The university-level Faculty Excellence winners will be announced at the April 4 ceremony at 6 p.m. in the Schueck, McCarty, Lexicon Inc. Auditorium in the Engineering and Information Technology Building.

More information on the Donaghey College of STEM winners and excerpts from their nomination letters are below:

Faculty Excellence Award for Research and Creative Endeavors

Dr. Talburt is the director of the Information Quality Graduate Program at 糖心Vlog传媒 at Little Rock, a professor of information science, and Acxiom chair of information quality.

Talburt has been very active in scholarship over the past five years. He has played a major role in projects that involve graduate assistantships for master鈥檚 and doctoral programs, which provide great opportunities to students of those programs.

In addition to securing funded research grants, Talburt has historically published several research articles each year, often co-authoring with students and alumni to help 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock students establish research credentials. He has also given many presentations in campus and industry talks and conferences.

Faculty Excellence Award for Public Service

Dr. Siraj is an associate professor of chemistry at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. Siraj has served in numerous committees in the chemistry department, including the awards committee, the schedule committee, chemical safety committee, chemistry program technology committee, among several others. In addition to her service within the chemistry program, Siraj has also served in various university committees, such as the faculty senate honors and awards committee, the students research and creative works committee, and the college combination task force, among others.

Siraj has also been involved in professional and community service outside the university. The Central Arkansas American Chemical Society honored her with two prestigious awards in 2023; Central Arkansas Professor of the Year and Volunteer of the Year. Over the past five years, Siraj has mentored 22 middle and high school students for their science fair projects, three of whom have won awards at the Scientific Review Committee for International Science and Engineering Fair.

Siraj has played a significant role in the community by helping build pathways to STEM careers for underserved children in Little Rock, as well as encouraging students, especially female students, to follow their STEM-related interests.

Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching

Dr. Turner is an assistant professor of construction management and civil and construction engineering at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. Turner has exhibited great dedication to providing an enhanced educational experience to students within her program. In 2019, Turner secured two grants that significantly advanced teaching resources within her department.

Turner employs an innovative approach when it comes to teaching, integrating traditional lectures with interactive approaches and accommodating different learning styles. She strives to foster a positive educational environment of inclusivity where students feel heard and valued. Turner goes above and beyond for students by analyzing student feedback and adapting to their educational needs.

Faculty Excellence Award for Social Justice

Dr. Moore is the Learning Assistant (LA) program coordinator at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, the director of undergraduate research, as well as the director of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participants (LSAMP). When asked to lead LSAMP, the program had not had leadership for over a year. Moore worked hard to revive the program by recruiting more students to attend 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock as part of the LSAMP program cohort, and built a program that includes weekly activities such as career mentoring, professional training, and service opportunities.

The Learning Assistants program allows students who have recently completed a course to help the next group of students who take the class. During their first semester assisting in the classroom, LAs take a course on pedagogy to help them facilitate learning for other students. As Learning Assistants program coordinator, Moore has expanded the LA program participation from four to 12 faculty members who now use 35 LAs. Moore also partnered with Dr. Mark Baillie and Dr. Lundon Pinneo to write a grant which allows LAs to receive stipends for their leadership roles.

As director of undergraduate research, Moore has doubled the number of student applications for research grants. The diversity and number of students who have their research funded has vastly increased under his leadership.

Faculty Excellence Award for Rising Faculty

Dr. Ghosh is an assistant professor of engineering at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. Over the past two years, Ghosh has demonstrated his commitment to student success, teaching three courses each semester and performing well in all of them. Ghosh has joined the Mobile Institute of Scientific Teaching and Academy for Teaching and Learning Excellence in order to become an even more effective instructor, and has established a successful research and education program in thin film fabrication and characterization.

Ghosh is known for his team-player mentality, which has facilitated the establishment of research partnerships between universities and more. Currently, Ghosh is involved with two projects with faculty from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and Arkansas State University.

Ghosh is also very involved in supporting the research endeavors of undergraduate and graduate students with his mentorship, and several of his undergraduate mentees have received signature experience grants from 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock and Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship grants from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. These students have presented at the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Student Research and Creative Works Expo and received recognition for their work.

