Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring
The University of Texas at Dallas is fully committed to providing a robust and dynamic research environment for its undergraduate students. In appreciation of the exceptionally dedicated efforts of the UT Dallas faculty, the Office of Undergraduate Education and the Office of the Provost are pleased to annually recognize an outstanding UT Dallas faculty member who excels in his/her undergraduate research mentoring efforts. The Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring seeks to formally acknowledge a faculty mentor who demonstrates superior leadership, support and guidance toward the development of UT Dallas undergraduate students and their research endeavors.
2023 Recipients
Dr. Joseph Friedman (ECS)
Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring
Dr. Joseph Friedman is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the interdisciplinary NeuroSpine Compute research laboratory. His research objective is to invent, design, and analyze novel logical and neuromorphic computing paradigms that exploit nanoscale phenomena. In 2022 he earned the Faculty Early Career Development Program award from the National Science Foundation to support his AI research.
Dr. Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki
Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Graduate Research Mentoring
Dr. Ishak-Boushaki, whose research focuses on astrophysics and cosmology, came to UT Dallas in 2006. Dr. Boushaki’s impressive track record includes helping graduate students accumulate approximately 60 peer-reviewed publications with more than 4,200 journal citations. His students have received a remarkable 32 total scholarships, fellowships, and awards, and his exceptional caring and guidance extends beyond their time at UT Dallas.
Dr. Rashaunda Henderson
Provost’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Mentoring
Dr. Henderson, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, is the inaugural winner of this award. She is a very engaged mentor, attending several faculty mentoring program activities and participating in both career development and social events. Her mentee, Dr. Ifana Mahbub, said Dr. Henderson generously allowed mentees to use and borrow equipment from her lab and called her “a wonderful colleague, mentor and friend.”
2022
Dr. Jason Slinker (NSM)
Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring
Dr. Slinker, who is an associate professor of physics, specializing in the study of organic optoelectronics and biological electronics, is the undergraduate program head and a mentor to the Society of Physics Students. He is the 2014 winner of the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, and the winner of a 2018 Institutional Improvement Award from the Center for Teaching and Learning for developing and instituting Optics Laboratories at UT Dallas.
2021
Dr. Danieli Rodrigues
Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring
Dr. Rodrigues, is associate professor of bioengineering, and is well-known for her work on orthopedic and dental implants in the UT Dallas Biomaterials for Osseointegration and Novel Engineering facility, more commonly known as the BONE Lab. Her nominators noted that she not only encouraged them to pursue research but also helped them develop both their writing and speaking skills.
2020
Dr. Fatemeh Hassanipour
Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring
Dr. Hassanipour is professor of mechanical engineering and leader of the Advanced Research on Thermofluid Systems Laboratory. One of her nominators said of Dr. Hassanipour, “She works hard to help students understand the entire research process from beginning to end. This helps the undergraduate students better understand what graduate-level research looks like. She inspires, motivates, and nurtures her undergraduate students by creating a supportive environment for research and scholarship and by providing the necessary resources.”
2019
Dr. Ronald Smaldone (NSM)
Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring
Dr. Smaldone is an associate professor of chemistry who has worked with undergraduates in the research lab since coming to UT Dallas in 2012. “UT Dallas has a lot of ambitious and dedicated undergraduate students who want to get involved with research and are willing to devote a lot of their time to it,” he said. “Watching a student evolve from a passive observer in the lab into a confident and productive researcher is one of the most rewarding parts of my job.”
2018
Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring
Dr. Robert Gregg (ECS)
Dr. Gregg, who was named a Fellow, Eugene McDermott Professor in 2018, has received funding for his research from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Burroughs Welcome Fund. He joined the Departments of Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) in June 2013 as an assistant professor. Dr. Gregg investigates the control mechanisms of human locomotion for the development of high-performance wearable control systems (e.g., robotic prostheses and orthoses) to enable mobility in persons with disabilities.
2017
Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring
2016
Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring
Dr. Ryan McMahan (ECS)
Dr. McMahan is an assistant professor in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication. Since joining UT Dallas in 2012, McMahan has mentored 25 graduate, 15 undergraduate and six summer high school students conducting research in his Future Immersive Virtual Environments (FIVE) Lab. He also promotes research for underrepresented groups, including the establishment of a research summer camp for underrepresented high school students.
2015
Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring
Dr. Mihaela Stefan (NSM)
Dr. Stefan, a professor of bioengineering credits her own influential mentors for inspiring her to teach. Dr. Stefan’s research interests encompass the synthesis and characterization of organic materials for drug delivery and tissue engineering applications. She received NS&M Outstanding Teacher Award in 2009 and the President’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2014. She received the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from NSF in 2010.
2014
Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring
Dr. Paul Pantano (NSM)
Dr. Pantano, associate professor of chemistry at UT Dallas, conducts research characterizing and assessing the potential toxicity of nanomaterials used in medicine and the semiconductor industry. He hosts five labs with undergraduate students and places young researchers in other UT Dallas labs through three programs. He is the site director for the Robert A. Welch Foundation Summer Scholar Program in the Department of Chemistry, as well as scientific advisor for the Anson L. Clark Foundation Summer Scholar Program and the UT Dallas/Plano ISD Summer Intern Program in the Office of Undergraduate Education.
2013
Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring
Dr. Sven Kroener (BBS)
Dr. Kroener, assistant professor of neuroscience, is the first-ever recipient of the Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring. In the three years since he came to UT Dallas from the Medical University of South Carolina, Kroener has worked with 60 undergraduate students in his Cellular and Synaptic Physiology Lab. Together, they study the brain mechanisms behind addiction and schizophrenia. Kroener tries to teach the students more than just laboratory methods by including them in the planning, analysis and reporting phases of the experiment. Students are encouraged to present at conferences and to co-author journal articles with Kroener on the research conducted.