Stuart A. Kornfeld, M.D., the David C. and Betty Farrell Dist-inguished Professor of Medicine and professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics in the School of Medicine, is this year's recipient of the Carl and Gerty Cori Faculty Achievement Award.

Barbara A. Schaal, Ph.D., the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences, is this year's recipient of the Arthur Holly Compton Faculty Achievement Award.

"Professors Kornfeld and Schaal are both outstanding choices for the faculty achievement awards," Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton said. "Each has been recognized with other major awards and appointments to endowed professorships on the basis of their scholarly achievements, and their career contributions thus far are truly exceptional. They join a distinguished group of earlier recipients of the awards. The University is fortunate to have such outstanding leaders as members of its faculty.

"It is noteworthy, of course, that these awardees have been selected by distinguished members of the faculty. Such recognition by one's peers is especially significant and prized."

The selection committee included three members each from Arts & Sciences and the medical school and one member from each of the University's other six schools.

Criteria for selection are:

• Outstanding achievement in research and scholarship;

• Recognized prominence within the community of scholars;

• Service and dedication to the betterment of the University; and

• Respected accomplishment in teaching.

The award includes a $5,000 honorarium. Kornfeld and Schaal will address the University community at an awards ceremony next fall, summarizing their scholarly work.

Kornfeld's accomplishments as a teacher, physician and researcher have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to the University. He co-directs the Division of Hematology in the School of Medicine.

During his years at the University, he has made groundbreaking discoveries about how sugar chains direct the movement of proteins within cells. Much of his research has been conducted in collaboration with his wife, Rosalind H. Kornfeld, Ph.D., professor of medicine and of biochemistry and molecular biophysics.

He is best known for discovering how lysosomal enzymes are routed to lysosomes, structures that digest materials that are to be eliminated by the cell.

As an engaged and active teacher, Kornfeld has trained many doctoral and post-doctoral students in hematology and oncology. In addition, he directed the Medical Scientist Training Program from 1991-97. He has spent countless hours mentoring and counseling medical students.

Kornfeld earned a medical degree from the School of Medicine in 1962 and joined the University faculty four years later. He became professor of medicine in 1972 and of biochemistry in 1976.

He has been recognized and honored for his groundbreaking research with memberships in the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Association of American Physicians. He was awarded the Passano Award in 1991 and the Karl Meyer Award in 1999.

Schaal is a distinguished scientist, an excellent teacher and an active participant in the University community.

She came to the University in 1980 as associate professor in biology. In July 1989, she became full professor, and recently she was named to the Olin professorship.

In 1999, Schaal was elected into the National Academy of Sciences, an honor that recognized her research investigating the evolutionary process within plant populations using a wide variety of techniques, from field observations to quantitative genetics and molecular biology.

As a teacher of a wide range of courses in the department, Schaal was instrumental in jointly offering a seminar to freshmen on "Lewis and Clark and the American Experience" with colleagues from English and history departments, both in Arts & Sciences. This course is part of the University's highly acclaimed and successful Hewlett Program, which offers freshmen the opportunity to work in small groups with distinguished faculty members.

Schaal earned a bachelor's degree in 1969 with honors in biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago; and a master's in 1971 and a doctorate in 1974, both in population biology, from Yale University.

Schaal has served as chair of the biology department and has served on numerous committees, including the Academic Planning Committee in Arts & Sciences; the Curriculum Implementation Committee, and the University Affirmative Action Committee. She currently serves on the National Research Council's (NRC) Board on Life Sciences and she chairs the NRC Standing Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology.