On March 23, New York University bestowed the prestigious Silver Professorship on five Arts & Science faculty and two Courant School of Mathematics faculty. Professor of Biology Joy Bergelson, Professor of Linguistics Lisa Davidson, Professor of History Nicole Eustace, Professor of Philosophy Miranda Fricker, and Professor of Creative Writing Terrance Hayes were named from the Arts & Science faculty. Representing the Courant School of Mathematics, Professor of Computer Science, Mathematics, and Data Science Julia Kempe and Professor of Mathematics Eric Vanden-Eijenden were also named Silver Professors.
Seventy-five Silver Professorships were made possible by a 2002 bequest from the estate of Julius Silver, an attorney, philanthropist, and 1922 alumnus. Beginning with the 2023-2024 academic year, this honor will only be bestowed as seats are vacated, as all 75 Silver Professorship positions are currently filled.
In addition to groundbreaking research and publications, Silver Professors are chosen for engagement with undergraduate education. In his remarks at the event, Dean for Arts & Science Antonio Merlo noted, "our Silver Professors have a special dedication to our undergraduate teaching mission. Whether through their inspirational pedagogy; the innovation they bring to their subject curriculum and our core curriculum; or the generous mentorship, research opportunities, and career guidance they offer."
The new Silver Professors represent a wide range of scholarship. As the Dorothy Schiff Professor of Genomics, Joy Bergelson's research covers plant-pathogen dynamics, evolutionary genetics, and microbial ecology. Bergelson was also named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020 and a Distinguished Service Professor in 2019. As Director of the Phonetics & Experimental Phonology Lab Professor of Linguistics and Department Chair, Lisa Davidson's research centers on phonetics and second language acquisition. Professor of History Nicole Eustace is passionate about teaching in the U.S. and Atlantic history programs, serves as Director of the NYU Atlantic History Workshop, and won a Pulitzer Prize in 2022 for her book Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America.
In addition to her research on moral philosophy and social epistemology, Professor of Philosophy Miranda Fricker serves as Co-Director of the New York Institute for Philosophy and President of the American Philosophical Association's Eastern Division 2022-23. Professor of Creative Writing Terrance Hayes has won numerous awards and fellowships for his written works, notably the NAACP Book Award for Poetry for How to Be Drawn and the 2010 National Book Award for Lighthead. Courant Professor Julia Kempe's research centers on data science, machine learning, and quantum computing. Kempe also serves as the Director of NYU's Center for Data Science. Professor Eric Vanden-Eijenden studies statistical mechanics, molecular dynamics, and atmosphere-ocean science among other topics and recently began work with machine learning.
Arts & Science is proud to celebrate the new Silver Professors. As Dean Merlo expressed, "students choose NYU for the star quality of our faculty. And indeed, the Arts & Science faculty, which serves every undergraduate across NYU, is a superstar group by any measure. But students quickly learn that really excellent teachers - like those we honor here tonight - bring much more than their brilliant scholarship to the classroom."