As the year draws to an end, a number of Schmid College faculty have been recognized on global lists of highly cited researchers. Dean Michael Ibba, Professors Yakir Aharanov, Daniel Alpay, Justin Dressel, Joshua Fisher, Gregory Goldsmith, John Howell, Andrew Jordan, Matt Leifer, Ramesh Singh and Gennady Verkhivker, and Presidential Fellow John (Jack) Horner are all on a list of highly cited researchers for the year 2023 produced by a researcher at Stanford University. Joshua Fisher also appears for the seventh year in a row on Clarivate’s list of Highly Cited Researchers. Each researcher selected for the list has authored multiple highly cited papers which rank in the top 1% by citations for their field(s) and publication year over the past decade. Of the world’s population of scientists and social scientists, Highly Cited Researchers are one in 1,000.

Professors John Howell (left) and Andrew Jordan (right) are among many Schmid faculty recently recognized on global lists of highly cited researchers.

Joshua Fisher, associate professor of environmental science and policy, is quoted in a CBS News story about the California wildfire season. “We’re seeing a lot more wildfires for a lot of reasons,” said Fisher. “The general climate change angle of things getting hotter and drier, but also, remember: we just came off a really wet winter, also related to climate change. So, this wet winter ended up growing up a lot of plants and vegetation that ended up drying out over the summer.” Two students in Fisher’s research group, Ryan Joshi ’25 and Annalise Jensen ’24, recently led a new study on the relationships between wildfire, drought and plant water use in New Mexico.   

Joshua Fisher’s ECOSTRESS research uses remote sensing to track the movement of wildfires.

Students in the research groups of Hagop Atamian and Jeremy Hsu, both assistant professors of biological sciences, recently presented at the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) national conference. Among those presenting were Tammy Bui ’25, Makaylee Dahms ’26, Grace Holick ’26, Borey Kong ’24, Molly Niswender ’26, Sophie Pell ’27,  and Joelle Prate (Ph.D. ’26). Bui won first place in the undergraduate biology education research competition and Pell won second place in the biology research competition. 

Students in Jeremy Hsu’s Biology Education Research Group recently presented at the National Association of Biology Teachers conference in Anaheim, CA.

The November/December issue of Diversity in Action magazine highlights the Schmid Summer Research Fellowship Program, including an interview with Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Christopher Kim and undergraduate student Miguel Olivas-Maldonado ’26. 

A recent Diversity in Action magazine article highlights the Schmid Summer Research Fellowship Program.

Finally, additional research studies newly published by faculty include: