Researchers moving our R1 very high research activity public university ever-forward

FIU researchers are innovators moving our Carnegie-designated R1 very high research activity public university ever-forward.

Below are a few of their recent accolades:

Kemal Akkaya

Professor of electrical and computer engineering, became a Class of 2023 Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He holds a joint courtesy appointment in the Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences and leads the university’s Advanced Wireless and Security Research Lab.

Michael Anastario

Assistant professor in the department of health promotion and disease prevention, was one of 14 junior faculty in the country selected to participate in the JPB Environmental Health Fellowship Program,funded by the JPB Foundation and administered by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Shekhar Bhansali

Lucent Technologies CALA Distinguished Professor and a distinguished university professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering, became a Class of 2023 Fellow
of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. In 2022, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability.

Heather Bracken-Grissom

Assistant director of coastlines and oceans in the Institute of Environment and associate professor in the department of biological sciences, has been honored by Eurasian scientists who named a newly discovered species of shrimp — Acanthephyra heatheri — after her.

Jason R. Chandler

Associate professor in the department of architecture, was elevated in 2023 to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), a recognition bestowed on only 3% of AIA members nationwide.

Nola Holness

Clinical assistant professor of undergraduate nursing, became a Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives in 2022.

Muhammad Hossain

Assistant professor in the department of environmental health sciences, was elected secretary and treasurer of the Neurotoxicology Specialty Section (NTSS) of the Society of Toxicology (SOT) for 2022-2024.

Krish Jayachandran

Professor in the department of earth and environment and co-founder and director of the agroecology program, has been awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Professor Award from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (India), where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Ebru Özer

Associate professor in the department of landscape architecture + environmental
and urban design and director of strategic planning + initiatives in the College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts, was selected national vice president of education of the American Society of Landscape Architecture.

Cristina Palacios

Professor and chair in the department of dietetics and nutrition, was selected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to serve on the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.

David J. Park

Professor of communication, received critical acclaim for his book “Media Reform and the Climate Emergency: Rethinking Communication in the Struggle for a Sustainable Future.” The book was a 2022 Best Book Award Finalist at the American Book Fest. It was also a runner-up for Best Book from the International Communication Association’s Global Communication and Social Change Division. Additionally, it received a Silver Award for social sciences and education from the 2022 Nautilus Book Awards.

Edgar Ramos Vieira

Associate professor in the department of physical therapy, was appointed an expert reviewer for the CDC’s Special Emphasis Panel: “Research Grants to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Physical Therapy- based Exercises and Movements Used to Reduce Older Adults Falls.”

Lynne Richard

Clinical associate professor and chair in the department of occupational therapy, became a fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association in 2022.

Roberto Rovira

Professor and chair of the department of landscape architecture + environmental and urban design, was selected national president of the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) for 2022-23.

Jennider Schopf Rehage

An ecologist in the Institute of Environment and an associate professor in the department of earth and environment, was named a Champion of Conservation as part of "Garden & Gun" magazine’s annual Ten Champions of Conservation special issue.

Tami L. Thomas

Associate dean of research and faculty development in the Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences and the Dr. Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Endowed Chair in Prevention and Family Health, was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.

Andres Tremante

Teaching professor and a program director in the department of mechanical and materials engineering, was selected to participate in nationwide research activities through the NASA Eclipse Ballooning Program.

Yuk-Ching Tse-Dinh

Director of the Biomolecular Sciences Institute and a distinguished university professor in chemistry and biochemistry, was inducted into the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida.

National Academy of Inventors

In 2022 and 2023, eight researchers were named Senior Members of the National Academy of Inventors.

Class of 2022

Bilal El-Zahab

Associate professor in the department of mechanical and materials engineering, and his team have three licensed patents on high-density lithium-air and lithium-sulfur batteries that boost both energy and storage and battery life cycles of electric vehicle btateries. El-Zahab heads the Battery Research Laboratory, which specializes in electrochemical energy storage systems.

Vadym Drozd

Research assistant professor in the department of mechanical and materials engineering, is a material scientist whose innovative work focuses on carbon dioxide capture and sequestration as well as low-dimensional and nanomaterials for biomedical and energy storage applications. He is a faculty member in the Center for Study of Matter at Extreme Conditions.

Stavros Georgakopoulos

Professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering, is responsible for remarkable innovations in the development of a variety of antennas. He is director of the Transforming Antennas Center and the RF Communications, mm-Waves and Terahertz Lab.

Chunlei Wang

Professor in the department of mechanical and materials engineering, and her research group focus on developing innovative micro and nanofabrication methods for building novel micro and nanostructures, which have useful properties for applications in electronics, energy storage and biosensing.

Class of 2023

Benjamin Boesl

An associate professor and associate chair in the department of mechanical and materials engineering. His research focuses on advanced material response and design of novel composite materials.

Heidi Mansour

A professor and program leaders in the Center for Translational Science and a faculty member in the department of environmental health sciences. Her research covers areas from pharmaceutical sciences to nanotechnology and nanomedicine and advanced drug delivery systems. She was also inducted into the 2022 Class of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering for outstanding contributions in targeted pulmonary inhalation aerosol medicine.

Barry Rosen

A distinguished university professor of cellular biology and pharmacology in the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. He is a world-renowned expert on the transport and detoxification of metals in bacteria, yeast, protozoans, mammals and plants.

Cheng Zhang

Has a courtesy appointment as a research assistant professor in the department of mechanical and materials engineering. He is also a staff engineer at Relativity Space. His research areas include cold spray, additive manufacturing and advanced composites. As a post-doctoral research fellow at the Plasma Forming Lab, he worked on developing a cold spray technique to deposit coatings and repair parts for aerospace applications.