Kudos May 2024
Celebrating Tufts Faculty and Staff
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.
Yousef Abdo, E24, Alvalyn Dixon-Gardner, A24, Arielle Galinsky, A24, Margaret Grieve, A24, Oumou Juwara, A24, Sam Lacet-Brown, A24, Annie Li, A24, Dan Nguyen, A24, Katie Shelburne, A24, Liam Strand, E24, John Waller, E24, Harrison Wilson, E24, received the Senior Award. Each year since 1955, the Tufts University Alumni Association has recognized six to 12 members of the senior class for their academic achievement, campus and community participation, and outstanding leadership.
Maggie Adomako, Richard Geegbae, and Gabriel Waithaka, all students at The Fletcher School, under the team name Ongeza Zao na Pato, won the 2024 Fletcher School D-Prize. The team developed a plan to help 100,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya through adoption of climate-smart seed variants. Read more about the D-Prize on The Fletcher School website.
Pilar Alcaide, assistant dean of faculty development and Kenneth and JoAnn G. Wellner Professor at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Medicine, was awarded the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Mid-Career Excellence in Science Award.
Muhammed Shabab Anwar, F24, Saffiyah Veronica Masireh Coker, A24, Anna K. Daoud, M24, Alexandra Tatiana Dingle, A24, Adrian Huq, A24, RuiSha Kingston, A24, Sabah Lokhandwala, A24, Wanci Chouaffe Nana, A24, Arika Neal, D24, Allen Chacko Nelson, F24, Jaiveer Singh, AG24, Roseanne Soto, F24, Shantiera Nicole Taylor, M24, Matthew Patrick Ung, E24, were honored with the Tufts 2024 Presidential Award for Civic Life. This is the highest recognition for service, leadership, and civic engagement conferred by Tufts University.
Ayse Asatekin, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering and Steve and Kristen Remondi Fellow, is a member of the team that helped develop technology for ZwitterCo, a water filtration technology company. ZwitterCo was named one of the 2024 World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.
Bree Aldridge, professor of microbiology at the School of Medicine, was elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows for her pioneering work in applying engineering methodologies to advance tuberculosis therapies.
Anjuli Fahlberg, assistant professor of sociology, won the 2024 Best Book Award in human rights from the International Studies Association for her book Activism Under Fire: The Politics of Non-Violence in Rio de Janeiro’s Gang Territories.
Paul Fauller, A26, Julie Francois, A24, Barkat Mehra, A23, Matilda Peng, A23, had work featured in the Photographic Resource Center 2024 Student Show at the VanDernoot Gallery at Lesley University.
Julie Francois, A24, Louisa Najar, A24, Carter Powers, A24, and Keith Truong, A24, all students at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, have been awarded Stephen D. Paine scholarships, and had their work shown at the Art Futures exhibition at Piano Craft Gallery.
David Greenblatt, Louis Lasagna, M.D., Professor of Immunology at the School of Medicine, was named the 2024 Hartmut Derendorf Mentorship in Clinical Pharmacology Award recipient by the American College of Clinical Pharmacology. This award is given annually to those who demonstrate exemplary promotion of clinical pharmacology, with emphasis on training/guidance of junior scientists and/or colleagues.
Shafiqul Islam, professor of civil and environmental engineering, authored an article entitled “Synthesis of Scientific and Social Facts: Evolution of a Principled Pragmatic Framework for Decision Making,” which was selected as Editor’s Choice in the Journal of Environmental Engineering. One paper from each new edition of the journal is selected as Editor’s Choice and featured on the ASCE Library homepage. Read more about this recognition on the School of Engineering’s website.
Valencia Koomson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, won second place at MedTech Color Edition of Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!™ competition. Koomson through her startup, Kofimi Technology Inc., is pursuing the development of a pulse oximeter device designed specifically for pediatric populations to provide superior accuracy for all levels of skin pigmentation.
Jennifer Mandelbaum, lecturer of community health, was recently elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives. She was also named to the New Hampshire Union Leader’s list of 40 under 40.
Rachelle Mozman, professor of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, has been named a 2024 Guggenheim Fellow.
Maurice Parent, professor of the practice of theatre, dance, and performance, is co-producing artistic director at The Front Porch Arts Collective, which received eight Elliot Norton Award nominations by the Boston Theater Critics Association for the company’s production of Fat Ham.
