FSU awards three faculty with Distinguished University Scholar award

Florida State University has awarded three outstanding faculty members with the Distinguished University Scholar Award in recognition of their long-standing track records of research and/or creative activity.

“Our specialized faculty lead major programs, train the next generation of scholars and provide a level of expertise that is often difficult to find,” said Vice President for Research Stacey S. Patterson. “Their hard work and diligence are a big part of FSU’s success. It’s an honor to recognize their contributions with the Distinguished University Scholar award.”

Recipients received a one-time award of $10,000 and are entitled to use the title Distinguished University Scholar throughout their employment at FSU. The award specifically recognizes non-tenure track faculty members who are solely dedicated to either teaching or research activities.

This year’s DUS recipients are:

Banghao Chen, director of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facilities, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Chen has been working with FSU as the on-campus NMR facility director since 2011 and is now a senior research associate, overseeing eight cutting-edge NMR spectrometers from 300 to 700 MHz and serving more than 30 active research groups of multiple departments. He has conducted work on the applications of NMR in material study and published more than 70 peer-reviewed papers, including many in high-index journals. Chen received his doctorate from Canada Western University in 2007. Prior to joining FSU, he continued his research on the applications of NMR in complex materials and professional preparation on NMR facility management under academic & research environments in Dalhousie University & Oak Ridge National lab.

Yan Liu, Research Faculty, Department of Psychology

Liu is a research faculty member in Professor Zuoxin Wang’s Social Neurobiology Lab in Psychology and Neuroscience. She has been a key member in conducting NIH-funded research projects and supervising graduate and undergraduate students. She is particularly interested in examining the neurochemical mechanisms underlying social behavior and the environmental and hormonal regulation of adult neurogenesis using the socially monogamous prairie vole model. Liu has published more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and five book chapters and presented her research data more than 90 times at national and international conferences. Liu has also served as the co- investigator on several major research grants from the National Institutes of Health. She received her doctoral degree from Beijing Normal University in China and was a visiting scholar at Emory University before joining the research team at FSU in 1998.

Ellen Granger, Director of the Office of STEM Teaching Activities, Department of Biological Science

Granger is the director of the Office of STEM Teaching Activities and the Co-director of the FSU TEACH program that prepares secondary science and math teachers. She has published more than 30 scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals in science and held over 35 research and education grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, and the Institute for Education Sciences, among others. In 2013, she was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her contributions to advancing knowledge and classroom practices in science education. Granger received her doctorate from Florida State University in neuroscience and joined the university as a full-time employee in 1990.

The post FSU awards three faculty with Distinguished University Scholar award appeared first on Florida State University News.