UALR associate professor and scientist Dr. Margaret “Beth” E. McMillan was honored for her dedication to preparing future scientists for cutting-edge careers. She recently revised lab exercises and projects and encouraged the learning of her students by placing each one in the role of a newly hired professional completing assigned tasks as if part of his or her duties. McMillan received a $10,000 monetary award.

Dr. Nidhal Bouaynaya, assistant professor in the Department of Systems Engineering, won the $5,000 Faculty Excellence Award in Research sponsored by the UALR Society of Philanthropy. Dr. Bouaynaya is a principal investigator of a million-dollar National Institute of Health research award and seeks to develop better methods for intervening in living organisms when they have gone awry.

Dr. Nancy Landrum, associate professor of management, won the $5,000 Faculty Excellence Award for Public Service sponsored by PepsiAmericas. She is committed to serving the community and developed UALR’s first undergraduate and graduate courses in sustainable business practices, in which students engage in service learning projects, along with teaching her students how to conduct sustainability audits and assessments and related market research for several Little Rock businesses and organizations.  

The celebration of UALR’s top faculty has been a tradition since 1988 when the university set aside an evening to honor the contributions and achievements of the faculty. The university winners, selected by a panel of national judges from college-level winners, were announced at a ceremony at the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall.

College-level winners were:
TEACHING
Dr. Margaret E. McMillan, College of Science
Dr. Judith A. Hayn, College of Education
Dr. Gaurav Kumar, College of Business
Dr. Stacy Caroline Moak, College of Professional Studies
Dr. Hirak Patangia, College of Engineering and Information Technology
Stacy M. Pendergraft, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Coleen M. Barger, William H. Bowen School of Law

RESEARCH
Dr. Nidhal Bouaynaya, College of Engineering and Information Technology
Dr. Ibrahim Duyar, College of Education
Joseph R. Bell, College of Business
Dr. Kwasi Boateng, College of Professional Studies
Dr. Tansel Karabacak, College of Science
Dr. David Mastin, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
Frances S. Fendler, William H. Bowen School of Law

PUBLIC SERVICE
Dr. Nancy Landrum, College of Business
Dr. Anarella Cellitti, College of Education
Amy O. Barnes, College of Professional Studies
William Jay Sims, College of Science
Dr. Angela Hunter, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Catherine Lowry, College of Engineering and Information Technology
Kelly Browe Olson, William H. Bowen School of Law

The evening will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a ceremony in the concert hall, followed by a reception in the Bailey Alumni and Friends Center. The event is free and open to the public.

The annual event celebrates the excellence of faculty in three categories – teaching, research or creative endeavors, and public service. Each UALR college and the Bowen law school nominated a faculty member, and an independent selection committee will choose three university-wide winners.

The winner of the Bailey Teaching Award will receive $10,000 from the Bailey Foundation. Winners of the Faculty Excellence in Research and in Public Service will receive $5,000 awards.

For more information, contact Marita McNair at 501.569.3204. The following is a list of the college-level nominees:

RESEARCH

Frances S. Fendler, Professor of Law
Ibrahim Duyar, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership
Kwasi Boateng, Associate Professor of Mass Communication
Joseph R. Bell, Professor of Management
Tansel Karabacak, Associate Professor of Applied Science
Nidhal Bouaynaya, Assistant Professor of Systems Engineering
David F. Mastin, Professor of Psychology

PUBLIC SERVICE

Kelly Browe Olson, Associate Professor of Law and Director of Clinical Programs
Anarella Cellitti, Associate Professor of Teacher Education
Amy Oliver Barnes, Assistant Professor of Mass Communication
Nancy E. Landrum, Associate Professor of Management
Wm. Jay Sims, Instructor of Earth Sciences
Catherine Lowry, Senior Instructor of Information Science and Coordinator of Information Technology Minor
Angela Hunter, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies

TEACHING

Coleen M. Barger, Professor of Law
Judith A. Hayn, Associate Professor of Teacher Education
Stacy Caroline Moak, Professor of Criminal Justice
Gaurav Kumar, Associate Professor of Accounting
Margaret E. McMillan, Associate Professor of Earth Sciences
Hirak Patangia, Professor of Engineering Technology
Stacy M. Pendergraft, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and Dance

If Dr. David Mastin had his way, all his students would practice better hygiene. Sleep hygiene, that is.

The Sleep Hygiene Index – a clinical instrument developed by Dr. Mastin that helps determine whether a person will face the day feeling refreshed or rundown – is now the standard in the field of psychology. The index is so useful in determining the effect of habitual behavior on a person’s sleep that it often predicts what kind of grade a student will receive.

