Humans and other animals use vocalizations to convey socially important information to other individuals. Mark Bee’s research on animal communication seeks to discover new knowledge about how vocalizations evolve and the physical and physiological mechanisms underlying how they are produced and perceived. Grounded in basic biological research, Bee’s investigations provide insight into the diversity of evolved solutions to common problems in medicine and engineering related to hearing and communicating in noisy environments.

Governments borrow significant amounts from creditors. For low-income and emerging markets, these debts are associated with frequent crises and defaults. One part of my research focuses on understanding the frictions in these markets, the mechanisms that generate the instability we observe, and policies that may alleviate this instability. Another part focuses on policy design (e.g. tariff policy, social security, and Central Bank communication) when economic agents have incomplete information about their environment.

Mitch Zamoff is a national leader in legal experiential education and a two-time recipient of the Law School’s Stanley V. Kinyon Teacher of the Year Award. As the Law School’s first Assistant Dean of Experiential Education, Zamoff oversees one of the top-rated lawyering skills programs in the country. He is a dedicated and creative teacher who has designed the curricula for multiple courses and led innovative programs that provide students with distinctive hands-on learning opportunities.

From her role as Director of Graduate Studies in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, to a mentor of dozens of graduate students, Dr. Ruth Shaw has been a fierce advocate of graduate education for over three decades. In the graduate classroom, she seeks to provide a conceptual grounding for critical, but “intimidating” topics such as quantitative genetics, in addition to supporting student education and research in interdisciplinary topics such as conservation genetics and invasive species.

Patrick Rothwell is a passionate mentor, educator, and advocate for graduate students. His tireless work to create inclusive learning environments has been recognized by awards from the UMN Graduate Program in Neuroscience and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He has developed multiple instructional programs to promote rigorous research and advance equity and diversity in graduate training, and has been incredibly successful in engaging graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in research and scholarship within his laboratory.

Timothy Piehler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Social Science. He is recognized by students and colleagues as an outstanding educator who has made contributions to graduate and professional education through curriculum innovation, program development, and a unique ability to engage students in challenging content. As an award-winning advisor, he is a highly sought-after research mentor, centering the needs of students in all of his work.

Judith Pechacek is an innovative educator, quality scholar and academic program leader with a sustained national/international impact on nursing and interprofessional education in executive leadership, quality, safety, and global citizenship. She is deeply committed to an inclusive, diverse and equitable education environment and experience for students. Her innovative teaching strategies, mentoring and improvement work has enhanced the school of nursing’s doctoral students’ impact on the health of people and communities across the nation.

Prodromos Daoutidis has redesigned and taught in exemplary form the graduate applied mathematics course; has mentored a diverse group of 55 PhD students and post-docs who have launched distinguished careers in industry and academia; has founded a first-of-its kind MS in Data Science for Chemical Engineering and Materials Science degree program; and has launched a new NSF-funded training program integrating data science with domain expertise in chemistry, chemical engineering, and materials science.

Timothy Brennan is an internationally known author and award-winning cultural critic whose work has been translated into sixteen languages. Highly visible as a public intellectual, he has made a distinctive contribution to curricular innovation at both the department and college levels. His teaching and mentoring excellence has been recognized far beyond our university as an invited curricular consultant, seminar-leader, publisher of graduate student writing and designer of pedagogies of diversity and inclusion.

For the past 25 years, Bruce Braun has made exceptional contributions to graduate education. He has been an inspiring and highly effective graduate adviser, has been instrumental in developing and diversifying our graduate program, and has enriched the intellectual life of graduate students across campus and the discipline. Today, his former advisees hold prestigious faculty teaching and research positions in top universities around the world.