Kudos November 2022
Celebrating Tufts Faculty and Staff
by: Sara Norberg
Kudos is a monthly submissions-based roundup celebrating university faculty and staff -- awards, honors, thought leadership, new arrivals, and more. Share your own great news or recognize a colleague at go.tufts.edu/kudos.
AS&E Shared: Thomas Screnci, Assoc Dir Admissions, Admissions - AS&E
AS&E Shared: Chase Weldon, Dir Admissions Access&Outreach, Admissions - AS&E
AS&E Shared: Shannon Prospert, Medical Technologist, Health Services
AS&E Shared: Meredith Davila, Registered Nurse, Health Services
Advancement: Diana Hsu, Administrative Assistant, UA-Alumni Relations
Arts and Sciences: Christopher Fields, Scientist I, Biology - A&S
Arts and Sciences: Sahar Shata, Postdoctoral Scholar, Chemistry - A&S
Arts and Sciences: Matt Suslovic, Administrative Coordinator, Education - A&S
Central Administration: Linda Fournier, Disburst Audit & Compl Analyst, Controller
Central Administration: Riley Idelson, Sr Talent Acquisition Spec, Human Resources
Central Administration: Evin Parker, OHS Nurse Practitioner, Occupational Health
Central Administration: Dano Weisbord, Exec Director Sustainability, Office of the Executive VP
Central Administration: Stephanie Torgeson, Sr Post Award Financial Spec, Post Award Research Admin
Central Administration: Cyndy Camille, HR Customer Service Rep, Tufts Support Services
Cummings: Vanessa Yang, Associate Professor, Clinical Sciences-Cummings-Vet
Cummings: Stefanie Arndt, Clinical Asst Professor, Clinical Sciences-Cummings-Vet
Cummings: Kaustubh Dongaonkar, Clinical Asst Professor, Clinical Sciences-Cummings-Vet
Cummings: Esther Gisela Martinez Romero, Clinical Asst Professor, Comparative Pathobiology
Cummings: Dian Taylor, Histology Lab Supervisor, Comparative Pathobiology
Cummings: Cayla Penny, Client Services Assistant, Foster Hosp - Cummings-Vet
Cummings: Maria Martinez, Client Services Assistant, Foster Hosp - Cummings-Vet
Cummings: Karen LaPierre, Pharmacy Tech, Foster Hosp - Cummings-Vet
Cummings: Jennifer Simmons, Vet Tech III, ECC, Foster Hosp - Cummings-Vet
Cummings: John Montalto, Research Tech, Infec Disease&Global Hlth-Vet
Cummings: Erin Hulyk, Animal Care Attendant, Large Animal Hosp-Cummings-Vet
Dental: Nicole Pires, Sr Faculty Affairs Officer, Administration - Dental
Dental: Robyn Lucas, Billing Coordinator, Clinic Billing Operations
Dental: Erin Rego, Billing Coordinator, Clinic Billing Operations
Dental: Rebecca Brizido, Billing Coordinator, Clinic Billing Operations
Dental: Horaceton Gilliard, Billing Coordinator, Clinic Billing Operations
Dental: Chalz Gillard, Billing Coordinator, Clinic Billing Operations
Dental: Blerina Cerma, Dispensary Assistant, Clinic Materials-Dental
Dental: Jayne Grullon, Lead Dental Assistant, Periodontology - Dental
Dental: Yan Qin Su, Dental Assistant II, Public Health & Comm Service
Dental: Kerry Tolliver, Dental Assistant III, Public Health & Comm Service
Dental: Margarita Sanchez, Patient Registration Coord, Public Health & Comm Service
Dental: Maurita Baker, Patient Registration Coord, Public Health & Comm Service
Dental: Riki Gottlieb, Assoc Dean Admis & Std't Affrs, Student Services - Dental
Dining: Ruth-Love Kaikai, Lead Dining Customer Srvc Asst, Campus Center - Dining Svcs
Dining: Bertnah Nerjuste, Dining Service Attendant, Dewick Dining
Dining: Karla Maria Cortez, Dining Service Attendant, Dewick Dining
Engineering: Asli Dirik, Research Asst, Biomedical Engineering
Engineering: Cody Damon, Program Administrator, Gordon Institute
Engineering: Marcus Johnson-Smith, Program Administrator, Gordon Institute
Fletcher: Michael Colbert, Sr Communications Specialist, Academic Support-Fletcher
Fletcher: Volodymyr Dubovyk, Visiting Professor, Instruction - Fletcher School
Friedman: Hannah Symons, Administrative Coordinator, Ellen Block Career Serv Center
HNRCA: Allison Holder, Administrative Coordinator, Core/Service Support-HNRC
