Hettleman Prizes awarded to early-career faculty

The annual Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prizes for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement were awarded to five Carolina faculty members — including three scholars in the College — who exemplify groundbreaking and innovative research along with future career promise. 

The late Phillip Hettleman, a member of the Carolina class of 1921, and his wife, Ruth, established the prestigious award in 1986 to recognize the achievements of outstanding junior faculty. The recipients deliver a presentation on their research during University Research Week. 

This year’s Hettleman awardees in the College are Wubin Bai, applied physical sciences; Stephanie DeGooyer, English and comparative literature; and Carl Rodriguez, physics and astronomy. 

Bai is a pioneer in bioelectronic technology. His goal is to create new technologies for wearable or implantable devices that can sense physiological quantities to deliver drugs or direct tissue growth and disappear when no longer needed. 

DeGooyer’s research examines intersections between law and literature from both historical and contemporary perspectives. By exploring major issues in their sociohistorical context, she reveals new relationships between the development of novel and emerging concepts of nationality in the 18th and 21st centuries. 

Rodriguez is a rising scholar in a field that is in its infancy — black holes and gravitational waves. He studies how black holes form and how stars, star clusters and even galaxies are born and die across cosmic space and time. 

Julia Rager, Gillings School of Global Public Health, and Mark Shen, School of Medicine, also received the award. 

Read a Faculty Up Close story on Wubin Bai.