Editor’s Note: The information for this story was written and provided by the Office of University Development and compiled by James Iseler of The University Record.
Thirty-one University of Michigan faculty members have received awards this fall in recognition of their notable contributions in the areas of teaching, mentoring, service and scholarship. They were honored at a Faculty Awards Celebration on Sept. 18.
Distinguished University Professorships
The Board of Regents created the Distinguished University Professorships in 1947 to recognize senior faculty for exceptional scholarly or creative achievement, national and international reputation, and superior records of teaching, mentoring and service. Faculty selected for the recognition, in consultation with the dean of the school or college in which he or she holds an appointment, name the professorship after a person of distinction in their field of interest. The duration of the appointment is unlimited. Newly appointed Distinguished University Professors are expected to deliver an inaugural lecture. The recipients are:
Sergey Fomin
Richard P. Stanley Distinguished University Professor of Mathematics and professor of mathematics, LSA
Fomin is internationally celebrated for his breakthrough contributions to mathematics. He is a fellow of the American Mathematical Society and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Fomin earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at St. Petersburg State University in 1982 in what was then the U.S.S.R. He joined U-M in 1999. With his late collaborator, Andrei Zelevinsky, Fomin introduced and developed the theory of cluster algebras, a groundbreaking concept that has found numerous applications in mathematics and theoretical physics. More than 200 international conferences have been devoted to cluster algebras and related topics. The American Mathematical Society awarded Fomin and Zelevinsky the 2018 Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research, recognizing their work for its “lasting importance.” He is a member of the Council of the American Mathematical Society and former managing editor of its flagship journal. He has overseen his department’s efforts to expand the ranks of underrepresented scholars in mathematics. Many of his former mentees hold academic positions at research universities around the world.
Roger D. Cone
Tadataka Yamada Distinguished University Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology; vice provost and director of the Biosciences Initiative, Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs; Mary Sue Coleman Director and research professor, Life Sciences Institute; professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, LSA; professor of molecular and integrative physiology, Medical School
Cone is a world leader in the field of obesity and metabolic disease research, having identified and cloned receptor genes that play a critical role in the regulation of energy balance by the brain, a landmark discovery in neuroscience and physiology that led to the first therapeutic agent for multiple genetic obesity syndromes. In 2016, Cone was named Mary Sue Coleman Director of the Life Sciences Institute and soon thereafter vice provost and director of the Biosciences Initiative. He earned his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985 and spent two decades at the Vollum Institute, a neuroscience research institute affiliated with Oregon Health & Science University. He joined Vanderbilt University in 2008 as chair of the physiology department. At U-M, he champions innovation and advances promising life-sciences initiatives and new funding packages to retain and recruit top-tier scholars, including “genius” awards for mid-career faculty. His leadership has shaped the future of the academic community. He has secured 20 U.S. patents, co-founded three biotech companies, taught molecular and cell biology and neurobiology for 25 years, and mentored 21 doctoral trainees and 38 postdoctoral fellows.
Jeffrey A. Fessler
William L. Root Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and of biomedical engineering, interim chair of the Division of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering; and professor of radiology, Medical School
Fessler transformed the practice of medicine worldwide with his singular improvements to life-enhancing SPECT, PET, CT and MRI imaging systems. These contributions have shaped the field of image reconstruction and its next-generation scholars and practitioners. Fessler completed his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Stanford University and joined U-M in 1990. His early contributions to medical imaging improved SPECT cardiac stress tests. He developed an algorithm for PET imaging that was adopted by GE Systems. He increased safety and reliability of low-dose X-ray CT scans, advances embraced by Philips and other manufacturers. His MRI research spans 20 years and many innovations. Students named him Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor of the Year in 2000, 2016 and 2022. The College of Engineering presented him with its Education Excellence Award in 2005. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers honored him with its Edward J. Hoffman Medical Imaging Scientist Award in 2013 and its Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Technical Achievement Award in 2016. He received the College of Engineering’s highest faculty honor, the Stephen S. Attwood Award, in 2023.
