Celebrating Excellence in Research & Innovation

The Division of Research & Innovation hosted their inaugural Excellence in Research & Innovation celebration on May 14, 2026 at St. Andrew's Hall on Wayne State's main campus. The event recognized Wayne State faculty who have had great achievements in calendar year 2025 including major honorifics, research awards over $1 million, U.S. patents issued, patent milestones, license agreements, disclosures, books published, and significant fine, performing and communication arts honorifics. Nearly 150 faculty were honored for their impressive accomplishments.

"This event recognized and honored the extraordinary accomplishments of our faculty whose scholarship, innovation and creativity elevate Wayne State's impact locally, nationally and around the world," said Ezemenari M. Obasi, vice president for research & innovation. "These achievements reflect not only academic excellence, but also a deep commitment to improving lives, expanding knowledge and translating technologies to benefit our communities through meaningful research and creative activity. We congratulate our faculty on their many successes in 2025 and look forward to an exciting future that our faculty will create."

Awardees included:

Significant Honorifics Achieved in 2025

Gregory Auner, School of Medicine - Named Fellow by the National Academy of Inventors

Zheng Dong, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - Received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award from the National Science Foundation

Md Mahbubul Islam, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - Received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award from the National Science Foundation

Boris Mordukhovich, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Received the Frederick W. Lanchester Prize from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)

Xingyu Zhou, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - Received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award from the National Science Foundation

Sponsored Awards Over $1 Million in 2025

Mohammed Al Hallak, School of Medicine - Phase 1a/1b Study of LY3962673 in Patients with KRAS G12D-Mutant Solid Tumors from Lilly USA, LLC

Matthew Allen, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Enabling Systemic Delivery of Europium-containing Contrast Agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering

Alireza Amirsadri, School of Medicine - 2026 Frontline Strong Together, State of Michigan

Ramona Benkert, College of Nursing - Nursing Workforce Development - 2025 from the State of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

Elizabeth Berger, School of Medicine - The Role of Eosinophils in Modulating the Corneal Response to Infection, National Eye Institute

Elizabeth Berger, School of Medicine - Restoration of Structure and Function in the Diabetic Cornea, National Eye Institute

James Bour, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Materials and Macromolecules Tailored for Micro and Nanoscale Organic Synthesis from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Steven Daveluy, School of Medicine - Hidradenitis Suppurativa Program from Incyte Corporation

Julia Felton, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Trial to Evaluate a Sustainable, Peer-Delivered Intervention for Depression and Substance Use in a Low-Resource, Underserved Setting from the National Institute of Mental Health

Marilyn Franklin, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Integrated Health Services for Detroit Youth from the Health Resources & Services Administration

Yu-Ming Huang, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences -Innovative Multiscale Modeling Techniques for Membrane-Bound Proteins from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Christopher Kassotis, Institute of Environmental Health Sciences - Environmental ethoxylated surfactants and metabolic health dysregulation in zebrafish from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Hyeong-Reh Kim, School of Medicine - WSU Advanced Technology Center: Centralization and Modernization of Core Facilities from the National Institutes of Health

Phillip Levy, Division of Research & Innovation - COVID-19 Mobile Care Unit from the State of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

Karin List, School of Medicine - Role of matriptase in corneal epithelial homeostasis and repair from the National Eye Institute

Hirva Mamdani, School of Medicine - Phase 1 Study of CLN-619 Alone and in Combination with Pembrolizumab in Patients with Solid Tumors from Cullinan Therapeutics

Hilary Marusak, School of Medicine - Cannabidiol-enhanced cognitive behavioral therapy for generalized anxiety disorder from the National Institute of Mental Health

Sheryl Pimlott-Kubiak, School of Social Work - Mental Health Diversion Council 2026, State of Michigan

Wasif Saif, School of Medicine - A Phase 1/2 study of GSK4418959 in participants with dMMR or MSI-H solid tumors from Glaxosmithkline

Anthony Shields, School of Medicine - A Phase 1/2 Study of 177Lu-FAP-2286 in Patients with an Advanced Solid Tumor from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation

Paul Stemmer, Institute of Environmental Health Sciences - Orbitrap Astral Mass Spectrometer for Wayne State Proteomics from the National Institutes of Health Office of the Director

Thomas Thompson, Center for Urban Studies - AmeriCorps Urban Safety Program 25-26 from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity

