Research and Creative Works Leadership Award winners cross the disciplines of UNM

Six University of New Mexico researchers - from fields ranging from nuclear engineering to music composition - are the 2025 recipients of the Research and Creative Works Leadership Awards, announced by the Office of Academic Affairs.

The Research and Creative Works Leadership Awards honor recently promoted faculty who have accomplished outstanding research or creative works in their respective career stage. The recipients were honored Sept. 29 at a Promoted Faculty Reception hosted by President Garnett Stokes at University House.

Also recognized at the ceremony were the 2025 Distinguished Professors: Sally M. Davis, Michelle S. Harkins, Douglas J. Perkins, Iain D. Thomson and C. Fernando Valenzuela.

The 2025 Research and Creative Works Leadership Award recipients are:

James Cavanagh, professor in the Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences

James Cavanagh studies brain cognition and neurological systems and processes. His research has helped illuminate the relationship between brain neural oscillations and disorders such as depression and Parkinson's Disease, using electrophysiology to bridge the gap between animal and human clinical studies. His work has been funded by the National Institute for Mental Health and is heavily cited. In addition to his prolific research, he is also known for his dedication to teaching and service.

Peter Gilbert, professor in the Department of Music, College of Fine Arts

Peter Gilbert is a professor of music theory and composition whose compositions garner international renown for their originality and depth, combining traditional instrumentation with improvisation, electronics and multimedia elements. His work is also highly collaborative. As he explains, "I search for musical moments that can conjure up secret passageways to transcendence - that we performers, collaborators and listeners can conjure together." Gilbert is prolific - producing between three and eight new pieces a year - and award-winning (among his awards is a 2021 album of the year award for Burned into the Orange by Sequenza21). Additionally, Gilbert is praised by students as a dedicated and innovative teacher, known for his exemplary and exceptional service to the University.

Melvatha Chee, associate professor in the Department of Linguistics, College of Arts and Sciences

Melvatha Chee investigates children's acquisition of the Navajo language. Prior to Chee's work, knowledge about how children acquired Navajo was limited and relied on the study of just two children. Chee has changed that by establishing a research lab, the Indigenous Child Research Center and the first Navajo language nest, which has produced publications and conference presentations that reach a variety of audiences and provide novel insights into children's acquisition of polysynthetic languages. Her research, teaching, service and commitment to her community are intertwined. Chee incorporates principles of community-based participatory methods and indigenous knowledge frameworks to support the reclamation of Navajo language. In addition to the impact of her research, Chee's external funding supports many graduate students in the department.

Minghui Chen, associate professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering, School of Engineering

Minghui Chen studies thermal hydraulics and energy storage for nuclear reactors. In a short time, Chen's research has drawn national and international acclaim, and he has become a leading expert in high-temperature thermal-fluid systems. This work has important implications for industry safety and readiness. He received the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy Early Career Award in 2022 and the Early Career Research Award from the School of Engineering in 2024. Chen has built a state-of-the-art research lab at UNM that has graduated many students at all levels. In addition to his strong research and scholarship work, Chen is also dedicated to teaching and service.

There were also two awardees announced from the Health Sciences Center campus:

Ting Jiang, research assistant professor, College of Pharmacy

Since joining the College of Pharmacy in 2021, Ting Jiang has led the creation of UNM's bioanalytical chemistry core, which serves both research and service functions for researchers around campus and has evolved to a robust resource for the University. Jiang was the principal investigator on two internal grants to secure new equipment and develop a proteomics protocol for broad use. She also supported a major application that enables mass spectrometric imaging of biospecimens. Additionally, Jiang contributes significantly in the teaching and mentoring realms, including working with middle and high school teachers in the UNM Research Opportunities for Science Educators (ROSE) program that provides educators around the state with hands-on experience in biomedical research.

Xuexian Yang, associate professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology in the School of Medicine

Xuexian Yang helped discover T Helper 17 (TH17) cells and their role in autoimmune diseases, leading to FDA-approved IL-17 inhibitors. His research expanded to TH2 and TH9 cells, cytokine signaling, and immune regulation in asthma and COVID-19. Since joining the Department Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at the School of Medicine in 2011, he has mentored multiple faculty members, published 25 high-impact papers, and received continuous National Institutes of Health funding. His work revealed novel mechanisms in airway inflammation and lymphocyte development. His work is recognized around the world, and Yang serves on editorial boards and reviews for several major journals, reflecting his leadership in immunology and inflammation research.

The Research and Creative Works Leadership Awards were created in 2020 upon a recommendation of the Faculty Senate Research Policy Committee to acknowledge faculty who, at the time of promotion to associate or full professor, have achieved especially significant impacts in their field.

As part of the review process, candidates are nominated by the Provost's Advisory Review Committee. They are selected by the provost following a rigorous external review that looks at the quality and impact of candidates' scholarly and creative achievements.

The Office of Academic Affairs website houses lists of previous Distinguished Professors and recipients of the Research and Creative Leadership Awards.