Biological Sciences and Psychology
Professor Maria Burnatowska-Hledin
Departments of Biology and Chemistry
Hope College, Holland, MI
Hope College Biology and Chemistry professor Dr. Maria Burnatowska-Hledin has been presented one of two 2016 Janet Andersen Lecture Awards by the Midstates Consortium for Math and Science. The award recognizes Dr. Hledin’s longstanding success in teaching, research, involving students in research, and innovative curriculum design. Dr. Hledin has directed Hope College’s interdisciplinary Biochemistry Molecular Biology (BMB) major since its inception in 2009 and led its accreditation by the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) in 2014. Hope College became one of only thirteen institutions in the nation with an ASBMB-accredited major. Her research program has supported an average of 6-8 students per year and has garnered over $1.3 million in external grant funding. It is particularly noteworthy that all of Dr. Hledin’s Hope College publications have included students as co-authors. More importantly, students working in Dr. Hledin’s lab have enjoyed great success in getting into graduate programs, professional schools, and employed positions in the fields of biology, chemistry, and biochemistry. Last year’s Janet Andersen Lecture Award winner, Dr. Laura Listenberger at St. Olaf College, did undergraduate research in Dr. Hledin’s lab and has credited Dr. Hledin for her outstanding mentoring of students. Dr. Hledin is the Frederich Garrett and Helen Floor Dekker Professor of Biomedicine and Chemistry at Hope College, and was appointed as an A. Paul Schaap Chemistry Fellow at Hope College in 2013.
Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science
Professor Andrew Beveridge
Department of Mathematics
Macalester College, St. Paul, MN
Macalester College Mathemetics Professor Dr. Andrew Beveridge has been presented one of two 2016 Janet Andersen Lecture Awards by the Midstates Consortium for Math and Science. The following excerpts are from the nomination material:
“Andrew’s research program is energetic and successful, and he has established himself as an internationally known mathematician in the field of probabilistic combinatorics. He works on problems in finite Markov chains, random graph models, and competitive/cooperative games. He is uniquely positioned in our department to teach in all four areas of our curriculum: math, applied math, statistics, and computer science. His leading role in the field is evidenced by the quantity and quality of publications he has written, the standard of the journals in which he has published, the fame of some of his coauthors, his invitations to talk at research conferences, and by his refereeing work.”
“What truly distinguishes Andrew from other outstanding colleagues is his skill at mentoring undergraduates in research projects. He is genuinely able to get undergraduates involved in a meaningful way with theoretical mathematics research, no easy feat. Andrew’s years of experience outside of academe bring a level of professionalism that have helped form his ideas about expectations and team-work. His research is particularly appropriate for Macalester because its problems are so appealing to students (who wouldn’t want to study the game of cops and robbers?), and many of them are very accessible.”