Accolades: Faculty and Staff Awards and Honors

Below are awards and honors University of Maryland faculty and staff have earned since mid-April:

Rajshree Agarwal, Rudolph Lamone Chair of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, and director of the Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets, received the Outstanding Educator Award from the Strategic Management Division of the Academy of Management. It recognized Agarwal for her mentoring of Ph.D. students. Agarwal and Hui Liao, the Long Jiang Endowed Chair in Business, were also recognized among the world’s top 100 most prolific business and economics scientists from 2008-22 by the Production and Operations Management Society.

Aerospace engineering Professor David Akin, who directs UMD’s Space Systems Laboratory, received the International Conference on Environmental Systems Award for Technical Excellence. The award recognizes individual technical contributions to space environmental control and life support, thermal control systems, extravehicular activity, crew systems and habitation.

Civil and environmental engineering Professor Bilal Ayyub, who directs UMD’s Center for Technology and Systems Management, received a 2024 Outstanding Projects and Leadership Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers in the category of education. 

Mechanical engineering Professor Shapour Azarm is a 2024 recipient of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Dedicated Service Award. It honors more than 10 years of unusually dedicated voluntary service to the society marked by outstanding performance, demonstrated effective leadership, prolonged and committed service, and enthusiasm.

Suresh Babu, Distinguished Clark Chair and professor in materials science and engineering, received the AIME Champion H. Mathewson Award from the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers. It honors the most significant contribution to scientific findings that promote broad engineering application of metallic materials. 

Balakumar Balachandran, Distinguished University Professor of mechanical engineering and Minta Martin Professor, was selected by the American Society for Mechanical Engineering Applied Mechanics Division for the 2025 ASME Thomas K. Caughey Dynamics Medal for "groundbreaking experimental, computational and analytical work on the dynamics of nonlinear mechanical systems, subjected to random noise disturbances." 

Assistant Clinical Professor of Persian Studies Mohammad Navid Bazargan received a Folklife Apprenticeship Grant from the Maryland State Arts Council for his work in the tradition of Persian calligraphy in 2025-26; he also received one in 2024-25.

The following scientists with the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center earned NASA Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics annual Peer Awards: Zebediah Becker, Elyssa Collins, Zachary Fair, Andrew Feldman, Jessica Erlingis, Rodrigo Vieira Leite, Elodie Macorps, Justin Pflug and Max Stevens.

Michelle “Shelby” Bensi, the Deborah J. Goodings Professor in Engineering for Global Sustainability, was selected to receive the Mary Jane Oestmann Professional Women's Achievement Award from the American Nuclear Society in recognition of her contributions to the field of probabilistic assessment of natural hazards at nuclear plant sites.

Gloria Aparicio Blackwell, director of local government relations, was named one of The Daily Record’s Maryland’s Hispanic Leadership Awards honorees, recognizing professional accomplishment, community involvement and commitment to mentoring. 

Jill Marie Bradbury, director of the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, and coauthor Andy Head, won the 2025 Outstanding Book Award - Distinction for Pedagogical Achievement from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education for “Staging Deaf and Hearing Theatre Productions: A Practical Guide.”

Assistant Professor of Japanese Jyana S. Browne received the 2025 Nancy Staub Publication Award from the United States Center of Union Internationale de la Marionnette for her book chapter “Realisms in Japan’s Eighteenth-Century Puppet Theatre” in “Realisms in East Asian Performing Arts.” She also was honored with the 2025 Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei Prize for Japanese Theatre Scholarship from the Association for Asian Performance for her article “Puppetry Networks of the Island of Naoshima" in Theatre Research International.

Two professors of criminology and criminal justice have been elected to future leadership positions of the American Society of Criminology: Rod Brunson will serve as president, and Jean McGloin will serve as vice president, beginning in 2027.

Anisha Campbell, associate director of Terrapin Teachers, received the 2025 University System of Maryland Board of Regents Staff Award in the category of Exceptional Contribution. These awards represent the highest honor bestowed by the board for achievements of exempt and nonexempt staff employees from institutions in the system.

