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Three Ohio State faculty members from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences have been chosen to receive an annual cash award to further their research.
David Jacobs, professor of sociology, John P. Bruno, professor of psychology and Mei-Po Kwan, professor of geography, will receive the Joan N. Huber Faculty Fellows award.
Over the next three years the recipients will receive $5,000 annually to fund research projects, said Judith Woodall, an administrative assistant in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Jacobs, who has been at the university since 1997 but conducting research since 1975, said he is working on research projects in sociology and criminology.
"I'm looking at the politics of capital punishment," he said. "I'm also looking at what happens to people at death row."
He also said he is studying survival on death row and the concept of the death penalty as a substitute for lynching.
Jacobs said he is not currently teaching this quarter, but plans on teaching next year.
Bruno has conducted research for 28 years and has been with the university for 20.
"I've had a long career and I have conducted research in five or six different areas, including behavioral neuroscience, study between the brain and behavior, development, aging, cognition and the recovery of function after brain damage," he said.
Bruno teaches psychology to both undergraduate and graduate students.
"I think that good scientists should be in the classroom," he said. "Students can learn from and work with scientists, and that's one of the things that makes a large institution like OSU special."
Bruno said he has received both Distinguished Teaching and Service awards prior to the Huber award.
"In addition to teaching and service, which I value immensely, I see myself as a scientist," Bruno said. "(The award) acknowledges scientific contribution over a long career, which is very rewarding."
Bruno said the award is special because it represents a form of approval from his colleagues.
"Science is expensive. The level of success depends on how funded you are," he said. "The funding decisions are made by other scientists, called a peer review, and it's like a validation, and that makes me feel especially honored."
Mei-Po Kwan, who has been at the university since 1995, has worked on research projects involving telecommunications and human activity patterns and has contributed to the development of innovative geographical methods.
Kwan teaches graduate-level geography classes. She will also receive the Ullman Award, given by the Association of American Geographers, for outstanding contributions to the study of transportation geography.
The Joan N. Huber Fellowship is named for the former dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences from 1984 to 1992.
"Huber was a distinguished faculty member and we award the fellowships in her name to honor her service to Ohio State and the high standards that she maintained," said Paul Allen Beck, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
"(Huber) was a great researcher and a great dean," Woodall said.
Woodall said candidates for the award are nominated by their department chairs and school directors. "Each chair can nominate no more than two colleagues," she said.
Nominations begin in the fall and are due by the end of January, Woodall said.
Once they are received, the dean and the associate deans sort through the nominations and select the award recipients, Beck said.
"We review all of the nominations and select the ones with the strongest faculty records, with special attention paid to research," he said.
Woodall said the decisions are usually made in about a month.
"There are no other awards like this in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and probably the highest achievement within the college," Woodall said. "It is definitely a very prestigious honor."
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