Dr. Ahmed Khalil joined YSU in 2011 after completing his doctorate at the University of Michigan. His 2023 book The Valley and the Machine was reviewed in the New York Times and assigned in graduate courses at Harvard and LSE. In April 2026, he became only the third YSU faculty member in the university's 118-year history to be named a Guggenheim Fellow.
Dr. Morris led the curriculum redesign that earned YSU's Nursing program its #1 ranking in Ohio by U.S. News & World Report. Her partnership with Mercy Health has created 200+ clinical placements annually.
Dr. Nair's lab published a landmark study in Nature Materials on biodegradable battery technology, earning $4.2M in NSF funding. Four undergraduate students earned co-authorship on the paper.
Dr. Rivera's team received a $540K NASA grant to develop lightweight carbon-fiber composites for deep-space applications. Three undergraduates are named paid research fellows on the project.
Dr. Petrova's Clean Energy Lab secured a $720K DOE grant to develop next-generation perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells targeting efficiency rates above 35%, surpassing current benchmarks.
Dr. Osei's lab developed a low-cost cellulose-based water filtration membrane removing 99.4% of agricultural contaminants, now piloted in three rural Ohio counties with the Ohio EPA.
Dr. Chen's Climate Resilience Lab attracted a Fulbright Scholar from Berlin. Her decade-long Mahoning River ecosystem study was published in Nature Ecology in April 2026.
Dr. Hassan leads YSU's AI Ethics Initiative, a $1.8M Mellon Foundation partnership with Case Western and Pitt examining responsible AI deployment in healthcare settings.
Dr. Huang co-led a collaboration with Ohio State and Fermilab detecting a rare tau neutrino interaction, published in the Journal of Applied Physics, that could help refine the Standard Model.
Dr. Torres founded YSU's Penguin Startup Lab and mentored this year's national entrepreneurship competition champion. Under her leadership the program has produced three funded startups in two years.
Dr. Kaminski's research on post-industrial regional economic recovery has been cited in Ohio state policy documents. He leads the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Research Center at YSU.
The 2026 Guggenheim Fellow's research on post-industrial labor identity has made him one of the most cited political scientists in the Midwest. His book The Valley and the Machine earned national acclaim.
Dr. Santos's research on community resilience and trauma recovery in post-industrial cities has been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She runs YSU's Community Mental Health Research Lab.
Dr. Nguyen's work on recidivism reduction and community policing models has been adopted by three Ohio counties. He serves as a research consultant to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction.
Under Dr. Malone's leadership, the Dana School ensemble has been invited to perform at the Kennedy Center this fall — the most prestigious invitation in the program's history.
Prof. Wilkins has led the YSU Jazz Ensemble to three consecutive regional championships. Two of his former students are now performing with major national orchestras and jazz ensembles.
Dr. Davis's research on early literacy intervention in underserved communities has been adopted by 14 Mahoning Valley school districts and cited in an Ohio Department of Education policy brief.
Dr. Park's graduate program in Educational Leadership has placed 28 principals and district administrators across Northeast Ohio in the past three years, with a 100% licensure pass rate.
Under Dr. Wright's leadership, graduate enrollment at YSU has increased 18% over three years. She spearheaded the new interdisciplinary PhD programs in Health Informatics and Applied Engineering.