Accolades News for Researchers
Posted February 3, 2022 by Tiffany Lee
Awards, Honors and Recognitions
Mark Bacon and David Karle, architecture, received an honorable mention for the 2022 Practice and Leadership Award from the American Institute of Architects and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. The award recognizes “best practice” examples of highly effective teaching, scholarship and outreach in the areas of professional practice and leadership. Bacon and Karle’s project, “Integrated Pedagogy,” focused on the industry partnership they established with SGH Concepts, an architectural products company headquartered in Omaha. The partnership launched a student scholarship competition in 2014, and since then has awarded $70,000 in scholarship and jury expenditures.
Dustin Loy, veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences, received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the Iowa State University Alumni Association. Loy was honored for his excellence as an instructor in public health and pathogenic microbiology; his work as a diagnostic microbiologist who helps veterinarians and livestock producers diagnose, detect and prevent infectious disease; and his service as an ambassador for the Pew Trust’s “Stand Up to Superbugs” initiative, whose mission is to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Julia McQuillan, sociology, and Judy Walker, mathematics, were named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society. Fellows are selected by their peers for scientifically or socially distinguished achievements that advance science or its application. McQuillan was recognized for contributions to the study of social inequality, particularly the areas of infertility, public understanding of science, removing inequalities in STEM fields and communicating science to a wide-ranging public. Walker was recognized for contributions to algebraic coding theory, and substantial and lasting achievements in advancing educational and career opportunities for women in mathematics.
Ryan Sullivan, law, received the Access to Justice Award from the Association of American Law Schools. The award, presented by the Section on Pro Bono and Public Service Opportunities, honors those who manage pro bono programs and have removed barriers to justice or improved legal services to individuals unable to pay for such services. Sullivan was recognized for his dedication to pro bono and public interest work, specifically the Tenant Assistance Project. That initiative, launched in April 2020, connects a community of lawyers and law students to tenants who need legal representation, rental assistance and other assistance related to eviction hearings. In the last five months, law students have assisted more than 400 households and helped 98% of represented tenants avoid immediate orders of eviction.
Pat Tetreault, director of the LGBTQA+ Resource Center and the Women’s Resource Center, was awarded the Voice of Inclusion Award by the College Student Educators International. The honor recognizes members who use their voice to make their campuses, the association and the field a more equitable, inclusive and just place. Tetreault will be recognized during the annual conference in early March.
Nebraska’s online master’s program in educational administration was ranked No. 10 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, jumping two spots from its No. 12 ranking last year. This is the sixth consecutive year that the program has been featured in the ranking, which is based on engagement, expert opinion, faculty credentials and training, services and technologies, and student excellence.
Professional Service
Alisa Belflower, music theater studies, was elected national vice president for auditions for the National Association of Teachers of Singing. In this role, she will supervise and coordinate a variety of national auditions and competitions for students and young artists. NATS is the world’s largest professional association of teachers of singing.
John Carroll, natural resources, was named president-elect of the National Association of University Fish and Wildlife Programs. Carroll, who is director of SNR, began his term Jan. 1. The association aims to represent, strengthen and advocate for all college and university programs educating fish and wildlife conservation and management professionals. It is the only academic association representing the field of fish and wildlife conservation and management.
Claire Stewart, University Libraries, was named to the American Council of Learned Societies’ new Commission on Fostering and Sustaining Diverse Digital Scholarship. The group of scholars, librarians, archivists, publishers and university leaders will analyze current challenges to providing equitable access to the creation and sustainability of digital resources and projects related to social and racial justice. The commission is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Members associated with the Qualitative and Mixed Methods Interest Group, sponsored by the university’s Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Consortium, delivered online presentations on qualitative scholarship to the sixth World Conference on Qualitative Research hosted in Barcelona (Spain) on Jan. 27. Nebraska participants included Wayne Babchuk, educational psychology; Dawn O. Braithwaite, communication studies; Rochelle L. Dalla, child, youth and family studies; and Katie M. Edwards, educational psychology and Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools.
Publications
Özgür Araz, supply chain management and analytics, co-authored the article “The Importance of Widespread Testing for COVID-19 Pandemic: Systems Thinking for Drive-through Testing Sites,” which was one of the most-read articles of 2021 in the journal Health Systems, published by The Operational Research Society. The article provided a conceptual framework for addressing the challenges of implementing drive-through COVID-19 testing sites. He wrote the paper in collaboration with Adrian Ramirez-Nafarrate of Universidad Panamericana in Mexico, Megan Jehn of Arizona State University and Fernando Wilson of the University of Utah.
