Recent achievements for the campus community were collected by Shane Farritor, Brian Pytlik Zillig, Stephen Ramsay, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Jacqueline Mattingly, the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, the College of Business and the Society of Physics Students.

Honors

• Virtual Incision, a medical device company founded by University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineer Shane Farritor and University of Nebraska Medical Center surgeon Dmitry Oleynikov, recently received $20 million in a second round of venture capital investment. The company, which is housed on Nebraska Innovation Campus, will use the funding to push for commercialization of its miniature surgical robots.

• Brian Pytlik Zillig, professor in University Libraries, and Stephen Ramsay, Susan J. Rosowski Professor of English, have received a $21,744 Digital Humanities Advancement Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for their project “Digital Notation Across the Movement-Based Arts.” The grant will allow Pytlik-Zilig and Ramsey to continue developing methods for digitally notating dance and other movement-based arts, enabling easier preservation and analysis.

• Heather Richards-Rissetto, assistant professor of anthropology, has also received two awards totaling $110,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Richards-Rissetto earned a fellowship for her project “A 3D Exploration of Vision, Sound and Movement in the Ancient Maya City of Copan,” which uses three-dimensional reconstructions and immersive virtual reality experiences to explore an archaeological site in Honduras. She also received a Digital Humanities Advancement Grant for her project “MayaArch3D,” which uses 3D digital tools and geographic information systems to research ancient Mayan architecture and landscapes.

• The College of Business’ online Master of Business Administration program jumped four spots in the U.S News and World Report Best Online MBA ranking list in 2020. Nebraska ranked No. 22 overall, No. 18 among public institutions and No. 16 for veterans out of 335 programs.

• Nebraska’s Society of Physics Students chapter was recognized nationally as a Notable Chapter for the 2018-2019 academic year. This is the second year the university has earned the honor.

Appointments

• Jacqueline Mattingly, assistant professor of practice in the Glenn Korff School of Music, has been named associate dean for student affairs for the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts. Mattingly assumed the new position Jan. 6 and will focus on student diversity and inclusion, success, retention and advising within the college.

Publications

• The Department of Agronomy and Horticulture’s Plant and Soil Sciences e-Library website was recently updated to make it more modern, responsive and mobile-friendly. The website was started in 1999 as a graduate project with the goal of providing free online educational resources to students, teachers and lifelong learners interested in advancing their knowledge of plant and soil sciences. Today, it has grown to include over 130 lessons in a mixture of text, video, picture and animation-based learning.

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.