Kudos November 2025
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.
Welcome to new colleagues who arrived at Tufts in October!
AS&E Shared: Ann Masterman, Director Graduate Recruitment, Admissions - AS&E
AS&E Shared: Mitchell Moise, Asst Dir Employer Relations, Career Services
AS&E Shared: Sapreya Buth, Academic & Event Sched Coord, Student Services Center - A&S
Advancement: Olivia Milne, Asst Dir Volunteer Management, UA - Tufts Annual Giving
Advancement: Ashley Krawshuk, Annual Giving Officer, UA-Cummings Dev & Alumni Rel
Arts and Sciences: Kenel Dufort, Sr Research Technician, Biology - A&S
Arts and Sciences: Brittany Cimaglia, Staff Assistant, Romance Studies - A&S
Central Adminstration: Brendan Fitzpatrick, Assistant Coach Basketball, Athletics
Central Adminstration: Mallory Skaggs, Asst Ath Dir Compliance &Admin, Athletics
Central Adminstration: Haley Lerner, Content Creator/Editor, University Comms & Marketing
Cummings: Jennifer Heyward, Assistant Clinical Professor, Clinical Sciences-Cummings-Vet
Cummings: Katelyn Sprague, Vet Tech II, ECC, Foster Hosp - Cummings-Vet
Cummings: Eliza Wilson, Vet Tech III, ECC, Foster Hosp - Cummings-Vet
Cummings: Jillian Diamond, Veterinary Assistant, Foster Hosp - Cummings-Vet
Cummings: Emma Mathie, Veterinary Assistant, Foster Hosp - Cummings-Vet
Cummings: Renata Martins Santana Silva, Veterinary Technician I, Foster Hosp - Cummings-Vet
Cummings: Kelly Swakopf, Veterinary Technician II, Foster Hosp - Cummings-Vet
Dental: Rafael Marques, Assistant Professor, Comprehensive Care
Dental: Nassr Al-Nuaimi, Assistant Professor, Endodontics - Dental
Dental: Ruth Amaya, Lead Dental Assistant, Public Health & Comm Service
Dental: Shanei Curry, Patient Financial Coordinator, Revenue Cycle Operations
Dental: Amarylis Torres, Patient Financial Coordinator, Revenue Cycle Operations
Dining: Tenzin Woeden, Service Attendant, Campus Center - Dining Svcs
Dining: Roberto Conrado Ramirez Yepez, Second Cook, Carmichael Dining Hall
Dining: Kelvin Navarro Sorto, Third Cook, Carmichael Dining Hall
Dining: Kvass Smith, Second Cook, Dewick Dining
Engineering: Sophia Le, Postdoctoral Scholar, Civil & Envir Engineering
Engineering: Aileen Sengupta, Postdoctoral Scholar, Electrical & Computer Engineer
Fletcher: Emma Empociello, Postdoctoral Scholar, Instruction - Fletcher School
Friedman: Ritimukta Sarangi, Research Asst, Food is Medicine Institute
Medical: Daniel Millar, Lab Instructor, DPT Lab Instructors
Medical: Lauren French, Lab Instructor, DPT Lab Instructors
Medical: Jensen Haigh, Lab Instructor, DPT Lab Instructors
Medical: Sierra Stark, Research Tech, Dev, Mol & Chem Bio/Medical
Medical: Michael Carver-Simmons, Program Manager, Educational Affairs - Medical
Medical: Elizabeth Kent, Admissions Counselor, Graduate Student Services
Medical: Adorrah-Le Khan, Asst Dir Career Services, Graduate Student Services
Medical: Nora Dockter, Research Tech, Microbiology-Basic Sci/Medical
Medical: Maple Goh, Adjunct Asst Prof, Public Health & Community Med
Medical: Lu Wang, Data Analyst, Public Health & Community Med
Medical: Theresa Faller, Postdoctoral Scholar, Public Health & Community Med
Medical: Jennifer Bowles, Project Administrator, Tufts Health Science Institute
Operations: Stephen Caloggero, Campus Security Officer I, Public Safety - Medford
Provost: Maya Galeano, Lab Animal Caretaker, CMS
Provost: Gabriela Vargas, Asst Provost Faculty Developmt, Provost's Office
Provost: Sarah Parkhurst, Intl Student & Scholar Advisor, Provost's Office
Dan Choate, mechanical engineering Ph.D. student, won the Student Paper Award at the Institute of Navigation GNSS+ Conference, the world’s largest annual gathering focused on global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). His award-winning paper, “Exploiting Structure-from-Motion for Robust Vision-based Map Matching for Aircraft Surface Movement,” supports safer automation of aircraft movement across runways and taxiways. At Tufts, Choate conducts his research in the Automated Systems and Robotics Laboratory, led by Professor and Department Chair Jason Rife. Read more about Choate’s work on the School of Engineering website.
