Established in 1973, this award is presented to scholars who bring broad academic interests; rigorous and innovative teaching methodology; and current, far-reaching knowledge to their classes. Their concern for students is evidenced by the individual attention they accord each student and by their commitment to helping students to enhance their scholarly and creative abilities and attain academic excellence.
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Professor in UB’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Sabrina Casucci, PhD, is committed to pedagogical innovations that engage students in meaningful learning experiences and create agile learning opportunities that take a continuous approach to understanding a subject. She worked with the assistant dean of digital education and UB’s Center for Industrial Effectiveness to develop the first course in her department to support both fully online, credit-bearing instruction and non-credit-bearing professional development. Over the past five years, she has taught 19 unique courses to everyone from first-year students to doctoral candidates. Having served on four UB and SUNY committees devoted to effective online teaching practices, she continues to incorporate new technologies and teaching pedagogies as well as open-ended, immersive assessments.
Department of Psychology
Professor in the Department of Psychology, Shira Gabriel, PhD, is a masterful teacher who is dedicated to mentoring students—including more than 150 in her lab over her two decades-plus at UB. In addition to higher-level courses, Gabriel has taught 31 sections of UB’s Introduction to Psychology course, sharing the fundamentals of the discipline with approximately 10,000 students. A highly skilled researcher, she has received widespread acclaim for her scholarship on social behavior and social connections. Her study of factors that impact an individual’s sense of belonging has been particularly relevant during the pandemic and, consequently, garnered significant media attention. Specifically, this scholarship describes how imagined connections—such as those with inanimate objects or fictional characters—can fulfill the need for social connection.
Department of Biochemistry
Professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry, Mark R. O’Brian, PhD, is a dedicated lecturer and instructor who excels in not only teaching a wide array of courses to all levels of students, but in administration and research as well. Since joining UB in 1988, he has taught continuously and has served as a course coordinator, director and new course developer in addition to presenting seminars in the MD-PhD Medical Scientist Training Program. Currently, he is helping lead the core curriculum design team in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences’ curriculum revision effort. His research program has been continuously funded since 1989, and he is currently the principal investigator on an NIH RO1 grant to explore how bacteria adapt to iron stress.
Department of Biological Sciences
Clinical associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Jessica Poulin, PhD, is a gifted teacher with an unparalleled dedication to mentoring and student engagement. To that end, she closely follows evidence-based literature on STEM pedagogy and updates her practices in response to emerging knowledge. Director of her department’s honors program, she has taken on leadership roles including chair of the General Education Curriculum Subcommittee on Scientific Inquiry. At the university level, she has articulated to the full faculty how to adapt pedagogical policies and practices to increase student retention and degree attainment. Collaborating with two other UB faculty members, she designed and created a practical simulation program that teaches concepts of evolutionary biology in a novel, engaging style.
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Atri Rudra, PhD, is an award-winning teacher and researcher in the study of theoretical underpinnings of computing, as well as its interaction with society. He is a leader in ethics education whose contributions in this area have helped shape both his department’s curriculum and his field. Coordinating an interdisciplinary team of 32 faculty members, he co-edited a comprehensive playbook that provides strategies to incorporate ethics into computing curricula. In addition to creating a new course that considers the societal implications of artificial intelligence, he is one of the few teachers nationwide to deeply incorporate societal considerations in the technical undergraduate course, encouraging students to explore real-life challenges to responsible computing in business and society.
