Iain Buxton, Dhanesh Chandra and Eric Rasmussen were named 2013 University of Nevada, Reno Foundation Professors in recognition of their outstanding research and teaching achievements. 

The Foundation Professor award was established in 1983 to recognize and salute University professors for their exemplary achievements. Recipients are selected by a committee of faculty peers and Foundation members and chaired by the University provost. They receive an annual stipend for three years to further their professional endeavors and their names will be engraved in the granite pillars of the University's Honor Court.

Iain Buxton, chair of the Department of Pharmacology, has taught a wide range of pharmacology courses during his 28 years at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. He has contributed to the most recent transformation of the pre-clinical curriculum at the School of Medicine, a transformation that has profound effects on how pharmacology is taught. He is internationally renowned for his research into the causes of preterm labor and has changed the way scientists think about the regulation of uterine function in pregnancy. Buxton has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and contributed to three textbooks in pharmacology and therapeutics.

Buxton has received numerous awards and honors, including the 2011 Regents' Researcher Award, the 2011 Vada Trimble Outstanding Mentor Award and the University's 2008 Outstanding Researcher Award. He was also a winner of a 2011 Grand Challenges Exploration grant, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in support of Buxton's global health project on effective treatment to prevent preterm delivery.

"Iain truly embodies the highest level of achievement across all three traditional roles in academic medicine: teacher, independent investigator, and, most recently, clinical and academic leader," said Thomas Schwenk, dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine. He has built a career as a mentor to countless undergraduate and graduate students."

Dhanesh Chandra, a metallurgical and materials professor at the College of Engineering, is an international researcher known for his work on X-ray diffraction and hydrogen storage. Since joining the University's faculty in 1987, he has built a well-respected laboratory for the University utilizing thermodynamic and crystallographic modeling to guide his research. He has published more than 95 peer-reviewed articles and conference proceedings and has edited three books. Chandra's research is in the advanced areas of energy storage and conservation; such as low pressure solid state hydrogen storage, organic crystals for thermal energy storage and others. He has completed several research projects for federal government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Defense.

He was awarded the Mackay School of Mines Outstanding Teacher Award in 1991 and the Outstanding Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentor Award in 2000.

"Dhanesh has brought a number of advanced laboratory facilities to the University, which are used by his post-doctoral scholars, graduate and undergraduate students," said Alan Fuchs, chair of the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering. "The state-of-the-art instruments make his laboratory one of the most advanced X-ray facilities at the University and put him in a good position for strong collaborations with U.S. Department of Energy."

Eric Rasmussen is a world-renowned Shakespeare and early modern drama scholar, specializing in the areas of scholarly editing, bibliography and textual criticism. Rasmussen co-edited "The Royal Shakespeare Company Complete Works of Shakespeare," now the standard text for Shakespeare studies and dramatic productions. 

Rasmussen, a professor of English, has successfully garnered numerous grants and fellowships, including nearly a million dollars in awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities for his research on the New Variorum Hamlet project. His excellence as an instructor has been recognized with the Alan Bible, F. Donald Tibbitts and Nevada Regents' teaching awards.

"His accessible yet challenging teaching style has filled large sections of undergraduate Shakespeare courses, and his reputation has attracted excellent graduate students, many of whom have had the unparalleled opportunity - through his Royal Shakespeare Company and National Endowment for the Humanities grants - to work on significant academic projects in the British Library and other locations around the world," said Heather Hardy, dean of the College of Liberal Arts.