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UBNOW STAFF
Published July 22, 2025
Nineteen of UB’s best and brightest teachers and researchers have been named recipients of the university’s 2025 Exceptional Scholar and Teaching Innovation Awards.
The Exceptional Scholars Award honors faculty members for their outstanding research performance at different stages of their careers. There are two awards: Sustained Achievement Awards for senior scholars and Young Investigator Awards for untenured scholars who received their terminal degree within the past eight years. Both awards recognize work that has “garnered public and/or professional accolades beyond the norm.”
Sustained Achievement recipients are selected based on their body of work over a number of years. The award is not meant to serve as a lifetime achievement honor, but rather as recognition for outstanding performance in a recent segment of a scholar’s career.
Recipients for 2025 are Derek Daniels, professor and chair, Department of Biological Sciences; Grace Dy, professor, Department of Medicine; Myles Faith, professor, Department of Counseling, School and Educational Psychology; Ia Iashvili, professor, Department of Physics; Jun-Xu Li, professor and vice chair for research, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology; Pauline Mendola, professor and chair, Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health; Yijun Sun, professor of bioinformatics and associate director of AI and health science, Department of Microbiology and Immunology; X. Christine Wang, professor and director of the Fisher-Price Endowed Early Childhood Research Center, Department of Learning and Instruction, and senior associate dean for interdisciplinary research, Graduate School of Education; and Ruogang Zhao, professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering.
The Young Investigator Award is presented to untenured researchers whose work has garnered universal acclaim or been completed under the auspices of a prestigious fellowship grant.
Recipients for 2025 are Remi Adelaiye-Ogala, assistant professor, Department of Medicine; Tasha Austin, assistant professor, Department of Learning and Instruction; Saptarshi Chakraborty, assistant professor, Department of Biostatistics; Lindsay Hahn, assistant professor, Department of Communication; Stephan Kolzenburg, assistant professor, Department of Earth Sciences; Viviana Monje, assistant professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; and Nicholas Smith, assistant professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice.
UB’s Teaching Innovation Award recognizes faculty members who have used new methods and approaches to teaching that have had a demonstrable effect on enhancing student-learning outcomes, including innovative uses of educational technology. All UB faculty members are eligible for the award.
Recipients for 2025 are Anahita Khodadadi, assistant professor, Department of Architecture; Tanya Monestier, professor, School of Law; and Jennifer Surtees, professor and chair, Department of Biochemistry, and associate dean for undergraduate education and STEM outreach, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.