Ryan Thummel, School of Medicine - Genetic and glial support mechanisms in acute and chronic models of photoreceptor degeneration from the National Eye Institute

Ira Winer, School of Medicine - Investigation of Ubamatamab Combination Therapy in Adults with Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Jeffrey Zonder, School of Medicine - A Ph I/II Study of Linvoseltimab in R/R Systemic Light Chain AML from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Books Published in 2025 as Reported by University Libraries

Natalie Bakopoulos, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Archipelago: a novel

Richard Balon, School of Medicine - The other side of cannabis: impact on mental and physical health

Tamara Bray, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Objects of empire: the ceramic tradition of the imperial Inca state

Stine Eckert, College of Fine, Performing & Communication Arts - We can do better: feminist manifestos for media and communication

Lisabeth Hock (In Memoriam), College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Afrika and Alemania: German-speaking women, Africa, and the African Diaspora

Jun Sung Hong, School of Social Work - Handbook of school violence, bullying and safety

Arash Javanbakht, School of Medicine - Afraid: understanding the purpose of fear and harnessing the power of anxiety

Thomas Kuntzleman - College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Chemical Demonstrations for High School and General Chemistry

Peter Marra, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Queer Slashers

Karen L. Marrero, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - A place in common: rethinking the history of early Detroit

Boris Mordukhovich, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Second-order variational analysis in optimization, variational stability, and control: theory, algorithms, applications

Jennifer Olmsted, College of Fine, Performing & Communication Arts - Delacroix's Moroccans: art and masculinity

Steven Shaviro, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Fluid futures: science fiction and potentiality

Ayman O. Soubani, School of Medicine - Pulmonary aspergillosis: a comprehensive guide to the disease spectrum and advances in diagnosis and management

Amy C. Watson, School of Social Work - Entangled: how people with serious mental illness get caught in misdemeanor systems

Significant Honorifics in Fine, Performing and Communications Arts in 2025

Allana Clarke, Visual Arts - "Featured artist at Art Basel Paris, Grand Palais, October 2025 in the Detroit Salon Space, Detroit Dialogues: The Art of Living in Detroit. Her showcased art piece was "An Infinitive Breath""

Douglas Risner, Dance - "For his significant contributions including major publications and books in the field of dance education research"

Matthew Seeger, Communication - "Co-Author of The Handbook of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research"

Milestone Patent Awards - Recognizing every 5^th Patent Starting at the 10^th Patent

Gregory Auner, School of Medicine - 10 patents

QianQian Li, School of Medicine - 10 patents

Larry Matherly, School of Medicine - 10 patents

Zhuo-Hua Pan, School of Medicine - 10 patents

Jianjun Wang, School of Medicine - 10 patents

Charles Winter, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - 15 patents

U.S. Patents Issued in 2025

12188139 - Hien Nguyen - "Alternating Current Electrochemical Organic Synthesis"

12220421 - Steven Firestine and Shiv Sharma - "Inhibitors of C. difficile spore germination"

12234267 - Gary Abrams, Zhuo-Hua Pan, and Qi Lu - "Identification of Mutations in Channelospin Variants Having Improved Light Sensitivity and Methods of Use Therof"

12257309 - Zhiqiang Cao - "Zwitterionic Polymer-Insulin Compositions and Related Methods"

12270814 - Tinnakorn Chaiworapongsa, Sonia Hassan, and Adi Tarca - "Kits and Method for Prediction and Treatment of Preeclampsia"

12281942 - Gregory Auner, Changhe Huang, and Michelle Brusatori - "Apparatuses, Systems, and Methods for Detecting Materials Based on Raman Spectroscopy"

12287340 - Tinnakorn Chaiworapongsa, Sonia Hassan, and Adi Tarca - "Maternal Plasma Protein Biomarkers for Prediction of Spontaneous Labor at Term"

12297534 - Charles Winter - "Process for the generation of metal- or semimetal-containing films"

12298315 - Tinnakorn Chaiworapongsa and Sonia Hassan - "Methods of Identifying and Treating Patients in Anti-Angiogenic States at Risk for Obstetrical Complications"

12311597 - Xin Wu and Qingyu Yang - "ADM process and system as a unified manufacturing method"

12343408 - Zhuo-Hua Pan - "AAV-Mediated Subcellular Targeting of Heterologus Rhodopsins in Retinal Ganglion Cells"

12357841 - Lawrence Grossman and Maik Huettemann - "Light Therapy Treatment"

