Seetha Shankaran, M.D., WSU professor of pediatrics and chief of the Division of Neonatology, has been selected to join the WSU Academy of Scholars. Election is the highest recognition that may be bestowed upon faculty members by their colleagues. Dr. Shankaran, who has served at the university for nearly three decades, has led the Division of Neonatology to international renown during the past 15 years. She has been principal investigator on a number of major research projects, which have totaled about $12.5 million. Dr. Shankaran has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in prestigious journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Pediatrics. Her most recent study, which found that lowering an infant's body temperature within the first six hours of life reduces the chances for disability and death among infants who failed to receive enough oxygen or blood to the brain during birth, was deemed an important step forward in developing therapies that may advance the care and recovery of infants who are injured during birth. Respected by neonatologists, pediatricians, obstetricians and epidemiologists, the letters of support for Dr. Shankaran's nomination to the academy were remarkably strong.