Three CALS faculty receive college fellowships
Each year, CALS offers a number of fellowships for pre-tenure faculty members. The fellowships provide support during a critical time in an early faculty member’s career. This year, Sarah Adcock and Shelby Ellison have been selected to receive Alfred Toepfer Faculty Fellow Awards, and Sedona Chinn has been selected to receive an Elton D. and Carrie R. Aberle Faculty Fellow Award.
Fellows will be honored during a CALS Award Ceremony in May 2025. The recipients are listed below.
Sarah Adcock, assistant professor in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences
Shelby Ellison, assistant professor in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences
Adcock and Ellison have been selected to receive Alfred Toepfer Faculty Fellow Awards. The one-year award is bestowed on pre-tenure faculty whose research benefits agricultural activities within the United States and whose areas of interest lie in the scientific fields of crop research, improvements in crop yield and quality, or animal sciences.
Adcock joined the UW–Madison faculty in July 2020. In her research, she evaluates how farm practices affect animals and works to understand the interconnections between animal welfare, socio-economics and environmental challenges. A goal of these research objectives is to achieve sustainable, socially responsible food production that benefits humans and animals alike.
Ellison joined the UW–Madison faculty in August 2020. Her research interests include preserving, characterizing and utilizing genetic diversity in alternative crops to meet the needs of Wisconsin farmers. She is also interested in how human interactions with plants have altered the plant genome and how we can use these selection signatures to trace domestication and improvement throughout history.
Sedona Chinn, assistant professor in the Department of Life Sciences Communication
Chinn has been selected to receive the Elton D. and Carrie R. Aberle Faculty Fellow Award. The award was established by former CALS dean Abe Aberle and his wife Carrie, who recognize that the first few years of an academic career are the most critical for young scientists. The award seeks to be a key element of support and encouragement during this time period.
Chinn joined the UW–Madison faculty in August 2020. Her research focuses on how individuals make sense of competing claims about science, health and the environment, as well as how social influence via new media affect perceptions of credibility and expertise. She is exploring the ways in which informal uses of social media – to relax, entertain, and seek inspiration – can shape science and political attitudes.