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College Faculty Earn University Research Awards
OutstandingUniversityResearcherAwardWinners
University Research Award
Winners from left: Alycia Hund,
David Cedeño, and Charles Thompson.
Provost Presley has announced that College of Arts and Sciences faculty won an Outstanding University Researcher Award and four University Research Initiative Awards.  Dr. Charles Thompson, Professor of Ecology in the Department of Biological Sciences, has won the Outstanding University Researcher Award, which recognizes faculty whose research accomplishments are outstanding among their peers across the entire University and who have established a national and international reputation in their field. The College is also honored to have four University Research Initiative Award winners: Dr. David Cedeño, Assistant Professor of Chemistry; Dr. Alycia Hund, Assistant Professor of Psychology; Dr. Hilary Justice, Assistant Professor of English; and Dr. John Sedbrook, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. The University Research Initiative Award recognizes new faculty members who have initiated a promising research agenda. “The College is proud to have the University recognize the outstanding research accomplished by our faculty members,” said Dean Olson. “I congratulate each of them and all the College nominees on their tremendous efforts.”


Dr. John Sedbrook

As winner of the University's Outstanding Researcher Award, Thompson’s research focuses on how natural selection has acted to shape the behavioral and physiological adaptations of birds. By investigating several phases of the breeding cycle, and by integrating the study of ecology, evolution, behavior, physiology, immunology, and endocrinology, Thompson has revealed that traditional approaches were focused on the wrong stage of the cycle, leading to erroneous conclusions about the physiological and behavioral mechanisms involved. Thompson has established himself as a leading international expert on the evolutionary and behavioral ecology of birds through the publication in the most prestigious journals in evolutionary and avian ecology of his research on the evolutionary ecology of life history traits in the wrens of McLean County, the European starling, the blue tit, and the European blackbird in such locations as New Zealand, Glasgow, Scotland; and Oxford, England. Thompson earned his Ph.D. from Indiana University and joined the Illinois State faculty in 1978.      

The Outstanding Researcher Awards were first proposed by the University Research Council in 1984 to recognize individuals actively involved in research. Awards are given to individuals who are beginning their academic careers, to those who have conducted research at an outstanding level among peers in their College, and to those who have conducted research at an outstanding level among peers at the University. The winners will be formally recognized at the Founder’s Day Ceremony on Thursday, February 16, and at the College's award ceremony on March 1. 
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