Last week, some of the University of Miami’s outstanding faculty members were honored at the 2026 Provost’s Awards for their devotion to advancing research and elevating teaching, learning, and mentorship across the institution.
Held at the Lakeside Village Expo Center, the ceremony honored nine faculty members in four categories with a small set of distinguished awards. In addition, 43 faculty members received a Provost’s Research Award, which supports a project they will conduct in the coming year.
The Interdisciplinary Excellence in Team Teaching or Scholarship award honors faculty whose collaborative work integrates diverse perspectives to address global or societal challenges through boundary-crossing approaches. This included IDSC director of Social and Behavioral Data Science, Daniel Messinger, professor of psychology and director of the child division in the Department of Psychology.
Joel H. Samuels (pictured at right), executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, hosted the ceremony for the first time and said he was elated to celebrate the work of faculty members who are shaping disciplines, and delivering real-world benefits in classrooms, clinics and communities. “It’s a tremendous pleasure for me as a newcomer to the University to get to see all of the nominees for the awards and to see the extraordinary work being done across the U,” he said. “Tonight is a chance to illuminate the excellence behind your work so that it will inspire others for years to come.”
Provost’s Research Awards under the category of Natural Sciences and Engineering recognized two IDSC Core Faculty members from the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science:
- From the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Marybeth Arcodia was recognized for her project entitled “AI Climate Emulator Dataset Generation for Subseasonal Forecast of Opportunity Analysis,” and
- Juan Carlos Villaseñor-Derbez of the Environmental Science and Policy Department, received recognition for his project: “Big Protections for Big Fish: Do Large-scale Marine Protected Areas Benefit Highly Migratory Fish?”
Congratulations to everyone on their exceptional work!
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Excerpted from this April 27, 2026 NEWS@TheU Story “Honoring faculty accomplishments” by Janette Neuwahl Tannen and Vivian Donis Romero.