Deborah Loewenberg Ball
Jessie Jean Storey-Fry Distinguished University Professor of Education; Arthur F. Thurnau Professor; professor of education, Marsal Family School of Education; research professor, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research
Loewenberg Ball
Ball is an internationally respected scholar whose work is grounded in the study of mathematics education and teaching practice. Her pioneering research has shaped teacher education, providing important insights into the ways that inequity and oppression regularly pervade normative teaching practice, and how teacher education and development can help disrupt this. She began her career as an elementary teacher and continues to teach young children every summer while making visible, for research purposes, the day-to-day work of teachers. She earned her Ph.D. in 1988 from Michigan State University. She has worked with mathematicians, teachers and mathematics educators to identify the specialized mathematical knowledge needed for teaching, and showed its relationship to and difference from disciplinary mathematical knowledge. This work became the basis for her receipt of the International Commission on Mathematics Instruction’s Felix Klein Medal for lifetime achievement in mathematics education research. She is the most highly cited author worldwide in that field. Presidents Barack Obama and Joseph Biden appointed her to the National Science Board. She also served as dean of the School of Education from 2005-16.
Deborah Dash Moore
Jonathan Freedman Distinguished University Professor of History and Judaic Studies; Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor, professor of history and of Judaic studies, LSA
Moore is a world-renowned scholar of American Jewish history and Jewish women’s history. Her intellectual curiosity and investigative rigor have shaped several fields, from urban studies to the visual arts, and endeared her to countless students. She joined U-M in 2005 as director of the Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies and expanded it into an internationally respected Jewish studies program. Under her leadership, the center established the Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, which hosts scholars from around the world, and a graduate certificate in Judaic studies for students working toward doctoral degrees in related disciplines. She has authored eight books, channeling her energies in unexplored directions. She focused on America as modern Jewish scholars concentrated on Europe; on women when the emphasis was on men; and on immersion in Jewish identity when others touted assimilation. She is the recipient of three National Jewish Book Awards, the Jewish Cultural Achievement Award in 2013, and the Lee Max Friedman Award Medal for distinguished service in the field of American Jewish History in 2012.
Robert M. Sellers
James S. Jackson Distinguished University Professor of Psychology; professor of psychology, LSA; professor of education, Marsal Family School of Education; faculty associate, Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research
Sellers helped transform the field of psychology, particularly the study of racial identity development. Scholarship on underrepresented groups is now mainstream due, in part, to his and his students’ research. Sellers, who earned his Ph.D. from U-M in 1990 and returned as an associate professor in 1997, is hailed as “one of the most influential psychologists in the modern era” by the American Psychological Association. He is best known for his model of African American racial identity, a theoretical and empirical framework that captures the complexity and diversity of Black people in the United States. He co-founded the Center for the Study of Black Youth in Social Contexts to provide a setting for scholars from multiple disciplines to share racial identity research. He received the Mentor Award in 2023 and the James S. Jackson Lifetime Achievement Award for Transformative Scholarship in 2024, both from the Association for Psychological Science, for his commitment to his students and his scholarly impact on the field. He helped develop Wolverine Pathways, a free college preparatory program that has become a national model. In 2023, he was elected to the National Academy of Science.
Distinguished Faculty Achievement Awards
The Distinguished Faculty Achievement Awards honor senior faculty who consistently have demonstrated outstanding achievements in the areas of scholarly research or creative endeavors, teaching and mentoring of students and junior colleagues, service and other activities. The recipients are:
Vernon B. Carruthers
Professor of microbiology and immunology, Medical School
Carruthers, a world-renowned scholar of parasitology, studies the biology of infectious diseases to understand the survival strategies employed by microbial pathogens and block their ability to cause illness. He earned his Ph.D. in microbiology at Western University in London, Ontario in 1991, and was an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University before being recruited to U-M in 2006. His research on infectious diseases is focused on the single-celled parasite Toxoplasma gondii. In humans, T. gondii can cause encephalitis, pneumonia, myocarditis, ocular disease and severe birth defects. He leads a research team that studies the parasite’s ability to secure nutrients and persist indefinitely during infection, work that is essential for the development of therapies. He has garnered more than $20 million in grant funding, is highly cited, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His service extends from outreach at Ypsilanti High School to directing international courses and meetings.
