Tsai, Smeltzer Recognized as Graduate Faculty of the Year
| May 11, 2017 | Pao-Feng Tsai, Ph.D., R.N., and Mark Smeltzer, Ph.D., were honored as Graduate Faculty of the Year on April 27 at the Graduate School Spring Reception, where the achievements of students and faculty mentors were also recognized.
“I can’t thank y’all enough for all that you do for graduate studies,” said Robert E. McGehee Jr., Ph.D., dean of the UAMS Graduate School. “We’re not the biggest program, and we’re not the smallest, but we are surely one with a big heart, and we certainly have the largest reach on campus, with faculty involved in all other colleges. We have a lot to be grateful for in the Graduate School.”
Each year the Graduate School awards Graduate Faculty of the Year award in basic science and another in a different field. The event was held in the Helen Guinn Adams Atrium in the Biomed 1 building. A reception preceded the award ceremony.
Mark Smeltzer, Ph.D., was also honored as Graduate Faculty of the Year.
Tsai is a professor in the College of Nursing. She holds the Alice An-Loh Sun Endowed Professorship in Geriatric Nursing. Her research interests include documenting behavioral indicators of chronic pain among patients with severe dementia and exploring the effects of Tai Chi on knee pain among patients with mild dementia.
“Tsai is a great mentor who has helped many a student through successful research and to graduation,” McGehee said.
Smeltzer is a professor in the College of Medicine Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Smeltzer has more than $14 million in current grant funding and has received more than $30 million in external grant funding to date. His current NIH funding ranks him 46th out of 993 microbiology faculty nationwide. A $10 million, five-year COBRE grant he received in 2012 to train junior faculty members in the area of microbial pathogenesis and host inflammatory responses has been renewed for an additional five years.
“I can’t remember one time over the last 24 years when he hasn’t had a student in his lab, and he’s also had more M.D./Ph.D. students through his lab than anyone on campus,” McGehee said.
Many students and faculty were honored at the event, which also featured a reception.
McGehee awarded the Bhuvan Award for Excellence in Biochemistry Graduate Research to, first place, Magdalena Delgado and Megan Reed; second place, Kimberly Cooney; and third place, Kirk West.
Several students were noted for their achievements during the spring semester:
- Tyler Alexander, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences, for selection to the 2017 Marine Biology Laboratory Summer Program in Neuroscience, Excellence and Success (SPINES)
- Frederico Kiffer, Pharmaceutical Sciences, for selection to the 2017 NASA Space Radiation Summer School at Brookhaven Labs
- Lascelles Lyn-Cook, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences, for selection in a Southern Regional Educational Board Doctoral Scholars Fellowship
- Megan Reed, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, for her first-place poster presentation in the 2017 UAMS Student Research Day, Graduate Student Division
- Magdalena Delgado, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, for her second-place poster presentation in the 2017 UAMS Student Research Day, Graduate Student Division
The following faculty were recognized with Mentor Awards for successfully mentoring Ph.D. candidates to graduation (student in parentheses):
- Samuel Atcherson, Ph.D. (Sarah Kennett, Communication Sciences and Disorders)
- Robert Eoff, Ph.D. (Maroof Zafar, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
- Jonathan Dranoff, M.D., Ph.D. (Haleigh Eubanks, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)
- Brent Gregg, Ph.D. (Megan Scott and Ashlen Thomasen, Communication Sciences and Disorders)
- Angela Green, Ph.D. (Pamela Trevino, Nursing Science)
- Charlotte Hobbs, M.D., Ph.D. (Daniel Webber, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)
- Anita Mitchell, Ph.D. (Elizabeth Sloan Davidson, Nursing Science)
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Graduate School Dean Robert E. McGehee Jr. welcomes everyone to the event.
Nannette Nicholson, Ph.D. (Ahmad Alanazi, Communication Sciences and Disorders)
- Paul Prather, Ph.D. (Lirit Franks, Pharmacology)
- Mark Smeltzer, Ph.D. (Danielle Atwood, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)
- Alan Tackett, Ph.D., and Kevin Raney, Ph.D. (Zachary Waldrip, Ph.D)
- Pao-Feng Tsai, Ph.D. (Kerry Jordan, Nursing Science)
- Patricia Wright, Ph.D. (Marcia Byers, Nursing Science)
- Giulia Baldini, M.D., Ph.D. (Tiffany Miles, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
- Eric Peterson, Ph.D. (Chris Bolden, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)
- Charles O’Brien, Ph.D. (Keisha Cawley, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)
The following students were recognized for awards from the spring semester:
- Ahmad Alanazi, Communication Sciences and Disorders, for a University of Arkansas at Little Rock Graduate Student Association Travel Award
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Faculty and students mingle at the reception.
Jessica Bailey, Cellular Physiology and Molecular Biophysics, for an American Society for Cell Biology Travel Award
- Chris Bolden, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences, for a scholarship to attend the Comprehensive Mouse BioMethods Workshop
- William Hyatt, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences, for a travel award to Behavior, Biology and Chemistry: Translational Research in Addition
- Daniel Meeker, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences, for winning Runner-up in the UAMS Three Minute Thesis
- Anqi Wan, Pharmaceutical Sciences, for winning third place at a poster presentation at the MidSouth Computaitonal Biology and Bioinformatics Society meeting and for a travel award to Behavior, Biology and Chemistry: Translational Research in Addition
- Catheryn Wilson, Interdisciplinary Toxicology, for a travel award to Behavior, Biology and Chemistry: Translational Research in Addition
