Faculty Highlights

UT faculty are leaders in their fields, making groundbreaking contributions to research, teaching, and service. From prestigious national awards and fellowships to innovative research that transforms industries and communities, UTK faculty continually set new standards for excellence. We are proud to highlight these accomplishments and celebrate their dedication to advancing knowledge and inspiring students. Explore their stories and discover the impact of their work, both on campus and beyond.

Collaboration Between UT and UTMC Could Revolutionize Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Researchers in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Tickle College of Engineering are using artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide treatment plans to breast cancer patients more quickly by analyzing pathology reports and other clinical records to determine how much breast cancer is in the body. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in Tennessee and…
Five UT Faculty Receive Fulbright Awards

Five faculty members at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville — Christopher Cherry, Virginia Corrigan, Bernard Issa, Hector Pulgar and Tong (Toni) Wang — have been selected to receive Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program awards for the 2025-26 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Fulbright U.S. Scholars are faculty,…
Raynor Honored with 2025 Medallion Award from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the world’s largest professional organization of nutrition and dietetics practitioners, with members representing over 112,000 credentialed practitioners, has awarded Hollie Raynor the 2025 Medallion Award. This award recognizes dedication to the high standards of the nutrition and dietetics profession through active participation, leadership and devotion to serving others in nutrition and dietetics, as…
Four Researchers Honored by AAAS as Lifetime Fellows

Four faculty members at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have been elected 2024 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. AAAS Fellows are elected to a lifetime appointment annually by their peers on the AAAS Council in recognition of their extraordinary achievements. Elected faculty are Professor Albrecht von Arnim of the Department of…
Kalinin, Melcher Named NAI Fellows

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Professors Sergei Kalinin and Chuck Melcher have been named fellows of the National Academy of Inventors, the organization announced Tuesday morning. NAI fellowship is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors and recognizes their exceptional achievements for contributions that have made a significant impact on innovation, economic development and society’s welfare.…
Vaidya Honored as UTRF’s Innovator of the Year

Uday Vaidya, UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair in Advanced Composites Manufacturing Professor, was honored as the Innovator of the Year at the 2024 UT Research Foundation’s Innovation Awards. Vaidya’s pioneering leadership in advanced composites and materials has transformed lightweight, high-performing materials, driving innovation across industries. Vaidya’s work has fostered impactful partnerships among academia, government, and industry to…
Nashville Housing Research Earns Geography Award

Professor Madhuri Sharma and co-author Mikhail Samarin (’23) from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are receiving the Wrigley-Fairchild Award for the best paper published in the Geographical Review in 2024. Their research examined the experience of immigrants in the Nashville housing market. In the Department of Geography and Sustainability, Sharma has been exploring why people live where…
Cottrell Scholar Award for Tova Holmes

Tova Holmes is a big fan of tiny particles. She’d like it if you were too. An assistant professor of physics, she’s won a prestigious Cottrell Scholar Award to help her move physics forward while inspiring a larger cheering section for all science. The Cottrell Scholar Awards recognize outstanding early-career teacher-scholars in chemistry, physics, and astronomy. Holmes is…
Bailey Named Tennessee State Forensic Nurse of the Year

Carrie Bailey, associate clinical professor in the College of Nursing, has been awarded the Tennessee State Forensic Nurse of the Year Award by the Tennessee Chapter of the International Association of Forensic Nurses. Bailey began her career as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) in 2014 at the Sexual Assault Center of Knoxville. Over the…
UT Researchers Receive NSF CAREER Awards for Science, Engineering

Two researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have received prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER awards to help them establish a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. Stephanie Kivlin, an associate professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Wei Wang, an assistant professor in the Department…