HNRCA: Olivia Groell, Data Management Specialist, Core/Service Support-HNRC
HNRCA: Uday Kumar Chekkilla, Postdoctoral Scholar, Nutrition and Vision Lab-HNRC
HNRCA: Robin Wilson, Postdoctoral Scholar, Obesity Metabolism Lab-HNRC
HNRCA: Kerry Wellenstein, Lab Supervisor, Vitamin K Lab-HNRC
Medical: Sibyl Kaufman, Director of Communications, Administration - Medical
Medical: Jessica Merhar, Lab Instructor, DPT Boston Program
Medical: Meridith Geer, Lab Instructor, DPT Boston Program
Medical: Heather Tong, Lab Instructor, DPT Boston Program
Medical: Caitlyn Crandall, Lab Instructor, DPT Boston Program
Medical: Ankita Srivastava, Research Associate, Dev, Mol & Chem Bio/Medical
Medical: Christian Torres-Sosa, Research Associate, Immunology
Medical: Anna-Lisa Lawrence, Postdoctoral Scholar, Microbiology-Basic Sci/Medical
Medical: Madison Pelletier, Research Tech, Neuroscience-BasicSci/Medical
Medical: Jana Baylor, Administrative Assistant, Public Health & Community Med
Medical: John Cordes, Postdoctoral Scholar, Public Health & Community Med
Medical: Nicole Calhoun, Research Coordinator, Public Health & Community Med
Medical: Armani Johnson-Crews, Program Coordinator, Public Hlth and Community Med
Medical: Lorraine Kiley, Research Admin Assoc Director, Public Hlth and Community Med
Medical: Erica Stark, Staff Assistant, Public Hlth and Community Med
Medical: Cassandra Donato, Administrative Coordinator, Student Affairs - Medical
Operations: Jamie Cochrane, Painter I, Facilities Services - Boston
Operations: James Rawls, Grounds Keeper, Facilities Services - Medford
Provost: Meghan Claflin, Associate Head Coach II, Athletics
Provost: Kevin Mullen, Researcher/Analyst, Institutional Research
Tisch: Victoria Tse, Research Data Analyst, Tisch College
Tisch: Mariani German, Researcher, Tisch College
TTS: Tanya Martin, Dir Clinical Tech&Informatics, Tufts Technology Services
TTS: Todd Mcdermott, Dir Clinical Tech&Informatics, Tufts Technology Services
TTS: Christopher Young, Events Manager, Tufts Technology Services
TTS: Andrew Evans, HPC Engineer, Tufts Technology Services
TTS: Scott Akins, Sr Acad Systems Integ Engineer, Tufts Technology Services
TTS: Manjinder Singh, Sr. Software Engineer, Tufts Technology Services
TTS: John O'Keefe, Studio Manager, Tufts Technology Services
Kwasi Ampene, visiting professor in the Department of Music, has been elected to the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Jennifer Burton, professor of the practice in the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, saw the film that she produced with her “Producing for Film” class at Tufts, Tapping into our Past: Tapping into Our Future: Ayodele Casel, win the Audience Award at Tallgrass Film Festival and Best Short Doc at Lunenburg Doc Fest. The film is currently playing at festivals in the U.S. and internationally. The film, part of the Half the History series on under-told stories of diverse women in U.S. history, spotlights the work of choreographer and dancer Ayodele Casel, named one of the top breakout stars of the year by the New York Times just before the COVID-19 pandemic, who is inspired by the history of Black tap dancers who came before her.
The Center for Black Maternal Health & Reproductive Justice (CBMHRJ) at Tufts University won a $25,000 grant challenge prize from the Heart of Healthcare podcast. The criteria for the challenge is nonprofit organizations positively impacting the lives and health of everyday Americans. This can include health access, food insecurity, healthy housing, violence, mental health, environmental health, or any other social determinant of health. The CBMHRJ was selected as the winner of the challenge based on listener votes and judge evaluation. Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, assistant dean for diversity and inclusion and Julia A. Okoro Professor of Black Maternal Health, spoke about the CBMHRJ on a recent Heart of Healthcare podcast episode.
