Tim Jones, professor in UNL’s Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, has been selected to receive the Career Award in Hearing and Balance from the American Academy of Audiology.

The national award is given to non-audiologists with a distinguished career in fields within or related to hearing or balance. Recipients have made significant contributions to their field of study and have devoted their professional career to clinical or laboratory research, teaching, clinical service and/or mentoring other professionals in the fields related to hearing and balance.

Jones will be recognized at the 2014 annual meeting of the AAA in Orlando in late March.

Jones brings unique knowledge and skills to audiology and hearing science. With his background in the sciences, a doctorate in physiology, he brings a valuable component to the training of scientists in giving them the knowledge and skills needed to meet the challenges of interdisciplinary research. His extensive knowledge of the auditory and vestibular systems underlies his excellence in mentoring and teaching.

His career of more than 30 years has been dedicated to laboratory research, teaching and mentoring. His research interests are broad and related to the evolution of the sensory systems and, in particular, the role that gravity may have played in shaping gravity receptor systems across species. His research has focused on the normal development of the inner ear and the underlying mechanisms for development and recovery of balance function. With primary focus on the vestibular system, Jones has pioneered research in vestibular sensory evoked potentials and is considered a definitive expert in this area.

Jones’ history of research funding is exemplary with continuous funding through a variety of agencies including the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. His work has resulted in a productive record of 70 peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals, 105 published abstracts, and a recent seminal text on “Genetics, Embryology and Development of Auditory and Vestibular Systems.”

For more information on Jones’ award, go to http://go.unl.edu/ui64.