Advancing Excellence 2024

Ling Bian has been elected as a Fellow of the American Association of Geographers, the highest honor in the field. A leading geographic information scientist, Bian's research has driven significant advancements in quantitative methods within geography.

Jessie Poon has been elected as a Fellow of the American Association of Geographers. A renowned economic geographer, her research focuses on the geographical structure of trade patterns and the dynamics of regionalization. Her current project is just amazing. She is analyzing the spacial and economic impact of US/China trade competition in Asia as both countries race to acquire critical minerals to support chip production.

Holly Buck, from the Department of Environment and Sustainability, was named a fellow of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Holly is an expert on the social and political dimensions of environmental policies. Her work is having a direct impact on the formation and assessment of strategies and technologies for preventing and adapting to climate change. 

Kenneth DeMarree has been named a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS). His research explores how attitudes and opinions change, influence judgment, and affect behavior, with a focus on fostering open-minded dialogue across differences. A prolific scholar, DeMarree's work is widely published and has received funding from prestigious organizations like the National Science Foundation. He also holds fellowships with several leading psychological societies, including the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

Sherry Chemler was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for developing groundbreaking chemical methods that advance drug discovery.

JP Koenig was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a world-renowned expert in lexical knowledge, exploring vocabulary across languages from English to Oneida.

Janet Yang was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A world-renowned expert, she studies risk perception related to science, health, and environmental hazards to help people make informed decisions.

Luis Velarde received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, recognizing his dedication to student education.

Micheal Dent has been named a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS). An expert in auditory perception in birds and mice, her research provides insights into human hearing and disorders like tinnitus. Her work, funded by the National Institutes of Health and others, has broad implications for hearing science. Dent serves as associate editor of Acoustics Today and coordinating editor of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America and is a Fellow and executive council member of the Acoustical Society of America.

Emanuela Gionfriddo in the Department of Chemistry, has been recognized for her accomplishments with two national awards: BOTH the Rising Star in Measurement Science from the American Chemical Society, and the Young Investigator Award from the Chinese American Chromatography Association.

Emanuela’s is an analytical Chemist whose work focuses on the separation, preconcentration, and detection of micropollutants in complex samples. 

Jasmina Tumbas in the Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies, received, in one year, BOTH a prestigious Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant and a Getty Research Institute Scholar Grant to support her current book project on queer and feminist art of the Yugoslav diaspora. In addition, Jasmina’s first book received the Barbara Jelavich Book Prize from the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 

Bernard Badzioch received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, honoring his commitment to student learning.

Peter Pfordresher has been named a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS). A renowned expert in musical cognition and the relationship between music and language, his research examines how people perceive and produce complex event sequences in real time. Since joining UB in 2006, he has published three books and over 70 peer-reviewed articles, with funding from the NSF, Fulbright Canada, and more. Pfordresher also serves as president of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition.

Luis Colón, SUNY Distinguished Professor and A. Conger Goodyear Professor from the Department of Chemistry, received the American Association for the Advancement of Science Lifetime Mentor Award. 

Luis is a leading researcher in analytical chemistry, with a focus on separation science. He is committed to advancing diversity in the chemical sciences through the recruitment and mentoring of students and his longstanding relationship with his 

undergraduate alma mater, the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey.

Luis was also just named one of NBC news’ Latino 10! The ten Americans that have had an extraordinary year of recognition and growth whose work is directly reflective of their Hispanic heritage.  Luis is now in the company of Pulitzer prize winner Cristina Rivera Gazra, jazz legend Arturo Sandoval, and Green noble prize winner 2024 Goldman prize, Andrea Vidaurre.

Dalia Caraballo Muller received the UB Teaching Innovation Award for her creative approaches to enhancing student learning.

Lara Hutson received the UB Teaching Innovation Award for her innovative teaching strategies that enhance student engagement.

John Roberts has been named a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS). His research focuses on the psychosocial aspects of mood disorders, examining the causes, persistence, and recovery from depression, and how environmental factors like green space and air quality impact mental health. A prolific author, Roberts has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles and presented at more than 140 scientific meetings, while also serving on the editorial boards of five journals.

Marisa Manheim received a National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator Track K grant.

Kirk Jalbert received a grant from the Pipeline Safety Trust to Examine Best Practices for Pipeline Enhanced Public Engagement.

Zhen Wang from the Department of Biological Sciences received a National Science Foundation Plant Synthetic Biology grant.

Herbert Fotso received a National Science Foundation Expanding Capacity in Quantum Information Science and Engineering grant, and a Department of Energy, Non-equilibrium Dynamics of Non-Ideal Quantum Materials grant.