Category: Non-Tenure Track Faculty Award

Non-Tenure Track Faculty Research Excellence Award 2025

Scott Pippin, public service associate in the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, is a leader in applied research on community resilience, environmental policy, and infrastructure planning. He founded the Defense Community Resilience Program, a multidisciplinary initiative that strengthens military installations and surrounding communities through data-driven planning and policy strategies. His work has secured over $7.6 million in federally funded projects and has been instrumental in developing two 10-year Intergovernmental Support Agreements with the U.S. Army, totaling over $100 million in authorized funding. Pippin’s applied research has shaped policies on transportation networks, wastewater infrastructure, and flood resilience, influencing federal and state decision-making. His peer-reviewed publications, law review articles, and national presentations have earned recognition from the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Defense. A recipient of the Walter Barnard Hill Award for Distinguished Achievement in Public Service and Outreach, Pippin continues to advance impactful solutions for resilient communities.

Non-Tenure Track Faculty Research Excellence Award 2025

Jennifer Thompson, associate research scientist in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, is a leader in research on the social sustainability of agriculture and food systems. Her interdisciplinary and community-engaged scholarship advances knowledge and practice on the human dimensions of climate-smart agriculture, community food systems, and food systems education. Over her career, Thompson has secured funding on projects totaling over $105 million, including $7.5 million to UGA and over $3 million directly supporting her lab. As the lead social scientist on major USDA-funded sustainable agricultural projects, Thompson’s commitment to farmer engagement is producing unique insights that inform policy and outreach. An internationally recognized scholar, she has conducted research in France, Norway, Spain, and across the United States, publishing in top-tier journals. As a research mentor and past president of the Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition, Thompson fosters the future of sustainable agriculture and food systems scholarship.

Non-Tenure Track Faculty Research Excellence Award 2024

Soraya Leal-Bertioli, senior research scientist in the Department of Plant Pathology, is a preeminent scientist in identifying disease- and pest-resistance genes in wild peanuts (Arachis species) and breeding them into the cultivated peanut, Arachis hypogea. While wild species have strong resistances, they also have many undesirable traits, making them unsuitable for modern production. To solve this problem, Leal-Bertioli uses molecular markers to tag the genomic regions conferring resistances. Her research is enabling the development of higher-yielding and more profitable peanuts that require fewer agrochemicals for Georgia and the southeastern U.S. while contributing to food security for Africa and Central America’s vulnerable populations. The reach, breadth, and depth of Leal-Bertioli’s work enable the use of many sources and types of resistance; she is starting to register cultivated peanut-compatible plants with wild-derived resistance genes and make them publicly available so other institutions can use these materials, bringing more wild diversity into breeding programs worldwide.

Non-Tenure Track Faculty Research Excellence Award 2024

Lydia Aletraris, associate research scientist in the School of Social Work, has made remarkable contributions to research innovation with a profound impact on the fields of social science and human trafficking. She is coordinator of the Prevalence Reduction Innovation Forum (PRIF) within the Center on Human Trafficking Research & Outreach at UGA. This U.S. Department of State-funded initiative aims to improve the science of human trafficking estimation. Aletraris’ leadership skills are instrumental in providing direction to the international PRIF teams that implement trafficking prevalence studies in six countries. She plays a vital role in developing standardized statistical trafficking indicators and definitions for researchers to use in prevalence estimation of populations that are hidden and hard to measure. Aletraris’ emerging work integrates her prior research on substance use by assessing substance-use problems of trafficking survivors. She has improved the clarity and reliability of trafficking research, propelled the field forward, and fostered community among scholars globally.

Non-Tenure Track Faculty Research Excellence Awards 2023

Robert L. Foster, senior lecturer in the Department of Religion, has received excellent reviews from major figures in his field for his innovative 2019 book, “We Have Heard, O LORD: An Introduction to the Theology of the Psalter,” published by Lexington/Rowman & Littlefield. It is one of only a few books in the last two centuries to explore various portraits of God within the 150 psalms of the Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible. Analyzing the original Hebrew text, Foster focuses on different psalmists’ rhetorical strategies, offering close, linear (canonical) readings with ultimate attention devoted to the divine subject. He shows how psalmists portray God’s character and God’s actions to persuade their respective audiences, whether that audience is human (preaching) or divine (prayer). Reviewers have especially praised the book for its readable style and accessible format, allowing Foster to communicate his ideas to both academic and non-academic readers.

Non-Tenure Track Faculty Research Excellence Awards 2023

Dehai Zhao, senior research scientist at the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, is among the top quantitative forest scientists in the world. A leader in forest biometrics, he focuses primarily on issues of tree growth and yield in intensive southern pine plantations. But his work covers a wide range of topics and approaches, including analyzing long-term experiments, assessing foundational biological and silvicultural concepts, and exploring and developing the frontiers of forest biometrics. Zhao has also served as a longtime associate editor for Forest Science, the premier global journal in his discipline. As he moves his research specialist’s discipline forward, he has produced a steady stream of more applied studies to address stakeholder questions and problems, helping improve silvicultural and management practices of southern pine and mixed-species forests. His strong record of externally funded research, scholarly publication and collaborative skills have influenced how millions of acres of forestland are managed. 

Non-Tenure Track Faculty Research Excellence Awards 2023

Earl “Bud” Cooper, clinical professor in the Department of Kinesiology, is a world leader in optimizing heat safety and sports through research, education and advocacy. He has demonstrated consistent research excellence since his arrival at UGA in 2008, successfully competing for extramural funding and publishing foundational studies on heat hazards for collegiate and high school athletes. The critical importance of work is best captured by the fact that Cooper has saved the lives of young athletes in Georgia and elsewhere. He led a six-year study that resulted in changing practice policies for high schools in Georgia in 2012, reducing potentially life-threatening heat illnesses by up to 60%. His research on modifying exercise based on WBGT (Wet Bulb Globe Temperature) metric has made Georgia the leader in this safety measure. Cooper’s research has been cited as critical evidence in guiding effective hot-weather sports participation policies in several states around the country and is cited in numerous national consensus statements.

Non-Tenure Track Faculty Research Excellence Awards 2023

Parastoo Azadi is the  associate director of the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center for service and training, as well as a senior research scientist and globally recognized expert in the field of glycoscience. With a rare breadth of expertise, she guides analyses of microbial, viral, plant and animal glycans, helping drive progress in glycobiology in academia and industry. For nearly three decades, Azadi has directed the world’s leading center for glyco-analytics techniques, the CCRC’s Analytical Services and Training Laboratory. She’s led multi-million-dollar efforts to develop improved tools for glyco-analytics, co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, and is principal investigator for the CCRC’s Department of Energy-funded Center for Plant and Microbial Complex Carbohydrates. At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, hers was among the first groups in the world to report on the sugar chain structure on SARS-CoV-2’s spike glycoprotein and later studied glycosylation differences in the five SARS-CoV-2 variants, including the highly transmissible Delta and Omicron strains.