Carla O’Connor
University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; Arthur F. Thurnau Professor; professor of education, Marsal Family School of Education; director of academic programs for Wolverine Pathways
O’Connor, a preeminent scholar of Black student achievement, has redefined the causes of underachievement among marginalized youth and illuminated ways schools can support and accelerate these students’ academic success. She earned her B.A. at Wesleyan University in 1988, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in education at the University of Chicago in 1996. She joined U-M in 1997. As a first-generation immigrant, first-generation college graduate, and sociologist of education, she questioned the validity of prevailing conclusions that Black and marginalized populations were responsible for their students’ academic failures. Her research investigates how school professional staff, culture and organization place marginalized youth at academic risk and dispels the notion that Black children believe education and learning to be synonymous with whiteness. She co-edited “Beyond Acting White: Reframing the Debate on Black Student Achievement” in 2006. She is a founding member of U-M’s Center for the Study of Black Youth in Context and director of academic programs for Wolverine Pathways, U-M’s free college preparatory program for underrepresented seventh to 12th graders. The American Research Association named her an AERA Fellow in 2024.
Paul Christopher Johnson
Professor of history, and of Afroamerican and African studies, and director of undergraduate studies, Afroamerican and African Studies, LSA
Johnson
Johnson is an award-winning scholar and author who moves deftly between historical and anthropological methods to produce pioneering analyses of the histories of religious encounter in the Americas, the politics of religion, and the uses of religious ideologies to make and classify notions of “the human.” He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in history of religions at the University of Chicago in 1997 and joined U-M in 2005. He has received a Guggenheim fellowship and two National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships. He is the author of three prize-winning books: “Secrets, Gossip, and Gods: The Transformation of Brazilian Candomblé,” “Diaspora Conversions: Black Carib Religion and the Recovery of Africa,” and “Automatic Religion: Nearhuman Agents of Brazil and France.”. He co-authored “Ekklesia: On Church and State in the Americas,”andedited several other books and journals. Johnson teaches undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. students and helped establish an interdisciplinary minor in religion. In “Religions of the African Diaspora,” he shows students how the legal category of “religion” has been constituted in relation to indigenous and Afrodescendant ritual practices often viewed by the state as illegitimate, primitive or subversive.
Nancy Ambrose King
Professor of music, School of Music, Theatre & Dance
King is revered as one of its finest oboists on the global stage and a master pedagogue who has guided a generation of musicians to sustainable careers in performance and academia. When she graduated from U-M with a B.M. in oboe performance in 1984, King received the Albert A. Stanley Medal, the most prestigious student award given by SMTD. She earned her M.M. and D.M.A. in 1997 at the Eastman School of Music and returned to U-M in 2000. She has recorded 11 solo albums, all distributed internationally to critical acclaim, and commissioned and premiered numerous works, often from underrepresented composers. She is known to push the expressive and technical boundaries of the instrument and received a dedicated chapter in “Great Oboists on Music and Musicianship.” She was the first female president of the International Double Reed Society, representing more than 4,000 members in 80. The longest-serving professor of oboe in U-M history, she has made the school a destination for the finest students at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Sara A. Pozzi
University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences, director of academic programs, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, College of Engineering; professor of physics, LSA
Pozzi devotes her research, teaching and service to nuclear nonproliferation and national security, and has transformed the field of nuclear materials safeguards nationally and internationally. She earned her M.S. in nuclear engineering in 1997 and her Ph.D. in science and technology of nuclear plants in 2001 at Italy’s Polytechnic of Milan. She worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory before joining U-M in 2007. She has developed new neutron measurement techniques, adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency, that have direct application for determining whether materials are present in nuclear weapons that should be placed under safeguards in nonproliferation agreements. The U.S. Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration began funding her research in 2002. In 2014 and 2019, they awarded her leadership of two national consortia: one to develop technologies for nuclear treaty verification and the second to design frameworks for nuclear materials monitoring and treaty verification. She is a fellow of the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers, the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management and the American Nuclear Society.
