Recent achievements for the campus community were earned by Kristen Blankley, Eve Brank, Jason Griffiths, Paul Kononoff, Jae Sung Park, Daren Redfearn, Sadia Sharmeen and the Nebraska Collegiate Prevention Alliance.
Honors
Eve Brank, Aaron Douglas Professor of Psychology and director of the Center on Children, Families and the Law, earned the distinguished service award from the American Psychology-Law Society. The award recognizes members who have contributed exceptional professional service to the society and/or the field of legal/forensic psychology. Brank primarily focuses on the way the law intervenes (and sometimes interferes) in family and personal decision-making.
Jason Griffiths, associate professor of architecture, earned a 2025 Architectural Education Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. The awards honor architectural educators for exemplary work in areas such as building design, community collaborations, scholarship and service. Griffiths received a Design-Build Award, which honors the best practices in school-based design-build projects. He was honored for “BLIND,” a prairie dog observation structure in Ogallala, Nebraska.
The Nebraska State Dairy Association named Paul Kononoff, professor and dairy nutrition Extension specialist in the Department of Animal Science, as the 2024 recipient of the Philip H. Cole Industry Person of the Year award. The award recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to advancing the Nebraska dairy industry through leadership, innovation and dedication. The NSDA will formally present Kononoff with the award at its annual meeting and tradeshow Feb. 25 in West Point, Nebraska.
Jae Sung Park, McNeel Associate Professor of Engineering, received the Rising Star of Mechanical Engineering award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The award honors early career engineers who are advancing the engineering profession and inspiring the next generation of engineers. Park, an expert in fluid mechanics, was honored at the 2024 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in November 2024 in Portland, Oregon.
Sadia Sharmeen, a doctoral student studying chemistry, received a student excellence award from the Chinese American Chromatography Association. The selection process is based on research accomplishments and innovations, the number of publications and their impact, and the service record to the scientific community. The award includes a plaque and a travel grant of $500. Both will be presented at the association's dinner networking event in Boston, Massachusetts, later this year.
The Nebraska Collegiate Prevention Alliance received a 2024 MarCom Platinum award for its work on its "Make it About You" social media campaign, developed in partnership with Epicosity. The MarCom Awards are an international creative competition that recognizes outstanding achievements by marketing and communication professionals. MarCom’s Platinum Award is presented to entries judged to be among the most outstanding in the competition. Platinum Winners are recognized for their excellence in terms of quality, creativity and resourcefulness. The Nebraska Collegiate Prevention Alliance is housed in the College of Education and Human Sciences' Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences.
Appointments
Daren Redfearn, professor of agronomy and horticulture, and forage and crop residue specialist, was named a Crop Science Society of America Fellow and an Agronomy Society of America Fellow at the 2024 ASA, CSSA and Soil Science Society of America International Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, which took place Nov. 10-13. The fellow designation is the highest recognition bestowed by the ASA and CSSA. Redfearn has been a member of an Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources multidisciplinary team focused on enhancing and developing forage-based beef production systems.
Publications
Kristen Blankley, Henry M. Grether Jr., Professor of Law, has been added as an author to the fourth edition of the best-selling casebook "Dispute Resolution: Beyond the Adversary Model," published by Aspen. The casebook brings together the theoretical and the practical for dispute resolution teaching. Blankley brings her expertise in arbitration to the new edition.
This column is a regular feature of Nebraska Today. Faculty, staff and students can submit achievements to be considered for this column via email to achievements@unl.edu. For more information, call 402-472-8515.
