Aug

Research Prizes announced

Secretary Wayne Clough has announced the recipients of the Secretary’s Research Prizes for 2009. These pan-Institutional prizes recognize excellence in recent research by SI staff and carry a $2,000 award to each prize winner’s research account.

Image: (Click on thumbnail for fullsize version.) This artist’s concept illustrates the latest view of the Milky Way’s structure. The galaxy’s two major arms (Scutum-Centaurus and Perseus) can be seen attached to the ends of a thick central bar, while the two now-demoted minor arms (Norma and Sagittarius) are less distinct and located between the major arms. The artist’s concept also includes a new spiral arm, called the “Far 3-kiloparsec arm,” discovered via a radio-telescope survey of gas in the Milky Way. This arm is shorter than the two major arms and lies along the bar of the galaxy. Credit: Robert Hurt (SSC/JPL/Caltech)

The recipients of the 2009 Research Prizes are:

• Thomas M. Dame and Patrick Thaddeus, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, for “A New Spiral Arm of the Galaxy: The Far 3 kpc Arm.” The Astrophysical Journal 683 (August 20, 2008): L143-L146

• Laurence J. Dorr and Dan H. Nicholson, National Museum of Natural History, for Taxonomic Literature: A Selective Guide to Botanical Publications and Collections with Dates, Commentaries and Types (2nd ed.), Supp. 7, F-Frer (A.R.G. Gantner Verlag K.G., Ruggell, Liechtenstein, 2008)

• Paul Gardullo, National Museum of African American History and Culture; Michelle Delaney, National Museum of American History and Jacquelyn D. Serwer and Lonnie G. Bunch III, NMAAHC, eds., for The Scurlock Studio and Black Washington: Picturing the Promise (Washington D.C.: National Museum of African American History and Culture, 2009)

• John P. (Jake) Homiak, National Museum of Natural History, for “Discovering Rastafari” (Continuing exhibition within the African Voices Focus Gallery at Natural History; opened 2008)

Curator Jake Homiak (right) and adviser Ras Maurice Clarke at the opening of "Discovering Rastafari." (Photo by Stephen Voss/WPN) — Curator Jake Homiak (right) and adviser Ras Maurice Clarke at the opening of “Discovering Rastafari.” (Photo by Stephen Voss/WPN)

• Peggy Aldrich Kidwell, National Museum of American History, for Tools of American Mathematics Teaching, 1800-2000 (Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution; Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008) [co-authors: David Lindsay Roberts and Amy Ackerberg-Hastings]

"Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution and Interplanetary Travel" by Roger D. Launius and Howard E. McCurdy

• Roger D. Launius, National Air and Space Museum, for Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), New Series in NASA History [co-author: Howard E. McCurdy]

• J. Patrick Megonigal, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, for “Dig It! The Secrets of Soil” (Exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History; opened July 2008)

• Ted R. Schultz and Sean G. Brady, National Museum of Natural History, for “Major Evolutionary Transitions in Ant Agriculture.” PNAS/Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States 105 no. 14 (April 8, 2008): 5435-5444

"America's Forested Wetlands: From Wasteland tp Valued Resource" by Jeffrey K. Stine

• Jeffrey K. Stine, National Museum of American History, for America’s Forested Wetlands: From Wasteland to Valued Resource (Durham, N.C.: Forest History Society, 2008)

• Christen Marcher Wemmer and Catherine A. Christen, National Zoological Park, for Elephants and Ethics: Toward a Morality of Coexistence (edited volume of symposium proceedings) (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008)

The recipients’ accomplishments will be celebrated on November 17 at the time of the Secretary’s Distinguished Research Lecture.