Published July 22, 2020
Twenty-one of UB’s best and brightest teachers and researchers have been named recipients of the university’s 2020 Exceptional Scholar and Teaching Innovation Awards.
The Exceptional Scholars Award honors faculty members for their outstanding research performance at different stages of their careers. There are two awards: Sustained Achievement Awards for senior scholars and Young Investigator Awards for untenured scholars who received their terminal degree within the past eight years. Both awards recognize work that has “garnered public and/or professional accolades beyond the norm.”
Sustained Achievement recipients are selected based on their body of work over a number of years. The award is not meant to serve as a lifetime achievement honor, but rather as recognition for outstanding performance in a recent segment of a scholar’s career.
Recipients for 2020 are Steven Diver, professor, Department of Chemistry; Tamara Thornton, professor, Department of History; Marc Halfron, professor, Department of Biochemistry; Bruce Troen, professor, Department of Medicine; Ira Blader, professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology; Yu-Ping Chang, associate professor, School of Nursing; Stefan Ruhl, professor, Department of Oral Biology; Gang Wu, professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Tevfik Kosar, professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Tarunraj Singh, professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Gregory Homish, professor, Department of Community Health and Health Behavior; and Joseph Balthasar, professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
The Young Investigator Award is presented to untenured researchers whose work has garnered universal acclaim or been completed under the auspices of a prestigious fellowship grant.
Recipients for 2020 are David Lacy, assistant professor, Department of Chemistry; Ning Dai, assistant professor, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering; Changyou Chen, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Mostafa Nouh, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; and Jiwei Zhao, assistant professor, Department of Biostatistics.
UB’s Teaching Innovation Award recognizes faculty members who have used new methods and approaches to teaching that have had a demonstrable effect on enhancing student-learning outcomes, including innovative uses of educational technology. All UB faculty members are eligible for the award.
Recipients for 2020 are Varun Chandola, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Jun Zhuang, professor, Department of Industrial Systems Engineering; Aaron Estes, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; and Jessica Kruger, clinical assistant professor, Department of Community Health and Health Behavior.