In fact, the index has enormous potential to not only add to the current body of scientific knowledge, but also to improve the health and well-being of millions of people, according to Associate Professor of Psychology Robert F. Corwyn. “Sleep deprivation is a worldwide health, safety, and productivity concern that attracts substantial research funding and media attention,” said Dr. Corwyn. “The index and its success is a testament to Dr. Mastin’s creativity and penchant for asking good questions.”

Since his research was published in 2006 in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Dr. Mastin’s work have been cited in numerous scholarly and popular journals, including the 2009 Time magazine article, “Larks and Owls: How Sleep Habits Affect Grades.”

Inquiries continue to pour in from across the globe as the index has achieved national and international notoriety, setting a record for the number of languages into which the work has been translated. Whether India or Italy, Korea or Mexico, Dr. Mastin’s worldwide reach stems from a fundamental truth: no matter where on the planet we live, we function better by day if we get quality sleep each night.

Dr. Mastin’s instrument has been provided to NASA and the Environmental Conservation Industry and, more recently, the Sleep Hygiene Index is being translated into Formosan Mandarin for use in China and Taiwan with plans also for translation into Spanish. This year the index was added to a set of assessment tools offered to clinicians and researchers by the Scandinavian Company CheckWare, internationally renowned for their comprehensive research.

Dr. Mastin has a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi, an M.S. degree in applied psychology from Jacksonville State University, and a B.S. degree in psychology from the University of Alabama.

Shortly after coming to UALR from Rennsselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 2006, Dr. Tansel Karabacak set about creating new thin films in a nanostructures lab. The lab houses state-of-the-art fabrication and testing equipment, as well as computational tools for analysis and modeling studies.

Perhaps even more impressive, Dr. Karabacak’s group constructed most of the lab equipment by high international standards in order to meet specific requirements of his cutting-edge research, making maximum use of available start-up funds in the process.

The lab has attracted numerous local, national, and international scientists for collaborative research projects. It also provides research opportunities for graduate, undergraduate, and high school students in central Arkansas. Dr. Karabacak has collaborated with 17 faculty members at UALR and 25 national and international researchers.

Dr. Karabacak and his group of researchers recently received a $300,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant aimed at developing a new generation of fuel cells that are environmentally friendly. The team’s focus on new nanostructured polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell electrodes offers one of the most promising sources of alternative energy.

He will collaborate with the leader of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Materials Group at the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s largest national laboratories for scientific and engineering research. Importantly, the fabrication of the nanorod PEM fuel cell electrodes will be done in Dr. Karabacak’s lab.

He has also worked on projects with three companies and established connections with 15 program managers from federal agencies, by seeking research funding from such sources as the NSF, NASA, and the Department of Energy. Funding from various grant sources has totaled about $850,000.

“What stands out is the sustained excellence of his scholarly work,” said RPI Professor Nikhil Koratkar. “He shows exceptional promise for growth and continued productivity. He is a rising star and his future appears bright.”

Dr. Karabacak serves as chair of the American Vacuum Society Thin Films Division, the top ranking international organization for professionals in his field. He earned a Ph.D. and an M.S. degree from RPI’s Department of Physics.

Professor Frances Fendler’s 2012 one-of-a-kind law textbook, Closely Held Business Organizations, includes general partnerships, close corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, limited liability companies, and other hybrid entities.

In the short time it has been available, the textbook has had sales of more than 1,000 copies. In addition, 18 law schools are using the textbook, including the University of California, Hastings College of Law, as well as the 24th-ranked School of Law at Washington & Lee University.

Professor Fendler has also published Private Placements and Limited Offerings of Securities: A Guide for the Arkansas Practitioner, which bridges the gap between legal academia and practice and provides vital information for Arkansas legal practitioners in securities law.

In addition, Professor Fendler is the author of several scholarly and practitioner-focused legal articles. Among her contributions to Arkansas Lawyer, which is distributed to Arkansas bar members, is the 2011 article “Revising Arkansas LLC Law to Protect the Unrepresented,” co-authored with New Hampshire attorney John Cunningham.

The Limited Liability Co. (LLC) is the organizational choice of most small business operations in the state; however, Fendler and Cunningham make the case for legal reform, arguing that the imprecise and archaic language of the Arkansas LLC Act provides inadequate protection for the unrepresented layperson.

“She does a superb job of defending the nuanced position that LLC members should be allowed to alter fiduciary duties by contract but that there should remain a mandatory core of such duties that may not be eliminated,” said University of Houston Professor of Law Robert A. Ragazzo.

