USC Dornsife News Briefs

Rhacel Parreñas, Florence Everline Professor of Sociology and professor of sociology and gender studies, has received the 2023 Distinguished Scholarly Book Prize from the American Sociological Association. The award recognizes her book, Unfree: Migrant Domestic Work in Arab States (Stanford University Press, 2021), which the society says “breathes new life into old debates on the nature of freedom and offers a clear-eyed portrayal of the realities of subordinated labor around the globe and the resilience of migrant women seeking dignity and self-determination.”

Hajar Yazdiha, assistant professor of sociology, has been a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholarin CIFAR’s Boundaries, Membership & Belonging program. Yazdiha is among 16 distinguished, early-career researchers joining the prestigious program for the 2023–25 period. The program provides $100,000 of unrestricted research funding over two years to scholars addressing significant and urgent scientific and societal challenges.

Hiram Sims, adjunct assistant professor of the practice of English, has been appointed Library Board Commissioner of the Los Angeles Public Library system by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and confirmed by the city council. The Board of Commissioners serves as the legal head of the library department with the power to make and enforce all necessary and desirable rules and regulations.

Ann Owens, professor of sociology, public policy and spatial sciences, has won the 2022 William Julius Wilson Early Career Award from the American Sociological Association’s Section on Inequality, Poverty and Mobility. Bestowed annually, the award recognizes a scholar who has made major contributions early in their career.

Norbert Schwarz, Provost Professor of Psychology and Marketing, received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the Attitudes and Social Influence Interest Section of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) at the SPSP Annual Convention. The prestigious award honors psychologists who have made major theoretical and empirical contributions to our understanding of attitudes, persuasion, and social influence throughout their academic careers.

Jacques Hymans, associate professor of international relations, has earned a Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Fellowship. His project under the fellowship, which takes place from May to December in affiliation with the University of Tokyo, will focus on understanding the uneven success of Japan’s efforts to expand its reliance on a wide range of renewable energies since the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant disaster of March 2011.

Chris Belcher, assistant professor (teaching) of writing and gender and sexuality studies, has earned the 2023–2024 Barnard Library Research Award for her book project based on the Scholar and Feminist Conference IX, “Towards a Politics of Sexuality,” held at Barnard College in 1982.

David Hutchins, George and Louise Kawamoto Chair in Biological Sciences and professor of biological sciences, has received the John H. Martin Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO). The yearly award recognizes one paper that has contributed to shifts in research focus and interpretations of previous observations. Hutchins’ paper, “Iron-limited diatom growth and Si:N uptake ratios in a coastal upwelling regime,” co-authored with Kenneth Bruland of the University of California, Santa Cruz, highlights how iron availability shapes marine coastal plankton communities. The paper will be recognized at the ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting in June.

Derrick Morton, assistant professor of biological sciences, has received a 2023 Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The fellowship recognizes Morton as one of the most promising scientific researchers in the U.S. and Canada, and provides $75,000 in research support over two years.