Distinguished Research Master
LSU names Distinguished Research Masters, recognizes dissertation excellence
BATON ROUGE, La. - The LSU Office of Research and Graduate Studies, Council on Research and Graduate School have announced the recipients of the 2002 Distinguished Research Master awards and the 2002 Distinguished Dissertation awards.
Johnny L. Matson, professor of psychology, has been named the Distinguished Research Master of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Vijay P. Singh, Arthur K. Barton Endowed Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been named the Distinguished Research Master of Engineering, Science and Technology.
The University's highest research honor, the Distinguished Research Master award has been presented annually since 1972. The award recognizes excellence in research and scholarship, and consists of a $1,500 annual salary increase and a Chancellor's Medal.
Described by many as an extraordinary research scientist, Matson's 25-year career in clinical psychology includes 27 books, 53 book chapters and 225 journal articles. He is considered a pioneer researcher in the field of developmental disabilities, specifically mental retardation, and is the founder and editor-in-chief of Research in Developmental Disabilities, a top-tier journal in his field.
"Dr. Matson is the leading national and I might add, international, scholar on psychopathology and its impact on a host of developmental disabilities," said Thomas Ollendick, a university distinguished professor and director of the Child Study Center at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. "His efforts have advanced our conceptualization, assessment, and treatment of significant psychopathology in developmentally delayed persons."
In addition to his role as professor, Matson is associate chair of the Department of Psychology and director of clinical training for the clinical psychology doctoral program. He has served as officer and member of many national and international psychology organizations and is currently a fellow of the divisions of child and youth services, mental retardation and clinical psychology of the American Psychological Association. He has also taught at the University of Pittsburgh and Northern Illinois University. He received his doctorate in counseling psychology from Indiana State University in 1976.
Driven by a desire to develop solutions to problems related to irrigation, floods and water quality, Vijay Singh has had a far-reaching impact on hydrology and water resources research in the U.S. and the world for more than 25 years. With more than 300 books, book chapters, journal publications and reports to his credit, he has become a force in water sciences research.
"Vijay Singh is an outstanding scholar and researcher in hydrology today. There are very few - and possibly - none in the world whose publication record and whose research activity surpasses his," said A. R. Rao, professor of civil engineering at Purdue University. "He is clearly a research master."
Singh has also served as the coordinator of the Water Resources program and as director of the Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute. He taught at Mississippi State University, George Washington University and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology before coming to LSU in 1981. He was a Fulbright lecturer in Austria from 1997 to 1998, and has also held visiting professor appointments in Australia, Belgium, India, Italy, Sweden, Singapore, South Africa and Switzerland. He holds doctorates in civil engineering and engineering from Colorado State University and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, respectively.
Distinguished Research Master award recipients are nominated by members of the LSU community and are selected by the Council on Research. The call for nominations is issued each January, and nominations may be made in either category.
The Distinguished Dissertation award honors excellence in dissertation research. Awarded annually since 1983, recipients receive a $1,000 stipend and a certificate noting their outstanding work and accomplishment.
Vetle I. Torvik, an engineering science major, has been awarded the LSU Alumni Association Distinguished Dissertation Award in Science, Engineering, and Technology for his contribution to the emerging field of computer-assisted knowledge discovery. His dissertation research demonstrates the wide array of real-life applications ranging from breast cancer diagnosis to college acceptance policies that can be analyzed by new computational approaches. Torvik is now a research assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Daniel R. Weir, a geography major, has been awarded the Josephine A. Roberts LSU Alumni Association Distinguished Dissertation Award in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences for his work in studying roadside death memorials in Mexico. His dissertation research explores the location of a person's death and the sacred places created around that phenomenon. Weir is now an assistant professor of geography at Dickinson State University in Dickinson, N.D.
The Distinguished Research Masters and the Distinguished Dissertation award recipients will be recognized at a ceremony on May 21, at 2 p.m. The event will be held at the LSU Faculty Club located at the intersection of Highland Road and Raphael Semmes Road on the LSU campus.
CONTACT:
J.T. Lane
Office of Research & Graduate Studies
225-578-5841
jlane1@lsu.edu
