Faculty Highlights

Assistant Professor of Physics & Astronomy Soubhik Kumar recently wrote a paper finding a new mechanism for black hole formation in the early universe that was published in Physical Review Letters. He was also recently profiled in the New Scientist Magazine.

Professor in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study & Human Development and Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science Richard Lerner delivered the 2026 Lawrence Kohlberg Memorial Lecture at the annual meeting of the Association for Moral Education (AME) in Madrid. A published version of the talk is featured in the Journal of Moral Education.
 

Lecturer in Music Attah Emmanuel Poku recently performed at Howard University, the Akwasidae Festival at Bowie University, and the Millennium Excellence Awards in Washington DC, where he performed for the Ashanti King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

Professor of Mathematics Xiaozhe Hu was awarded a new National Science Foundation grant to support his Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineering (CDS&E) project, which addresses the growing need for computational methods capable of designing advanced manufacturing systems with spatially varying material properties. The CSS&E project will explore how emerging quantum computing technologies can transform computational engineering by accelerating multi-material topology optimization and enabling new approaches for engineering design.  

Teaching Professor of Urban & Environmental Policy & Planning (UEP) Penn Loh was awarded a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support UEP's Repairing and Empowering Policy and Planning (REPP) program. REPP promotes the advancement and transformation of the public policy and planning fields through a fellowship program at Tufts that recruits up to 5 master’s students each year. Selected REPP fellows receive tuition scholarships, career support, stipends, networking opportunities, and leadership skills. 

Assistant Professor of Psychology Marcus Matthias Weera and his Addiction Neuroscience Lab were awarded a R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health to support a project entitled “Behavioral Neurobiology of Stress, Alcohol Responsivity, and Alcohol Drinking.”