Fahd Humayun, instructor in the Department of Political Science, received the Stephen P. Cohen Best Paper Award for his paper “The Punisher’s Dilemma: Domestic Opposition & Foreign Policy Crises” by South Asia in World Politics.
Amanda Lemire, a joint Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering; Kevin Grossklaus, research assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Tom Vandervelde, professor and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, won the Best Poster Award at the North American Molecular Beam Epitaxy (NAMBE) conference for their poster titled “Characterizing SiGeSn Stability by Temperature Varying Spectroscopic Ellipsometry.” Lemire was the first author.
Peter Levine, associate dean for academic affairs and Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship & Public Affairs, received the Established Leader Award from the American Political Science Association for his outstanding achievements and sustained commitment to civic engagement.
Briana Lino, a graduate student in the School of Engineering, has been named a recipient of the Outstanding Collegiate Member Award by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). The award is presented to selected SWE collegiate members with SWE collegiate involvement who have made an outstanding contribution to SWE, other engineering organizations (including but not limited to SWE’s partner organizations), their community and campus.
Celeste Mahoney, A13P, AG17P, senior director of donor cultivation and stewardship events, and Gerard Sheehan, A07P, AG09P, former associate dean, executive associate dean, and special advisor to the dean at The Fletcher School, were the winners of the 2022 Hosea Ballou Medals. The Hosea Ballou Medal was established by the Board of Trustees in 1939 and may be awarded by the board to “recognize members of the Tufts community who have rendered exceptional service for the institution.” The medal has been awarded 19 times since the trustees established it in 1939.
Kris Manjapra, professor of history, had the nonprofit organization he founded and directs, Space for Black Exuberance, receive one of five Social Innovation Awards presented by the Cambridge Community Foundation. The Social Innovation Award invests in grassroots solutions to big social problems in Cambridge, with a $5,000 grant awarded to each winner. Space for Black Exuberance strives to reinvigorate Black culture in Cambridgeport, an area that historically housed a thriving Caribbean population.
Lorgia García Peña, professor and chair of the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora, received the Angela Y. Davis Prize for Outstanding Public Scholarship from the American Studies Association. The Angela Y. Davis Prize recognizes scholars who have applied or used their scholarship for the public good.
Ryan Rideau, assistant provost for faculty development, along with students and faculty partners, had reflective essays on their experiences in the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching Pedagogical Partnership Program published in a dedicated full issue in Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education, which serves as a forum for the reflective work of college faculty and students working together to explore and enact effective classroom practice.
Deborah Schildkraut, professor of political science, received an Honorable Mention Award from the American Political Science Association’s Latino Caucus Best Book Award Committee for her book State of Belonging: Immigration Policies, Attitudes, and Inclusion (Russell Sage Foundation, 2021). Read more on Tufts Now.
Sarah Sobieraj, professor and chair in the Department of Sociology, has been awarded the 2022 National Communication Association’s Political Communication Division Hart Outstanding Book Award for her book Credible Threat: Attacks Against Women Online and the Future of Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2020).
The Tufts University Chaplaincy was awarded the 2022 University Award for Philosophical Diversity from the American Humanist Association in recognition of the university’s open acceptance and embrace of humanism within the student body and academics.
The Tufts University Office of the President announced its 2022 Distinction Award winners. The achievements of the 13 individual and two team Distinction Award recipients, as well as the David J. Kahle recipient, best reflect Tufts’ shared values as a community: Leadership, innovation, customer service, integrity, collaboration, and respect for diverse perspectives and support for inclusion. Individual winners of the 2022 Distinction Awards are: Shelley Adams, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; Barbara Berman, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine; Samanta Carias, School of Engineering; Adam Cotton, Auxiliary Services; Joseph Curtin, Operations – Facilities; Alexandra Donovan, Arts, Sciences & Engineering Shared; Christine Fitzgerald, Tufts Technology Services; Eric Hamel, Operations – Dining Services; JoAnn Jack, Arts, Sciences & Engineering Shared; Revati Masilamani, School of Medicine; Donna-Marie Mironchuk, School of Medicine; Eric Richman, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine; and Enza Vescera, University Relations. Team winners of the 2022 Distinction Awards are: Division for Student Diversity and Inclusion and Tufts@BNU (Beijing Normal University) Team. The 2022 David J. Kahle Award Winner, representing an individual or team that has successfully led an initiative that addressed a need or an area of improvement that significantly transformed the experience of Tufts community members, is Thomas Cox, Tufts Technology Services. Visit the Tufts Distinction Awards website for the complete list of 2022 nominees and award recipients.
