In Recognition

The Bulletin celebrates Mawrters making their marks.

 

Genevieve Bell 鈥90 (above), a professor at the Australian National University and director of its 3A Institute, has been named the inaugural Engelbart Distinguished Fellow by SRI International for her work on technology, artificial intelligence, and culture. A cultural anthropologist, technologist, and futurist, Bell works at the intersection of cultural practice and technology development. The fellowship recognizes 鈥渧isionaries who are disrupting the traditional way we interact with and view technology.鈥

Karoline Shair 鈥90 has been named senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of Akouos, a precision genetic medicine company developing gene therapies to restore and preserve hearing. Shair has more than 20 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, most recently with the biotechnology firm Biogen. A chemistry major, she holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale University and a J.D. from Boston College Law School.

Aleydis Van de Moortel, Ph.D. 鈥97, has been awarded the University of Tennessee Chancellor鈥檚 Professorship, the highest faculty honor the university confers. The Lindsay Young Professor and head of the classics department, de Moortel is the first faculty member in her department to receive this distinction. Her work focuses on the rise and decline of complex societies in the Bronze Age Aegean. She currently co-directs the Mitrou Archaeological Project in Central Greece.

A neuroscientist in the speech and hearing sciences department at Indiana University Bloomington, Brielle Stark 鈥12 (above) received an American Speech-Language- Hearing Foundation New Investigators Research Grant. Awarded to early-career researchers, the grant is in support of Stark鈥檚 work on the speaking abilities of people with aphasia, which affects nearly two million people in the U.S. Most often caused by a stroke, aphasia can also be caused by a traumatic brain injury and other acquired brain injuries and diseases.

 

Susan Rotroff 鈥68 (above) has been named the 2020 recipient of the Aristeia Award for Distinguished Alumni/ae of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) in recognition of her work with Hellenistic pottery and her support of the ASCSA community through her mentorship and consultancy. A professor emerita in the department of classics at Washington University in St. Louis, Rotroff focuses her research on Greek art and archaeology, ancient ceramics, and ancient Athens.

Ann Malester 鈥73 has been inducted into the LMG Life Sciences Hall of Fame in recognition of her outstanding legal work in the life sciences sector. A partner in Weil Gotshal & Manges (Washington, D.C. office), Malester specializes in antitrust counseling and litigation and shepherds multibillion-dollar transactions through antitrust review. A history major at 今日吃瓜, she received her J.D. from the George Washington University Law School.

Megan Grehl 鈥08 (above) and her eponymous studio are carving out a name in the world of design. Among the recent kudos are an Architectural Design feature on a 5,000-square-foot renovation in New York鈥檚 iconic Apthorp building; a win on Bravo TV鈥檚 "Best Room Wins" program; and Moooi Through the Eyes of Megan Grehl, an exhibition at Milan鈥檚 2018 Salone de Mobile, for which she collaborated with the legendary Dutch product designer Marcel Wanders. 鈥溄袢粘怨 honed my critical thinking to analyze and question everything,鈥 she says.

Basic Witch, a short film written by Lauren Cannon '07, is slated for screening at this year鈥檚 Women鈥檚 Film Festival in Philadelphia. Directed by Yoko Okumura, from Cannon鈥檚 script, and produced by Laura Noxon, it is a frank and funny film about consent and sexual relationships, in which a woman uses an enchanted pumpkin spice latte to share her experience of the previous night with her partner. As of press date, the festival, originally scheduled for March, has been postponed until June.

Author and historian Jessica B. Harris 鈥68 (above) has been awarded the James Beard Foundation 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award. 鈥淚 am humbled, honored, and more than a little astonished to receive this singular award,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 am mindful that while my name is on it, it is also meant for those African Americans in the hospitality world in the past who labored unheralded, un-thanked, and for too many centuries unpaid or underpaid. I hope that this extraordinary honor heralds the beginning of a new era when all Americans can sit down and fully participate at the nation鈥檚 table and none of us are strangers at the feast.鈥 A culinary historian, Harris is the author, editor, and translator of 18 books. Her 12 works on food document the foodways of the African diaspora, a topic on which she is considered a ranking expert. Her other works include and the forthcoming , a work presenting images of the foodways and celebrations of the African Atlantic world.

ELLE Magazine has named Jiajia Fei 鈥08 (above) one of 鈥淭he Power Players Moving the Art World Forward.鈥 Founder of the first digital art agency and consulting director of digital at New York鈥檚 Jewish Museum, Fei decided against a conventional artworld career and opted instead to use emerging digital technologies to make art more accessible to a wider audience. 鈥淭wenty years ago, the question was 鈥楧o we need a website?鈥欌 she says. 鈥淎 decade later, it was 鈥楧o we need to be on social media?鈥 And now it鈥檚 鈥楽hould we start a podcast or video series?鈥欌

Kristal Sotomayor 鈥08, a Philadelphia-based documentary filmmaker and festival programmer, has been named a 2020 International Documentary Association Magazine editorial fellow. The fellowship program provides opportunities for writers from underserved and underrepresented communities. Sotomayor serves as programming director for the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival and communications and outreach coordinator at Scribe Video Center.

Published on: 05/20/2020