The University of Nebraska College of Law was recently named a national Pro Bono Leader by the American Bar Association for the second year in a row. Learn more about the honor, and more across campus, in this week’s achievements column.

Honors

• Mark Griep, professor of chemistry, has earned the Champion of History Award from History Nebraska for his research on Rachel Lloyd, a pioneering University of Nebraska chemistry professor. The Champion of History Award, formally the Robert W. Furnas Memorial Award, recognizes outstanding contributions by an individual or organization who helps preserve or interpret Nebraska history.

• Shideh Yavary Mehr, graduate student in computer science and engineering, won Best Poster Award at the Association for Computing Machinery International Conference on Emerging Networking Experiments and Technologies. Her poster, “An SVM Based DDoS Attack Detection Method for Ryu SDN Controller,” was supported by computer science and engineering professor Byrav Ramamurthy and National Science Foundation grant no. CNS-1817105.

• Kenneth Kiewra, professor of educational psychology, has been named 2020 Chess Educator of the Year by the University of Texas at Dallas chess program. Kiewra received the recognition for his research into how parents can develop their children’s talent and encourage chess learning. He will be honored during a ChessFest awards ceremony Feb. 25 in Dallas.

• Alok Kumar, associate and W.W. Marshall College Professor of marketing, was named one of the American Marketing Association’s top 50 most productive scholars in 2019. He published six articles last year in premier AMA publications, the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Marketing Research.

• Mallory Marsh, doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication Studies, has earned a Top Paper Award from the Western States Communication Association’s Rhetoric, Culture, and Advocacy Interest Group for her paper “Legislating Hatred, Legislating Justice: The Rhetorical Work of ‘Justice for Victims of Lynching Act.” Marsh will receive the award at the association’s annual meeting in Denver this February.

Chad Lammers and Jared Stander

• Sam Wortman, assistant professor of agronomy and horticulture, and Rebecca Roston, assistant professor of biochemistry, are the recipients of the 2019 Junior Faculty Excellence in Research Award from the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Agricultural Research Division. The award is given annually to tenure-track assistant professors with an Agricultural Research Division appointment and a maximum of five years of professional service at the university. Recipients are honored based on publication record, evidence of external funding activity and peer recognition.

• Two faculty and six current and former students from the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders are coauthors for five posters being presented at the Conference on Motor Speech Feb. 20-23 in Santa Barbara, California. Steven Barlow, Corwin Moore Professor of special education and communication disorders, and Yingying Wang, assistant professor of special education and communication disorders, are joined as coauthors by doctoral students Jake Greenwood, Mohsen Hozan and Fatima Sibaii; master’s student Elizabeth Hoffman; and Rebecca Custead and Hyuntaek Oh, both of whom earned doctorates at Nebraska.

• Agronomy and horticulture students received top honors at the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America International Meeting in San Antonio, Texas. They include Alyssa Kuhn, Samuel Koeshall, Chad Lammers, Osler Ortez, Alex Tonon Rosa, Luana Machado Simão and Jared Stander.

• The University of Nebraska College of Law has once again been named a Pro Bono Leader by the American Bar Association for its dedication to pro bono work in 2019. The school received the same honor in 2018. Nebraska earned the title for its participation in the ABA’s Free Legal Answers program, which provides legal assistance to low-income individuals.

• NET, Nebraska’s PBS & NPR Stations, received two awards at the National Educational Telecommunications Association conference in Arlington, Virginia Jan. 26-30. The video “Shining a Light on NET” was honored for excellence in promotional materials. “Nebraska: The Chocolate Life” was honored for excellence in the topical documentaries category.

Courtesy

The Groundbreakers' winning proposal in the Big Ten Academic Alliance Student Design Challenge featured a reimagining of a TV lounge in Knoll Hall.

• Groundbreakers, a student design team that featured Weston Ellerbrake, Daniel Kruger, Ariana Osten and Eliza Woodside, earned top honors in the final round of the Big Ten Academic Alliance Student Design Challenge. Learn more about the team victory.

Appointments

• Tom Burkey, professor of animal science, has joined the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources as interim associate dean for graduate education and partnership engagement. In the half-time role, Burkey will provide leadership for graduate education within the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. He will also work to foster both internal and external partnerships to advance IANR’s graduate education framework; facilitate professional development opportunities for graduate students; and serve as CASNR’s liaison to the Office of Graduate Studies, IANR academic units and other academic colleges.

Accomplishments

• In an effort to provide students with more opportunities to learn about and get involved in research, junior biochemistry major Alexander Brady formed UCORE — the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Club of Research. The club’s first meeting is at 7 p.m. Feb. 25 in Avery Hall, Room 106.

This column is a regular 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.