National and international organizations are recognizing Rochester faculty members for their work.
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University of Rochester faculty regularly earn regional, national, and international awards and honors for their professional contributions to research, scholarship, education, and community engagement.
As part of an ongoing series, we’re spotlighting their accomplishments.
Olga Astapova recognized with Early Career Innovator Award
Olga Astapova, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism, accepted the inaugural Molecular Human Reproduction (MHR) Early Career Innovator Award for “research that exemplifies the innovation, dedication, and rigor that propel the field of reproductive sciences forward.” The honor recognizes young researchers who publish original research articles as part of the Early Career Innovator Series.
Astapova’s lab focuses on the mechanisms of androgen actions in the ovary and ultimately improving the management of female fertility and ovarian hormone balance.
Janet Berlo wins award for best art history book
Janet Berlo, a professor emerita in the Department of Art and Art History, has won the Charles Rufus Morey Book Award the best book in art history for Not Native American Art: Fakes, Replicas, and Invented Traditions (University of Washington Press, 2023). Established in 1953 by the College Art Association, the prize is awarded annually and named in honor of one of the first teachers of art history in the United States who was a founding member of the CAA. Find the list of 2025 CAA award recipients.
Following decades of research and interviews with curators, collectors, restorers, Native artists, and replica makers, Berlo’s book traces the historical and social contexts of forgeries, imitations, replications, and appropriations by both Native and non-Native makers. Berlo, an expert on Native American art and visual culture, seeks answers in the gray areas, acknowledging that what constitutes “genuine” versus “fake” —when it comes to Native American identity and Native objects—frequently becomes murky.
- Read more about Berlo’s work and the problem with “fake” Native American art.
William Bridges awarded NEH fellowship
William Bridges, an associate professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship to conduct archival research and write a monograph about the history of modern Japanese literature and its connection to Black studies, Asian American studies, and Latinx studies. The monograph, titled The Black Pacific: A Poetic History, has been invited for review by the University of California Press.
This latest recognition comes on the heels of Bridges receiving a Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellowship spanning three years.
- Learn more about Bridges’ background and approach to teaching.
Sara Gazarek receives Grammy Award
Sara Gazarek, a professor of jazz voice at the Eastman School of Music, won a Grammy for Best Arrangement, Instrument and Vocals, for the album Alma by säje. Gazarek is a founding member of säje, an all-female vocal ensemble.
It is the second Grammy in consecutive years for säje. The ensemble was also recognized in 2024 with a Grammy for Best Arrangement, Instrument and Vocals, for In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.
- Find out more about Gazarek and other Eastman musicians who were honored at the 67th Grammy Awards earlier this month.
Paper by Alex Iosevich draws more accolades
A paper coauthored by Alex Iosevich, a professor of mathematics, has received a Frontiers of Science Award from the International Congress of Basic Science (ICBS). This is the second honor for the paper, titled “On Falconer’s distance set problem in the plane,” which also received a nod for Best Paper Award in Mathematics from the International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians.
The Frontiers of Science Award was inaugurated in 2023 under the auspices of the International Congress of Basic Sciences (ICBS) and is sponsored by the City of Beijing and the Yanqi Lake Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Application (BIMSA). The FSA is awarded to a recent paper recognized for a major breakthrough in its field. Iosevich and other FSA recipients are invited to the ICBS to accept the award in person in July 2025 in Beijing.
- Learn more about Iosevich’s research on his faculty page.
Jennifer Kruschwitz elected as Optica fellow
Jennifer Kruschwitz, an associate professor of instruction at the Institute of Optics and senior scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, has been elected a fellow member of Optica by the society’s board of directors. Fellow membership in Optica is limited to no more than ten percent of the membership and is reserved for members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics.
Kruschwitz was honored “for significant and pioneering contributions in optics education, outreach, society service, and leadership.” She has been instrumental in the development of the Institute of Optics’ Hybrid Optics Master’s Education (HOME) program, designed to accommodate the busy schedules of working professionals and remote learners from around the world.
- Find the list of new fellows on the Optica website.
Hochang Benjamin (Ben) Lee awarded visiting professorship
Hochang Benjamin (Ben) Lee, the John Romano Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, received the 2024 Visiting Professor Award from the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.
Nominated by his former trainee Dimitry Davydow at the University of Florida (UF), Lee visited in February to mentor junior faculty and consult on initiatives to expand psychiatric services at UF Health Shands Hospital and Children’s Hospital. Lee is a fellow of the ACLP, a professional organization that provides leadership in education, research, and advocacy to advance integrated psychiatric care for the medically ill.
- Learn more about Lee’s work on his faculty page.
Susana Marcos receives the 2025 Edgar D. Tillyer Award
Susana Marcos, the David R. Williams Director of the Center for Visual Science, the Nicholas George Professor in Optics, and a professor of ophthalmology at Rochester, was selected as the 2025 recipient of the Edgar D. Tiller Award by Optica. The award is presented to an individual who has performed distinguished work in the field of vision, including but not limited to the optics, physiology, anatomy, or psychology of the visual system.
Marcos was honored “for contributions to our basic understanding of the effect of the eye’s optics on vision including the passage of light through the cornea and lens and into the photoreceptors where vision begins.” She is a pioneer in the development of new techniques for the evaluation of the eye, including retinal imaging instruments, aberrometers, adaptive optics, anterior segment imaging of the eye and intraocular lens designs.
- Read about Marcos’ research using artificial intelligence to bring clarity to LASIK patients facing cataract surgery.
Tricia Shalka’s book named an outstanding publication
Tricia Shalka’s book Cultivating Trauma-Informed Practice in Student Affairs has been awarded the 2025 NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) Faculty Council Outstanding Publication Award. She will receive the award in New Orleans in March.
Shalka, an associate professor of educational leadership at the Warner School of Education and Human Development, investigates the impacts of trauma on college students.
Xi-Cheng Zhang recognized for pioneering work
Xi-Cheng Zhang, the M. Parker Givens Professor of Optics, was named the 2025 Edwin H. Land Medal Recipient, presented jointly by Optica and the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T). The medal recognizes pioneering work empowered by scientific research to create inventions, technologies, and products.
Zhang was honored for advancements in terahertz photonics, transformative technologies impacting diverse industries, entrepreneurial success in commercializing THz tools globally, and dedication to mentoring future scientific leaders. Zhang has received 29 US patents, authored and coauthored 24 books and book chapters, 330 peer-reviewed papers, 500 colloquia, seminars, invited conference presentations, and 200 contributed conference talks.
- Find out about Zhang’s work to produce terahertz waves from liquid water.
