widely used in institutions across the United States.  She has published in many journals and her writing is devoted to teachers and children who face difficulties with reading instruction.  Eleven of her projects have been funded by organizations, such as the International Reading Association and the federal government.  Currently, she is president-elect of the International Reading Association, giving her national and international visibility as she speaks worldwide.