12359265 - Rodrigo Fernandez-Valdivia - "Systems and Methods for Ultra-specific and Ultra-sensitive Nucleic Acid Detection"

12364432 - Sonia Hassan and Yan Yan - "Ultrasound, Photoacoustic, and Viscoelastic Imaging Systems and Methods for Cervical Analysis to Assess Risk of Preterm Delivery"

12369799 - Ivan Avrutsky - "Omnidirectional Photoacoustic Tomography System"

12435411 - Charles Winter - "Metal Organonitrile Precursors for Thin Film Deposition"

12458636 - Manohar Ratnam - "Methods and Compositions Relating to Steroid Hormone Receptor-dependent Proliferative Disorders"

12504721 - Mohammad Alhawari, Mohammed Elneggar Ismail, and Nabil Sarhan - "Energy Efficient Digital to Time Converter (DTC) for Edge Computing"

12507454 - Leela Mohana Arava - "Method for Fabricating Wafer Scale/Nano Submicron Gap Electrodes and Arrays Via Photolithography"

12509734 - Robert Akins and Jack Sobel - "Systems and Methods to Assess MicroBiomes and Treatments Thereof"

License Agreements in 2025

Alan Dombkowski, School of Medicine - "Disulfide by Design is a web-based software tool for disulfide engineering in proteins" with C Sea Solutions

Lami Yeo, School of Medicine - "Software for intelligent navigation of the fetal heart" with Medge Platforms, Inc.

Jack Sobel, School of Medicine - "Treatment for bacterial vaginosis; and the controlled release polymer suppository for it" with Boritran, Inc.

Anthony Lagina, School of Medicine - "Biobank materials" with Cayman Chemical Company

Ghassan Saed, School of Medicine - "Target identification and treatment for ovarian cancer and fibrosis" with Temple Therapeutics BV

Disclosures in 2025

Matthew Allen, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - "Sustainable strategy for preventing medical gadolinium from entering surface water"

Siddhesh Aras, School of Medicine - "MNRR1 peptides as therapeutics to enhance mitochondrial metabolism in diseases"

Leela Mohana Arava, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Thermally stable electrolyte composition for flameproof and durable Li-ion battery cells"

Gregory Auner, School of Medicine - "Raman Neurosurgical Surgical Probe with Disposable End Effector"

Gregory Auner, School of Medicine - "Rapid Direct-from-Sample Raman Spectroscopy System for Pathogen Identification and Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing"

Asfar Azmi, School of Medicine - "A novel combination for KRAS AssociateCombinations"

Kang Chen, School of Medicine - "Early, durable and specific prevention and treatment of allergies"

Ratna Chinnam, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Predictive Warranty Claims and Cross-Station Interaction Detection System for Automotive Final Assembly"

Christine Davie, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences - "RegComms: Automated Archiving of Study Communications for Research Compliance"

Da Deng, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Noble Metal Decorated Transition Metal Oxyfluorides for Energy Storage and Catalytic Applications"

Timothy Dittrich, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Carbamoyl Methyl Phosphine Oxide-Associated Silica Sorbents for pH-tunable Separation of Rare Earth Elements from Environmental Samples: Synthesis, Characterization, and Proof-of-Concept Separations"

Timothy Dittrich, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Saponified Bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl) Phosphinic Acid Functionalized Mesoporous Silica for Highly Selective Separation of Cobalt and Nickel from Spent Battery Leachates and Mixed Metal Solutions: Synthesis, Characterization, and Proof-of-Concept"

Jazlin Ebenezer, College of Education - "Student Explanations and Expert Dialogues (SEED AI)"

Stephen Farrow, School of Medicine - "Medical Application Game-Generator for (Prescription) Intelligence Evaluation"

Steven Firestine, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences - "Compounds to reduce lipid accumulation in cells"

Navnath Gavande, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences - "Development of Covalent Inhibitors Targeting Papain-like Protease (PLpro) for Coronavirus Therapy"

Daniel Grosu, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Job Shop Task Scheduling in an AI Agent Driven Autonomous Manufacturing Environment"

Erome Hankore, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - "A new fluorometric assay for kinase inhibition"

Jian Huang, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - "Relaxation-driven continuous refrigeration using magnetic nanoparticles"

Maik Hüettemann, School of Medicine - "Treatment of hearing disorders, including tinnitus and hearing loss, using high-dose inhibitory infrared light"