Faculty Recognition Awards
The Faculty Recognition Awards are intended for mid-career faculty members who have demonstrated remarkable contributions to the university through achievements in scholarly research or creative endeavors; excellence as a teacher, adviser and mentor; and distinguished participation in service activities of the university and elsewhere. Eligible candidates include full professors with no more than four years in rank, and tenured associate professors. The recipients are:
Erin A. Cech
Associate professor of sociology, LSA; faculty associate, Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research; associate professor of mechanical engineering, College of Engineering
Cech investigates the underlying cultural mechanisms that perpetuate social inequalities in the United States. Her findings have placed her at the forefront of academic and policy conversations dedicated to addressing inequality. Cech earned dual B.S. degrees in electrical engineering and sociology from Montana State University in 2005, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, San Diego in 2008 and 2011, respectively. Her research focuses on three related areas: inequality in the science, technology, engineering and math professions; cultural ideals of “good work” and “good workers”; and popular beliefs about inequality. She has revealed how cultural notions, such as meritocracy and scientific excellence, disadvantage women, LGBTQI+ people, and racial minorities in the workplace, particularly in STEM fields. Her findings have influenced scholarship in social inequality, gender and sexuality, cultural sociology, and work and occupations. Scholars and policymakers rely on her work to confront sources of inequality that tend to fly under the radar of prescribed mandates for equal treatment. She has written two books, “Misconceiving Merit” and “The Trouble with Passion,” and 42 articles for prestigious sociology and general interest science journals.
Robert D. Gregg IV
Associate professor of robotics, of electrical engineering and computer science, and of mechanical engineering, College of Engineering
Gregg, an international expert in bipedal locomotion control and wearable robots, creates robotic prostheses and exoskeletons that mimic natural gait, profoundly changing lives through improved functionality and comfort for lower-limb amputees and individuals with mobility limitations such as the elderly. Gregg earned his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2010. He joined the Robotics Institute at U-M in 2019 and was named graduate chair and associate director of robotics in 2020. He led the graduate program as it transitioned to a full-fledged department. He also contributed to extending this curriculum to a new undergraduate degree program in 2022. His groundbreaking research on robotic prosthetic legs translates principles from human biomechanics into control algorithms that enable more natural and efficient movement. His design and control for lower limb exoskeletons enhance voluntary human movement, benefiting patients with mild to moderate mobility limitations. He has secured $13 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, private foundations, and Össur, an orthopaedics equipment manufacturer.
Kelley M. Kidwell
Professor of biostatistics, School of Public Health
Kidwell has had an important impact on the design and analysis of randomized clinical trials. Her work has improved the design and analysis of randomized clinical trials, particularly for studying chronic and rare diseases. Her focus is sequential, multiple assignment, randomized trial designs, which enable participants to continue successful therapies or switch therapies based on treatment response. Her trial designs provide robust evidence for patient-tailored treatment regimens. She received her Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh in 2012 and joined U-M that same year. She is the principal investigator on grants totaling more than $3.8 million and statistician for many large, federally funded clinical trials. She speaks regularly to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Academies of Science and advises the congressionally funded Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. She received the Hope Foundation’s Crowley Award for Statistical Excellence in Clinical Trials in 2021 and is director of the Department of Anesthesiology’s Digital Data Coordinating Center, among other leadership positions.
David D. Wentzloff
Professor of electrical engineering and computer science, College of Engineering
Wentzloff works to reduce the energy required to communicate data wirelessly in all types of systems and has developed some of the lowest-power radio implementations ever reported. In 2007, Wentzloff completed his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and joined U-M’s College of Engineering. He studies radio-frequency integrated circuits, particularly small sensing devices that comprise the internet of things. He has published approximately 125 papers in the field’s top forums and led large grants from the National Science Foundation and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. He has been director of education for U-M’s Center for Entrepreneurship, creating a Certificate in Entrepreneurship that is now very popular among engineering graduate students. He brings hands-on expertise to this effort, having co-founded three startup companies.
