Eleven University of Nebraska–Lincoln professors have been awarded professorships from the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor.
Of the 11 awarded, two faculty members received University Professorships, which recognize those who have shown an extraordinary level of scholarly or creative achievement and clear potential for continuing accomplishments:
- Joy Castro will be Leland J. and Dorothy H. Olson Chancellor’s Distinguished Chair of English. She is the author of the memoirs "The Truth Book" and "Island of Bones;" the novels "Hell or High Water," "Nearer Home," "Flight Risk" and "One Brilliant Flame;" and the story collection "How Winter Began." She is also editor of the anthology "Family Trouble: Memoirists on the Hazards and Rewards of Revealing Family" and co-editor of "Tears and Flowers: A Poet of Migration in Old Key West" and the forthcoming volume "The Lives of Immigrants and Refugees: Tales of Migration, Hope, Grief and Finding Home in Nebraska." A former writer-in-residence at Vanderbilt University and a faculty member in the Institute for Ethnic Studies for 19 years, Castro is the founding editor of "Machete," a book series in nonfiction at Ohio State University Press, and serves as the Creative Nonfiction Editor at Prairie Schooner.
- Jay Storz will be George Holmes professor of biological sciences. He studies how animals adapt to extreme high-elevation environments, and his research in the Andes involves coordination of a large network of collaborators in South America. He has published more than 160 research articles, many appearing in impactful journals like Science, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Molecular Biology and Evolution. He has 39 papers with at least 100 citations each and almost 15,000 citations overall. He has brought in more than $15 million of research funding, primarily from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. He has been a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, fellow of the Explorers Club, and has received National Geographic Explorer and Fulbright Awards. He has also received the University of Nebraska Outstanding Research and Creative Activity award.
Three faculty members were named Willa Cather/Charles Bessey professors. The professorship was established in 2001 to recognize faculty members with the rank of professor who have established exceptional records of distinguished scholarship or creative activity.
- Jiantao Guo will be Willa Cather professor of chemistry. His research program sits at the multidisciplinary interface of chemical biology, bioorganic chemistry, and synthetic biology. The new methods Guo has developed in genetic code and protein engineering have led to impactful applications, including HIV-1 vaccine strategies, quadruplet codon decoding, and platforms for expanding protein function through noncanonical amino acid incorporation. Guo's work has been supported by over $18 million in federal grant funds including an NSF CAREER award, NIH Maximizing Investigators' Research Award, and NIH Targeted Genome Editor Delivery Challenge award. Guo has also received the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Research and Creativity Award. He serves as the principle investigator and director of the Nebraska Center for Integrated Biomolecular Communication.
- Xia Hong will be Willa Cather professor of physics and astronomy. Her research in the field of experimental condensed matter physics focuses on the intersection of complex oxide thin films, heterostructures, and two-dimensional van der Waals materials, which has influenced the area of semiconductors and small electronics. Her publication record includes top articles in "Nature Communications, Advanced Materials," "ACS Nano," and "Physical Review Letters." She has also amassed significant external funding, including the Department of Energy’s Early Career Award and EPSCoR award, an NSF Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future award, and NSF CAREER award. She is a focused research group leader of NSF-funded center on Emergent Quantum Materials and Technologies and a senior investigator within the UNL Grand Challenges Catalyst Award "Quantum Approaches Addressing Global Threats."
- Devin Rose will be Willa Cather professor of food science and technology. Rose's research is centered on improving the nutritional impact of grains and legumes with a focus on determining how dietary compounds can be used to modulate microbial metabolism in the gut and promote health, and developing messaging to help consumers make healthier food choices. His work has yielded 128 peer-reviewed publications and more than 5,000 citations. He has secured nearly $10 million in total research funding, supported by the United States Department of Agriculture, industry, and foundation partners. He is a founding member of the Nebraska Food for Health Center.
Three faculty members were named Aaron Douglas/John E. Weaver professor. The professorship was established in 2008 to recognize faculty members with the rank of full professor who demonstrate sustained and extraordinary levels of teaching excellence and national visibility for instructional activities and/or practice.
