• Michael Menaker, professor of biology, received the Peter C. Farrell Prize in Sleep Medicine from the Harvard Medical School. The prize was awarded “in celebration of the life and work of Michael Menaker, trailblazer in circadian biology and prescient illuminator of how light and dark, the alternating ancient heritages of our planet, come to govern and synchronize living clocks.”

• Robert C. Pianta, dean of the Curry School of Education, was named to the William T. Grant Foundation’s Scholars Selection Committee, which supports highly promising early career researchers from diverse disciplines in the social, behavioral and health sciences.

• John Quale, assistant professor of architecture, was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Sustainable Building Network.

• Lester Andrews, professor of chemistry, received the George Pimentel Award for lifetime contributions to the spectroscopy of matrix isolated species. Along with authoring more than 700 research publications, he has developed novel reactive molecules using a variety of physical and chemical techniques for investigation in solid argon, neon and hydrogen using infrared spectroscopy.

• With Good Reason, Virginia’s only statewide public radio program, has won a national award for a program it produced on near-death experiences featuring U.Va. researcher, Dr. C. Bruce Greyson. The program, titled “Into the Light,” won second place for “Best Interview” in the Public Radio News Directors International Awards competition.

• Richard Herskowitz, director of the Virginia Film Festival, was named 2007 Tourism Person of the Year by the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau for his leadership in making the festival a source of community pride, local business and national attention. Under his leadership since 1994, the festival has expanded each year, with a record 14,699 attendees in 2006, up 12 percent from 2005.

• Dr. Marcus L. Martin, associate vice president in the Office of Diversity and Equity, has been recognized for his leadership of the Department of Emergency Medicine with an oil-painting portrait that was unveiled at a reception in June. Martin chaired the department from 1996 to 2006. He was the first African- American to chair a clinical department in the School of Medicine.

• Sandra Cohen, director of teacher education for the Curry School, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council, which provides accreditation to about 150 schools.

• Lavae Hoffman, a new professor at the Curry School, has been selected as a 2007-2008 Excellence in Diversity Fellow, which gives incoming junior faculty one-year fellowships to help them develop long-term careers at U.Va. She has developed award-winning products that utilize multimedia technologies to support secondary education in communication sciences and disorders.

• Mool C. Gupta, the Langley Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, led a team including postdoctoral fellow Y. Yang that has developed an ultra-lightweight, corrosion-proof nanocomposite that outperforms conventional electromagnetic shielding. The team won a Nano50 Award from Nanotech Briefs magazine, which “recognizes the top 50 technologies, products and innovators that have significantly impacted nanotechnology.”