Raja Sambasivan, Ankur and Mari Sahu Assistant Professor of Computer Science, and James Van Deventer, Bright Futures Assistant Professor, each recently received a CAREER Award from the U.S. National Science Foundation. The grant awards will further research on cloud-based systems and antibodies, respectively.
Bernard Simonin, professor of marketing and international business at The Fletcher School, won the S. Tamer Cavusgil Award from the American Marketing Association for an article he co-authored entitled “Marketing Agility in Subsidiaries: Market Orientation and Marketing Program Standardization as the ‘Twin Engines’ of Performance.” The award recognizes a journal of international marketing article published in the most recent calendar year that has made the most significant contribution to the advancement of the practice of international marketing management.
Sameer Sonkusale, professor of electrical and computer engineering, was recently selected as an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Circuits and Systems Society Distinguished Lecturer for the 2024-2025 term. Read more about this accomplishment on the School of Engineering’s website.
Chantal Zakari, professor of the practice, and Mike Mandel, lecturer, both at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, were invited to participate in the Second Providence Photo Book Fair in Providence.
Tisch Library recently hosted the 2024 Greater Boston Digital Research and Pedagogy Symposium. Between in-person and virtual programming, more than 130 people from more than 40 institutions were in attendance. Several members of the Tufts faculty presented at the symposium. The organizing and planning committees included Tufts faculty and staff.
Tufts University has been selected as a member of the Investor Catalyst Hub, a regional hub of ARPANET-H, a nationwide health innovation network launched by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. The Investor Catalyst Hub seeks to accelerate the commercialization of groundbreaking and accessible biomedical solutions. The effort connects researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors to scale health research and venture investment capabilities, create new delivery pathways, and help solve significant health problems. Read more about the initiative on Tufts Now.
Marie-Claire Beaulieu, associate professor of classical studies, authored an article about ancient Greek stories in The Conversation.
Kirsten Behling, StAAR Center associate dean of student accessibility and academic resources, co-authored the book Disability Services in Higher Education: An Insider’s Guide, published by Temple University Press.
Chloe Bird, Sara Murray Jordan Professor of Medicine, is quoted in a CNN article entitled “Advertising restrictions can have harmful effects on women’s health. Here’s what one company is doing about it.”
Sarah Booth, director of the HNRCA, Paul Fuss, clinical research manager at the Vitamin K Lab at the HNRCA, and Sai Krupa Das, scientist at the HNRCA, were quoted in a Boston Globe article about the HNRCA’s collaborative Nutrition for Precision Health Study, a $170 million national research project seeking to enroll 10,000 people nationwide in an effort to develop a way to pinpoint the optimal diet for every person.
Helen Boucher, dean at the School of Medicine, wrote a commentary piece for Salon entitled “Why the measles outbreak keeps me up at night.” Boucher also co-authored an editorial piece (accompanying a new study) for the journal Annals of Internal Medicine entitled “New Antibiotics for Resistant Infections: What Happens After Approval?” The study’s findings and Boucher’s editorial piece were written about in a MedPageToday article.
Bhaskar Chakravorti, dean of global business at The Fletcher School, DP Singh, professor of the practice of global consulting at The Fletcher School, and Patrick Schena, Barton L. Rachlin, E59, A85P, Professor of Economics at the School of Arts and Sciences, contributed to a study with Deloitte entitled “How can the enterprise earn investor trust through sustainability disclosures?” Read more about this study on ESGToday. Chakravorti also authored an Indian Express op-ed entitled “India’s missing jobs—and where the next government can find them.”
Prianka Chawla, assistant professor of medicine in the School of Medicine, was interviewed on WBUR’s Radio Boston program about dissecting and debunking the latest in internet wellness.
Jenna Clark, Bethany Tietjen, Amy Myers Jaffe, Saskia Salak, and Erin Coughlan de Perez, all of Tufts’ Climate Policy Lab, authored a new policy brief entitled “Preparing for Novel Extreme Weather Events in the United States: Lessons from Disasters” [PDF].
Michael Cohen, senior fellow at The Fletcher School, wrote an MSNBC opinion piece entitled “What’s happened in Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal demands a reckoning.” His piece draws on the findings of Fletcher’s Afghanistan Assumptions Project.
Alice Connors-Kellgren, assistant professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine, appeared on a WCVB segment discussing how achieving major accomplishments, such as completing the Boston Marathon, can sometimes feel like a letdown.