Yizheng Chen, assistant professor of computer science with an appointment in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), received an NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award totaling approximately $573,000. The funding supports her efforts to make large language models—AI systems that help programmers by completing partial programs or generating code from natural language instructions—more secure and reliable.

Eun Kyoung Choe, associate professor in the College of Information, received a Best Paper award at the 2025 annual Association of Computing Machinery on Computer-Human Interaction conference for “FluidTrack: Investigating Child-Parent Collaborative Tracking for Pediatric Voiding Dysfunction Management.” Additionally, another of the four Best Paper awards at this conference went to Amanda Lazar, associate professor in the College of Information, for the paper  “Tracking and its Potential for Older Adults with Memory Concerns.” 

SocArXiv, a free, open archive of social sciences research founded by sociology Professor Philip N. Cohen, is the winner of its 2025 Infrastructure Prize for Sociology from the Kohli Foundation for Sociology.

Professor Emerita of English Merle Collins received the 2025 Barbara Christian Award for Best Book for her book “Ocean Stirrings” at the Caribbean Studies Association's 49th Annual Conference. The book is a work of fiction in tribute to Louise Langdon Norton Little, working mother and activist, who raised seven children, including Malcolm X.

Professor and Charles A. Irish, Sr. Chair in Civil Engineering Allen Davis is the 2025 recipient of the Urban Water Resources Research Council Founders’ Award presented by the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He was also honored by ASCE with the 2026 Simon W. Freese Environmental Engineering Award for his accomplishments in using fundamental scientific principles and current research findings to solve the most challenging problems in the field. 

Susan De La Paz, professor emerita of special education, was selected to participate in the Fulbright Specialist Program. De La Paz will lead faculty and administrators at the Central Philippine University to create more inclusive spaces for university students.

Dolapo Demuren, Department of English lecturer and associate director of the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House, was awarded the 2025 Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship. It included a cash prize and will culminate in the publication of a chapbook of his work.

Rose DiPaula, director of strategic communications and content development for Maryland Athletics, was named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's Mary Jo Haverbeck Award winner for 2025. The award recognizes individuals who have rendered a special service to the USBWA and sportswriters who cover college basketball. 

Bioengineering Associate Professor Edward Eisenstein was elected president of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He joined as a graduate student and has since served on its council, outreach and membership committees, and editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Clint Eury, program director, strategic HR partnerships and communications, was named vice chair of the Public Policy Committee of College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.

Drew S. Fagan, clinical professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Scholarship, is the recipient of the 2026 American Association for Applied Linguistics Distinguished Public Service Award. This award is given to individuals outside of the field of applied linguistics whose work raises public awareness of important social issues connected to language and makes exceptional contributions to promotion of multilingualism, linguistic social and justice, and language-related human rights.

Macarena Farcuh, assistant professor in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, received the Professional Early Career Award in Extension and Outreach and the Outstanding Education Materials Award in the Outstanding text-based Factsheets and Leaflets category at the  2025 American Society of Horticultural Science Conference.

Josanne Francis, lead community engagement program coordinator with the Center for Community Engagement and founding steelbands director with the School of Music, received a citation from Pan Trinbago, the world governing body for steelpan, for her contributions to preserving and promoting Trinidad and Tobago's national instrument. Alongside this citation, Francis received a Recognition of Excellence from the Embassy of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago honoring her dedication to cultural excellence, musical innovation and community engagement, as well her work enriching the Caribbean diaspora. Francis was additionally named a Strathmore Artistic Advancement Fellow, a program that provides independent artists with mentorship, resources and industry connections. 

Research Professor Louis Giglio in the Department of Geographical Sciences received the NASA Outstanding Public Leadership Medal, which honors nongovernment individuals for sustained, high-impact leadership that significantly advances NASA’s mission and image. 

Mechanical engineering Associate Professor Katrina Groth, who is associate director of UMD’s Center for Risk and Reliability, received a 2025 University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for outstanding contributions in the category of Scholarship or Research. 