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The Sonntag Award was established in 1983 and is given to a society member or members authoring the best technical paper on solid lubricants published by the society in the year preceding.

鈥淭he Al Sonntag Award is a very prestigious award,鈥� Ghosh said. 鈥淚 am very honored to receive this award along with my co-authors.鈥�

Ghosh wrote the paper while he was earning his Ph.D. at the University of Arkansas. His co-authors include Nathaniel Harris, senior graduate assistant, University of Arkansas; Neda Mahmoudi, research and development engineer, SurfTec LLC; Dipankar Choudhury, staff medical device engineer, Dexcom; Josue Goss, research scientist, University of Arkansas; Samuel Beckford, founder and CEO, SurfTec LLC; and Min Zou, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering, University of Arkansas

Ghosh and his co-authors published the paper, “Improving the Tribological Performances of PDA鈥�+鈥塒TFE Nanocomposite Coatings by Hot Compaction,” in the journal 鈥淭ribology Transactions鈥� in 2021.

The award-winning paper studied the performance of compacted and noncompacted PDA and PTFE nanocomposite coatings on stainless steel substrates commonly found on cooking pots and pans. The research was supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the National Science Foundation.

After earning his bachelor鈥檚 degree in mechanical engineering from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology in Bangladesh, Ghosh moved to the United States to earn a master鈥檚 degree at the University of North Dakota. After graduating from the University of Arkansas, Ghosh joined 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock in 2022.

As a researcher, Ghosh is focused on materials and surface engineering in tribology, which is the study of the science and technology of interacting surfaces in relative motion and the application of friction, wear, lubrication, and related design aspects.

Ghosh was unable to receive the award in person during the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers annual meeting and exhibition on May 21 in Long Beach, California, as he and his wife Maia were celebrating the birth of their second child, a daughter named Maia Lynn.

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鈥淚 always liked to fix stuff and play with different machines,鈥� Ghosh recalls. 鈥淕oing into engineering seemed like the logical choice. In Bangladesh, you have to have very good grades and take an entrance exam to get into engineering school. I got lucky and loved every bit of it.鈥�

After earning his bachelor鈥檚 degree in mechanical engineering from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Ghosh moved to the United States to pursue his graduate education.

After experiencing a 鈥渨eather shock鈥� while earning his master鈥檚 degree in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Ghosh moved south to earn his Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas in 2017. He joined 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock last year.

鈥淚鈥檝e always been passionate about education and teaching so when the opportunity presented itself, we took advantage of it,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y son was just three months old when he moved here, and we thought it would be a great place to raise a family.鈥�

Ghosh and his wife Maia, an administrative manager at 糖心Vlog传媒MS, live in Benton with their 1-year-old son, Shayan.

At 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, Ghosh said his favorite part of being a professor is seeing how much his students are growing and learning.

鈥淚 love the day-to-day interactions with students, especially the seniors,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou see how much they have improved over the years and how much they have learned about engineering. It鈥檚 fulfilling to see how they have grown over the years. This is the best part of my job.鈥�

As a researcher, Ghosh is focused on materials and surface engineering in tribology, which is the study of the science and technology of interacting surfaces in relative motion and the application of friction, wear, lubrication, and related design aspects.

Now his engineering research is taking him to new heights with his current research focused on helping humans reach Earth鈥檚 celestial neighbor. He and a partner researcher at the University of Arkansas are working on developing a ceramic thin coating application to use on moon landers that will carry future astronauts to the moon.

鈥淚 work with biomimic materials and polymer composites and soft and hard coatings to further NASA鈥檚 space exploration,鈥� Ghosh said. 鈥淚 make some ceramic-based coating that can withstand the temperature differentiate (-120鈩�) for moon landers.鈥�

Ghosh鈥檚 advice for students who want to become engineers is to consider how they can use engineering to make a positive impact in the world.

鈥淚 am always thinking about how our work can change people鈥檚 lives for the better,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople who become good engineers should become good people, and everything will follow. If you care about the people around you, you will be a good engineer.鈥�

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