Professor Fendler also tackled the thorny issue of when a municipal bond is not a security in the Eleventh Circuit Court Case, Financial Assurance Security Inc. vs. Stephens Inc., which was published in the Securities Regulation Law Journal in 2008.

Even though it would not be unusual to relax after 25 years of work in her field, Fendler continues to contribute substantially as a faculty member of the Bowen School. Her colleagues admire her for possessing that rare combination of contributing works that are of interest to practitioners and scholars alike.

Professor Fendler received her J.D. and B.A. degrees from UALR.

In the last five years, Dr. Ibrahim Duyar has produced a book, refereed three book chapters, participated in six invited and refereed essays, refereed five journal articles, and written several grants—the equivalent of three high-quality publications per year.

In his research, Dr. Duyar has merged cross-cultural and interdisciplinary studies not often found in literature on educational leadership. Much of his effort concerns whether an embraced national culture can be a distinguishing factor in the tactics and targeted educational goals of two very different countries, namely the U.S. and Turkey.

“His work is the result of an inquisitive, visionary, and insightful mind, a keen knowledge of research methodology and its appropriate application,” said Dr. Anthony H. Normore of California State University, Dominguez Hills. “He possesses excellent writing skills and a desire and willingness to seek out new knowledge, meaning, and opportunity to improve education.”

So highly regarded is Dr. Duyar that Dr. Michael F. DiPaola, an eminent scholar in the field of educational leadership at the College of William and Mary, contributed the foreword to Dr. Duyar’s recent book, Discretionary Behavior and Performance in Educational Organizations.

In addition to his published work, Dr. Duyar is visible at major national and international conferences. In 2010, he was the recipient of the prestigious Outstanding Author Contribution Award at the Conference of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). He has also regularly presented and been a leader at the University Council of Educational Administration, International Educational Conference, and Conference of the American School Business Administrators.

His scholarly recognition is evident by his journal editorial board duties. Dr. Duyar serves on the editorial board of the Educational Administration Quarterly, and he is the associate editor of the British Journal of Educational Research and the Journal of Education.

His other achievements include mentoring faculty members and graduate students. Dr. Duyar presented with his doctoral students at the AERA conference and served as the academic liaison in 2010 for Dr. Elisabeth Goersdorf, a visiting scholar from Graz University, Austria.

Dr. Duyar completed a post-doctoral fellowship, Ph.D., and M.S. degree in educational administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and holds A.B.D., M.A., and B.S. degrees in educational administration and planning from Ankara University.

Think of a gene regulatory network as a robust neighborhood in which thousands of residents get along fairly well. Then imagine the disruption created when certain entities do not cooperate and intervention is required to bring order to the surrounding area.

That is the role Dr. Nidhal Bouaynaya steps into every day as she seeks to develop better methods for intervening in living organisms when they have gone awry.

“She has gained a well-earned national and international reputation for her unique expertise and exceptional research skills,” said Dr. Seshadri Mohan, chair of the systems engineering department. “I unreservedly believe her research work will continue to be beneficial to the global scientific and engineering communities.”

As principal investigator of a million-dollar National Institute of Health research award, Dr. Bouaynaya’s research on the human melanoma gene regulatory network proposes something rather novel—intervene just once and force the network away from metastasis into a benign cellular state.

Dr. Bouaynaya has also led a multi-campus, multi-state white paper proposal, which was recently selected among four top white papers in the state. The proposal will be considered for the prestigious National Science Foundation-Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. She is also serving as principal investigator for The Kathleen Thomson-Hall Charitable Grant, which proposes the creation of virtual Intensive Care Units to enable real-time patient data by using secure wireless body sensors from remote locations like disaster areas.

Her funded research work with undergraduate students, especially students from under-represented communities, has been crucial for retention and graduation. As a McNair Scholars’ mentor, she supervised the research progress in preparation for doctoral studies, and she has been principal investigator for five Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships.

Additionally, her research has resulted in new state funding, new collaborations, and numerous mentions in highly ranked journals, among them IEEE Signal Processing Magazine and Bioinformatics. She has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles, on topics such as signal and image processing. Her work has been cited more than 200 times, according to the Google Scholars citation index.

Dr. Bouaynaya received a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering and an M.S. degree in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She holds an M.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a B.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the National School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Telecommunications in France.

It has been said that the opportunity for growth in third-world countries will come from technological innovation and the adoption of new technologies. How a government manages emerging technologies has strong implications for its citizens, and nowhere is this more evident than in countries where access to even basic necessities is often fraught with challenges.

