UConn faculty are making an impact and receiving recognition nationwide and around the world. Read a selection of their recent honors and accomplishments.
School of Business
The School of Business was ranked 23rd among Best Online Graduate Business Programs in 2014 by U.S. News & World Report. The MS in Accounting (MSA) program ranked 3rd. The MS in Business Analytics & Project Management (MSBAPM) was ranked #34 in the recently released Eduniversal Best Masters Ranking in Engineering and Project Management for 2013-2014.
Xinxin Li, associate professor of OPIM and Ackerman Scholar, was one of only two recipients of the Best Reviewer Award for 2013 from Information Systems Research (ISR).
Neag School of Education
Suzanne Wilson, professor of curriculum and instruction, was elected as a new member to the National Academy of Education (NAE). The current members of this prestigious organization are the preeminent research scholars in the field of education. She was also commissioned by NAE to write a paper on “Recent Developments in STEM Education Relevant to the Qualities of Teacher Preparation Programs.”
School of Engineering
Robert X. Gao, Pratt & Whitney Chair of Mechanical Engineering,will receive the IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Society 2013 Technical Award for significantly advancing the state of the art in electrical capacitance tomography instrument design.
Peter Willett, professor of electrical & computer engineering, is now Editor-In-Chief of IEEE Signal Processing Letters. SP Letters receives approximately 1,700 submissions a year and accepts between 15 percent and 20 percent.
School of Fine Arts
Scott Ripley, associate professor of dramatic arts, received funding through the UConn Guest Professorship Program to bring international artist Carlos García Estévez to campus. Estévez is an actor, stage director, theater researcher, and pedagogue. Artistic director of Manifesto Poetico (International Laboratory of Theatre Research), Estévez founded and created the international theatre company Teatro Punto (1998-2013). Since 2012, he has been a guest teacher at the Laboratoire d’Etude de Mouvement in Paris.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Physics professor Nora Berrah published an article on “The Ultimate X-ray Machine,” in Scientific American (“Superpowerful X-Ray Laser Boils Atoms in Molecules, Nanosystems and Solids, Explodes Proteins – All in the Name of Science,” by Nora Berrah and Philip H. Bucksbaum, Scientific American, January 2014, Vol. 310, Issue 1).
Alexander Jackson, assistant professor of physiology and neurobiology, has been awarded $250,000 from the U.S. Public Health Service and the National Institute of Mental Health for his study on how the nervous system and hypothalamus control vigilance and cognitive function.
University Libraries
University librarian Michael Howser was awarded the New England Chapter of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association’s (NEURISA) Special Achievement Award. The award is given to an individual who has made a significant contribution that greatly enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization through the use of geospatial or other information technologies. He was given the award for his work in transforming UConn’s Map and Geographic Information Center (MAGIC) over the past five years, as well as his role in establishing the Connecticut State Data Center, a collaboration of academic and state organizations that serve as a liaison to the U.S. Census.
School of Nursing
Jacqueline McGrath, professor of nursing, has been appointed as the new co-editor of Advances in Neonatal Care (ANC), the official journal of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses. McGrath is the associate dean for research and scholarship in the School of Nursing, as well as the director of nursing research at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. McGrath has served on ANC’s Editorial Board since 2000, and has been editor of the Evidence-Based Practice Briefs Section since 2010. She was also the guest editor for ANC’s Developmental Care Supplement in 2012.
Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Nursing Cheryl Beck‘s textbook was awarded third place in the nursing research category for 2013 AJN Book of the Year Awards: Essentials of Nursing Research: Appraising Evidence for Nursing Practice, by Denise F. Polit and Cheryl Tatano Beck (8th edition, 2013, Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins).
Institute for Student Success
Due to the successful track record of the Student Support Services (SSS) program, the Connecticut Office of Higher Education doubled the Center for Academic Programs’ previous grant award through the Connecticut College Access and Success program: a $200,000 award was received to provide support for 50 incoming students through the SSS program.