Lindsay Walcott, assistant director of community standards, won the Tamara Greenfield King Equity & Inclusion Scholarship to attend the the Association for Student Conduct Administration’s national conference in January 2023 in Portland, Oregon.
Julianne Zimmerman, lecturer at Tufts Gordon Institute and managing director of the impact investment firm Reinventure Capital, made the Forbes 50 over 50: Money list. Read more about Zimmerman’s work and accomplishments.
Sara Deniz Akant, professor of the practice in the Department of English, had her book of poetry Hyperphantasia published in September by Rescue Press.
Amahl Bishara, associate professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology, had her book Crossing a Line: Laws, Violence, and Roadblocks to Palestinian Political Expression, about Palestinian political expression in Israel and the West Bank, published this summer by Stanford University Press.
Bruce Boghosian, professor of mathematics, Anna Haensch, lecturer in the Data Intensive Study Center, Eric Hines, professor of the practice in civil and environmental engineering, Bobbi Kates-Garnick, professor of the practice at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Usman Khan, professor of electrical and computer engineering, Dan Kuchma, professor of civil and environmental engineering, Babak Moaveni, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Beth Rosenberg, associate professor of public health and community medicine, received a National Science Foundation grant for their project Multi-Domain, Multi-Scale, Policy-Aware Digital Twin for Offshore Wind Energy Infrastructure. The goal of this project is to develop a framework for decision making regarding offshore wind turbines, which will help policymakers to enact informed decisions that meet the needs of underserved and disadvantaged communities that haven’t been part of previous conversations around environmental justice and sustainability, especially around energy insecurity.
Lee Cooper, lecturer in the Department of Biology, published a review on Leaps.org of Siddhartha Mukherjee’s new book The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human, emphasizing the implications of centering cells rather than genes in our thoughts and images about biology.
Moon Duchin, professor of mathematics, was featured in the podcast Count Me In with Della and Deanna, which showcases conversations with mathematicians about their personal stories of growing up.
Riccardo Giacconi, professor of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, presented his latest film Diteggiatura (Fingerpicking) at the New York Film Festival in the Currents section on October 7 and 10.
Adam Gismondi, director of impact at the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE), is quoted in a Inside Higher Ed article on student and youth voter turnout and voter access in the upcoming midterm elections.
Laura Gee, associate professor of economics, was interviewed for a recent segment of NPR’s Marketplace titled “The cost of economic lurking.”
Mags Harries, professor of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, had her exhibition What She Carries on view at Boston Sculptors Gallery through November 6. The exhibition featured a new body of sculpture focusing “on the war in Ukraine, political upheaval in the United States, and abortion law, as well as the global climate emergency.”
Thyra Heder, lecturer at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, had her book Sal Boat: A Boat By Sal published by Harry N. Abrams on August 30.
Justin Hollander, A96, interim chair and professor in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy (UEP), wrote an opinion piece in The Hill titled “Preventing Putin from using nuclear weapons,” which provides an analysis of how to avoid nuclear war in Ukraine. He also co-wrote with Vernon Walker, UEP graduate student, James Intriligator, professor of the practice in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Joshua Ellsworth, lecturer at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, a piece titled “Social ties critical to surviving disasters” for the Bay State Banner.
Abby Kiesa, associate director of the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tisch College, discussed youth voting and how millennials could affect the 2022 midterms on the “Washington Journal,” C-SPAN’s morning call-in program. Kiesa also discussed political campaigns focus on the youth vote in USA Today.
Keren Ladin, associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, is featured in a video commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Greenwall Faculty Scholars program, the career development award for bioethics scholars focused on bioethics research with policy impact. Ladin’s research funded by the Greenwall Foundation examines how subjective criteria used in medical decision-making translate into decisions about prioritizing and allocating scarce health resources.
Jennie Jieun Lee, professor of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, had her solo show Marie on view at Martos Gallery in New York City through October 22.
