Four Princeton University faculty members have been named recipients of the Graduate Mentoring Awards by the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning and will be honored during the Graduate School's Hooding ceremony Monday, June 1, on Cannon Green.

They are Janet Currie, the Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs; Michael Mueller, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering; Imani Perry, professor of African American studies; and Daniel Sigman, the Dusenbury Professor of Geological and Geophysical Sciences in the Department of Geosciences.

Graduate students nominate faculty members for the award and, along with faculty members, serve on the committee that selects the winners. The award honors faculty in each academic division (engineering, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences) and includes $1,000 and a commemorative gift.

Currie, who joined the University in 2011, also is director of the Center for Health and Wellbeing and chair of the Department of Economics. Currie's research focuses on the health and wellbeing of children, particularly socioeconomic differences in child health, environmental threats to children's health and the long-term effects of poor health in early childhood.

Graduate students describe Currie as responsive and insightful — she is readily available to help aspiring researchers develop their ideas further and present them publicly. One student said that Currie was "crucial in the evolution of my research," while another student described her as a "superwoman," who deftly balances her roles as mentor, researcher and administrator. A graduate student wrote: "[She] has a rare ability to immediately grasp the core issues at the heart of every project, and link every topic to a wide array of practical implications and related research efforts. She is always available, thoroughly reads drafts and provides detailed feedback, even on short notice. Managing this level of advising while excelling both as a researcher and as an administrator is all the more impressive."