Christos Argyropoulos, electrical and computer engineering, along with Nebraska graduate students Boyuan Jin and Dhananjay Mishra, published an article titled ‘‘Efficient Single-Photon Pair Generation by Spontaneous Parametric Down-Conversion in Nonlinear Plasmonic Metasurfaces” in the journal Nanoscale. Journal editors selected the paper to be featured on the cover, an honor given to the best papers of each issue.
Taeyeon Kim, educational administration, received the East Asia Special Interest Group Best Paper Award from the Comparative and International Education Society. Kim was honored for her paper “Making Sense of Schooling during COVID-19: Crisis as Opportunity in Korea Schools,” which explores how policy actors in South Korea understand and make meaning of school-related policies responding to COVID-19.
Timothy Schaffert, English, is author of “The Perfume Thief,” which was selected by Penguin Random House International for the One World One Book program. The publisher only selects up to two titles annually for this global promotion. Selection ensures that Schaffert’s novel will reach bookstores in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Barbados, Bermuda, Denmark, France, Germany, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The book, Schaffert’s sixth novel, follows Clementine, a queer American ex-pat and thief who is drawn out of retirement and into another scam when the Nazis invade Paris.
Vinodchandran Variyam, computing, received the 2022 ACM SIGMOD Research Highlight Award. The award recognizes core database research projects that address an important problem, represent a definitive milestone in solving the problem and hold potential for significant impact. Variyam was recognized for the paper “Model Counting Meets FO Estimation,” which he co-authored with Pavan Aduri of Iowa State University, and Arnab Bhattacharya and Kuldeep Meel of the National University of Singapore.
Two books published by the University of Nebraska Press were named finalists in national award competitions. “Deer Season” by Erin Flanagan is nominated for an Edgar Allen Poe Award in the Best First Novel by an American Author category. “The Rinehart Frames” by Cheswayo Mphanza, which is in the African Poetry Book series, is a finalist in the National Book Critics Circle Awards in the poetry category.
Other News
Katherine Ankerson was named the university’s next executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. Selected after an internal search, Ankerson started her new role Jan. 18. She served as dean of the College of Architecture since July 2016, directing a revitalization of the college that led to new heights of faculty and student success. She’s also served the broader university community, playing an active role on the N150 Commission and the N2025 Steering Committee. Prior to joining Nebraska in 1996, Ankerson was a professor and head of interior architecture and product design at Kansas State University. She has a master’s degree and bachelor’s degrees in science and architecture from Washington State University. Sharon Kuska will serve as interim dean of the College of Architecture.
Scout Calvert is the new research data librarian with University Libraries and the research data lead for the University of Nebraska Consortium of Libraries. Calvert, who started in this role on Nov. 1, 2021, coordinates all research data support for the University Libraries and participates in the institution’s broader efforts to store, preserve, share and support researchers in all data needs.
Martha Mamo was reappointed as head of the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, a role she’s served in since 2019. Her appointment was effective Jan. 1. Mamo, who has been at Nebraska since 2000, was called a “strong, innovative and extremely collaborative leader” by Mike Boehm, University of Nebraska vice president and Harlan Vice Chancellor for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Since joining the university in 2000, Mamo has made significant contributions to teaching and scholarship, winning the University of Nebraska’s Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award in 2015 and pursuing research focused on nutrient cycling in low input rangeland ecosystems.
Matthew Schaefer, law, was named the inaugural Clayton Yeutter Chair in the Nebraska College of Law. Schaefer, an expert in international trade and business law, will collaborate with the institute’s director and two other chairs to create interdisciplinary learning opportunities for students from any major and collaborate on research. He also holds the Veronica A. Haggart and Charles R. Work Professorship in International Trade Law and serves as co-director of the college’s Space, Cyber and Telecommunications Law Program, which he co-founded.
Jerry Volesky, agronomy and horticulture and a Nebraska Extension range and forest specialist at the West Central Research, Extension and Education Center in North Platte, was named interim director of the Center for Grassland Studies. A search is ongoing and the position is expected to be filled in early 2022.
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