Notables

Cartoonist Lauren Weinstein and multimedia artist Paula Wilson have won the 2021 Stone & DeGuire Contemporary Art Awards. Presented by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, the awards are open to alumni of the school’s Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts programs. Each winner receives $25,000 to advance their studio practice.

Scott Markowitz, MD, has been named inaugural vice chair for professional development and diversity, equity and inclusion in the Department of Anesthesiology at the School of Medicine.

Ecologist James Stroud in Arts & Sciences studies how patterns of contemporary natural selection can shape the structure of entire communities. He won the American Society of Naturalists’ 2021 Young Investigator Award, one of the most prestigious for young researchers in the field of ecology and evolution.

Abby L. Spencer, MD, has been named vice chair of education and professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine at the School of Medicine; director of the School of Medicine’s Academy of Educators; and to the editorial board of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Justin M. Sacks, MD, a highly respected microvascular surgeon with expertise in complex surgeries involving cancer and trauma, has been named director of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the School of Medicine. Sacks also has been installed as the Sydney M. Shoenberg Jr. and Robert H. Shoenberg Endowed Chair in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, an endowment supported through The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Jackson Butler, a junior studying physics in Arts & Sciences, received the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, a prestigious award that honors students who conduct research in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.

Virologist Autumn Holmes, a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Medicine, has been named a Hanna H. Gray Fellow by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). The fellowship provides up to $1.4 million over eight years to outstanding early-career scientists.

The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program has announced its next cohort of undergraduate scholars. In addition, Jonathan Fenderson, associate professor of African and African American studies in Arts & Sciences, will take the helm of the program this fall.

Monika Weiss, associate professor of art, will discuss the work of Spanish painter Francisco Goya, as well as her own transdisciplinary practice, for The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts will honor seven outstanding art and architecture alumni for demonstrating creativity, innovation, leadership and vision in their respective fields April 8 as part of the school’s annual Awards for Distinction ceremony.