Weiser Professional Development Fellows increase U-M’s international research connections

ANN ARBOR, MICH., February 1, 2012–The Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia is pleased to welcome to the University of Michigan seven short-term visiting scholars from Serbia, the Slovak Republic, and Ukraine, who will be working with U-M faculty in the fields of economics, engineering, linguistics, medicine, philosophy, and religion

These visitors come to U-M as Weiser Professional Development Fellows, under a program that has hosted 19 scholars since 2009. In that year, an earlier program limited to Slovakia was extended to scholars from 14 formerly communist countries in Europe and Eurasia who are selected through a competitive review process. Each fellow will spend up to one month in Ann Arbor collaborating on research with U-M faculty. The program is administered by the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia, and the awards are made possible thanks to a gift from Ambassador Ronald Weiser, U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia from 2001-04, and his wife, Eileen Lappin Weiser. For more information about current and past fellows, as well as application information for the 2013 competition, please visit our website: www.ii.umich.edu/wcee.

The 2012 competition produced seven fellows from three countries who will visit U-M this year:

Olena Nizalova, assistant professor, Kyiv School of Economics, and senior economist, Kyiv Economics Institute, Ukraine, will research the impact of obesity on labor market outcomes in Ukraine. Her host advisor is Edward C. Norton, professor of health management and policy and economics.

Oleksiy Panych, professor of philosophy, Donetsk National Technical University, and research advisor, Donetsk Christian University, Ukraine, will research the problem of skepticism in British modern philosophy in collaboration with his host advisor, Louis E. Loeb, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Philosophy.

Sonja Pavlovic-Veselinovic, assistant professor, School of Occupational Safety, University of Niš, Serbia, will investigate the relative importance of work-related musculoskeletal disorder risk factors for occupational diseases. Her host advisor is Thomas J. Armstrong, professor of industrial and operations engineering and biomedical engineering and director, Center for Ergonomics.

Martin Pukanec, assistant professor of Slovak language and linguistics, Constantine the Philosopher University, Slovak Republic, will explore American theories of semantic change. His host advisor is Sarah Thomason, William J. Gedney Collegiate Professor of Linguistics and chair, Department of Linguistics.

Lidija Radenovic, professor of biology, University of Belgrade, Serbia, will research the blood brain barrier in neuroinflammation with her host advisor, Anuska Andjelkovic-Zochowska, assistant professor of pathology and research assistant professor of neurosurgery at the Medical School.

Denys Shestopalets, junior research fellow, A. Krymsky Institute of Oriental Studies and Religion Studies Department, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, will collaborate with his host advisor, Alexander Knysh, professor of Islamic studies, on a project entitled, “Accommodation of Sufism in the USA and Ukraine: Towards a Comparative Analysis.”

Marija Tasic, assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Niš, Serbia, will work on a project entitled, “Nanostructured Functional Materials in Catalytic and Sorption Processes, Integral and Interdisciplinary Investigations.” Her host advisor is Phillip E. Savage, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Chemical Engineering.         

DATE: February – October 2012

SPONSOR: Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia

CONTACT: Nicole Howeson, rivnic@umich.edu

WEB LINK: www.ii.umich.edu/wcee/opportunities/visitingfellows

The Ronald and Eileen Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia (WCEE) supports faculty and student research, teaching, collaboration, and public engagement in studying the institutions, cultures, and histories of these regions. WCEE is housed in the University of Michigan International Institute with the Center for European Studies (CES); the Center for Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies (CREES); and the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (WCED). Named in honor of Ronald and Eileen Weiser and inspired by their time in Slovakia during Ambassador Weiser’s service as U.S. ambassador from 2001-04, WCEE began operations in September 2008. For more information, visit www.ii.umich.edu/wcee.