Jason R. Young
Mary Fair Croushore Professor, associate professor of history, and director of the Institute for the Humanities, LSA
Young is an innovative thinker and public intellectual whose scholarship expands the fields of African American history, the history of slavery, and the intersection of history, art, and the resistance of enslaved people. Young received his Ph.D. at the University of California, Riverside, in 2002 and joined U-M in 2017 after teaching at the State University of New York-Buffalo. He is the author of “Rituals of Resistance” and co-edited “The Souls of W.E.B. Du Bois.” Young has published 28 peer-reviewed articles. He is co-curator of “Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina,” a touring exhibition seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MFA-Boston, U-M’s Museum of Art, and Atlanta’s High Museum. The exhibit showcases his ability to educate well beyond the classroom. It elevates the pottery, poetry and life story of David Drake, a literate, enslaved man who, until recently, was known only as “Dave,” along with fellow enslaved potters whose names are lost to history. He also works with the Michigan Humanities Emerging Research Scholars Program, an effort that recruits graduate students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
University Diversity and Social Transformation Professorships
The University Diversity and Social Transformation Professorships, which were launched in 2019, honor senior faculty whose work has promoted the university’s goals around diversity, equity and inclusion. Recipients hold their initial appointment for five years. They also receive special faculty fellow status at the National Center for Institutional Diversity and spend at least one semester as a faculty fellow-in-residence. The recipients are:
Ron Eglash
Professor of information, School of Information; and professor of art and design, Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design
Eglash, an internationally recognized scholar working at the intersection of design, decolonization and technology, began his career with a groundbreaking portrait of African cultures that places its people at the forefront of mathematical discovery, and became a blueprint for decolonization efforts in multiple disciplines. Eglash received his B.S. in cybernetics in 1981 and his M.S. in systems engineering in 1983 at the University of California-Los Angeles, and his Ph.D. in 1992 at the University of California-Santa Cruz. A year of fieldwork in Africa launched his career-long fascination with simulations of Indigenous design. He taught at Ohio State University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute before joining U-M in 2018. His book, “African Fractals: Modern Computing and Indigenous Design,” has influenced decolonization discussions around the world. His “heritage algorithms” software has shown statistically significant improvement for underrepresented students. His most recent research, called “Generative Justice,” takes a similar approach in digital technologies for worker-owned economies. With support from the National Science Foundation, his students are involved in projects from Detroit to Ghana, and his teaching promotes design and technology as vehicles for social justice.
Isis Settles
University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, professor of psychology, of Afroamerican and African studies, and of women’s and gender studies, LSA
Settles is a feminist psychologist whose research on women’s experiences of race, gender and injustice, particularly in the sciences, has transformed the diversity, equity and inclusion practices within and beyond U-M. She received her B.A. in psychology in 1993 at Harvard University and her M.A in 1997 and Ph.D. in 2001 at U-M. She joined Michigan State University, and returned to U-M in 2016. Her scholarship identifies, explains, and aims to reduce challenges faced by racial minorities and women in the academy. One groundbreaking study identified epistemic exclusion or the insidious ways scholarship by underrepresented faculty is devalued and how that extends to hiring, promotion, tenure and other issues. The antidotes have been incorporated into the ADVANCE Faculty Recruitment Workshop. She has increased the ranks of tenure-track faculty and co-organized the first conference for early-career feminist psychologists — the Institute for Academic Feminist Psychologists — which has become a biannual favorite. Her students express gratitude for her holistic mentorship within and beyond the lab.
Research Faculty Achievement Award
The Research Faculty Achievement Award honors people who hold at least a 60% appointment at the rank of research associate professor, research scientist or associate research scientist. Selection criteria include exceptional scholarly achievements, as evidenced by significant contributions to an academic field of study over time, a specific outstanding discovery or the development of innovative technology or practice. The recipients are:
Jason Goldstick
Research associate professor of emergency medicine, Medical School; and research assistant professor of health behavior and health education, School of Public Health
Goldstick, a nationally acclaimed statistician and injury-prevention scholar, combines quantitative modeling with scientific expertise to understand injury-related morbidity and mortality, informing the work of clinicians and other injury prevention practitioners. He earned his Ph.D. in 2010 at U-M. He is the Statistics and Methods Core director at the Injury Prevention Center and the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention. Identifying, quantifying, addressing and preventing injury and death disparities is an explicit goal of his work. He was lead author for a New England Journal of Medicine correspondence documenting, for the first time in the nation’s history, that firearms are the leading cause of death among children and adolescents, which has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, and has received international attention. He has created the only statewide near-real-time drug overdose surveillance system to track fatal and nonfatal overdoses, enabling responders to monitor trends and mount rapid responses. He has created the first and only clinical screening tool for future firearm violence risk. He has 113 peer-reviewed publications and is an investigator on more than $78 million in grant-funded projects.