Jose Colon, Tufts University police officer and the department’s community outreach officer, was named a 2025 Community Service Honoree by the Massachusetts Latino Police Officers Association for his strong commitment and passion for community service and building strong partnerships between the public and law enforcement. He was nominated by his department colleagues for this honor.
Cheryl Doss, professor of economics, was honored with a 2025 Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of Minnesota Program in Applied Economics.
Athena Eyster, assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences, was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate the oxygenation of the atmosphere in the early Earth through drilling in Gabon.
Jeffrey Guasto, professor of mechanical engineering, received the Experimental Physics Investigators award to support his work in active matter flows. Read more about the award on the School of Engineering website.
Khary Jones, professor of the practice in the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance, is the director of the film Night Fight, which won Best Feature Film at the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival.
John Meawad, D27, and Lexus Vasques, D27, are this year’s recipients of the School of Dental Medicine’s PrOscar Award. Each year, Taha Akhtar, course director of complete dentures and assistant professor in the Department of Prosthodontics, recognizes two outstanding students through the PrOscar Award for their exceptional performance, dedication, and excellence in prosthodontics.
Pedro Palou, professor and chair of the Romance Studies Department, was inducted into the National Sistem of Artistic Creators in Mexico.
Sima Samar, visiting scholar at The Fletcher School, received the FIGO Distinguished Recognition Award in Women’s Health from the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, honoring her lifelong commitment to championing women’s health and rights. The FIGO Recognition Awards recognize highly distinguished individuals outside the OBGYN profession who have performed an exceptional service to women’s health. Read more about Samar on Tufts Now.
Rebecca Scheck, associate professor of chemistry, received an Outstanding Investigator Award (R35) from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences. This award supports her lab’s research on glycation and ubiquitination, which are protein post-translational modifications that are associated with many diseases, including cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, and age-related disorders.
Albert Tai, scientific core director of the Office of the Vice President for Research Genomics and Flow Cytometry Core Facilities, has been invited by the National Institutes of Health to join a select group of researchers advising on a new initiative exploring the use of Generative AI to streamline annual reporting for S10 award recipients. Led by the NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs, the project—the Preliminary Annual Report Assembler—aims to automate first drafts of usage reports, improving efficiency and report quality while reducing administrative burden. Tai was selected for his exemplary S10 reports, recognized by NIH program officers for their clarity and depth, reflecting his leadership in advancing research infrastructure and innovation in core facility management.
Yuka Takahashi, V28, recently placed third in the Young Ocean Photographer of the Year 2025 competition from Oceanographic Magazine. Read more about this achievement on the Cummings School website.
Daniel Votipka, Lin Family Assistant Professor of computer science, is the recipient of the 2025 Sunrise Award for his commitment to Tufts and innovative research at the intersection of cybersecurity, human behavior, and education. Earlier this year, Votipka received the prestigious NSF CAREER Award to support his project, “Increasing Human-Centered Threat Modeling Research’s Reliability.”
Daniel Waqar, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History, has been named one of 12 Emerging Scholars by the Guggenheim Foundation.
Dano Weisbord, chief sustainability officer and associate vice president of campus planning, has been named one of 11 finalists for this year’s Sustainability Leader of the Year award by the Northeast Renewable Energy Coalition. The award honors leaders who are driving impactful change, championing climate action, and embedding sustainability into the institutions and communities they serve.
Pamela Yelick, director of the Division of Craniofacial and Molecular Genetics and professor in the Department of Basic, Clinical, and Translational Sciences at the School of Medicine, has been elected the 102nd President of the International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research, the world’s largest organization dedicated to advancing dental, oral, and craniofacial research.
