Professional Promise in Research
and Creative Achievement for 2009

JAMES CONANT
James Conant, associate professor of mathematics, focuses his research on knot theory, a subject with applications in physics and biology, such as in the study of DNA strands. He has been published in some of the highest-ranking journals in mathematics, and his research has been recognized by experts as “shedding new light on some of the major advances in topology in recent times.” He has published 15 papers between 2003 and 2008, where the average publication rate for active mathematicians is one per year. Conant has received consecutive three-year personal investigator grants from the National Science Foundation in 2003 and 2006.

KURT LAMOUR
Kurt Lamour's research has had significant impact on East Tennessee. As the associate professor of entomology and plant pathology he specializes in the fungal-type plant pathogen Phytophthora, specifically the vegetable pathogen Phytophthora capsici, which causes serious damage to vegetable producers in the region. He has worked with the USDA and Tennessee Department of Agriculture to study the Asian soybean rust pathogen and Sudden Oak Death Disease, both prevalent in East Tennessee. His nominator says, “His enthusiasm, recognized expertise with cutting-edge molecular genetics, and strong emphasis on experiential learning has blossomed into a dynamic group that bridges applied and fundamental research.”

DANIEL MAGILOW
Daniel Magilow, assistant professor of German, is quickly becoming a nationally recognized authority in Holocaust studies and modern German studies. He has published several important and well-placed articles in recent years and has several more articles and book chapters in process. One of his most interesting research projects was the editing, translation and publishing of a previously unknown Holocaust family memoir and photo album that he discovered while completing a fellowship at the Holocaust Museum. The work was published this year and Magilow also prepared an accompanying exhibition.

XIAORUI WANG
Xiaorui Wang is an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science. He joined the faculty in 2006 and already has received several prestigious external awards including an National Science Foundation CAREER Award; a Best Paper award at the flagship conference of real-time systems; a Power Aware Computing Award from Microsoft; and a Real-Time Innovation Award from IBM. His research has made significant impacts on both industry and academia. His power control algorithm has been directly adopted in real IBM servers and is the basis of the power capping feature now shipped in more than a billion dollars’ worth of IBM System X and System P servers annually. He has published more than 25 heavily cited papers in prestigious journals and premier conferences.