Kathryn E. Luker
Associate research scientist of radiology, Medical School
Luker is an award-winning team science leader whose groundbreaking research, conducted at the intersection of cancer biology and multiscale molecular imaging, has yielded discoveries and new treatment tools for cancer. Luker earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology at Washington University in 1993 and worked there until joining U-M’s Center for Molecular Imaging in 2004. She has created novel imaging methods, including patented technologies, to investigate mechanisms regulating intercellular signaling and tumor heterogeneity in cancer, sparking applications to improve cancer therapy. She led efforts to combine multiscale imaging with a novel physics- and chemistry-informed artificial intelligence framework to predict the behavior of single cells in multicellular environments. This approach earned U-M its first Medical Research Award from the W. M. Keck Foundation for high-risk, potentially transformative biomedical research. She also is U-M’s first recipient of the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute Research Specialist R50 award, which supports extraordinary scientists who are not independent investigators. She has been awarded more than $17 million in grant funding in the course of her career and is widely published.
John Nees
Research scientist of electrical engineering and computer science, College of Engineering
Nees is an internationally renowned ultrafast optical science researcher whose leadership and creativity over more than three decades has established U-M as a world leader in high-intensity lasers and optical research. Nees earned his M.S. in optical engineering at the University of Rochester in 1985 and moved with his adviser, Nobel Prize winner Gérard Mourou, to U-M in 1988. An “optical guru,” Nees is an expert in laser-matter interactions ranging from material science and attosecond pulse generation to high-field science, targetry and medical applications. He played a central role in establishing the National Science Foundation’s Center for Ultrafast Optical Sciences in 1990 and pivoted to work on Hercules, then the world’s most intense laser. His work advanced and he became a driving force and actual builder of the NSF’s 3-petawatt Zettawatt-Equivalent Ultrafast laser System — Zeus — soon to bethe highest-power laser system in the United States and among the most high powered worldwide. A fellow of the Optical Society of America, he has co-authored more than 150 publications, and served as co-principal investigator on projects valued at more than $80 million.
Research Faculty Recognition Award
The Research Faculty Recognition Award honors people who hold at least a 60% appointment at the rank of research assistant professor or assistant research scientist. Selection criteria include exceptional scholarly achievements, as evidenced by publications or other scholarly activities in any academic field of study. The recipients are:
Alauddin Ahmed
Associate research scientist of mechanical engineering, College of Engineering
Ahmed is internationally renowned for his novel and highly practical advances in developing sustainable energy solutions, often employing machine learning and artificial intelligence, to help the nation and the world achieve its net-zero energy goals. Ahmed earned his B.S. and M.S. in physics at the University of Chittagong in Bangladesh and his Ph.D. in computational science and technology at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia in 2010. He came to U-M as a postdoctoral fellow in mechanical engineering in 2014 and joined the faculty in 2018. His groundbreaking research works to overcome the limitations of conventional materials discovery for energy storage — hydrogen, natural gas and thermal energies — to achieve high-performance, low-cost solutions. He has introduced three new metal-organic frameworks for hydrogen storage and two for natural gas storage that represent the forefront of energy-storage innovation and are under patent application. His work is widely cited in leading journals and he is credited with fostering meaningful collaborations that bridge gaps between academia, industry and government.
Hugo Carreno-Luengo
Associate research scientist of climate and space sciences and engineering, College of Engineering
Carreno-Luengo is a pioneer in Global Navigation Satellite Systems Reflectometry — spaceborne Earth remote sensing techniques — and his prodigious, original work has led to new science applications that advance the quest to understand global environmental change. Carreno-Luengo earned his Ph.D. in aerospace science and technology at Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya in Barcelona in 2016 and joined U-M in 2019. His work focuses on expanding the scope of scientific applications for the NASA Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System mission. He has developed a novel method that improves spatial resolution of CYGNSS by a factor of ~100, demonstrating the ability to resolve dynamic wetland surface extent under dense vegetation canopies. Obstruction by vegetation is a significant limitation of other state-of-the-art satellite missions, which his new method significantly mitigates. He also has advanced long-term mapping of land-surface freeze-thaw states, which is critical for quantifying carbon, energy, and water fluxes and their impacts on land-cover change. He has participated in 12 international research projects and published 23 journal articles, 63 conference papers and one book chapter. He also leads the GRSS-IEEE Standards for Earth Observations.
