Recent achievements for the campus community were earned by Adam Striegel, Kolby Grint, Samantha Teten, Rodger Farr, Justin Zoucha, Mikki Minton, Marco Abel, J. Clark Archer, Marilyne Stains, Anthony Starace, Mehmet Can Vuran, Rigoberto Wong, Suat Irmak, Tiffany Taira Young and Brenda Wristen.

Faculty/Staff

• Marilyne Stains, associate professor of chemistry, received a 2019 Rising Star Award from the American Chemical Society Women Chemists Committee. The award, established in 2011, recognizes exceptional early-to-midcareer women chemists across all areas of chemistry on a national level.

• Marco Abel, professor and chair in the Department of English, has been awarded a Berlin Prize from The American Academy in Berlin. The semester-long fellowship is awarded annually to scholars, writers, composers and artists from the United States who represent the highest standards of excellence in their fields.

• J. Clark Archer, professor of geography, has received a 2019 American Association of Geographers E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Award for his significant contributions to the fields of political geography, cartography, population geography and demographics. The annual award recognizes members of the Association who have made outstanding contributions to the geographic field due to their special competence in teaching or research.

• Anthony Starace, George Holmes Distinguished Professor of Physics, was recently featured on NET’s “Nebraska Stories” in a discussion on Nebraska’s city campus Flower of Kent tree. The tree is a descendant of the ancient tree that inspired Newton and the law of gravity.

• Brenda Wristen, associate professor of piano, was recently named a 2019 Outstanding Music Alumna by Lubbock Christian University. Wristen earned her undergraduate Bachelor of Arts in Music degree from the university and now conducts research focusing on musician occupational health issues, the biomechanics of piano technique and the challenges of small-handed pianists.

Students

• Adam Striegel, doctoral plant health and graduate agronomy student, received first place in the master’s student poster contest at the Weed Science Society of America annual meeting held Feb. 11-14 in New Orleans. His poster was titled “Comparison of Herbicide Programs in Conventional, Glufosinate, and Glyphosate/Dicamba-Resistant Soybeans Across Nebraska.” Striegel’s advisors are Amit Jhala and Gary Hein.

• Nebraska’s Intercollegiate Crops Judging Team, composed of undergraduate agronomy students Kolby Grint, Samantha Teten and Rodger Farr and Justin Zoucha, won second place in the four-year division of the Southern Plains Regional crops contest on Feb. 9 in Hutchinson, Kansas. Farr also placed fifth in the individual category. The team was led by coaches Adam Striegel and Elizabeth Widder.

• Mikki Minton, undergraduate communication studies major, had her capstone paper “Formation of Successful Aging from Interactions with Older Adults” accepted at the 2019 Central States Communication Association conference. Minton will present her work at the conference in Omaha this April.

• Tiffany Taira Young, doctoral student in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, has received a scholarship from the Nebraska State Literary Association (NSLA). NSLA works to promote literacy in Nebraska through collaboration, advocacy and professional development.

Departments/Units

• Three members of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering have been honored for their contributions to a research paper, “Internet of Underground Things in Precision Agriculture: Architecture and Technology Aspect,” which has been cited as one of the Top 10 Most Downloaded Articles by Ad Hoc Networks Journal. The paper was co-authored by associate professor Mehmet Can Vuran, doctoral student Rigoberto Wong and professor of biological systems engineering Suat Irmak.

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.