Honoring Recent Award Recipients: November 2024

It is with great enthusiasm that we recognize six distinguished Northeastern University faculty members who have recently received prestigious honors for their outstanding contributions to academia and research. These achievements reflect the university’s commitment to groundbreaking research and academic excellence across diverse disciplines.

Dr. Vladimir Torchilin, University Distinguished Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Nanomedicine in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences, has been named the Laureate of the 2024 MRS-Serbia Award for a Lasting and Outstanding Contribution to Materials Science and Engineering. This prestigious honor recognizes his groundbreaking achievements in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Nanomedicine. His innovative research, reflected in over 450 scientific publications and more than 90,000 citations, continues to shape the future of drug delivery systems and pharmaceutical biotechnology.

Read more highlights about Dr. Torchilin’s work in Northeastern Global News.

Dr. Kim Lucas, Professor of the Practice in Public Policy and Economic Justice in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, has been appointed by Governor Maura Healey to the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care. Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler welcomed Lucas as an expert in the evaluation and assessment of successful preschool education programs. In this crucial role, she will help shape policies and regulations related to the state’s early education and care programs, contributing to Massachusetts’ nation-leading efforts in early childhood education reform.

Dr. Stine Grodal, Distinguished Professor in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business, has been awarded the 2024 Sage Publications/Robert McDonald Advancement of Organizational Research Methodology Award by the Academy of Management’s Research Methods Division. The award recognizes her paper “Achieving Rigor in Qualitative Analysis: The Role of Active Categorization in Theory Building,” published in the Academy of Management Review. Her innovative research methodology and insights into market emergence and evolution have transformed our understanding of entrepreneurship and organizational development.

Dr. Amanda Reeser Lawrence, Professor and Associate Director in Architecture in the College of Arts, Media and Design (CAMD), has been named the recipient of the Architectural Book of the Year 2024 for her book The Architecture of Influence: The Myth of Originality in the Twentieth Century. Her award-winning work challenges conventional thinking about creativity in architecture, proposing that every creative act involves some form of borrowing or adaptation. Through her scholarly work and publications, Lawrence continues to reshape our understanding of architectural history and its modern applications, demonstrating how innovation often emerges from reinterpreting existing ideas.

Dr. Albert Laszlo Barabasi, Dodge Professor and University Distinguished Professor in Physics and Network Science in the College of Science, has been awarded the prestigious Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award from the Gothenburg Physics Centre for his “fundamental contributions to the statistical physics of real-world networks and the revolutionary insight that they are a result of growth by preferential attachment.” Earlier this year, Barabasi was also elected to the National Academy of Sciences. As Barabasi notes, network science has revolutionized multiple fields, from network medicine and pathogen forecasting to the algorithms driving internet and social media. His pioneering work demonstrates how network science principles can address complex challenges across disciplines.

Read more about Dr. Barabasi’s work Northeastern Global News.

Dr. Juner Zhu, Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in the College of Engineering, has been selected as one of three recipients of the 2024-2025 ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship. This prestigious fellowship, a partnership between The Electrochemical Society and Toyota Research Institute of North America, supports innovative green energy technology research with a $50,000 grant. At the helm of the Electro-Chemo-Mechanics Lab, Zhu’s work represents crucial advances in sustainable energy solutions and battery technology.

hese honors exemplify Northeastern University’s continued leadership in research and innovation across diverse academic disciplines. Each award and appointment represents not just individual achievement, but our collective commitment to advancing knowledge and fostering positive change in society. Through their work, these faculty members demonstrate the impact of combining rigorous research with practical applications to address real-world challenges. Join us in congratulating these exemplary faculty members on their outstanding accomplishments.

Additional information on upcoming awards opportunities can be found via the Honorific Awards Initiative Teams link.

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