Patte Loper, professor of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, has a solo show on view at Bellevue Arts Museum entitled Patte Loper: Laboratory for Other Worlds, a multimedia landscape that uses animation, sound, and everyday objects to create a hand-woven, immersive environment.
Helen Marrow, associate professor of sociology, helped to host the Emerging Voices in Migration Scholarship Mini-Conference while serving as chair of the International Migration Section of the American Sociological Association annual meeting at the University of Southern California.
Chris Miller, assistant professor of international history at The Fletcher School, published the book Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology (Scribner). The book details how semiconductors came to play a crucial role in modern life and how the U.S. became dominant in chip design and manufacturing and applied this technology to military systems. Read more on Tufts Now.
Dhini Purnamasari, F23, was a panelist at the first Women in the Law of the Sea Conference organized by the International Seabed Authority in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, held at the Permanent Mission of Singapore to the UN and the UN headquarters in New York on September 26-28. Panelists were selected globally based on proposals that were submitted, with a total of 45 panelists consisting of women legal experts and practitioners in the law of the sea and ocean affairs selected for the convention. Purnamasari presented on the last day at the UN headquarters. A book of peer-reviewed conference articles will be published in early 2023.
Kareem Roustom, professor of the practice in the Department of Music, was featured in the op-ed “A rebel with a cause: how I breathed new life into Monteverdi’s Saracen warrior” in The Guardian. The article highlights his dance/opera project entitled Clorinda Agonistes (Clorinda the Warrior) based in London, England.
Jenn Schmidt, professor of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, completed a residency at AGA Lab this summer. The work she created during the residency, titled For Clara: Shortcut on an Extended Plane, was on view at De Bouwput Galerie in Amsterdam.
Kelly Siegel-Stechler, senior researcher at Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tisch College, is quoted in NBC News on youth voting data in the article “Young voter turnout could reach 2018 levels, experts say.”
Sara Suzuki, postdoctoral researcher at Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tisch College, shares why it is important to support young, civically engaged people, referencing CIRCLE data, in BBC News.
Tisch College’s TUPIT prison initiative received a $50,000 grant from The National Science Foundation, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The grant expands upon the Boston-based program of the Tufts Educational Reentry Network, MyTERN, combining Tufts University courses with community-based resources, cultivating knowledge, skills, and capacity for increased civic engagement among formerly incarcerated people. The TUPIT prison initiative is one of 56 teams of civic and academic partners to receive the grant.
Nancy Thomas, director of the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE), is quoted in the Bipartisan Policy Center blog on “A Breakdown of DEI and Academic Freedom: Challenges and Opportunities.”
The Tufts Arabic Debating Club represented the university at the U.S. Universities Arabic Debating Championship held at Stanford University on October 14-16.
The Tufts University Community Standards Team—which includes Lindsay Ferguson, assistant director of community standards, briana Sevigny, director of community standards, and Lindsay Walcott, assistant director of community standards—was selected to present at the Association for Student Conduct Administration’s national conference in January 2023 in Portland, Oregon, on the team’s collaboration with faculty.
The Tufts Office of the Vice Provost for Research announced that four projects led by Tufts researchers have received 2022 Tufts Launchpad | Accelerator (TLA) grants. The goal of the TLA Program is to provide Tufts faculty with the ability to advance technologies invented at Tufts towards commercialization. These four projects will receive funding from the university and business development support to further develop their intellectual property with the goal of attracting licensing interest. The projects are: “Your Health in the Palm of Your Hand—Optimizing a Non-Invasive Epidermal Test,” led by PI Addy Alt-Holland, associate professor, Department of Endodontics, School of Dental Medicine; EconoFact, led by PI Michael Klein, William L. Clayton Professor of International Economic Affairs, The Fletcher School; “VF-24, a Plant-Based Solution to Reduce Obesity and Promote Healthy Aging,” led by PI Simin Nikbin Meydani, senior scientist and director of the Nutritional Immunology Team at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts; and “An Artificial Intelligence Framework for Monitoring and Analyzing Traffic Data in Inclement Weather,” led by PI Karen Panetta, professor, electrical and computer engineering and dean for graduate education, School of Engineering.
Find past Kudos (formerly known as People Notes). Submit your own great news or recognize a colleague at go.tufts.edu/kudos.