New University Professorships

• Dr. Andrew Olney, Institute for Intelligent Systems
• Dr. Kathryn Howell, Psychology
• Dr. Roger Kreuz, Psychology

UofM Research Foundation Junior Professorship: NSF Career Recipient

• Dr. Thomas Goebel, Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI)

Faculty Promoted to Associate Professor and Granted Tenure

• Emerson Bowers, Biological Sciences
• Jamie Sabel, Biological Sciences
• Thomas Watson, Computer Science
• Cookie Woolner, History
• Thang Ba Hoang, Physics and Materials Science
• Nicholas Simon, Psychology
• Hironori Nishi, World Languages and Literatures

Faculty Promoted to Full Professor

• Daniel Baker, Chemistry
• Paul Simone, Chemistry
• Xuan Zhao, Chemistry
• Evelyn Fogle, English
• Carey Mickalites, English
• Terrence Tucker, English
• Steve Stein, History
• Kristoffer Berlin, Psychology
• Helen Sable, Psychology
• Susan Elswick, School of Social Work
• Robert Kelz, World Languages and Literatures

Award Highlights from the UofM Faculty Meeting

CyberCorps: New Scholarships for Service (SFS) Program at the University of Memphis | Kan Yang (CS)
$3,806,815 – National Science Foundation

iCODE: Investigating and Scaffolding Students' Code Comprehension Processes To Improve Learning,
Engagement, and Retention | Vasile Rus (CS/IIS) $1,999,596 – Department of Education

Change the Odds: A Multi Platform Approach to Gambling Treatment (multi-year award) | James Whelan
(Psychology) $1,205,000 – TN Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse

Cybersecurity education for Critical Infrastructure protection (in Community Development) through Regional Coalition | Dipankar Dasgupta (CS) $1,014,076 – National Security Agency

Investigating chemosensory evolution in longhorned beetles using a comparative phylogenomic framework
that integrates genomic, morphological, and biochemical data | Duane McKenna (Biological Sciences)
$1,271,532 – National Science Foundation 

Junior Faculty NSF Support Highlights
CAREER: From Slow to Fast, Micro to Macro, Single Events to Cascades: A Multi-scale Study of Seismic Event Triggering in Lab and Nature | Thomas Goebel $611,610 – National Science Foundation

ERI: Compositionally modulated ferrimagnets for spin-orbitronic devices | Shawn Pollard $181,745 – National science Foundation

Other CAS Highlights from the UofM Faculty Meeting

• 1112 Degrees Awarded
• Research Activity:
• 145, 162, and 182 proposals awarded over the last 3 years, over 20% growth
• CC* Integration-Large: mGuard: A Secure Real-time Data Distribution System with Fine-Grained Access Control for mHealth Research, National Science Foundation (NSF), PI: Lan Wang,, $825,000.00, Computer Science
• Catalytic H2 Evolution by Molecular Cobalt Complexes with Pentadentate Ligands in Aqueous Solutions, National Science Foundation (NSF), PI: Xuan Zhao, $475,000.00, Chemistry
• Evaluation of the Impact of Health and Education Programs in the Mississippi Delta, Data Health Alliance, PI: Wesley James, $1,381,320, Sociology
• Approaches for Reducing Alcohol Use and Consequences Among Diverse Community-Dwelling Emerging Adults, NIH, PI: James Murphy, $315,140, Psychology
• Majoring in the Minor: Forging a New Career Path to Address Teacher Diversity in Tennessee (MiM), THEC, PI: Alfred Hall, $84,800, (COE/CAS collaboration)

DEI progress:

Top 10 in nationwide black philosophy/history/mathematics PhD production, first black female commissioned into the US Space Force from aerospace studies, fully online Master of Nonprofit management program, with Social Justice and Fundraising & Philanthropy tracks launched, NSF/DOD-funded NeuroSTART program aims to increase representation of minorities in behavioral neuroscience research, anthropology general education classes redesigned to achieve DEI goals

Scholarship highlights:

Physics and Materials Science faculty using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and testing devices on the International Space Station, math faculty member delivered seminar at the University of Cambridge, political science faculty member invited to join Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Expert Group on New Measures of the Public Acceptability of Reforms