Huskers who earned recent honors include Abbas Atefi, Tyler Cox, Yufeng Ge, Roz Hussin, Kathleen Johnson, Cheetown Liew, Piyush Pandey, Santosh Pitla, Lukas Renker, Hesan Sedaghat, Donald Umstadter, Jenny Wynn and Wenchao Yan.

Faculty/Staff

• Roz Hussin, an instructional design technology specialist with Online and Distance Education, received the Whitney M. Young Jr. service award from the Boy Scouts of America. The honor recognizes outstanding service through the development and implementation of scouting opportunities from rural or low-income urban backgrounds. Hussin was recognized for her involvement with and leadership in the ScoutREACH scholarship program, which allows Nebraska students in the university’s service learning program to volunteer as local Boy Scout leaders. The program was created by Hussin and Linda Moody, assistant director of civic engagement. Hussin has also been involved in scouting for 11 years. Her sons are both Eagle Scouts and she continues to be an active leader in Lincoln’s Troop 30. The award was presented during the Boy Scouts’ Cornhusker Council annual meeting and recognition event earlier this summer. Learn more about this award.

• A study led by Donald Umstadter, the Leland and Dorothy Olson Professor of Physics and Astronomy, was featured on the cover of the journal Nature Photonics. The team’s paper confirmed new behavior in light and produced high-energy X-rays by focusing a laser to a brightness 1 billion times greater than the surface of the sun. Co-author Wenchao Yan, postdoctoral researcher in physics and astronomy, designed the cover image. View the cover.

Students

• Tyler Cox, a sophomore music and philosophy major, earned a third-place finish in the lower college (freshman and sophomore) men’s musical theatre category at the 2017 National Student Auditions. The competition, organized by the National Association of Teachers of Singing, was held July 29 in Boulder, Colorado. Cox is a student of Alisa Belflower, a senior lecturer of music.

• Kathleen “Kate” Johnson, a May graduate and music major, won the upper college (junior and senior) women’s classical vocal category at the 2017 National Student Auditions. The competition, organized by the National Association of Teachers of Singing, was held July 29 in Boulder, Colorado. Johnson studied with Kate Butler, associate professor of voice. Learn more about this honor.

Departments/Units

• Huskerbots, a robotics team led by Santosh Pitla and Yufeng Ge, assistant professors of biological systems engineering, placed second in the ASABE’s international robotics student design competition. The Nebraska team, which includes students Abbas Atefi, Cheetown Liew, Piyush Pandey, Lukas Renker, Hesan Sedaghat and Jenny Wynn, competed against 18 other teams. In the competition, undergraduate and graduate students build a robot or group of robots to carry out an agricultural task. Elements of the 2017 task included mechanical design, software code development, sensor instrumentation and machine vision. Learn more about the team.

This column is a regular Friday feature of Nebraska Today. Faculty, staff and students can submit achievements to be considered for this column via email to achievements@unl.edu. For more information, call 402-472-8515.