For the Record, April 17, 2026

For the Record provides information about recent professional activities and honors of University of Delaware faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Recent publications and honors include the following:

Publications

Matthew Trevett-Smith, director of the Center for Teaching and Assessment of Learning and assistant professor of anthropology, along with Nicole Long, associate vice president for student experience and belonging, and Lynn Okagaki, professor emerita of human development and family science, published "Assessment in Action: Strategies for Enhancing Equity and Excellence," a chapter within The Equity-Excellence Imperative in Action: Fostering Student Success in Higher Education, published by Johns Hopkins University Press (2026), pp. 331-342. Thanks to a Sloan Foundation grant, the entire book is available freely on Project Muse.

Laura Lessard, associate professor of health behavior and nutrition sciences and director of evaluation for DElaware INBRE, Linda Polasko, program coordinator with DElaware INBRE, and Melinda K. Duncan, Trustees Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences, are coauthors with H. Boukari, M. D'Souza, H.H. Kecskemethy, S. Siegel and E. Singleton of "Engaging Undergraduate Students in Online Data Science Research: Implementation and Impact of a Summer Research Program During COVID-19," published in Education Sciences. This project is connected to DElaware INBRE, the University-wide infrastructure grant.

Honors

Rudi Matthee. John and Dorothy Munroe Distinguished Professor of History, has been awarded a 2026-2027 Guggenheim Fellowship for work on "Keeping the Turks at Bay: Safavid Iran and the Eurasian Attempts at Anti-Ottoman Coalition Building, 1500-1700," which looks at how early modern Iran and Christian Europe interacted in their efforts to rein in the power of the Ottoman Empire. Matthee is one of the world's foremost scholars of the history of Iran and the Persian World. He has served two terms as president of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies and is currently president of the Persian Heritage Foundation. Since its founding in 1925, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has awarded nearly $450 million in fellowships to more than 19,000 fellows. Matthee is one of the 233 individuals to receive a 2026-2027 fellowship from a pool of nearly 5,000 applicants. "Our new class of Guggenheim Fellows is representative of the world's best thinkers, innovators and creators in art, science and scholarship," said Edward Hirsch, award-winning poet and president of the Guggenheim Foundation. "As the foundation enters its second century and looks to the future, I feel confident that this new class of 223 individuals will do bold and inspiring work, undaunted by the challenges ahead. We are honored to support their visionary contributions."

Michael L. Vaughan, chief community engagement officer, has been awarded the inaugural African Heritage Caucus Ubora Award for his work advancing the success of UD community members of African heritage. In his 34 years at UD, Vaughan has served as the vice provost for equity, as part of the leadership team and faculty member in the College of Engineering, director of the RISE (Resources to Inspire Successful Engineers) Program, principal investigator of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders at UD, institutional co-principal investigator and campus director for the NSF-funded Philadelphia Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) grant, and many other research projects at UD. He also leads the DSU-UD Dual Degree Engineering Programs and DelTech Connected Degree programs. Ubora, translated from Swahili, indicates quality, excellence, or superiority.

Lauren Covington, assistant professor of nursing, has been invited to serve as the sole nurse scientist on the Safe Kids Worldwide Safe Sleep Working Group. The national group of experts addresses best practices for safe sleep to reduce infant injuries and death. The group aims to release a National Safe Sleep Roadmap in October 2026.

Leah H. Palm-Forster and Kyle McCarthy graduated from LEAD21, a leadership-development program composed of distinguished individuals from land-grant institutions and their strategic partners across the nation. The primary purpose of LEAD21 is to develop leaders who link research, academics and extension and can lead more effectively in an increasingly complex environment, either in their current positions or future leadership positions. Palm-Forster is an associate professor of applied economics in the Department of Applied Economics and Statistics. McCarthy is a professor of wildlife ecology in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology.

Mark Blenner, Thomas and Kipp Gutshall Career Development Associate Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has been elected president of the Society of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB). He will serve a three-year leadership term, beginning as president-elect in 2026-2027, followed by president in 2027-2028 and past president in 2028-2029. SIMB advances the microbiological sciences, especially as they apply to industrial products, biotechnology, materials and processes.

College of Engineering faculty members Mark Blenner and Sarah Rooney have been named fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), along with alumna and Engineering Advisory Council member Jeannie Epps. Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest honors in medical and biological engineering, reserved for the top 2% of engineers in the field. Blenner, Thomas and Kipp Gutshall Career Development Associate Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, was recognized for contributions to synthetic biology for sustainable biomanufacturing; Rooney, associate professor and associate chair of undergraduate studies in biomedical engineering, for outstanding contributions to engineering education; and Epps, director of materials science and testing in product development at Terumo Medical Corporation, for innovations in medical device design. They were inducted into the AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2026 at the AIMBE Annual Event in Arlington, Virginia.

On March 27-28, the College of Engineering hosted the 2026 spring conference of the Middle Atlantic Section of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). The event brought together faculty, K-12 teachers, students, community members and industry partners. Centered on the theme From Classroom to Community: Strengthening Engineering Education through Collaboration, the conference featured presentations, a poster session and interactive workshops focused on collaborative learning and connecting classroom experiences with community impact. "Hosting this conference reflects UD's growing reputation as a leader in connecting engineering education with real-world impact," said organizer Alexander De Rosa, associate professor of mechanical engineering.

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