Kudos May 2026
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.
Benji Cole, M26, and Emily Doucette, M27, have been recognized with the 2026 Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians Advocacy and Public Health Awards, honoring their commitment to patient-centered advocacy and expanding access to care across Massachusetts.
Jeremy Eichler, John McCann Assistant Professor of Music, was awarded the Grand Prize of the Prix du Livre France Musique for his 2023 book Time’s Echo: Music, Memory and the Second World War.
Jamee Elder, Rumsey Family Assistant Professor of Philosophy, has been named a visiting fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh for fall 2026. The center’s mission is to foster the development of the best new work in philosophy of science. During the visit, Elder will undertake a research project titled “Theory-mediated measurement in astrophysics.”
Julie Gagliardi, assistant director of academic resources at the STAAR Center, was honored prior to the Red Sox/Padres game as a “Most Valuable Educator” through the Red Sox’ Most Valuable Educator Program.
Fatima Aysha Hussain, assistant professor of biology, was awarded a grant from the Gates Foundation to support her project titled “Ecological and Evolutionary Determinants of Live Biotherapeutic Product (LBP) Engraftment.”
David Kaplan, Stern Family Endowed Professor of Engineering, won the Pierre Galletti Award, the highest honor that the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) bestows upon an individual. Named after AIMBE’s founding member and past president, the award recognizes a career-long commitment to advancing the field through transformative research, service, and advocacy. According to the AIMBE, Kaplan was chosen for his work in silk-based biomaterials, translational impact on the biomedical sciences, and for advocacy of bioengineers in all aspects of human health.
Cara Marshall, associate professor of family medicine at the School of Medicine, has been named the 2026 Innovation in Family Medicine Award recipient by the Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians.
Seona Maskara, A26, is one of 168 students across the country to be named to the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge’s 2026 Student Voting Honor Roll. This recognition is the result of her work boosting nonpartisan civic engagement on the Tufts campus. Read more about this project on Tufts Now.
Tina Mattera, field hockey head coach, won a bronze medal with the United States Over-45 Team, which competed at the Masters Indoor World Cup.
Claudia Mattos, associate teaching professor at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, was awarded a grant from the Getty Foundation to support her project “Art, Science, and Traditional Knowledge: Theory and Practice of Interdisciplinary Community-Engaged Art Historical Research.” Spanning 2026–2028, the project brings together art historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, museum professionals, conservation scientists, and traditional community leaders to train graduate students and improve methodological frameworks for community-based participatory research in the field of art history in Latin America.
Heather Nathans, professor in the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, is the new dean-elect for the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. She will serve as dean-elect for two years and then step into the dean’s role in 2028 for a three-year term.
Maurice Emmanuel Parent, professor of the practice of theatre, dance, and performance studies, and Brian Lilienthal, associate teaching professor of theatre, dance, and performance studies, were nominated for Elliot Norton Awards for their production of The Mountaintop. The Elliot Norton Awards are given out by the Boston Theater Critics Association to recognize outstanding achievements of the Greater Boston professional theatre community. The play was produced by the Front Porch Collective, a theatre company that is committed to creating Black-centric theatrical experiences that reckon with the world as it is and imagine what it could be and for which Parent is the producing artistic director.
Jainith Patel, M27, has been named a recipient of the 2026 ACTS Outstanding Trainee: Predoctoral Scholar Award.
Jack Regnery, senior men’s lacrosse attack, was selected 20th overall (Round 3, Pick 4) in the 2026 Premier Lacrosse League draft by the Boston Cannons. He becomes the third all-time Tufts draft pick in a U.S. professional lacrosse league.
Christina Roberts, A26, Nancy Yang, A26, Sruthi Manivannan, graduate student in the School of Engineering, and Adam Mitchel, E26, won second prize at the SharkNinja Innovation Challenge. This live-pitch finale event held in Boston brought together student innovators from universities across the country and invited student innovators and early-career entrepreneurs nationwide to develop breakthrough solutions to real-world consumer problems. The Tufts team will receive $15,000 for their Matcha Luxe project, which is aimed at elevating the at-home matcha experience.
Udita Sanga, assistant professor at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, has been selected for the Belmont Forum’s Advancing Leadership Program, an international fellowship supporting transdisciplinary research to address global environmental change.
