{"id":44088,"date":"2016-06-01T07:50:43","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T14:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=44088"},"modified":"2016-06-01T15:18:37","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T22:18:37","slug":"outstanding-nau-researchers-scholars-honored-2016-research-creative-activity-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/outstanding-nau-researchers-scholars-honored-2016-research-creative-activity-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Outstanding NAU researchers and scholars honored"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month, leading NAU researchers and scholars were honored for their exemplary work over the past year during the 2016 Research and Creative Activity Awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Each academic department\u00a0nominated\u00a0up to one eligible individual\/work for each of the award categories. Nominations were\u00a0made through department chairs and directors.<\/p>\n

Awardees of each category received a $1,500 discretionary fund which can be used for any purpose allowable under university policy.<\/p>\n

In addition to the presentation of the RCA awards, \u00a0Early Career Innovator awards<\/a> were given to Michael Shafer<\/strong>,\u00a0assistant professor and Andrew Koppisch<\/strong>, assistant professor, during the event.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Most Promising New Scholar<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

Awarded to a tenure-track faculty member who has demonstrated the potential to contribute outstanding research and scholarship to his or her discipline.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Nicholas<\/a>Nicholas McKay, assistant professor
\n<\/strong>School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability<\/p>\n

Nick McKay grew up in Flagstaff before getting bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees at NAU in environmental science and geology. Nick got his doctoral degree at the University of Arizona before returning to Flagstaff in 2012, and has been an assistant professor in the School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability since the Fall of 2014. McKay’s\u00a0research spans the discipline of paleoclimate dynamics, including reconstructing past environments, using data and models to understand past climate dynamics and building paleoclimate informatics cyberinfrastructure. McKay\u00a0is married to another Flagstaff native, Amber, and has three boys, Carter, Ethan and Landon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most Promising Postdoctoral Researcher\/Scholar<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Awarded to a postdoctoral scholar whose scholarly, scientific and\/or creative contributions to his or her mentor\u2019s research program has had significant impact.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"michael_mommert<\/a>Michael Mommert, postdoctoral researcher
\n<\/strong>Department of Physics and Astronomy<\/p>\n

Michael Mommert\u2019s research is focused on studying the properties of asteroids and comets. After completing his studies and finishing his Ph.D. in Germany, he moved to Flagstaff in 2013 to work as a postdoctoral researcher in\u00a0NAU\u2019s Department of Physics and Astronomy. Using ground-based and space-based observations, he explores the properties of asteroids and comets and what they can tell us about the formation and evolution of the Solar System.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most Promising Graduate Student Researcher\/Scholar<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Recognizes excellence in graduate student research and scholarship. Nominees must have passed comprehensive exams at the time of nomination.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Romy<\/a>Romy Ghanem, graduate student researcher<\/strong>
\nDepartment of English<\/p>\n

Romy Ghanem is a Ph.D. candidate in Applied Linguistics. Ghanem speaks four languages and has always been passionate about language learning. Her research interests are speech perception\/production and language structure. She has conducted research on the perception of nonnative speakers and teachers as well as accented speech. Her dissertation investigates the manner in which nonnative speakers modify their speech to accommodate different interlocutors. More specifically, she examines the way in which communication success is achieved through accommodation and adjustment strategies. Her goal is to narrow the gap between linguistic theory and the practical use of language.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Research Mentorship Award (tie)<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Awarded to a faculty member whose mentoring of graduate or undergraduate students is demonstrated by effective approaches, a clear time commitment and positive student outcomes.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/a>Dave Wagner, associate professor<\/strong>
\nDepartment of Biological Sciences<\/p>\n

Dave Wagner conducts research on a number of different infectious diseases. In particular, he\u2019s developed an international reputation for his work on the plague, including the use of contemporary and ancient DNA studies to understand the geographic source of the three historical human plague pandemics. He\u2019s the associate director of the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics and mentors a large research group of staff and students, including many undergraduate students. His students are treated as junior colleagues and participate in cutting-edge research, obtain training in advanced scientific techniques and regularly earn authorships on research presentations and publications.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Chun<\/a>Chun-Hsing Jun Ho, assistant professor<\/strong>
\nDepartment of Civil Engineering, Construction Management and Environmental Engineering<\/p>\n

Chun-Hsing\u00a0Jun Ho is an assistant professor in Civil Engineering at NAU. His research interests lie in transportation systems and construction materials. Jun has been with NAU for almost four years. To date, Jun and his research team have received 13 awards at national and international competitions, published 23 papers in peer-reviewed professional journals and conference proceedings, and presented 46 presentations at professional conferences. He has graduated at least 20 undergraduate students from his research lab, and many of them have successfully admitted to their chosen graduate school such as Columbia University, Northwestern University, Virginia Tech, University of California-Berkeley and University of Washington.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

Most Significant Research\/Scholarly Work<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Awarded to a single or group of NAU employees who have produced a research or scholarly work\u2014an article, book or book chapter, video, monograph, etc.\u2014that has had or is anticipated to have a significant impact in the discipline. While individuals or groups are nominated for this category, the emphasis is on the scholarly work itself, which must have been first published within three years of the date of nomination.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Kees<\/a>Kees Jan van Groenigen, assistant research professor<\/strong>
\nFaster Decomposition Under Increased Atmospheric CO2\u00a0Limits Soil Carbon Storage<\/p>\n

Van Groenigen, who earned his Ph.D. degree at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, joined NAU in 2010. He began\u00a0as a postdoctoral researcher and last year, became an assistant research professor in the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society. His research focuses on how human activities and environmental changes affect the flow of carbon and nitrogen through land ecosystems. Van Groenigen studies the role of soil microbes in these processes through lab incubation experiments and other approaches. He also spends a lot of time synthesizing findings in his field of research, using a range of statistical methods.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most Significant Artistic\/Creative Work<\/u><\/strong><\/div>\n

Awarded to a single or group of NAU employees who have produced a creative or artistic work\u2014a performance, sculpture, novel or book, composition, exhibit, etc.\u2014that demonstrates creative innovation and impact in the discipline. While individuals or groups are nominated for this category, the emphasis is on the creative work itself, which must have been first presented within three years of the date of nomination.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\"reiprich_bruce<\/a>Bruce Reiprich, professor<\/strong>
\n\u201cFlowing Waters Caress Fallen Petal\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cLambent.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Music compositions by Bruce Reiprich, professor, School of Music<\/p>\n

Bruce Reiprich\u2019s music has been described as having \u201cunapologetic lushness\u201d (NewMusicBox), as \u201cpostromantic radiance\u201d (Danbury News-Times), \u201ca deeply personal mediation on the poet\u2019s feelings\u201d (San Francisco Classical Voice), \u201cvery powerful\u201d (All Music Guide), \u201clovely and evocative\u201d (Guitar Review- New York), \u201cvery impressive\u201d (Cumhuriyet-Turkey) and \u201cof special interest\u201d (Guitar International-England).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last month, leading NAU researchers and scholars were honored for their exemplary work over the past year during the 2016 Research and Creative Activity Awards. Each academic department\u00a0nominated\u00a0up to one eligible individual\/work for each of the award categories. Nominations were\u00a0made through department chairs and directors. Awardees of each category received a $1,500 discretionary fund which…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":44157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[44,38,623,24,937,1485],"class_list":["post-44088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics","tag-higher-education-technology","tag-nau","tag-nau-research","tag-northern-arizona-university","tag-research","tag-vp-of-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}