December 2, 2005

Six outstanding faculty named ASU Regents’ Professors

Six exceptional professors have been named to the university’s most prestigious ranks as ASU Regents’ Professors for 2006. Their selection was ratified Dec. 2 by the Arizona Board of Regents.

The honorees are Cordelia Chavez Candelaria, professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies and English; Carlos Castillo-Chavez, the Joaquin Bustoz Jr. Professor of mathematical biology; George Poste, Del E. Webb Distinguished Professor of biology and director of the Biodesign Institute; and Rogier Windhorst, professor of physics and astronomy, all from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Douglas Montgomery, ASU Foundation Professor of engineering in the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering; and Edward Prescott, professor of economics and Nobel laureate in the W. P. Carey School of Business.

Regents’ Professors stand out for their accomplishments in many areas: excellence in teaching, exceptional achievements in research or other creative activities, and national and international distinction in their fields. They serve as advisers to the university president and take on a broader role as consultants and teachers throughout the university.

“These six faculty possess outstanding credentials and reflect well on us with their presence. They represent distinction as scholar-teachers and are truly deserving of ASU’s highest faculty honor,” says Milton Glick, executive vice president and provost.

Nominations for Regents’ Professorships are made by faculty members and are submitted to a nominating committee in the fall. The prestigious honor includes an increase of $5,000 to the faculty member’s base salary, as well as an annual grant of $5,000 to support their scholarly endeavors. Starting this year, Regents’ Professors will be named annually, rather than every other year as in the past.

ASU Insight will profile each of the newly appointed Regents’ Professors in the spring. Their induction is scheduled to take place April 27. Below is a brief description of their accomplishments:

• Candelaria has been chair of the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department and was named 2001 Scholar of the Year by the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. She has been a leader in developing the study of the uniquely diverse nature of American society, and has added much to her field as executive editor of the two-volume “Encyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture,” published in 2004.

• Castillo-Chavez is among the top research contributors to literature on the progression of diseases and also is known for his efforts as an educator and mentor for young minority scientists. He is executive director of the SUMS/MTBI Institutes at ASU, recognized for strengthening under-represented high school and college students in math and science.

• Montgomery is a world-renowned author and researcher in two different areas, industrial engineering and statistics, with six of the 15 books he has written considered the premier texts in their fields. He edits two journals, has won teaching awards and has mentored some four dozen doctoral students, for which he was named the ASU Outstanding Doctoral Mentor in 2004.

• Poste is internationally prominent as a pioneer in several fields, having made many contributions to the research, legislative policy and private enterprise that form the basis of modern medicine. He is a leader in pharmaceutical research, has worked extensively with the U.S. government on public health and bioterrorism defense, and has used his expertise to bridge the divide between scientists and legislators to influence health policy.

• Prescott is one of the top intellectual leaders of modern macroeconomics, having developed a methodology for studying business cycles that changed the fundamental vision of how the economy works. His work earned him the 2004 Nobel Prize. He has mentored a steady stream of graduate students who are accomplished researchers at leading institutions and also is a senior monetary adviser for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

• Windhorst is a leading international scientist who has unraveled the formation of distant galaxies with the Hubble Space Telescope. His research with the telescope since 1994 has led to fundamental discoveries about the beginning of the universe. Throughout this time he has led a large group of research scientists, graduate students and undergraduates, many of whom have gone on to important research and teaching of their own.