Dayna Cunningham, dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, and Peter Levine, associate dean for academic affairs and Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship and Public Affairs, examined the state and future of U.S. democracy within the context of the 2024 election in a piece on The Conversation.
Tom Dannenbaum, associate professor of international law at The Fletcher School, wrote the Just Security article “Does the ICC Have Jurisdiction Over the Starvation War Crime in Sudan?”
Peter de Guzman, researcher at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, was featured on City University of New York’s Asian American Life program, highlighting the concerns of young AAPI voters.
Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at The Fletcher School, provided analysis for The Economist article “Thirty years after Rwanda, genocide is still a problem from hell.” The article reflects on the state of atrocity prevention today. Additionally, de Waal is also quoted in the Wall Street Journal article “How Two Feuding Generals Drove Sudan to the Brink of Starvation,” noting that the scope of emergency is “something we have never seen before.” de Waal and Aditya Sarkar, Ph.D. candidate at The Fletcher School, authored “How ‘Traumatic Decarbonization’ Can Impact Political Stability and Peace” for the United States Institute of Peace in preview of an upcoming USIP report.
Dan Drezner, professor of international politics at The Fletcher School, joined CNBC’s The Exchange to discuss Iran’s April 13 missile attack and approaches to reduce escalatory risks.
Wenhui Feng, Tufts Health Plan Professor of Health Care Policy Research and assistant professor of public health, was quoted in an article in The Hill entitled “Dollar Tree plans to close 1,000 stores.” She underscored the pivotal role dollar stores play in food purchases, particularly in areas grappling with food insecurity. The article refers to Feng’s research with Sean Cash, associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and Elina Page from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, from 2023 entitled “Dollar Stores and Food Access for Rural Households in the United States, 2008–2020,” which was published in the American Journal of Public Health. Read more about the research on Tufts Now.
Michael Glennon, professor of constitutional and international law at The Fletcher School, authored a new book entitled Free Speech and Turbulent Freedom: The Dangerous Allure of Censorship in the Digital Era published by Oxford University Press. Read more about Glennon and his new book on Tufts Now.
Nora Hampl, postdoctoral scholar at The Fletcher School, authored “Energy systems for Brazil’s Amazon: Could renewable energy improve Indigenous livelihoods and save forest ecosystems?” in the journal Energy Research & Social Science.
Victor Hatini, Jacob Malin, and Christian Rosa-Birriel, all researchers at the School of Medicine, authored a study entitled “Pten, PI3K, and PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 dynamics control pulsatile actin branching in Drosophila retina morphogenesis” in the journal Developmental Cell.
Eitan Hersh, professor of political science, and a course of his were featured in a Boston Magazine article entitled “A Conservative Thought Experiment on a Liberal College Campus.”
Justin Hollander, A96, professor of urban and environmental policy and planning, was invited to deliver the Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development Spring Lecture at the University of Maryland. He spoke about his new book, Buildings for People: Responsible Real Estate Development and Planning, which was co-authored with fellow Tufts UEP alumna Nicole Stephens.
Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tisch College, appeared on CBS News Boston to offer insights into a new report finding that 25% of 20- to 30-year-olds are planning to leave the Boston-metro area. Horowitz also analyzed Governor Healy’s tax policies through her 2023 speeches in a WGBH piece.
Linden Hu, Paul and Elaine Chervinsky Professor of Immunology at the School of Medicine, led a trial for Tarsus Pharmaceuticals that shows an experimental new pill could provide humans with protection against tick-borne Lyme disease and was quoted about this work in Wired.
Barbara Kates-Garnick, professor of the practice at The Fletcher School, is quoted in a Marketplace article entitled “Biden administration invests $6 billion in low-carbon industrial production.”
Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement at Tisch College, discussed the potential impact on young voters if TikTok were banned in The Hill article.
Keren Ladin, associate professor of community health, had research about support structures featured on WFMZ in Pennsylvania and in the Washington Post.
Pavel Luzin, visiting scholar at The Fletcher School, is quoted in the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty article “Six More Years For Putin. Five Things To Watch For” and in the Bloomberg article “Russia Delays Long-Awaited Rocket Launch After Equipment Failure.”
Gina McCarthy, AG81, senior fellow at The Fletcher School, wrote an op-ed for The Guardian entitled “Methane from landfills is detectable from space—and driving the climate crisis.”