Arash Javanbakht, School of Medicine - "Augmented reality system and method for exposure therapy and motor skills training"

Paul Kilgore, Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases - "Enhanced CNS Delivery of Nicotinamide via NNMT Inhibition for Alzheimer's Disease Treatment: A Novel Combination Therapy Approach"

Jeremy Kodanko, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - "Renewable and green method for separating rare earth metals"

Lillian Lai, School of Medicine - "Shape Memory Alloy Actuated Penile Prosthesis"

Wen Li, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - "An all-weather RGB LIDAR camera with an edge"

Yanchao Liu, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Advanced Computing, Air Traffic Management"

Warren Lockette, School of Medicine - "PIEZO 1 Mediates Cardiac-Dependent Anxiety"

Ulrike Klueh Menkes, School of Medicine - "Insulin Crystals Removal Platform"

Ulrike Klueh Menkes, School of Medicine - "Removal of phenolic preservatives from commercial insulin formulation during insulin infusion pump therapy"

Sumit Ranjan Monu, School of Medicine - "Generation of KLHL3 knockout gene on obese zucker rat background"

Masoud Nazari, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Cyber-Physical Secure Optimal Power Flow Using Piecewise Linear Mixed-Integer Optimization"

Hien Nguyen, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - "Repurposing aminoglycosides as heparanase inhibitors to attenuate tumor growth and metastasis in vivo"

Hien Nguyen, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - "Investigating the Mechanistic Pathway of Heparanase (HPSE) Overexpression in Tau Driven Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's Disease and Its Modulation by Heparan Sulfate Mimetics"

Xinyu Ning, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Current regulation device that stabilizes zinc sacrificial anode systems for reinforced concrete corrosion protection"

David Njus, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - "Stabilized Parkinson's disease cotoxin: 7-(2-aminoethyl)-3,4-dihydro-5-hydroxy-2H-benzo[b][1,4]thiazine-3-carboxylic acid"

Tazdik Plateau, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Multi-layered Graded Scaffold Designs for Artificial Dental Crown"

Kwame Robinson, Mike Illitch School of Business - "Method for Constructing a Lateral Material Sourcing Database"

Lobelia Samavati, School of Medicine - "Development of monoclonal antibodies and Molecular resolution of CDRs and antigen binding sites to novel ChainA antigen"

Raja Sohmshetty, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Low-cost factory operations monitoring using AI Vision Systems"

Raja Sohmshetty, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "A Self-Organizing Multi-Agent Architecture for Intelligent and Autonomous Manufacturing (IntelliMake)"

Raja Sohmshetty, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Real-Time Contextual Augmented Reality Feedback System Using AI for Manufacturing"

Raja Sohmshetty, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "IntelliAware AI Vision System: Systems and Methods for Context-Aware Video Analytics Using Metadata-Enriched Multimodal Reasoning"

Raja Sohmshetty, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Manufacturing Intelligence Exchange (MIX): A Lifecycle, Discovery, and Knowledge Exchange Framework for Agentic AI in Manufacturing"

Gozde Tutuncuoglu, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Energy Efficient Memristor-Based Systems for Image Recognition Applications"

Saravanan Venkatachalam, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "AI agent for monitoring and planning in manufacturing and retail sectors: Information Technology and Operations Management bot (I.T - O.M-bot)"

Nerissa Viola-Villegas, School of Medicine - "Novel Theragnostic agents and Method for targeting TRA positive cancers"

Yongli Wager, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "IoTEC Sensor Platform for Long-Term and Real-Time Monitoring of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in Subsurface Soil Vapor"

Yuqi Wang, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "A cost-effective bare die hybrid power module"

Edward Washabaugh, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Controllable magnetic spring systems"

Youming Xie, School of Medicine - "A new method to enhance protein folding and to protect proteins from degradation"

Murat Yildirim, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "General-Purpose Predictive Modeling via Text Embeddings and Variational Information Bottleneck"

Murat Yildirim, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "An Adaptive Attention-Based Framework for Solving Mixed Integer Decision Optimization Models"

Kezhong Zhang, School of Medicine - "Exosomal UPR-Mediated Tissue Regeneration and Diabetic Wound Healing: Methods and Compositions"

Zichun Zhong, James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering - "Designing and Fabrication Method for Computable Anisotropic Hybrid-Cell Microstructured Metamaterial"