Hsing-Fang Hsieh
Research assistant professor, Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention
Hsieh is a leader in firearm injury prevention science. She advances and evaluates safety strategies for parents with young children, middle school students, adolescents, and underrepresented communities based on behavioral, social and structural perspectives. Hsieh earned her B.S. at National Taiwan University in 2002 and her M.P.H. and Ph.D. in health behavior and health education at U-M in 2013. Among scholars, practitioners and the media, she is an authority on the health disparities of violence and firearm injury experienced by racial and ethnic minorities and on the evaluation of school safety programs. She is one of the first researchers nationally and the principal investigator of the first National Institutes of Health-funded project to study the relationship between Asian American racism and firearm risk. She also served as principal investigator for the National Institute of Justice-funded project evaluating Anonymous Reporting Systems as a means for school safety, and leads more than $8 million in federal and state research grants.
Regents’ Award for Distinguished Public Service
The Regents’ Award for Distinguished Public Service honors people who have made contributions to public service activities that relate closely to teaching and research and reflect professional and academic expertise. The service activities may occur outside the university in local, state, national or international arenas. The recipients are:
Tim Chupp
Professor of physics, LSA
Chupp, a particle physicist specializing in precision measurement, optical pumping and nuclear polarization techniques, has engaged thousands of science enthusiasts of all ages in the joy and intrigue of scientific research and its impact through Saturday Morning Physics. Chupp earned his Ph.D. in physics at the University of Washington in 1983 and joined U-M in 1991. A world-class researcher and instructor, he has led U-M’s Saturday Morning Physics — family-friendly lessons held during the academic year — for much of its 25 years. His passion has brought science and its relation to technology, everyday life, public policy and art to the broadest segments of society. An estimated 300 people attend each week, and hundreds more participate via livestream. He serves as a science communication fellow for U-M’s Natural History Museum and as a public engagement faculty fellow, coordinating outreach efforts including Physics Van, a project underway to take science, technology, engineering and math lessons to underserved communities in southeast Michigan.
Mary Jo Kietzman
Associate professor of English, UM-Flint
Kietzman, an early-modern literature scholar, adapted the Great Depression-era Federal Writers Project for the Saginaw River Valley and Thumb, organizing current and former students in a writing project that fosters experiential learning and will result in a multifaceted regional guide. Kietzman earned her Ph.D. in English at Boston College in 1993 and joined UM-Flint in 1996. She engages students living in Flint by approaching the study of literature as a playing field for working through real-world problems and creating an inclusive communal identity. Her students learn to express themselves and use their experiences to create literary works of art. The writer’s project was born of her belief that encouraging her students to value and take pride in their experiences would be profoundly empowering. She secured a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council to pay stipends for contributions to the multiyear project. Together, students discovered and described the beauty of a region hidden in the ruins of abandoned industries and the recent water crisis.
University Press Book Award
The University Press Book Award is presented to members of the university teaching and research staff, including emeritus members, whose books have added the greatest distinction to the Press List. Selections are made from books published within a span of two calendar years. The recipient is:
Martin J. Murray
Professor of urban and regional planning, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning; adjunct professor of Afroamerican and African studies, and professor of sociology, LSA
Murray explores a topic of universal interest to urban residents everywhere — the use of new technologies to monitor movement in public space. In “The Infrastructures of Security: Technologies of Risk Management in Johannesburg,” he charts the shift in Johannesburg from dependence upon human decision-making in the provision of private security to increasingly sophisticated technologies (including artificial intelligence) and asks, is this essentially another method for maintaining the power and privilege of the “haves” against the “have-nots”? Murray earned his B.A. in philosophy in 1967 at the University of San Francisco and his M.A. in philosophy in 1970 and Ph.D. in 1975 in sociology at the University of Texas-Austin. While much of his career has been devoted to studying South Africa, he has also published on global urbanism. He has authored 10 books and co-edited three. His newest book, published in 2022, outlines two concerns associated with the practice of private security companies in Johannesburg: fighting crime using digital and software-based surveillance and automated information systems.
