The 2024 Awards for Creative and Scholarly Activity have been awarded to 21 faculty members in recognition of their scholarly or creative activity.
The University of Toledo recognized the faculty members on May 16 for leading the University in contributing new or advanced knowledge through research publications or original contributions in the arts during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 years.
From left, Dr. Zhaoning Song, Dr. Randy Ellingson, Dr. Rupali Chandler and Dr. Nik Podraza, all Creative and Scholarly Activity award winners from the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
“We are continually impressed by the scholarly and creative contributions of our faculty members that have received national and international recognition,” said Constance Schall, interim vice president of research who recognized the faculty at the event along with Interim Provost Scott Molitor.
University Libraries assisted a committee chaired by Eva English in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs to identify publications in top journals or with high impact and the committee reviewed nominations and other materials to identify faculty contributions such as manuscripts or creative works of great significance.
The contributions include articles published in prestigious and widely read journals, papers by UToledo authors that have been highly cited by other researchers, highly acclaimed books written by UToledo faculty members and creative works that have received widespread recognition and led to a significant impact in their respective fields of expertise.
The Creative and Scholarly Activity Award recipients are:
• Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, recognized for an article in Nature Communications and for his scholarly work on male infertility.
• Dr. Ayendy Bonifacio, College of Arts and Letters, recognized for several articles, book chapters and conference presentations.
• Dr. Ritu Chakravarti, College of Medicine and Life Sciences, recognized for 13 peer-reviewed publications in high impact journals, including PNAS, JBC, Viruses, etc.
• Dr. Mohammad Elahinia, College of Engineering, recognized for conference presentations and multiple article publications.
• Dr. Matt Foss, College of Arts and Letters, recognized for the short film, “Sons of Toledo,” which was a finalist in five Oscar-qualifying festivals and has won numerous national and international awards.
• Dr. Joseph Gamble, College of Arts and Letters, recognized for the book “Sex Lives: Intimate Infrastructures in Early Modernity,” from the University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Dr. Blair Grubb, College of Medicine and Life Sciences, recognized for 20 peer-reviewed articles written on pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of disorders of the autonomic nervous system.
• Dr. Paul Hong, John B. and Lillian E. Neff College of Business and Innovation, recognized for the 2023 Midwest Decision Sciences Best Paper Award, the Stan Hardy Best Conference Paper Award for his paper, “A Theoretical Framework for Strategic Cognitive Analytics Management and Supply Chain Cognitive Capabilities,” as well as numerous journal articles.
• Dr. Joey Kim, College of Arts and Letters, recognized for a book of poetry, “Body Facts,” and her first scholarly monograph, “Romanticism and the Poetics of Orientation.”
• Professor Wade Lee-Smith, University Libraries, recognized for numerous journal articles and for an article in the top 1% of journals.
• Associate Professor Stephen Sakowski, College of Arts and Letters, recognized for his extensive involvement in orchestrating large-scale live events of both national and international significance, where he undertook pivotal roles as a lighting director and lighting designer.
• Dr. Youssef Sari, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, recognized for 15 published articles in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals as well as two book chapters.
• Dr. Qin Shao, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, recognized for her paper introducing a statistical method that takes into account the correlation and nonlinear trend of daily COVID-19 counts, a significant contribution to the field of statistics.
• Dr. Zhaoning Song, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, recognized for 38 journal articles published between 2021-2023.
• Dr. Yanfa Yan, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, recognized for 15 journal articles in the top 1% of journals and five “hot papers” in the top 0.1% in the field.
• Dr. Jon Elhai, College of Arts and Letters, recognized for three highly cited articles in the top 1% of the academic field.
• Dr. Rupali Chandar, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, recognized for six highly cited articles in the top 1% of the academic field.
• Dr. Xiaoming Wang, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, recognized for five highly cited articles, eight articles in the top 1% of journals and four “hot papers” in the top 0.1% in the field.
• Dr. Nikolas Podraza, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, recognized for two highly cited papers in the field and for a “hot paper” in the top 0.1% in the field.
• Dr. James Willey, College of Medicine and Life Sciences, recognized for three papers in the top 1% of journals and for one highly cited article in the top 1% of the academic field.
• Dr. Randy Ellingson, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, recognized for two papers published in the top 1% of journals, one article highly cited in the top 1% of the academic field as well as a “hot paper” in the top 0.1% of papers in the academic field.
