Nashville's tumultuous spring weather upended plans for an in-person faculty assembly on April 3. Fortunately, those clouds came with a silver lining: Faculty will still have an opportunity to connect with colleagues and congratulate the spring award winners during the May 1 Faculty Senate meeting at 4:10 p.m. in the Faculty Commons. All attendees are invited to a reception immediately afterward.
Ten faculty members were honored with awards this season for their significant contributions through scholarship, research or creative expression. Below are the spring 2025 winners:
Christopher S. Williams, professor of medicine, received the Harvie Branscomb Distinguished Professor Award. This award recognizes faculty accomplishments that further the aims of the university through creative research, teaching and service.
Williams serves as the associate dean of physician-scientist programs at the School of Medicine and is a role model for Vanderbilt medical students and faculty. His work at the Williams Lab focuses on understanding how the epithelium responds to injury and how normal injury response processes are subverted in the development of malignancy.
Williams' clinic practice also works closely with the Veterans Administration, improving the health of our nation's veterans and setting an example for countless students, residents, fellows and faculty.
Deyu Li, professor of mechanical engineering, was this year's winner of the Joe B. Wyatt Distinguished University Professor Award, which recognizes faculty who develop significant knowledge from research or demonstrate exemplary innovations in teaching.
Li's pathbreaking research aims to enhance materials' capability to conduct heat. Through extraordinary and fundamental breakthroughs in thermal sciences, he is pushing the boundaries of energy and materials technologies at nanoscale. The resulting super-efficient radiative cooling approaches have the potential to revolutionize a wide range of engineering practices.
The National Science Foundation recognized the potential of Li's research with a Trailblazer Engineering Impact award, which enables researchers with a track record of innovative breakthroughs and unconventional hypotheses to pursue groundbreaking ideas in engineering.
Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy, won the Joseph A. Johnson, Jr. Distinguished Leadership Professor Award, which recognizes a faculty member who has proactively nurtured an academic environment where everyone feels valued and where multiple perspectives are celebrated.
Holley-Bockelmann is an astrophysicist and co-director of the nationally renowned Fisk-Vanderbilt Master's-to-PhD Bridge Program, which serves as a national model for identifying and fostering talented STEM scholars from all backgrounds.
Under Holley-Bockelmann's leadership, the bridge program is generating knowledge on how to admit and retain graduate students from atypical backgrounds. It's also revolutionizing STEM graduate admissions with holistic application review and interview procedures that have been adopted nationwide by many Ph.D.-granting departments. In 2022, she received the Mentor Award from the AAAS for her work with the program.
Jacob Sauer, principal senior lecturer in anthropology and the anthropology department's director of undergraduate studies, received the Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award for Excellence in Classroom Teaching.
Sauer teaches anthropology, and his passion for the topic inspires his students. He helps them grow by tailoring learning to their individual needs.
The students who nominated him noted that his class discussions help them "dig deeper into the material and view it from another perspective" and that Sauer is "fascinating to engage with-approachable, engaging and encouraging."
Gieri Simonett, professor of mathematics, received the Madison Sarratt Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
Simonett has 30 years of experience teaching at Vanderbilt, working with students to tackle mathematics, including challenging courses in multivariable calculus and linear algebra. Simonett shares his knowledge with the students in a fun and colorful manner. Students recognized his kindness and support as key elements to weathering the rigors of the class material. "Central to his class is the feeling that one is on a great adventure," one student nominator said.
Two awards recognize faculty members' commitment to mentoring undergraduate students. The opportunity for undergraduates to participate in research with world-class faculty is a defining experience at Vanderbilt. By engaging in the scientific process, becoming better learners, thinking critically, and generating, applying and disseminating knowledge, our students are gaining the tools they will need to make a difference in the world.
Daniel Fleetwood, Olin H. Landreth Chair in Engineering and professor of electrical engineering, received the Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award.
Fleetwood is the author of more than 600 publications on radiation effects in microelectronics, 13 of which have been recognized with Outstanding Paper Awards. These papers have been cited more than 30,000 times. In 2009, he received the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society's Merit Award, which is the society's highest individual technical honor.
According to the student nominator, Fleetwood fostered "an environment where I felt comfortable asking questions, proposing ideas and taking ownership of my projects." Fleetwood's support and encouragement advanced this student's research skills and opened doors to future collaborations and accomplishments.
This year, the chancellor recognized two faculty members with the Excellence in Immersion Mentoring Award, which honors faculty members who have been exceptional Immersion Vanderbilt mentors.
The first recipient, Kevin Galloway, is a research associate professor of mechanical engineering, director of DIVE and director of making at the Wond'ry.
Galloway strikes the perfect balance as a mentor, allowing students to take ownership of their projects while always being available as a resource. With his guidance, students feel empowered to explore, create and problem-solve. "His reminder that everyone faces challenges and that what matters most is perseverance was a turning point in my path," a student nominator noted.
Susan Verberne-Sutton, principal senior lecturer in chemistry, was honored as the second recipient of the Excellence in Immersion Mentoring Award.
The student who nominated Verberne-Sutton wanted to create resources for first-generation, low-income students at Vanderbilt. The student created the first faculty mentorship program for FGLI students, presented about the program at two national conferences, developed FGLI training and presentations for orientation leaders and launched a program for parents of FGLI students navigating college for the first time.
By working with Verberne-Sutton, her mentee successfully brought an idea to fruition that better equips FGLI students to contribute to the university's cultural and intellectual life and get the most out of their Vanderbilt journey.
Angel Anthamatten, associate professor of nursing, was honored as the recipient of the Innovation in Teaching: Instruction and Course Design Award.
Anthamatten's innovative, student-centered approach has transformed courses and improved student learning at the School of Nursing, making a notoriously difficult pharmacology course more case-based, developing new tools to assess student performance, providing early feedback and guiding students toward clinical competence.
Her most recent innovation uses an AI virtual simulation that allows students to practice skills. In interactive patient scenarios, students ask unstructured questions to an electronic patient and receive responses that are consistent with the flow of a typical clinic visit.
Jonathan Metzl, Frederick B. Rentschler II Chair, professor of sociology and of medicine, health and society, and chair of the Department of Medicine, Health and Society, received the Alexander Heard Distinguished Service Professor Award. The award recognizes scholarship that contributes to the analysis and solution of significant problems of contemporary society.
Metzl is among the nation's leading voices on gun violence prevention. His recent book, What We've Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms, reexamines the issue of commonsense gun reform.
In an interview with The Vanderbilt Hustler, he said, "Mass shootings are symptoms of bigger structural problems in our society, so I spend a lot of time in the book trying to develop a new model for how we can rebuild communities, rebuild a sense of safety in ways that are collaborative for people."
Metzl's analysis reveals mass shootings as a symptom of deep-seated national conflicts that shape our understanding of safety and freedom, while pointing us toward a solution for our collective failure.
