UF Research Foundation names 2020 professors

The University of Florida Research Foundation has named 33 faculty members as UFRF Professors for 2020.

The recognition goes to faculty who have a distinguished current record of research and a strong research agenda that is likely to lead to continuing distinction in their fields.

“Faculty chosen for UFRF Professorships have a proven record of research and scholarship and the potential for even more success in the future,” said David Norton, UF’s vice president for research. “UFRF Professors continue to earn significant grants; publish in the leading journals in their field; assume university leadership positions; and commercializing their discoveries.”

The UFRF Professors were recommended by their college deans based on nominations from their department chairs, a personal statement and an evaluation of their recent research accomplishments as evidenced by publications in scholarly journals, external funding, honors and awards, development of intellectual property and other measures appropriate to their field of expertise. The professorships run for three years.

“It is this selection by their peers that makes the UFRF professorships so special,” Norton said. “The colleagues nominating them highlight the innovative nature of the nominee’s research and express high expectations about what they will achieve in the future.”

This year’s UFRF Professors are listed below:

College of the Arts

  • Angelos Barmpoutis, Associate Professor of Digital Arts and Sciences

Warrington College of Business

  • Robert Knechel, Professor of Accounting

College of Dentistry

  • Mary Ellen Davey, Associate Professor of Oral Biology

College of Design, Construction and Planning

  • Hui Zou, Professor of Architecture

College of Education

  • Corinne Huggins-Manley, Associate Professor of Education

Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering

  • Richard Hennig, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
  • Prabhat Mishra, Professor of Computer & Information Science & Engineering
  • Ghatu Subhash, Ebaugh Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Florida Museum of Natural History

  • Robert Guralnick, Associate Curator of Biodiversity Informatics

College of Health and Human Performance 

  • Elisabeth Barton, Professor of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology

Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

  • Donald Behringer, Associate Professor of Forest Resources and Conservation
  • James Collins, Professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition
  • James Ellis, Professor of Entomology and Nematology
  • Robert Fletcher, Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
  • Zhenli He  Professor of Soil Fertility and Environmental Chemistry
  • Gary Vallad, Associate Professor of Plant Pathology 

College of Journalism and Communications

  • Cynthia Morton Padovano, Associate Professor of Advertising

Levin College of Law

  • Lea Johnston, Professor of Law

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

  • James Essegbey, Associate Professor of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
  • Abigail Fagan, Professor of Sociology, Criminology and Law
  • James Hamlin, Associate Professor of Physics
  • David Leavitt, Professor of English
  • George Michailidis, Professor of Statistics
  • Leslie  Murray, Associate Professor of Chemistry

College of Medicine

  • William Hogan, Professor of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics
  • Brian Hoh, Professor of Neurosurgery
  • Peter Kang, Professor of Pediatrics
  • Jennifer Miller, Professor of Pediatrics
  • Rolf Renne, Henry E. Innes Professor of Cancer Research 

College of Nursing

  • Diana Wilkie, Professor of Biobehavioral Nursing Science

College of Pharmacy

  • Jatinder Lamba, Professor of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research

College of Public Health and Health Professions 

  • Tara Sabo-Attwood, Associate Professor of Environmental and Global Health

College of Veterinary Medicine

  • Mansour Mohamadzadeh, Professor of Infectious Diseases & Immunology