Gabriel Yunayev, V27, is one of six veterinary students across the country selected to receive the PetSmart Charities Veterinary Scholarship for 2025–26.
A cross-collaborative team of Tufts University School of Engineering and Mississippi State University faculty is receiving a $1.25 million National Science Foundation grant to promote and develop resilient and affordable housing in rural communities. The three-year project aims to transform the way rural communities in the Mississippi Delta and Gulf Coast regions manage and mitigate housing risks. By integrating cutting-edge technologies such as geosensing, artificial intelligence, and participatory research, the initiative looks to deepen the understanding of risk while developing a robust multiscale decision-support platform. Read more about the grant on the Mississippi State University website.
Damian Archer, assistant professor at the School of Medicine and CEO of Outer Cape Health Services, was featured in a Boston Globe article about Medicaid cuts and changes to a key prescription drug program that threaten nonprofit clinics across Massachusetts.
Viking Bohman, Ph.D. student at The Fletcher School, co-authored an East Asia Forum piece on how security concerns are reshaping trade in East Asia.
Lizi Brown, part-time lecturer at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, has a solo exhibition, Chance Meetings, on view through November 5 on the lower level of the Jamaica Plain Branch Library in Jamaica Plain. Chance Meetings is a series of expressive ink paintings inspired by everyday life in Jamaica Plain.
Sean Cash, associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and Wenhui Feng, Tufts Health Plan Professor of Health Care Policy Research at the School of Medicine, alongside colleagues from other institutions, authored “The Healthfulness of Foods Purchased at Dollar Stores: Insights from Household Scanner Data from 2008 to 2020” in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Read more about the research on Tufts Now and the Consumer Affairs website.
Bhaskar Chakravorti, dean of global business at The Fletcher School, was featured in two MarketWatch pieces: one on AI-powered startups and another on how to AI-proof your job. Chakravorti also authored the Foreign Policy article “We Did Modi’s Back-of-the-Envelope Math on Russian Oil.”
Diana Chigas, professor of the practice in international negotiation and conflict resolution at The Fletcher School, authored The Conversation article “Conventional anti-corruption tools often fail to address root causes—but loss of US leadership could still spell trouble for efforts abroad.”
Benjamin Chrisinger, assistant professor in the Department of Community Health, is participating in the debate “Should SNAP Benefits Be Restricted to Healthy Foods and Beverages?” In the debate, Chrisinger is presenting arguments against imposing additional restrictions to SNAP benefits. The debate is taking place on November 6 at the Obesity Society’s “Obesity Week.”
Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at The Fletcher School, authored the Foreign Affairs article titled “The Return of the Starvation Weapon.”
Daniel Drezner, distinguished professor of international politics at The Fletcher School, authored the World Politics Review article “Under Trump, American Grand Strategy Is Flying Blind” and is quoted in the Miami Herald article “How Rubio went from Trump’s political opponent to the White House inner circle.”
Monica Duffy Toft, professor of international politics at The Fletcher School, authored The Conversation article “‘Warrior ethos’ mistakes military might for true security—and ignores the wisdom of Eisenhower.”
Jai Eswara, clinical associate professor and chair of urology at the School of Medicine, is quoted in the CBS News article “Patriots’ defensive coordinator Terrell Williams diagnosed with prostate cancer.”
Kelly Sims Gallagher, dean of The Fletcher School, is quoted in the New York Times article “What Will China’s Green-Tech Ambitions Cost the World?”
Charles Goss, professor of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, along with several SMFA alums, had works included in the group show postcards at the Jane Deering Gallery in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Paul Howe, Irwin H. Rosenberg Professor of Nutrition and Human Security at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, authored two papers with fresh insights that could strengthen famine prevention and response. The paper “How and why famines form: towards an integrated approach to causation” was published in the journal Disasters, and the paper “Seeing famines: An exploration of the spatial dimensions of severe hunger crises” was published in the journal Global Food Security. Theo Anastopoulo and Christopher Newton, affiliates at the Feinstein International Center, co-authored the paper that appeared in Global Food Security. Read more about this research on Tufts Now.