- Jena Asgarpoor will be Aaron Douglas professor of practice in engineering. As director of the Master of Engineering Management program, she has elevated the program to national prominence, overseeing enrollment growth of more than 140%, a graduation rate of nearly 100%, and a decrease in time to degree by a full year. The program’s U.S. News and World Report ranking has risen to No. 6 nationally and to No. 5 among programs for veterans, and it has received the American Society for Engineering Management Founder’s Award for Graduate Program Excellence. Asgarpoor's instructional scholarship has been recognized nationally with American Society for Engineering Education honors, including the Bernard Sarchet Award, Keating Award, Engineering Management Division Best Paper Award, and multiple Best Presentation awards. She has received multiple distinguished teaching awards from the College of Engineering, including the Holling Family Master Teacher Award/UNL Universitywide Teaching Award.
- Allan Donsig will be Aaron Douglas professor of mathematics. Donsig led the redesign of first- and second-year mathematics courses that has led to significant decreases in DFW rates, positively affecting overall student success, including first-to-second-year retention rates and four- and six-year graduation rates. He also led the development of open education research textbooks for all these courses, leading to substantial savings for students. He was part of the NSF Student Engagement in Mathematics through an Institutional Network for Active Learning project and the Nebraska Intensive Mathematics: A Mentoring, Education and Research Summer Experience program. Donsig was associate editor of "American Mathematical Monthly" for 10 years and regularly speaks at national conferences on curriculum and pedagogy reform. He has received the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award and Hazel R. McClymont Distinguished Teaching Fellow Award.
- Manda Williamson will be John E. Weaver professor of practice in psychology. Williamson was named a Donald Olson Fellow and the inaugural chair of the College of Arts and Sciences Teaching Academy, a role that has shaped the pedagogy for collegewide offerings like the Start Smart Course. She has also been actively involved with the W.H. Thompson Scholars Learning Community. She has published in "Teaching of Psychology" and "Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology," contributed to major textbooks, and delivered presentations at national conferences. Williamson has collaborated on external and internal funding, including a $300,000 NSF grant, that focuses on improving the quality of teaching and learning. Her awards include the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award from the National Institute of the Teaching of Psychology and a College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award.
Three faculty members were named Susan J. Rosowski associate professors. The professorship recognizes faculty at the associate professor level who have achieved distinguished records of scholarship or creative activity and who show exceptional promise for future excellence.
- Toshihiro Obata will be Susan J. Rosowski associate professor of biochemistry. Obata is recognized internationally for his research on plant metabolism with particular focus on how metabolic networks are organized and regulated. He has published his studies in Nature Communications, Scientific Reports, BMC Plant Biology and eLife. He has more than 80 peer-reviewed articles with 8,000-plus citations. Obata's research is supported by major grants from NSF and USDA, including an NSF CAREER award, an NSF Plant Genome Research Program project on low-temperature tolerance, and a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant focused on nutritional traits in maize and soybeans. Obata is a recipient of the Neish Young Investigator Award from the Phytochemical Society of North America and the Junior Faculty Excellence in Research Award from UNL’s Agricultural Research Division.
- Bonita Sharif will be Susan J. Rosowski associate professor in the School of Computing. Sharif is a recognized leader in software engineering and eye-tracking research, bridging human-computer interactions and software maintenance. Her signature contribution is iTrace, an open-source community eye-tracking infrastructure for software engineers and education researchers to conduct realistic studies on large open-source systems. Backed by sustained NSF funding, including a CAREER award and a Computing Research Infrastructure grant, her program bridges software engineering and applied machine learning, with numerous peer-reviewed publications and multiple best-paper recognitions. Sharif is a College of Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award recipient and in the Faculty Teaching Fellows program. Her collaboration with Lincoln's Don’t Panic Labs brings real-world, stakeholder-driven practice into the curriculum. She is a founding board member of Girls Code Lincoln, expanding pathways into computing for K-12 learners.
- Hiep Vu will be Susan J. Rosowski associate professor of animal science. Vu's research focuses on veterinary virology and vaccine innovation, addressing significant animal diseases including porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, African swine fever and influenza. He has secured more than $3 million in competitive USDA-NIFA funding and $2 million in collaborative grants. His research has led to four issued patents and one pending. He has published more than 45 peer-reviewed articles in publications including Journal of Virology, NPJ Vaccines, Veterinary Microbiology and Frontiers in Microbiology and has presented at conferences across North America, Europe and Latin America. He is chair of the NC-229 Multistate Committee, contributes to USDA and NIH review panels, and is former associate editor for the Journal of Medical Virology. He is a recipient of the NUtech Ventures Breakthrough Innovation of the Year Award.
Learn more about these professorships, including requirements for nomination and past recipients.