Alberto Medina, senior communications specialist at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement at Tisch College, was quoted in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about youth voting in the Pittsburgh area.
Chris Miller, associate professor of international history at The Fletcher School, was quoted in the Politico article “Biden needs a win from Intel. Can the company deliver?” as well as the MIT Technology Review article “How ASML took over the chipmaking chessboard,” the Washington Examiner article “U.S. warns NATO: China helped Russia ‘reconstitute militarily,’” and the AP article “Apple CEO says company will ‘look at’ manufacturing in Indonesia.” Miller was also interviewed for the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ podcast, 35West, episode entitled “What’s in a Chip? The Rising Conflict Over Mineral Inputs for Semiconductors.”
Jared Miller, Ph.D. candidate at The Fletcher School, authored a research paper entitled “The Political Role of Corruption: Money Makes the Political World Go Round.”
Zora Murff, professor of the practice, and Rana Young, lecturer, both at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, curated a photography group exhibition titled “TAKE IT FROM HERE” at Abakus Projects in Boston. The show will be on view through May 26.
Mihaela Papa, senior fellow at The Fletcher School, co-authored the World Politics Review article “BRICS Wants to Shape Global AI Governance, Too.” Papa and Ravi Chaturvedi, lecturer in global business, director of research, and doctoral research fellow for innovation and change at The Fletcher School’s Institute for Business in the Global Context, co-authored the East Asia Forum article “Is BRICS offering an alternative model for global governance?”
Kenneth Pucker, professor of the practice at The Fletcher School, was interviewed for the Sourcing Journal article “Can Syre Succeed Where Renewcell Failed?”
Carlos Alvarado Quesada, professor of the practice of diplomacy at The Fletcher School, authored “Is Costa Rica Different? A Treasure Chest of Discoveries” in ReVista: The Harvard Review of Latin America. Alvarado Quesada served as the 48th president of Costa Rica.
Kendall Reiss, professor of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, was asked to feature her work in the international contemporary jewelry triennial, KORU8, showcasing pieces from her project BEING [with] TREES alongside creations by 49 other artists. Reiss is one of only three artists from the United States participating in the exhibition. Her cast glass pieces will be on display at the Finnish Forest Museum Lusto from May 17 to December 1, followed by a showing at the Oulu Art Museum in Finland in the winter of 2025. Additionally, Reiss’ work will be featured in The Nature of Imperfection: Jewelry and Adornment, an exhibition organized by the Society of Arts & Crafts Boston. The online exhibition will be showcased on SA+C’s social media platforms, with a print catalogue set to release in May.
Tara Sonenshine, Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice in Public Diplomacy at The Fletcher School, wrote op-eds for The Hill entitled “Why are Americans so unhappy?”, “Happy 75th birthday, NATO—and many more,” and “How Russia and China are ridiculing America.”
Ben Stern, assistant professor of the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program Phoenix, recently worked on creating ChatBots with Microsoft Autogen for teaching and learning. These LLM ChatBots include tailored assessments, individualized study guides, and focused tutoring.
Sara Suzuki, senior researcher at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement at Tisch College, was interviewed for a Think podcast episode about the issues as well as the barriers impacting Gen Z voting.
Ludovic Trinquart, associate professor of medicine, and School of Medicine colleagues authored “Temporal trends in lifetime risks of atrial fibrillation and its complications between 2000 and 2022: Danish, nationwide, population based cohort study” in The BMJ.
Farshid Vahedifard, professor and Louis Berger Chair in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and colleagues presented a three-pronged approach to equitable and resilient infrastructure in a study published in the journal PNAS Nexus entitled “Equitable infrastructure: Achieving resilient systems and restorative justice through policy and research innovation.” Read more about the study on the School of Engineering’s website.
Josephine Wolff, associate professor of cybersecurity policy at The Fletcher School and associate professor of computer science in the School of Engineering, authored the EconoFact article “The Cybersecurity Threat Ailing Healthcare.”
Researchers from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Cleveland Clinic authored “The Gut Microbial Metabolite Trimethylamine N-oxide, Incident CKD, and Kidney Function Decline” in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Read more about the research on Tufts Now.
Scientists from the School of Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences authored a study entitled “Necroptosis blockade prevents lung injury in severe influenza” in Nature. Read more about the research on the Office of the Vice Provost for Research website.
Olivia Letourneau was promoted to senior marketing associate at University College.