Elaine Short, assistant professor at the School of Engineering, was named the Skip Ellis Early Career Award Recipient by the Computing Research Association. The association gives this award annually to an early-career individual who demonstrates the potential for impactful contributions and leadership in their field of research, as well as a positive and significant impact on widening participation and improving access, opportunities, and positive experiences for all people in computing research and education.
Lauryn Spearing, assistant professor at the School of Engineering, received an NSF grant to study how to improve post-wildfire property sampling and testing and increase the accessibility of results to meet community needs. Read more about the grant on the School of Engineering’s website.
Julian Sutaria, A27, and Sofia Movafaghi, A27, were named 2026 Goldwater scholars as two of the country’s next generation of research leaders in their fields. Read more about the honor on Tufts Now.
Ayanna Thomas, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and professor of psychology, was named president-elect of the Association for Psychological Science, effective June 1. Following a year as president-elect, Thomas will transition to a one-year term as president. A member of the Association for Psychological Science board, she has been an active member of numerous committees and contributed to the organization’s mission.
The following students have been recognized with awards from the Graduate Research Fellowship Program of the National Science Foundation. (The disciplines in which they will be conducting research appear in parentheses after their names.)
- Isabella Arabia, A25, AG26 (biological anthropology)
- Mason Gao, A26 (industrial engineering and operations research)
- Daniel Harrington, A26, (quantum information science)
- Saskia Solotko, A26 (algebra, number theory, and combinatorics)
- Kevin Yu, E26 (bioinformatics and bio-inspired computing)
- Andy Zhang, A26 (physics or astronomy education)
Fourteen students were honored with Tufts 2026 Presidential Awards for Civic Life. The full list of students, along with quotes from each, is available online. The Presidential Award for Civic Life is the highest recognition for service, leadership, and civic engagement conferred by Tufts University.
Tufts University is in the National Academy of Inventors 2025 Top 100 for faculty patents. Several faculty members were awarded patents this past year, and a full list with patent descriptions is available on Tufts Now.
Julian Agyeman, professor in the department of urban and environmental policy and planning and Fletcher Professor of Rhetoric and Debate, along with Sophia Olivieri and Shannon O’Callaghan, both graduate students at the School of Arts and Sciences, published their research titled “Feeding cities: Is it time for greater municipal intervention?” in the journal Cities. Their research analyzes how cities across the United States are using different market intervention policies to increase food access for residents with case studies from New York City, Madison, and Seattle.
Qais Assali, professor of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, in collaboration with Sara Elbashir, presented For Re-orienting Asian American Studies: Container—Aesthetics of Critical Pedagogies at the Association for Asian American Studies Conference in Honolulu, a lecture-performance merging Ikebana and Education Drag to challenge Eurocentric art histories through African, Hawaiian, and diasporic visual frameworks.
Riccardo Giacconi, professor of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, presented a work-in-progress screening of his new film Seconda Persona at AgX Film Collective in Waltham, Mass.
Chris Maliga, photography studio manager at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, was on an artist panel as part of the exhibition Reciprocal Ecology at ShowUp, curated by Cassandra Klos, A14 (BFA).
Fiorenzo Omenetto, Frank C. Doble Professor of Engineering and head of the Tufts University Silklab, Marco Lo Presti, and Giulia Guidetti, both research assistant professors, developed a paint to quantitatively measure the site and force of an impact without using any electronic circuitry or sensors. Read more about this technology on Tufts Now.
Jennifer Schmidt, professor of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, has been invited to be a keynote speaker at this summer’s International Biennial Print Exhibit at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. The International Biennial Print Exhibit is a major platform for printmakers from Taiwan and from around the world to present outstanding works that inspire both artists and audiences.
Bradley Whelchel, cardiology resident at Cummings School’s Henry and Lois Foster Hospital for Small Animals, is first author on the first case report of a cat successfully treated for feline infectious peritonitis in the Journal of Veterinary Cardiology. Read more about this case on the Cummings School website.
Roya Zandparsa, clinical associate at the School of Dental Medicine, was recently profiled in Dental Bite. The article showcases her work as president of the American Association of Women Dentists.