SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities
Established in 2002, this award recognizes outstanding academic and creative achievements across a broad spectrum of scholarly and artistic fields. The award recipients are faculty members who consistently go above and beyond their teaching and professional duties to make extraordinary contributions to their respective fields.
2023-24 Honorees
Liise K. Kayler
Department of Surgery
Liise Kayler, MD, is a clinical professor in the Department of Surgery. Internationally renowned for her expertise in renal transplantation, she focuses her scholarly pursuits on both determining the factors that make a kidney ideal for successful transplant procedures and improving access to transplantation for patients, particularly those from medically underserved populations. A recipient of the Bronze Medal of Honor from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, she is the co-PI on a $2.6 million National Institutes of Health RO1 grant to increase live donor kidney transplantation through video-based education and mobile communication. She co-founded and is president of the New York Center for Kidney Transplantation, a statewide collaborative to enhance the quality of kidney transplant services.
A-Z
Blaine A. Pfeifer
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Blaine Pfeifer, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. A fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a global leader in the field of metabolic engineering in bacteria, his research approaches broad areas within biological engineering, including the production of small-molecule natural products, new vaccine development and delivery vehicles to enhance vaccine potency. A prolific author, Pfeifer has published 115 articles and five book chapters, and has been awarded one U.S. patent. Currently, he is a principal investigator on two National Institutes of Health grants totaling more than $4.4 million. Pfiefer is also an excellent teacher and mentor who emphasizes student development, research translation, and entrepreneurial activities.
Michael Rembis
Department of History
Michael Rembis, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of History and director of UB’s Center for Disability Studies. An interdisciplinary historian working in the fields of disability history and the history of medicine, he is praised by his peers for developing, and bringing broad recognition to, the study of disability history. Specializing in 19th- and 20th-century U.S. history, he studies the history of institutionalization, madness and eugenics. His analyses have transformed his field by considering disability as a social construct and using innovative methodologies to explore the lives of people with disabilities. His work has been instrumental in establishing an entirely new field of historical analysis, and in defining its scope and sources.
Tarunraj Singh
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Tarunraj Singh, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society for Mechanical Engineering and a recipient of the prestigious von Humboldt fellowship, he is an international authority in dynamics and controls. This broad area of study allows him to explore topics as diverse as forecasting, uncertainty quantification, and robust controller design. His research has applications that are equally wide-ranging—from tumor motion estimation for radiation therapy to blood glucose regulation for Type 1 diabetics to volcanic ash plume forecasting to autonomous robots to acoustic metamaterial and precision motion control. He is the author of one book and 300 peer reviewed papers.
Michal K. Stachowiak
Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences
Michal Stachowiak, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences. Within the neuroscience community, he is one of the world’s leading researchers on fibroblast growth factor signaling. Investigating brain neuroscience at the molecular and cellular levels, he has generated a new evidence-based theory of the integrated genome function in ontogenesis—the development of an individual organism from the earliest stage to maturity. He has made several seminal discoveries and developed concepts to significantly influence our perception of the genome—its function, structure and regulation. His studies and theoretical considerations have advanced understanding of how the genome programs the development of nerve cells, including the malformations in neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and cancer.
Chi Zhou
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Chi Zhou, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. An international leader in the field of 3D printing, he is renowned for his creativity and innovation in the field. His research—leveraging modeling, optimization and simulation tools—has the potential to improve quality of life through the development of living tissues and organs, as well as energy storage and conversion devices. He has developed sustainable multi-stage 3D printing processes that significantly reduce energy waste and improve efficiency. Zhou is the recipient of a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award and the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.