Aram Hur, associate professor of political science at The Fletcher School, is quoted in an Economist article titled “How two duelling history influencers explain South Korea’s polarised politics.”
Pratik Kanjilal, senior fellow at The Fletcher School, authored the New Indian Express article “Welcome to the new world disorder.”
Michael Klein, William L. Clayton Professor of International Economic Affairs at The Fletcher School, is quoted in the AlJazeera articles “U.S. Fed expected to cut rates amid cooling labour market, surging inflation” and “Will a government shutdown hurt the U.S. economy?”
Susan Landau, professor of cybersecurity and policy, spoke with Marketplace about the history of U.S. export controls, noting parallels between today’s debate over TikTok’s algorithm and past restrictions on encryption systems.
David Logan, assistant professor of security studies at The Fletcher School, was quoted in a New York Times piece on the growth of China’s missile forces.
Chris Miller, professor at The Fletcher School, was quoted in the Bloomberg article “Nvidia Invests $5B in Intel, Plans to Co-Design Chips” and authored the Financial Times opinion piece “In the global AI boom, Russia is conspicuously absent.”
William Moomaw, professor of international environmental policy at The Fletcher School, comments in the Mongabay article “There’s far less land available for reforestation than we think, study finds.”
Susan Napier, Goldthwaite Professor of Rhetoric, was quoted in the World Magazine article “Beautiful complexity.”
Elizabeth Rozanski, professor of clinical sciences, Stephanie Maciorowski, resident in clinical sciences, Ian DeStefano, assistant clinical sciences professor, and Michael Verschoor-Kirss, adjunct instructor in clinical sciences, all at Cummings School, published their study titled “Pharmacological therapy for hyperkalemia in feline urethral obstruction has no additional benefit over intravenous fluid and calcium gluconate therapy and prompt unobstruction” in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Rozanski and Maciorowski were featured on American Veterinary Medical Association Veterinary Vertex podcast to discuss the research.
Caleb Scoville, assistant professor of sociology, is the first author of an article titled, "From Maps to Models: Participation and Contestability in the Dynamic Management of Natural Resources," published in Geo: Geography and Environment.
Jessica Decker Sparks, VG14, assistant professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and Nicole Tichenor Blackstone, N12, NG16, associate professor at the Friedman School, as well as colleagues from the Friedman School and the University of Nottingham Rights Lab and School of Geography published their research titled “Current and recommended diets in the U.S.A. have embedded forced labour risk” in the journal Nature Food. Read more about the study on Tufts Now.
Sam Telford, professor and director of Tufts New England Regional Biosafety Laboratory at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, was featured on a 60 Minutes segment for his work on ticks, Lyme disease, and the Mice Against Ticks project collaboration with MIT.
Constanza Alarcón Tennen, part-time lecturer at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, has a solo exhibition at the NARS Foundation in New York entitled Sudamericana tiene memoria del aire, which was curated by Laurel McLaughlin, curator at SMFA. The show will run through November 5. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication with contributors, Alarcón Tennen, McLaughlin, Jonathan González, Madeline Murphy Turner, and Paola Nava, and funded through a Foundation for Contemporary Art Emergency Grant.
Mikhail Troitskiy, visiting professor at The Fletcher School, was quoted in The Moscow Times article “Trump’s About-Face on Russia-Ukraine War Leaves More Questions Than Clarity.”
Malcolm Turvey, Sol Gittleman Professor in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture, delivered a keynote address at the Art and Humanities conference in Rijeka, Croatia.
Benjamin Wolfe, associate professor of biology, was featured in a New York Times article for his recent work that was published in Current Biology. Read more about Wolfe’s work on Tufts Now.
Yau-Hua Yu, D20, associate professor of periodontology at the School of Dental Medicine, authored a study titled “Access to oral health care and its social determinants across the lifespan in the United States” in the journal Frontiers in Oral Health. Read more about this research on Tufts Now.
Tufts Special Care Dental Clinics are featured in a Dentistry33 article. Read more about the clinics in this One Tufts article as well.
Abdulhai Salam, administrative coordinator in the Department of the Political Science since July 2023, was promoted to administrator of the Department of Political Science.