University Librarian Recognition Award
The University Librarian Recognition Award recognizes active and innovative early career achievement in library, archival or curatorial services. They are presented to librarians, archivists or curators who have no more than eight years’ practice in their profession. The recipient is:
Jesus Espinoza
Associate librarian, University Library
Espinoza, an expert in library and information science, teaches critical research skills to new undergraduate and graduate students. His demonstrated ability to work with underrepresented groups has increased student engagement overall on campus and with the library. Espinoza earned his B.A. in English in 2012 at San Jose State University and his M.I.L.S. in 2017 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and joined U-M. As a student-success librarian for Learning Programs and Initiatives, he offers an innovative approach to critical pedagogy and library instruction. He has co-developed lesson plans and online modules using social media influencers to teach students how to evaluate sources critically. He remains actively engaged in this research, including plans to propose an undergraduate course in this area. He leads the Peer Information Consulting Program, a long-established effort that trains students from underrepresented groups — first-generation students, students of color, and nontraditional students — to help peers with library research. He advances his profession through scholarly publications and national engagement with the Big Ten Academic Alliance and the Association of Research Libraries.
Jackie Lawson Memorial Faculty Governance Award
The Jackie Lawson Memorial Faculty Governance Award reflects distinction in faculty governance service to the entire university that reaches beyond the local campus confines of Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint. The recipient must have excelled in building a positive relationship between the Ann Arbor campus and one or both regional campuses, as exemplified by Lawson’s career. The recipient is:
Jacob Lederman
Associate professor of sociology, UM-Flint
Lederman, a respected scholar of urban governance and politics, draws on this expertise to provide thought leadership and advocacy for shared faculty governance and strong relationships across U-M’s Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses. Lederman earned his B.A. in economics in 2004 at New York University and his Ph.D. in sociology in 2015 at City University of New York and joined UM-Flint. He is the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education’s representative on the Faculty Senate Council and, as such, has worked on issues ranging from faculty control over course modality and adherence to the Standard Practice Guide governing summer pay to the proper application of program review. As an active member of the One University coalition, he built relationships across the three campuses and among faculty at all levels to understand what members need and how U-M might best meet these needs. Transparency is his guiding principle. He pursues accurate data and carefully analyzes the long-term consequences of proposed policies. He is the author of “Chasing World-Class Urbanism: Global Policy versus Everyday Survival in Buenos Aires.”
University Librarian Achievement Award
The University Librarian Achievement Award recognizes exceptional distinction reflected in active and innovative career achievements in library, archival or curatorial services. The recipient is:
Fe Susan T. Go
Librarian, University Library
Go, an internationally revered librarian, has built a premier research collection on Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand, and enhanced the reputation of U-M across the globe. Go earned her B.S. in history in 1967 and two master’s degrees — library science in 1975, and history in 1976 — at the University of San Carlos in the Philippines. At U-M, she earned an M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies in 1977 and a M.I.L.S. in 1979 before joining the university in 1983. Her acquisition trips and network of trusted local contacts have made it possible for her to collect new publications, rare books and archival records, none of which is available online. Discoverability is a priority, and her team categorizes materials in more than 20 languages. She has served as an ex-officio member of the U-M Center for Southeast Asian Studies since her arrival, and pushes the boundaries of technology to foster collaboration among libraries. Faculty and students praise her for her knowledge, assistance and entrepreneurial drive to build the collection.
Distinguished Faculty Governance Award
The Distinguished Faculty Governance Award recognizes people with a history of distinguished service to faculty governance over several years with an emphasis on universitywide service. The recipient is:
Dinesh Pal
Associate professor of anesthesiology, and of molecular and integrative physiology, Medical School
Pal, a neuroscientist studying the neural regulation of arousal states, is an effective and respected champion within the Faculty Senate for equity, inclusion and shared governance. Pal earned a B.S. in applied zoology in 1997 and an M.S. in zoology in 1999 from the University of Delhi, and a postgraduate diploma in international law and diplomacy in 2000. He completed a Ph.D. in sleep neurobiology in 2006 at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and postdoctoral training at the University of California-Berkeley and U-M. He is the chair of Committee on Rules, Practices and Policies, has served on the Committee on Civil Rights and Liberties and the Committee on Fairness, Equity and Inclusion, was a Senate Assembly member, and chaired the Committee on Antiracism. He spearheaded the efforts to include caste as a protected category in non-discrimination language and brought forth a resolution to condemn anti-Asian racism. He succeeded in prompting the Senate to explore establishing a memorial acknowledging the land Native American tribes granted U-M and advocating for their descendants’ involvement across the tri-campuses.
