Visit the Federal Research Updates 2025 website for current resources.

Research Leaders Program directory

2023-2024 cohort

  • Shudipto Dishari
  • ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
  • Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  • Sdishari2@unl.edu
  • Nathan Huynh
  • PROFESSOR
  • Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • nhuynh6@unl.edu
  • Alex Mason
  • PROFESSOR       
  • Child, Youth and Family Studies
  • amason19@unl.edu
  • Rajib Saha          
  • ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
  • Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  • rsaha2@unl.edu
  • Karrie Weber   
  • ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
  • Biological Sciences and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
  • kweber2@unl.edu
  • Ricky Wood
  • ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
  • Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • rwood12@unl.edu
  • Xiaoshan Xu      
  • ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
  • Physics and Astronomy
  • xxu16@unl.edu
  • Changmin Yan  
  • ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
  • Journalism and Mass Communications
  • cyan3@unl.edu
  • Craig Zuhlke
  • RESEARCH ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR          
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • czuhlke@unl.edu

2022-2023 cohort

  • Ozan Ciftci         
  • Associate Professor
  • Food Science and Technology
  • ociftci2@unl.edu
  • Jiong Hu
  • PROFESSOR       
  • Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • jhu5@unl.edu
  • Nicole Iverson  
  • ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
  • Biological Systems Engineering
  • iverson@unl.edu 
  • Marc Libault
  • ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
  • Agronomy and Horticulture
  • No email as he’s left UNL
  • Yunwoo Nam    
  • ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
  • Community and Regional Planning
  • ynam2@unl.edu
  • Elizabeth VanWormer   
  • ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
  • Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
  • evanwormer2@unl.edu
  • Jinying Zhu
  • ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
  • Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • jzhu18@unl.edu

2021-2022 cohort

  • Brittany Duncan 
  • Associate Professor 
  • Computer Science & Engineering 
  • bduncan@unl.edu 
  • Patricio Grassini 
  • Associate Professor 
  • Agronomy & Horticulture 
  • pgrassini2@unl.edu 
  • Santosh Pitla 
  • Associate Professor 
  • Biological Systems Engineering 
  • spitla2@unl.edu 
  • Jian Wang 
  • Professor 
  • Mechanical & Materials Engineering 
  • wangj6@gmail.com 
  • Hongfeng Yu 
  • Associate Professor 
  • Engineering Computer Science 
  • hfyu@unl.edu 

2020-2021 cohort

  • Matthias Fuchs
  • Associate Professor
  • Physics and Astronomy
  • mfuchs@unl.edu

  • Yufeng Ge
  • Associate Professor
  • Biological Systems Engineering
  • yge2@unl.edu

  • Kristi Montooth
  • Susan J. Rosowski Professor of Biological Sciences
  • Biological Sciences
  • kmontooth2@unl.edu
  • Wendy Smith
  • Research Professor
  • Center for Mathematics, Science and Computer Education
  • wsmith5@unl.edu
  • Joe Turner
  • Robert W. Brightfelt Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
  • Mechanical and Materials Engineering
  • jaturner@unl.edu
  • Mehmet Can Vuran
  • Susan J. Rosowski Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
  • Computer Science and Engineering
  • mcv@unl.edu