As part of an ongoing series, we’re highlighting the contributions of URochester faculty.
Share your updates
Know of a faculty member receiving an award or honor? Contact us so we can help share the news.
University of Rochester faculty are leaders in their fields who are regularly recognized with 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 many and varied achievements.
David Figlio named to 2026 Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings
David Figlio, the Gordon Fyfe Professor of Economics and a professor of education at the University’s Warner School of Education & Human Development, has been named to the 2026 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings. The annual list recognizes the top 200 US scholars shaping education policy and practice. The list is compiled by Frederick Hess, Education Week blogger and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Ranked 33rd overall for public impact, Figlio earned the highest possible score for scholarly impact. His research spans a wide range of education and health policy issues, including school accountability and standards, welfare policy and policy design, as well as the interrelationship between education and health.
A recognized leader in his field, he has been featured on this prestigious list every year since 2015. Read more about Figlio’s impact.
Melissa Heatly honored for mental health efforts in schools
Melissa Heatly, a professor of psychiatry, received the 2025 School Mental Health Champion Award from the National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH).
Heatly was honored for statewide initiatives, including the Expanded School Mental Health program, which NCSMH identified as a national model. The effort has trained more than 1,700 educators in 80-plus districts, engaged more than 700 mental health professionals, and assisted with more than 5,000 school-based referrals.
Two Simon finance professors nab ‘best paper’ prizes
Joseph Kalmenovitz, an assistant professor of finance with the Simon Business School, received the 2025 Brattle Group Prize in Corporate Finance at the annual meeting of the American Finance Association, the premier academic organization for the study and promotion of knowledge about financial economics. The prize is awarded annually for outstanding academic papers in the field of corporate finance. Kalmenovitz’s coauthored paper, titled “Regulatory Fragmentation,” is forthcoming in The Journal of Finance.
Christian Opp, a professor of finance and the faculty director of the Simon Business School’s PhD program, received the Financial Research Association (FRA) conference’s 2025 Best Paper Prize for his coauthored paper “How (Not) to Identify Demand Elasticities in Dynamic Asset Markets.” Opp’s paper was selected from more than 800 submissions. The FRA conference highlights promising, cutting-edge papers and early-stage work in the areas of investments, corporate finance, behavioral finance, banking, financial institutions, liquidity, market microstructure, and consumer finance. The highly selective conference is one of the finance profession’s longest-running meetings.
Paige Lawrence and Alison Elder honored by Society of Toxicology
Paige Lawrence, professor and chair of environmental medicine, the Wright Family Research Professor, a professor of microbiology and immunology, and the director of the Institute for Human Health and the Environment, received the Society of Toxicology Education Award, recognizing her outstanding contributions to teaching and training in toxicology.
Alison Elder, an associate professor of environmental medicine, received the society’s Translational Impact Award, honoring research that has advanced human and public health in areas of toxicological concern.
The awards will be presented at the society’s 2026 annual meeting in March.
Marc Porosoff to serve on Early Career Board for EES Catalysis
Associate Professor Marc Porosoff from the Department of Chemical and Sustainability Engineering was appointed to the Early Career Board of the journal EES Catalysis, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. EES Catalysis is a premier journal, publishing high-quality experimental and theoretical catalysis research for energy and environmental applications.
Porosoff leads a research program on catalyst development for sustainable conversion of CO2 into value-added products. His group integrates synthesis and in situ characterization with emerging techniques that leverage AI and novel mechanisms of energy transfer.
