Penny White, professor of law, spoke recently on “The Politicalization of America’s State Courts” at Yale Law School, addressing issues of judicial selection, campaigns, and decision-making, especially in death-penalty cases.

Daniel Simberloff is one of 84 new members elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Simberloff is the Nancy Gore Hunger Professor of Environmental Studies in ecology and evolutionary biology.

An article by Glenn Reynolds, “Second Amendment Penumbras: Some Preliminary Observations,” published by the Southern California Law Review, is the most downloaded recent article on the Social Sciences Research Network site. Reynolds is a professor of law.

Christine Nattrass, a UT postdoctoral researcher who has been hired as an assistant professor in the Physics Department, was recognized as the Woman Physicist of the Month for May 2012 by the American Physical Society. Nattrass, a heavy ion researcher, is active in encouraging young women to enter the field of physics.

Jana Morgan’s book, Bankrupt Representation and Party System Collapse, has won the Vann Cott Award for Outstanding Book from the Political Institutions section of the Latin American Studies Association. Morgan is an associate professor of political science.