Distinguished University Professor and Minta Martin Professor Ashwani Gupta, who holds appointments in mechanical and aerospace engineering, is the 2025 recipient of the Thermal and Fluids Engineering Award presented by the American Society of Thermal and Fluids Engineers.

Minta Martin Professor Mohammad Hafezi in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering was selected by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for a 2025 Humboldt Research Award, which acknowledges his history of impactful research and supports visiting Germany to collaborate with colleagues there.

Distinguished University Professor John C. Haltiwanger, the Dudley and Louisa Dillard Professor of Economics, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The honor recognizes accomplishments and leadership in academia, the arts, industry, public policy and research.

Nicole Hollywood, associate director for undergraduate and graduate programs in the Department of Fire Protection Engineering, was named Fire Protection Person of the Year by the Society of Fire Protection Engineers.

Antoine Jordan, manager of alumni outreach and engagement for the Alumni Association, received the Rookie of the Year Award from Peoplegrove, which powers Terrapins Connect, the association’s online networking and mentorship platform.

P.K. Kannan, the Dean's Chair in Marketing Science,  has been named a fellow of the INFORMS Society for Marketing Science, an honor held by only about 40 scholars worldwide. Fellowships recognize outstanding lifetime achievement in operations research, management sciences and analytics.

Dennis Kivilighan, professor of counseling psychology, was selected for the Leona Tyler Award for Lifetime Achievement in Counseling Psychology from the Society of Counseling Psychology (American Psychological Association Division 17). 

Associate Professor of English Lee Konstantinou and his co-editor were awarded this year's Comics Study Society Edited Book Prize for “Artful Breakdowns: The Comics of Art Spiegelman.” It traces the trajectory of “Maus” author Art Spiegelman from underground rebellion to mainstream success.

Dave Levin, an associate professor of computer science with an appointment in UMIACS, and Erik Rye Ph.D. ’25 received the 2025 Caspar Bowden Award for Outstanding Research in Privacy Enhancing Technologies. The two researchers, working in the Maryland Cybersecurity Center, were recognized for their work uncovering global privacy risks in Wi-Fi-based positioning systems. 

Jioni Lewis, associate professor of counseling psychology, received the Advocate of the Year Award from the Society of Counseling Psychology (APA Division 17) Section on the Advancement of Feminist Psychology. Lewis will also serve as chair of the APA Committee on Women in Psychology and as the APA council representative for the division. 

Distinguished University Professor Zhanqing Li in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science will receive the Verner Suomi Medal, one of the top awards of the American Meteorological Society, at its 2026 annual meeting in Houston in January. It honors a scientist who has made fundamental contributions in the application of remote sensing to quantifying Earth's energy budget, including the impacts of aerosols and their interactions with clouds.

Hui Liao, Long Jiang Endowed Chair in Business and assistant dean of research outreach, received the Management Education and Development Division’s Best Paper award for “Fostering Assertiveness and Leadership Emergence With Debate Training.”

Donna Lim, associate director of the Adele H. Stamp Student Union-Center for Campus Life, received the Mortar Board National Honor Society’s 2025 Excellence in Advising Award. She has served as the Adele H. Stamp chapter adviser for the past three years.

Bioengineering Associate Professor Katharina Maisel was named the 2025 Outstanding Young Engineer by the Maryland Academy of Sciences and the Maryland Science Center. Maisel’s lab designs tools for investigating roles of stromal tissues in disease pathology and developing novel immunomodulatory drug and drug delivery targets for improved treatment of mucosal diseases.

The Office of Marketing and Communications received seven 2025 Circle of Excellence awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. Terp magazine, whose creative team is led by John Consoli and Valerie Morgan, won gold in design (periodicals and magazines) as well as a gold in design (illustrations) for its "Welcome to the Hotel Influenza" cover and illustrations. Other gold awards in Terp went to writers Chris Carroll for that flu feature (research, science and medicine), Karen Shih for “Connie Breaks a Story: Her Own” (profiles over 1,000 words) and Annie Krakower for “Houston: We Have a Terp” (profiles under 1,000 words). Writer Maggie Haslam earned a silver for “Roving Reporter” (news/feature under 1,000 words). In addition, Lauren Biagini took gold in design (invitation) for her work on the Flagship’s Finest event. 

b.a. medina, director of Bias Incident Support Services, was celebrated with the Outstanding Member of the Transracial Adoptee and Multiracial Knowledge Community award by NASPA. This award recognizes a leader who has given their time, energy, influence and dedication to the knowledge community. 

