PPC-affiliated faculty and staff honored at UI's annual banquet

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Many members of campus were honored at the University of Iowa’s annual Faculty and Staff Awards Banquet, sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Vice President for Human Resources. 

Dawn Marshall received the Board of Regents Staff Excellence Award. Marshall is the director of the Safety Research Using Simulation (SAFER-SIM) University Transportation Center, a research manager with the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) and a member of the Transportation and Vehicle Safety Research Program. She has been engaged in driving research since 1997 and has been with NADS since 2004, serving as principal investigator, project manager, data-collection coordinator, and research associate for several National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)–funded projects, as well as for the Iowa DOT, Rockwell Collins, Hyundai Motor Group, and other public- and private-sector clients. Marshall recently served as principal investigator for a $1.6 million project that spanned five data-collection sites with multiple phases of data collection funded by the NHTSA. Her research with NADS has spanned several topics involving simulation and test-track methodologies, including projects evaluating in-vehicle systems such as adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning, forward-collision warning, intersection-violation warning, and development and evaluation of situational-awareness measures within a connected-vehicles context. Her experience also includes the effectiveness of warning systems for older drivers, teen driving behavior near licensure, and integrated control heads for law enforcement.

Edith Parker received the Board of Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. Parker is a professor in and head of the Department of Community and Behavioral Health in the UI College of Public Health and a member of the Health Policy Research Program. Parker is internationally recognized for her research in social and environmental determinants of health, with particular emphasis on the theory and practice of community-based participatory research. She has designed and carried out some of the most innovative and interdisciplinary community-based research in the nation. Examples of ways her work has contributed to healthier communities include studies that highlighted the effectiveness of community-health-worker interventions to improve the health of children with asthma and studies that identified factors that influence dissemination of heat wave–mitigation interventions among vulnerable populations. She is departmental executive officer of the Department of Community and Behavioral Health, and she directs the UI Prevention Research Center (PRC), a network of academic, community, and public health partners that conducts applied public health research to improve the health of rural communities in Iowa. She also directs the community engagement component of the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS) program.

Larry Weber received the Michael J. Brody Award for Faculty Excellence in Service. Wever is professor and Edwin B. Green Chair in Hydraulics in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and recently became executive associate dean in the UI College of Engineering. He is also a member of the Environmetal Policy Research Program. Previously, Weber served for more than 13 years as director of IIHR–Hydroscience and Engineering. While leading IIHR, he co-founded the Iowa Flood Center, which works to strengthen Iowa’s flood resiliency, and co-founded (in partnership with Iowa’s other public universities) the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, which is dedicated to studying Iowa water quality. He serves the state as a member of the Iowa Water Resources Coordinating Council, as well as numerous other state and federal committees related to water-resources planning. He recently helped lead Iowa’s successful application to the National Disaster Resilience Competition hosted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), resulting in a $97 million award to the state. He received the College of Engineering Faculty Award for Exceptional Service in 2010 and the Board of Regents Faculty Excellence Award in 2014.

The full list of those honored is available here