Honors and Distinctions in 2011

Adriano Aguzzi, Full Professor of Neuropathology, was appointed Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Antonio Baici, Emeritus Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry, was honored for his multiple nominations for the Credit Suisse Award for Best Teaching at UZH.

Heinz Berke, Full Professor of Anorganic Chemistry, was called to the position of Guest Professor for 2012 at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

Daniel Bernoulli, Professor Emeritus of Geology, received the Gustav Steinmann Medal from the Geologische Vereinigung in Munich.

Ulrike Müller-Böker, Full Professor of Geography (Anthropogeography), was elected as a foreign corresponding member for the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Simon Duttwyler, former postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, received the Prix A.F. Schläfli from the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT).

Ueli Grossniklaus, Full Professor of Developmental Plant Biology, was elected as a member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina).

Barbara König, Associate Professor of Zoology, specializing in Behavioral Biology, was elected a full member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Benedikt Korf, Associate Professor of Human Geography, received the Research Prize for Excellence in Policy-relevant Research from the KfW Development Bank for a paper published in the journal Disaster and co-written with Shahul Hasbullah, University of Peradeniya, and two postdoctoral research assistants working in the Department of Geography, Pia Hollenbach and Bart Klem.

Kevan A. Ch.Martin, Full Professor at the Institute of Neuroinformatics, received the Golden Owl award from ETH Zurich’s Students Association for excellence in teaching.

Enrico Martinoia, Professor of Plant Biology, received the Cozzarelli Prize 2010 from the PNAS for his publication on arsenic tolerance in Arabidopsis.

Pavel Mnev, Teaching and Research Assistant at the Department of Mathematics, received the Young Mathematician Award from the Mathematics Society of St. Petersburg. He also received the Award for Young Math Scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences for his publication “Discrete topological quantum field theory.”

Jürg Osterwalder, Full Professor of Experimental Physics, was elected Chairman of Section II of the SNSF Foundation Council.

Florian P. Schiestl, Assistant Professor (with tenure track) of Systematic Botany, received an ERC Starting Grant for his project “Evolution and consequences of floral signaling in plants.”

Michael Schmidt, Full Professor of Physical Geography, was elected as a member of Section II of the SNSF Foundation Council.

Kentaro Shimizu, Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Functional Genomics, received one of eleven Young Investigator Awards from the Human Frontier Science Program for his work as Principal Investigator.

Romain Teyssier, Academic Associate at the Department of Theoretical Physics, was awarded the Grand Prix Scientific by the Simone and Cino del Duca Foundation.

Andreas Wagner, Full Professor of Bioinformatics, was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He also received the Gold Medal for Best Science Books at the Independent Publisher Book Awards 2010 for his book “Paradoxical Life.”

Ingmar Werneburg, former postdoctoral research assisant at the Paleontological Institute, received the Rensch Award 2011 from the Society for Biological Systematics for his PhD thesis “Evolution and Development of Turtles: Organogenesis and Cranial Musculature”.

Xianghua Yang, former postdoctoral research assisant at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, received an award from the Chinese government for outstanding work by self-financed Chinese students studying abroad.

Attila Becskei, Assistant Professor of Systems Biology at the Institute for Molecular Biology, was called to and accepted the post of Professor of Synthetic Microbiology at the Center for Molecular Life Sciences (Biozentrum) at the University of Basel.

Reto Dorta, Assistant Professor of Organometallic Chemistry at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, was called to and accepted the post of Professor of Chemistry at the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.

Nathaniel S. Finney, Privatdozent at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, was called to and accepted a post as lecturer at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.

Sean Garret-Roe, Postdoctoral research assisant at the Institute of Physical Chemistry, was called to and accepted the post of Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, PA.

Ross S. Purves, Senior Teaching and Research Assistant at the Department of Geography, was called to, but did not accept, a professorship at the Department of Physical Geography and Quarternary Geology at Stockholm University, Sweden.

Tumasch Reichenbacher, Senior Teaching and Research Assistant at the Department of Geography, was called to, but did not accept, the post of Professor of Cartographic Visualization at the University of Applied Sciences Munich, Germany.

Stefan Sauter, Full Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Department of Mathematics, was called to, but did not accept, the post of W3-Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Cologne, Germany. He also received, but turned down, an offer to become MATHEON Research Professor at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.

Jan Seibert, Assistant Professor (with tenure track) of Physical Geography, was called to, but did not accept, the post of Professor of Hydrology at Uppsala University.

Kentaro Shimizu, Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Functional Genomics at the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, was called to, but did not accept, the post of Associate Professor at the University of Iowa, IA, USA. He was also offered, but turned down, the post of Associate Professor at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.

Rienk H. Smittenberg, Senior Teaching and Research Assistant at the Department of Geography, was called to and accepted a post as Senior Lecturer in Isotope Organic Geochemistry at the University of Stockholm, Sweden.