Adele Howe and LeRoy Poff Named 2010 Professor Laureates by Colorado State University’s College of Natural Sciences

Note to Reporters: Photos of Professors Adele Howe and LeRoy Poff are available with the news release at http://www.news.colostate.edu/.

For their outstanding contributions through a vast array of publications and extensive research in their respective fields, Adele Howe of computer science, and LeRoy Poff of biology, have been named Professor Laureates 2010 by the Colorado State University College of Natural Sciences.

Professor Laureate is the highest academic title awarded by the College of Natural Sciences to select faculty for their career accomplishments.

“Professors Howe and Poff epitomize the scholarly excellence and commitment to higher education displayed by our faculty,” said Jan Nerger, interim dean of the College of Natural Sciences. “They join the ranks of eight other Natural Sciences Professor Laureates whose contributions exemplify the highest level of research, teaching, mentoring, and outreach.”

Each laureate must deliver a college-wide address on an academic subject of their choice. One of the awardees will give a lecture this spring, and the other this fall. A reception will be held at Poff’s spring lecture on April 29, where both Howe and Poff will be honored. Poff will speak at 4 p.m. in the Cherokee Park Room in the Lory Student Center.

Howe is a professor in the computer science department and a researcher in artificial intelligence. She is an associate editor for the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, one of the first electronic scientific journals to publish peer-reviewed research articles, survey articles, and technical notes. Howe was also selected to be part of the highly competitive Defense Science Study Group 2000-2001, a program dedicated to understanding the rapidly evolving technology and defense needs of national security. She also served as the program co-chair for Twenty-Second Conference on Artificial Intelligence in 2007, the top general conference in artificial intelligence.

Poff is a professor in the Department of Biology and director of the campus-wide and nationally renowned Graduate Degree Program in Ecology at Colorado State University. Poff’s work focuses on basic and applied questions of how rivers function and on how to develop science-based criteria for managing these systems sustainably in the face of rapid global change. He collaborates extensively with national and international scientists in academia, government agencies and non-governmental organizations. He has served on numerous National Research Council committees and science advisory boards in the nation. Poff is also a recent elected president of an international professional society of river scientists and a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America’s Aldo Leopold Leadership Program.

Poff’s public seminar on April 29 will focus on his work that advances basic understanding of how rivers function and how general principles extracted from this work are contributing to sustainable river management. He will also explain how his collaborations with national and international scientists of multiple disciplines, and outreach to leading NGOs are facilitating development of new perspectives on river management in a world experiencing rapid global change.

The title Professor Laureate provides recipients an honorarium and two years of resources for student projects. The title remains for three years, is not renewable, and the award is relinquished upon retirement or transitional retirement.

Previous award recipients include:

• Ellen R. Fisher, Chemistry
• Alan K. Knapp, Biology
• C. Michael Elliot, Chemistry
• Jennifer K. Nyborg, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Anireddy S. N. Reddy, Biology
• Norman Curthoys, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Richard Davis, Statistics
• Jerry Deffenbacher, Psychology

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