2018-2019 University Research Professors
The University Research Professorship Awards honor 14 faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in scholarship and creative work that addresses scientific, social, cultural and economic challenges in our region and around the world.
David Van Sanford, Ph.D.
Plant & Soil Sciences, College of Agriculture, Food & Environment
Van Sanford is one of the foremost wheat breeders in the U.S. and a leader among the wheat breeding research community. For more than 30 years, he has worked to improve agriculture productivity, profitability, product and environmental quality. His research currently focuses on genomic selection that may have a transformative effect on the efficiency and rate of improvement in wheat breeding programs, and has been supported by extramural funding from agencies such as USDA-AFRI.
Matthew Zook, Ph.D.
Geography, College of Arts & Sciences
Zook is internationally recognized as an expert in digital geographies, economic geography, geosocial media, and big data analysis. He directs the Data On Local Life and You (DOLLY) project, a repository of billions of geo-located tweets that enables real-time research. His prodigious output of publications includes 47 peer-reviewed articles with more than 4,800 citations, and 35 book chapters and reports. His work has been funded by NSF, the National Geographic Society, and the Fulbright Scholar Program.
Heide Gluesing-Luerssen, Ph.D.
Mathematics, College of Arts & Sciences
Gluesing-Luerssen's work in applied algebra has established her as an outstanding leader in the science community. Since joining UK in 2007, she has maintained a strong research program in algebraic coding theory, bridging mathematics, engineering and computer science. Her work has become prominent across these communities with 41 publications in mathematics journals and an additional 33 publications in conference proceedings. Since 2009, her work has been continuously supported with funds from NSF and the Simons Foundation.
Nancy Grant Harrington, Ph.D.
Communications, College of Communication and Information
Harrington's research focuses on persuasive message design for health behavior change relating to risk behavior prevention and health promotion. She has been a principal investigator, co-investigator or principal evaluator on several NIH and CDC funded studies totaling nearly $9 million, and has published 70 journal articles or chapters. Harrington is a founding member and steering committee member of the Society for Health Communication.
Jennifer Wilhelm, Ph.D.
STEM Education, College of Education
Wilhelm has gained an international reputation for her research in design and implementation of project-based, interdisciplinary learning environments. Her work is supported through $4.6 million from the NSF, NASA Space Grant Consortium, Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, and Mentors and Meals. She recently designed and developed the instructional program Realistic Explorations in Astronomical Learning (REAL), which examines pre-teen spatial-scientific understanding, with an emphasis on female students and students of color.
Rick Honaker, Ph.D.
Mining Engineering, College of Engineering
During his nearly two decades at the university, Honaker has distinguished himself as an outstanding researcher in the area of extractive metallurgy. He leads a team of engineer-scientists that have had remarkable success in separating rare-earth elements from coal and coal byproducts, and recently was awarded a $6 million contract from the Department of Energy. Over the last five years, Honaker has been awarded $8.5 million as principal investigator, authored or co-authored over 33 peer-reviewed articles, co-edited two books, co-authored four chapters, and produced a patent with two more currently under review.
Herman Daniel Farrell III, M.F.A., J.D.
Theater and Dance, College of Fine Arts
Farrell is an award-winning playwright/screenwriter and noted Eugene O'Neill scholar. He was co-writer of the award winning HBO Film "Boycott" about Martin Luther King Jr, and his work has been honored by national arts organizations, including New Dramatists, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Playwrights Conference and the MacDowell Colony. He recently presented at the 10th Eugene O'Neill International Conference at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Daniel Brass, Ph.D.
Management, Gatton College of Business & Economics
Brass is the J. Henning Hilliard Professor of Innovation Management and chair of the Department of Management in the Gatton College of Business and Economics. He pioneered the study of social networks in organizations in the 1980s and continues his extraordinary research contributions to the area of social networks theory. His research focuses on the application of social network theory to a variety of managerial and organizational issues. Brass has published more than 60 academic articles, with Google Scholars citations exceeding 22,000. Nine of his articles have more than 1,000 citations each.
Brian Noehren, Ph.D.
Rehabilitation Science, College of Health Sciences
Noehren serves as the director of the Human Performance Laboratory that provides researchers with 3D motion analysis as a means to assess physical function, strength and gait. He started the Running Injury Clinic to allow people from the community access to this equipment and staff. Noehren has received continuous external funding from NIH, NSF, and the American Physical Therapy Association. His current total federal funding exceeds $4 million. He has mentored more than 30 undergraduate students, and all have gone on to graduate, medical or physical therapy school.
Richard C. Ausness, J.D.
College of Law
For nearly five decades, Ausness has made a scholarly impact in the areas of water and environmental laws, product liability, land use, and legal history. He has been cited more than 1,500 times in legal publications and appellate court opinions, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Ausness continues to lead research in areas of current concern, including opioid litigation. He has published two books on water law, more than 65 journal articles and book chapters, and 27 other publications.
Sharon Walsh, Ph.D.
Behavioral Science, College of Medicine
Wash is a professor of Behavioral Science, Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and is the director of the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research. For nearly 25 years, Walsh has had continuous NIH R01 funding, as well as support from foundations and pharmaceutical sponsors, to conduct clinical research on abuse potential substances and neuropharmacological causes of substance use disorders. With more than 130 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, many researchers have adopted her laboratory models to examine the addictive potential of drugs and test proposed treatments.
Mark V. Williams, M.D.
Internal Medicine, College of Medicine
Williams established the first hospitalist program for a public hospital in 1998 at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and has built three of the largest academic hospitalist programs in the United States. In 2017, he led a UK team to secure a $4.5 million award from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. With an excess of $34 million in grants and contracts, and more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, his work focuses on implementation science, care transitions, teamwork and the role of health literacy in the delivery of health care.
Jon Thorson, Ph.D.
Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy
Thorson joined the College of Pharmacy in 2011 as professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the first director of the UK Center for Pharmaceutical Research and Innovation. His research interests led him to co-found the Wisconsin-based bio-technology company Centrose. Considered a breakthrough in treatments for cancer, Centrose uses antibodies to add precision to cancer treatment drugs. Thorson has published 127 high-impact research articles and has a intellectual property portfolio containing 26 issued patents, and has been awarded NIH grants totaling more than $10.6 million and additional funding of more than $8.9 million.
Heather M. Bush, Ph.D.
Biostatistics, College of Public Health
Bush is an associate professor of the Department of Biostatistics in the College of Public Health and the Kate Spade & Company Foundation Endowed Professor in the Center for Research on Violence Against Women. She has helped transform statistical support provided to scholars across UK as a research partner, contributing to study design, developing analysis plans, overseeing statistical programming and data management, and providing planned and exploratory statistical analyses. Bush has an impressive portfolio focused on outcomes research externally funded through the NIH and CDC, 110 published papers, 19 presentations and authored a textbook.