Faculty members at SMU recognized for achievements

DALLAS (SMU) – Thirty-four SMU faculty members across a wide range of disciplines were honored for their research and teaching on April 15 at the 2024 Faculty Career Achievement Award Ceremony.

The university’s Faculty Career Achievement Award went to Randall Griffin, University Distinguished Professor of Art History in the Meadows School of the Arts whose scholarship and teaching is focused on American art and photography, from the Civil War through the 1950s.

Griffin has taught at SMU since 1992 and is the author of four books, with a fifth forthcoming. He has served on more than 80 committees in support of both the Meadows School of the Arts and SMU-wide initiatives and is the recipient of numerous teaching awards, including the “M” Award, the highest recognition bestowed upon students, faculty, staff and administrators on the SMU Campus.

The Faculty Career Achievement Award was established in 2015 and recognizes one individual each year for remarkable contributions across the scope of a career by a tenured and currently serving SMU faculty member who has contributed to the teaching, scholarship, and service missions of the University.

Six other honorees received prestigious national or international recognition that commended their work in areas such as film, engineering, law, business and more. They are:

Amber Bemak, associate professor of film and media in the Meadows School of the Arts, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation - Guggenheim Fellow, which offers fellowships to exceptional individuals in pursuit of scholarship in any field of knowledge and creation in any art form.

Digvijay Boob, assistant professor of Operations Research and Engineering Management in the Lyle School of Engineering, National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award to pioneer quicker, streamlined solutions that could speed up how AI learns from data to make predictions and decisions.

Jung-Chih (JC) Chiao, Mary and Richard Templeton Centennial Chair and professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in the Lyle School of Engineering, National Academy of Inventors Fellow, who is widely recognized for his research in using electromagnetic waves in medical applications including wireless closed-loop pain management systems and battery-less gastric motility management.

MinJun Kim, Robert C. Womack Endowed Chair Professor of Engineering at the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the Lyle School of Engineering, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow, for significant contributions to the development of nano/microrobotics and their broad applications for nanomedicine.

Carla L. Reyes, associate professor of law in the Dedman School of Law, American Law Institute Member, where she will contribute her expertise in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to ALI’s work of clarifying the law through Restatements, Principles, and Model Codes.

Zhen Zhang, O. Paul Corley Distinguished Chair in Organizational Behavior and Administration and professor in the Cox School of Business, American Psychological Association Fellow, whose work focuses on leadership process and leadership development, work teams and groups, biological basis of work behavior, start-ups and entrepreneurship, and advanced research methods.

Additional faculty members honored include:

Cox School of Business

Sreekumar Bhaskaran – Information Technology and Operations Management, eBusiness Cluster Best Paper Award: Runner Up - INFORMS

Dedman School of Law

Joanna Grossman, 2024 Pro Bono Awards Honor Roll - Association of American Law Schools

Carla L Reyes, American Legal Technology Award in Education

Christina Sautter, Fellow – American Bar Foundation

Lyle School of Engineering

LiGuo Huang - Computer Science, ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award - Association for Computing Machinery

Nader Jalili – Mechanical Engineering, Diamond Award for Academic Excellence in Education Leadership and Community Engagement – Not Alone Foundation
Member – U. Conn Academy of Distinguished Engineers

Jianhui Wang - Electrical and Computer Engineering, Highly Cited Researcher – Clarivate

Jessie Zarazaga - Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Dunnigan Community Engagement Award - The Greater Dallas Planning Council Urban Design Awards

Dedman College of Humanities

Austin Baldwin – Psychology, Fellow – Society of Behavioral Medicine

Katie Condon Hermes – English Fellow – Edwin and Marian MacDowell

Walter E. Dakin Fellow – Sewanee Writers Conference

James F. Hollifield - Political Science, Career Achievement Award – American Political Science Association

Andrea Laurent-Simpson – Sociology, Distinguished Book Award - American Sociological Association

Devin Matthews – Chemistry, James H. Wilkinson Prize for Numerical Software - Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics

Kelly McKowen – Anthropology, U.S. Scholar Award – Fulbright

Chul Moon - Statistics and Data Science, Career Development Award - Korean International Statistical Society

Sanderia Faye Smith – English, Yvonne Porter Endowed Residency – Louisa Stude Sarofim Charitable Trust

Beth Wheaton-Paramo – Economics, Piper Professor – Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation

Bonnie Wheeler – English, Medieval Foremother Prize - International Congress on Medieval Studies

Antoinette Williams-Tutt – World Languages, Thomas O. Enders Distinguished Dissertation Award - Association of Canadian Studies in the United States

Annika Wylie – Biology, Scholar Award – Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas

Meadows School of the Arts

Ira Greenberg – Creative Computation, Visiting Research and Knowledge Exchange Fellow - Goldsmiths, University of London

Barbara Hill Moore – Music, Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts - Lincoln University of Missouri and Elizabeth Mathias Career Achievement Award - Mu Phi Epsilon Music Fraternity

Adam Jasienski – Art History, Eleanor Tufts Award - Society for Iberian Global Art

Carrie La Ferle – Advertising, Fellow - David Livermore CQ - Cultural Intelligence

Gordon Law – Advertising, Southwest Advertising Hall of Fame - American Advertising Federation

Brian Molanphy – Art, Artist Residency - Cloud Forest Ceramics, Taipei, Taiwan

Kristina Nielson – Music, Fellow - American Scandinavian Foundation and Denmark Project Support Award - Lois Roth Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue

Abbey Stockstill – Art History, Senior Residential Fellow – National Gallery of Art

Nishiki Sugawara-Beda – Art, Acquisition and Installation to Permanent Collection – Dallas Museum of Art

Philip Van Keuren – Art, Visiting Artist and Scholar Residency – The American Academy in Rome and Artist Residency – The Vermont Studio Center

Quan Xie – Advertising, Research Fellow – American Academy of Advertising

Simmons School of Education and Human Development

Greta Davis – Counseling, Advocacy and Community Service Award - Texas Career Development Association

Michael Harris – Education Policy and Leadership, Fellow – American Council on Education

Anthony Petrosino – Teaching and Learning, Member - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Board on Science Education committee

The SMU Faculty Career Achievement Award Ceremony is held annually to honor some of the most noteworthy accomplishments of SMU’s faculty, both this year and over the course of their careers.

About SMU
SMU is the nationally ranked global research university in the dynamic city of Dallas. SMU’s alumni, faculty and more than 12,000 students in eight degree-granting schools demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit as they lead change in their professions, communities and the world.