Newly tenured UTSA faculty recognized for research excellence

NOVEMBER 4, 2024 — Eight UTSA faculty members have been selected to receive the Lutcher Brown Endowed Fellowship for the 2024-2025 academic year. The fellowships, which are awarded annually by the UTSA Office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, recognize newly tenured faculty for their innovative research and their commitment to the academic success of their students.  

Binay Adhikari, Miltos Alamaniotis, Ibukun Awolusi, Lindsey Macpherson, Alan Meca, Pablo E. Requena, Vanessa Sansone and Wei Wang were selected to receive the one-year honorific fellowships for FY 2025. 

The fellowships will provide the faculty members with substantial funding to bolster their research programs.  

“These faculty embody the innovative research and impactful teaching that define UTSA’s academic community,” said Heather Shipley, UTSA provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “The Lutcher Brown Fellowships recognize their contributions and provide important support to advance their research and enhance the success of their students. I’m excited to see how their work will continue to shape their fields and further elevate the academic experience at UTSA.”   

“These faculty embody the innovative research and impactful teaching that define UTSA’s academic community.”

Miltos Alamaniotis

Alamaniotis is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and an affiliate faculty member with the UTSA Cyber Center for Security and Analytics and the UTSA Texas Sustainability Energy Research Institute. He also directs the UTSA Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab. His research focuses on the development of AI and machine learning methods applied to intelligent energy systems, electric power grids, nuclear energy systems, nuclear security and nonproliferation. The fellowship funding will equip him with resources to expand his work in the U.S. and internationally. 

Ibukun Awolusi

Awolusi is an associate professor in the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, and Construction Management and division leader of the Construction Science and Management program. His research interests include construction safety and health, automation and robotics, technology integration in construction, and sustainable materials and infrastructure. He serves as principal investigator and director for the UTSA Safety Innovation and Sustainable Infrastructure Lab. The fellowship will support his transdisciplinary research and help him expand mentoring, research and professional development opportunities for his students. 

Alan Meca

Meca is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology. His research examines identity development across multiple domains, cultural identity development among racial and ethnic minorities, and acculturation and cultural stress among immigrant populations. He directs the Team on Acculturation, Risk, and the Development of Identity and Self (TARDIS) Lab, which studies identity development and uncovers links between one’s identity and their psychosocial functioning, risk behaviors and educational achievement. He plans to use the funding to support several research studies within the TARDIS lab and expand his understanding of identity development among Hispanic/Latine youth.  

Wei Wang

Wang is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science. His research focuses on computer systems, cloud computing, software engineering, applied artificial intelligence and computer science education. The fellowship will support his cloud- and AI-based research efforts to create better accessibility tools for people with disabilities, computer science education for students with vision impairments and smart health technologies to support the daily lives of people with Alzheimer’s disease.  

Lindsey Macpherson

Macpherson, an associate professor in the Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, specializes in sensory neuroscience, circuit mapping and functional imaging techniques. She directs the Macpherson Lab, where she and her team investigate the molecules, cells and signaling mechanisms involved in the sense of taste. The funding will help advance her research into how the synaptic connections of taste buds can be maintained or lost over time due to diet, age or disease.  

Pablo E. Requena

Requena is an associate professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. He is a linguist whose area of expertise lies in language acquisition, with an emphasis on Hispanic linguistics and how children learn grammar patterns in their native language. He intends to use the funding to produce an open-access monograph describing how children learn Spanish as a native language, including grammar patterns and variation across different dialects.  

Vanessa Sansone

Sansone is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. Her research examines college affordability, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and the impact of power structures and governance on the trajectories, experiences and opportunities of historically underserved students. The fellowship will help her build on the momentum of her current research and reach new audiences.  

Binay Adhikari

Adhikari is an associate professor in the Department of Finance. His research interests include corporate finance, financial markets and investments. He plans to use funding from the fellowship to boost his research efforts and his output of high-quality journal publications.   

Lutcher Brown Fellows are nominated by UTSA’s academic leaders and selected by the provost through a competitive process. 

UTSA currently has more than 90 endowed and named chairs, professorships and fellowships that recognize the university’s highest achieving faculty. The funding supports faculty scholarship and research activities and enables fundamental research experiences for their students. 

— Chloe Johnson