Associate Professor of English Emily Mitchell was chosen for the Black Lawrence Press's Big Moose Prize for her forthcoming novel “Far Ocean.” The recipient of the annual prize receives book publication among other honors.

Nicole J. Kim Eminent Professor Mohammad Modarres, based in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and director of UMD’s Center for Risk and Reliability, was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa by the Universidad Da Vinci de Guatemala in recognition of his outstanding contributions to risk analysis and reliability engineering. Modarres was joined by fellow honoree and former UMD faculty member Ali Mosleh, a leading international expert in the study of complex systems.

Wendy Moe, Dean's Professor of Marketing, and coauthors were awarded the 2025 Sheth Foundation/Journal of Marketing Award by the American Marketing Association for their article, "Uniting the Tribes: Using Text for Marketing Insight." This award recognizes a Journal of Marketing article that has made a lasting impact on the field.

Erin Molloy, an assistant professor of computer science with an appointment in UMIACS, received an NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award totaling almost $600,000. The funding supports her efforts to develop innovative computational tools that advance the emerging field of retrophylogenomics, which uses “copy-and-paste” DNA sequences called retrotransposons to better understand how species are related and how they have evolved over time.

Bioengineering Assistant Professor Erika Moore was selected by the National Academy of Medicine for its 2025 class of Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine Scholars. The program targets exceptional, interdisciplinary early- to mid-career professionals.

Aricelda Munoz, sous chef for Mulligan's Grill & Pub in Dining Services, received the annual University System of Maryland Board of Regents Award in the category of Excellence as a Team Player. These awards represent the highest honor bestowed by the board for achievements of exempt and nonexempt staff employees from institutions in the system.

Kristopher Oliveira, director of the LGBTQ+ Equity Center, received the Chris Woods Commitment to Service Award from the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals. This award recognizes and honors individuals who have provided exemplary service to the consortium. 

Distinguished University Professor Peter Reuter was included on Research.com’s list of the world’s best law scholars and received its Law Leader Award for his work tackling drug policy reform, money laundering controls and criminal organizations. Reuter holds a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy and the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Jennifer Roberts, associate professor of kinesiology, was awarded honorable mention in the Rhyming Poetry category of the 94th annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition. The poem “Our Stain to Lament” conveys Roberts' motivation for initiating, leading and writing the UMD Enslavement Statement. 

The feature story "A Full Circle Journey” by Michael Rovetto, staff writer in Maryland Athletics, was recognized in the College Sports Communicators Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Awards as the District 2 winner in the Coach/Administrator Profile category for his feature story. He was also honored with five runner-ups in the division.

Laura Schnitker, curator of UMD Libraries' Mass Media & Culture archives, received the 2024 Top Article of the Year award from the Journal of Radio and Audio Media for her article "Declarations and Independents: How Chicago DJ Al Benson Brought Black Cultural Production to 1940s Commercial Radio."

Chuck F. Schuster, senior extension agent with the University of Maryland Extension, received the Dr. James R. Miller Award from Maryland Grain Producers, recognizing his service for more than four decades as a teacher, innovator, mentor and advocate for Maryland’s farming community. 

Richard Shin, associate professor of counseling psychology, was selected as one of Loyola University Chicago School of Education’s 2025 Distinguished Alumni. This award honors alums who are advancing educational practices as well as driving meaningful change in addressing social inequalities.

Paula Shrewsbury, entomology professor and University of Maryland Extension specialist, was named a fellow of the Entomological Society of America. It recognizes her leadership in integrated pest management  programs, biological control of invasive insects, and sustainable landscapes.

Kathleen Stewart, geographical sciences professor, began her term as president of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science on July 1. The network of more than 60 U.S. institutions promotes collaboration in GIS research and education.

Mega Subramaniam, professor in the College of Information, was awarded a Fulbright Scholar award for the 2025-26 year to work with partners at the University of Gadjah Mada on professional development opportunities for library workers in Indonesia. 

Shantala Thompson, associate director of the LGBTQ+ Equity Center, received the Dr. Sheltreese D. McCoy Award for Outstanding Social Justice Practice from the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals. The award recognizes significant commitments to social justice in the field of student affairs as an academic discipline and through advanced practice in a professional capacity.

Ali Tohidi, assistant professor in fire protection engineering, was honored with Clemson University’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award. He earned his doctorate there and is now a leading expert in wildfire modeling and mitigation.

Albert Tong, assistant athletic director for football creative video in Maryland Athletics, won a Capital Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter in the category of Sports Program: Post-Produced or Edited for season 5 of “Unlocked.” 

Uzi Vishkin, a professor of electrical and computer engineering with an appointment in UMIACS, received the 2025 Association for Computing Machinery Symposium on Parallelism in Algorithms and Architectures Parallel Computing Award. He helped establish the parallel random-access machine algorithmic theory—a foundational model that simplifies the design and analysis of parallel algorithms.

Devin Walker, director of fraternity and sorority life in the Division of Student Affairs, was appointed to the 2026 Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors Board of Directors.

Cixin Wang, professor of school psychology, received the Tom Oakland Mid-Career Scholarship Award from the American Psychological Association Division 16 (School Psychology). The award is given to a mid-career school psychologist who throughout their career has demonstrated exceptional scholarly activity that merit special recognition.

Jacob Wenegrat, assistant professor of atmospheric and oceanic science, will receive the Nicholas P. Fofonoff Award, one of the American Meteorological Society's three early career awards, at its 2026 annual meeting in Houston in January. He is a rising star in physical oceanography and geophysical fluid dynamics.

Judge Alexander Williams, Jr., executive director of the Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. Center for Education, Justice and Ethics, was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Black Prosecutors Association. He was Prince George’s County’s first African American state’s attorney, then served as a U.S. District Court judge.

Conrad Wilson, IT telecommunications specialist in the Department of Public Safety, received the 2025 University System of Maryland Board of Regents Staff Award in the category of Making a Difference to the Campus. These awards represent the highest honor bestowed by the board for achievements of exempt and nonexempt staff employees from institutions in the system.

Government and Politics Professor, Patrick Wohlfarth was awarded the C. Herman Pritchett Book Award for “Cognitive Aging and the Federal Circuit Courts: How Senescence Influences the Law and Judges.” The annual award goes to the best book on law and courts published in the previous year, as determined by the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association.

Weizhen “Zane” Xie, an assistant professor of psychology, is among 15 faculty selected to join the 2025 Class of the Searle Scholars Program. It presents awardees with $300,000 to pursue high-risk, high-reward research in chemistry and the biomedical sciences over the course of three years. 

Nicole Yunger Halpern, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, fellow in the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science and adjunct professor of physics at UMD, received an Early Career Scientist Award for her work bridging statistical physics, thermodynamics and quantum information theory. Yunger Halpern is one of only three scientists to be named a recipient this year. She also received the Early-Career-Scientist Prize in Statistical Physics from the International Union of Pure and Applied Physicists. 

Jie Zhang, marketing professor and the Harvey Sanders Fellow of Retail Management, and doctoral graduate Min Kim received the 2025 Don Lehmann Award from the American Marketing Association for best dissertation-based article recently published in the Journal of Marketing or Journal of Marketing Research.  

Hannah Zierden, assistant professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering, received the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award. She will lead a new initiative that integrates research and education to advance knowledge of the female reproductive tract. Zierden also received the Breaking Barriers Breakthrough Award from the Controlled Release Society’s Skin and Mucosal Delivery Focus Group.

Know of a faculty or staff honor that should be included in this quarterly compilation? Please contact your unit’s communications lead and accolades@umd.edu.