Two UT Dallas educators recently received the 2018 Provost's Awards for Faculty Excellence in Research Mentoring in recognition of their superior support and guidance to student researchers.
Dr. Robert Gregg, assistant professor in bioengineering and mechanical engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, received the award for undergraduate research mentoring, while the honor for mentoring graduate students went to Dr. Suresh Radhakrishnan, professor of accounting and information management in the Naveen Jindal School of Management.
Provost Inga Musselman (left) presented the award for mentoring graduate student researchers to Dr. Suresh Radhakrishnan.
“Bobby Gregg and Suresh Radhakrishnan are outstanding examples of faculty who not only have highly productive research programs but also generously share their time and expertise with students,” said Dr. Inga Musselman, provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Radhakrishnan is the Constantine Konstans Distinguished Professor of Accounting and Corporate Governance and the research director of the Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance in the Jindal School. His research interests include valuation of intangible assets, performance evaluation, contracting, the impact of corporate governance and the value of corporate social responsibility.
Radhakrishnan has chaired 14 dissertations, co-chaired eight others and served on the dissertation committees of 16 other students since joining the faculty in 1999. According to his nomination materials, Radhakrishnan has been involved in the dissertations of about half of the students who have graduated from the accounting doctoral program since its inception.
He won the Jindal School’s Outstanding Graduate Teacher of the Year award in 2001 and 2007, and also has earned teaching awards at New York University and Rutgers University.
“In the process of guiding students, I learn from their novel and different ways of thinking about issues and problems,” Radhakrishnan said. “The new topics and issues that they propose to examine in their research help me explore new areas in my work as well.”
Dr. Robert Gregg was recognized for mentoring undergraduate researchers.
Gregg joined the UT Dallas faculty in 2013 and was appointed Fellow, Eugene McDermott Professor in April. His research on high-performance lower-body prosthetics and orthotics has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
More than 40 UT Dallas undergraduates have worked in his Locomotor Control Systems Laboratory, and he also has mentored students visiting from international universities. Several of Gregg’s undergraduates have been co-authors of peer-reviewed journal articles, an accomplishment that stands out on graduate school applications.
“I am constantly impressed by the talent of the undergraduate researchers in my lab,” Gregg said. “They often bring technical skills from hobbies or past training experiences, making them instantly productive members of my group. When they don’t already have a particular skill, they are able to pick it up very quickly with a little help from graduate student mentors, or no help at all. Pretty much every single robot in my lab was designed with significant contributions by UTD undergraduate researchers.”