Honoring Recent Award Recipients: September 2026
Northeastern University faculty continue to garner distinguished awards recognizing their impact across multiple fields. We are excited to introduce the latest group of award-winning Northeastern University scholars and the honors they have earned.
Dr. Bala Maheswaran, College of Engineering Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering and First Year Engineering Program, has been named a 2026 Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). Professor Maheswaran’s research focuses on experiential engineering education with an emphasis on technical design, energy systems, and medical engineering. Professor Maheswaran is the recipient of multiple honors from the ASEE, including the Northeast Section Outstanding Teaching Award and the Distinguished Educator and Service Award. Professor Maheswaran is also a founding member and program chair of the ASEE Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DSAI) Constituent Committee.
Dr. Alexander Ivanov, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the College of Science, has been awarded the SCIEX Microscale Separations Innovation Medal from the Society for Microscale Separations and Bioanalysis (SMSB). The accolade is presented annually for outstanding career achievements in the development of new methods, techniques and high-impact applications in the field of electrodriven separations. The SMSB is an independent, non-profit organization committed to promoting the development of microscale separations and their applications. Professor Ivanov was previously a postdoctoral fellow Northeastern’s Barnett Institute, where he now serves as a faculty fellow.
Dr. Adriana de Souza e Silva, Professor of Communication Studies in the College of Arts Media and Design, has been named an International Communication Association (ICA) Fellow for her contributions to the field. Professor de Souza e Silva’s research explores how engagement with mobile and locative media technologies shape urban mobility and interactions with public spaces, particularly how people engage with mobile technologies through location-based games and mobile media art. In addition to her role as faculty, Professor de Souza e Silva serves as Director of the Center for Transformative Media at Northeastern.
Dr. Louise Walker, Professor of History in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, has won the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize from the Canadian Historical Association for her book Debts Unpaid: Two Centuries of Trouble and Conflict in Mexico’s Economy,which illuminates how ordinary people fought for economic justice in Mexico from 1808 to 2008. Professor’s Walker’s work primarily explores Latin American history, social movements, natural disasters, and capitalism. Professor Walker’s previous work, Waking from the Dream: Mexico’s Middle Classes after 1968 won awards from multiple institutions including the Latin American Studies Association.
Dr. Casondra Sobieralski, Associate Teaching Professor of Art + Design at Northeastern University in Oakland, has won two awards for her experimental film Rasos with Wildflowers. Winning Best Documentary Short from the San Diego Independent Cinema Awards and Best Experimental Film from the LA Independent Film Channel Festival, Rasos with Wildflowers “uses a combination of digital video and audio material from traditional mid-summer festivals and digitized analog (35 mm) hand-processed film to document Lithuania’s intangible cultural heritage, reclaimed in modern times,” said Professor Sobieralski. Professor Sobieralski’s work focuses on designing immersive experiences that bring cultural heritage to life.
For more on Professor Sobieralski’s new film, you may read CAMD’s article here.
Dr. Gretchen Heefner, Chair and Professor of History in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, has won the annual Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. Professor Heefner’s research focuses on the history of the United States in the world, with a focus on militarization and the relationship between national security and the everyday. Professor Heefner’s latest book, Sand, Snow, and Stardust: How US Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments explores how the United States military gathered information about extreme environments since the 1940s.
Dr. Jenny Van Amburgh, Clinical Professor of Pharmacy and Health Systems Sciences in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences, has won the Distinguished Teaching Scholar Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. This honor recognizes outstanding academic pharmacy faculty engaged in and/or supporting scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Scholarly teaching involves identifying teaching challenges or opportunities, applying evidence-based educational strategies, systematically assessing outcomes, and sharing results for peer evaluation. Dr. Van Amburgh specializes in pharmaceutical care, diabetes, asthma, and cardiovascular health.
Dr. Yun Raymond Fu, College of Engineering Distinguished Professor and Associate Chair for Research, Electrical and Computer Engineering, jointly appointed in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, has been selected to receive the 2027 Kiyo Tomiyasu Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). This prestigious honor recognizes outstanding early to mid-career contributions to technologies holding the promise of innovative applications. Professor Fu’s research explores computer vision, machine learning, and human-ai interaction. Professor Fu is also a successful entrepreneur having been founder and CEO of AI startup Giaran which was acquired by Shiseido in 2017.
Dr. Rupal Patel, Professor jointly appointed in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences and Khoury College of Computer Sciences, has been named a 2026 Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Fellowship is one of ASHA’s highest honors, recognizing outstanding contributions to the discipline of communication sciences and disorders. Professor Patel directs the Communication Analysis and Design Laboratory (CadLab), an interdisciplinary group researching speech production and the design of novel human-machine communication interfaces, and is the founder of VocaliD, a venture that builds personalized synthetic voices for individuals who rely on assistive speech technology
Additional information on upcoming awards opportunities can be found via the Honorific Awards Initiative SharePoint site.
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