Perhaps no one is more aware of this fact than Dr. Kwasi Boateng, an associate professor in the School of Mass Communication, whose work gets to the very heart of how a global society communicates.

“His expertise in the area of social networking and open-source software provides a strong connection to his teaching,” said Dr. Olaf Hoerschelmann, director of the School of Mass Communication. “He has developed a substantial research agenda that reflects well on our School of Mass Communication and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.”

Dr. Boateng’s research has addressed key issues regarding the Internet and the National Communications Authority, a regulatory body in the small sub-Saharan country of Ghana. Dr. Boateng received his undergraduate degree from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana and knows firsthand the effects of local culture on broader societal issues.

In addition to teaching courses on Internet regulation and policy, Dr. Boateng shares his expertise with students who are interested in learning about web design, motion graphics, media, and culture. His students have built websites for nonprofit organizations using open-source content management systems, and they have organized workshops to introduce high school and middle school students to open source tools for online communication.

He is the author or co-author of numerous articles and works, including his 2010 publication, Joomla! Social Networking with JomSocial, which provides instructions on how to use a free content management system to develop a social network.

Dr. Boateng received a Ph.D. in mass communications, an M.A. degree in media management and an M.A. degree in international affairs from Ohio University.

Most economists would agree that the true essence of entrepreneurship – to define, invest, build, and repeat a successful business model – is what drives economic recovery.

As the primary driver behind the campus and community integrated Entrepreneurship Program, Professor Joseph R. Bell has applied that same outlook in the academic realm and produced a prolific amount of scholarly work since coming to UALR.

“A common theme with Professor Bell’s research is expanding his audience, not only broadly within his academic peer group, but also in reaching out to help shape leading the business community’s strategic thought,” said John Hendon, senior instructor in the College of Business. “His commitment to truly integrating teaching, service, and learning is evident in each and every facet of his commitment to his profession.”

Although Professor Bell is a relative newcomer to academic research, he has published nine peer-reviewed journal articles and produced more than 60 intellectual contributions over a five-year period. His works can be found in the top ranked entrepreneurship journals, including Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.

Mr. Bell’s 2003 case study, “Artemis Images,” is still widely used by top universities and was adopted by several top selling strategy textbooks, as well as all three editions of Technology Ventures, the number one entrepreneurship textbook geared toward non-business majors.

Three of his current case studies involve the efforts of Arkansas entrepreneurs, and he is particularly interested in providing information for area small business owners as they develop their messages for target audiences. His endeavors have strengthened awareness of UALR’s entrepreneurship program while creating opportunities for students.

Professor Bell received his J.D. from T.M. Cooley School of Law, MBA from Michigan State University, and B.A. degree from Bloomsburg University.

Instructor William Jay Sims has taught in the Department of Earth Science for 15 years, while portraying a commitment to service at the local, state, and national levels, as well as to UALR.

“Jay has been very active in the science education community. He rarely misses an opportunity to judge a science fair,” said his chair Dr. Jeffrey Connelly. Sims has led geology field trips, given talks to elementary students, instructed primary and middle school science teachers, and assisted in creating a geology exhibit for the Museum of Discovery.

Biology Instructor Scott Hearnsberger said, “Beyond Jay’s impressive teaching capacities and committee-related work, his dedication to the community at large is perhaps most remarkable.”

Sims co-authored hazard mitigation plans for the state and several communities and taught courses on the subject to community officials. He authored educational materials to assist the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management’s hazard mitigation efforts. He also serves on the Arkansas Pre-Disaster Advisory Council and the Arkansas Governor’s Earthquake Advisory Council. Additionally, he has given interviews concerning geological and energy usage issues and presentations to church groups and the broader community in the Little Rock River Market. Sims was also recently appointed to the Historic Arkansas Museum board.

For the last nine summers, Sims has led tours and provided educational presentations on the geology, hydrogeology, and natural history of the land as well as other volunteer duties at the Orient Land Trust at Valley View Hot Springs in Villa Grove, Colo.

“Jay has spent many hours in service of his profession,” Dr. Connelly added. He has served the Geological Society of America in numerous capacities for many years and is currently secretary-treasurer of its South-Central region.

Sims has volunteered to serve on numerous committees at the department, college, and university levels, such as College Awards and Environmental Impact committees, Faculty Senate, and Undergraduate Council. His colleagues say he was instrumental in the department’s online course development.

His M.S. degree in geology is from the University of Kentucky, and his B.S. degree in geology is from UALR.