UF Preeminence advances as new hires are presented to Board of Trustees

June 4, 2015

Fifteen nationally recognized professors are joining the University of Florida faculty, furthering UF’s goal to become a top public research university.
 
Eight of the 15 hires specialize in focus areas of UF Preeminence, the university’s vision to become an international leader in more than two dozen fields including health, agriculture, computing and education.
 
The UF Board of Trustees’ committee on educational policy and strategy on Thursday reviewed background information on all 15 hires as part of its regularly scheduled meeting.
 
Four of the hires will work in the College of Engineering; three in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; three in the College of Medicine; one in the College of Business Administration; one in the Levin College of Law; one in the College of Nursing; one in the College of Pharmacy; and one in the College of Public Health and Health Professions.
 
“Each of these hires is exceptional in his or her field,” said Joe Glover, UF provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “Their combined talent will further the collective mission and vision of the University of Florida.”
 
The eight faculty members who will specialize in UF Preeminence areas of focus are:
 

• Thomas Shrimpton, an associate professor at Portland State University, will join the UF College of Engineering as an associate professor in the department of computer and information science and engineering. His UF Preeminence area of focus will be cybersecurity.
   
• Douglas Spearot, an associate professor at the University of Arkansas, will join the UF College of Engineering as an associate professor in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering. His UF Preeminence area of focus will be informatics.
   
• Mark Tehranipoor, a professor at the University of Connecticut, will join the UF College of Engineering as a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering. As the Charles E. Young Intel Leadership Chair, his UF Preeminence area of focus will be cybersecurity.
  
  
• Derek Cummings, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, will join the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as a professor in the department of biology. His UF Preeminence area of focus will be mathematical modeling of diseases.
  
  
• Lisa S. Scott, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will join the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as an associate professor in the department of psychology. Her UF Preeminence area of focus will be neuroscience and the brain.
  
  
• J. Andrew Berglund, a professor at the University of Oregon, will join the UF College of Medicine as a professor in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology. His UF Preeminence area of focus will be neuroscience and the brain.
  
  
• Thomas Schmittgen, a professor and department chair at The Ohio State University, will join the UF College of Pharmacy as a professor in the College of Pharmaceutics. His UF Preeminence area of focus will be drug discovery and development.
  
  
• Glenn Smith, a professor in the College of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, will join UF’s College of Public Health and Health Professions in the department of clinical and health psychology. His UF Preeminence area of focus will be neuroscience and the brain.

 
These eight new hires bring the total number of faculty brought to the campus to advance UF Preeminence to 84. UF expects to hire more than 120 professors and researchers to support this initiative, utilizing nearly $1 billion in private and state funding.
 
For details on UF Preeminence, visit ufpreeminence.org.