2019 CAS Distinguished Research Award (CASDRA)

Gisèle Goldstein, Mathematical Sciences (Natural & Mathematical Sciences)

Gisèle Ruiz Goldstein earned all of her degrees at Tulane University, including her Ph.D. in 1986. Dr. Goldstein became the first woman tenured at Louisiana State University in the Mathematics Department and was promoted to Full Professor there. In 1996 Dr. Goldstein moved to the University of Memphis in the Center for Earthquake Research and Information and the Department of Mathematical Sciences. She was the first female full professor in any of the sciences at the University of Memphis. Dr. Goldstein has held visiting professorships at the École Normale Superioire de Cachan, University of Bari, University of Bologna, University of Poitiers, University of Besançon, University of Strathclyde, State University of Rio de Janeiro and IMPA, and was a Member at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley in 1991. 

Goldstein's well known work in applied mathematics includes rigorous ground state density functional theory in quantum mechanics, the formulation and use of dynamic and Wentzell boundary conditions in partial differential equations from materials science, diffusion processes, wave propagation, and acoustics, and definitive results in mathematical finance, including chaos for the Nobel Prize winning Black-Scholes stock option equation and definitive representational results for the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross zero coupon bond equation. Dr. Goldstein was the solo honoree in a mathematical conference held at the University of Bari in 2018.

Dursun Peksen, Political Science (Social Sciences)

Dursun Peksen is a Professor in the department of political science. His teaching and research interests revolve around the subjects of foreign policy, international political economy, and human rights. He has published over fifty journal articles and book chapters. His published articles appeared in such prestigious academic journals as European Journal of International Relations, International Interactions, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and World Development. His work on economic sanctions, human rights, and military interventions has been cited in several media outlets like Atlantic, New York Times, and Washington Post. His work has also been referred by several policy reports published under the United Nations, European Union, and other organizations.

He is an Editor for the journal International Studies Review. He was an Associate Editor for the journal Foreign Policy Analysis and served as President of Foreign Policy Analysis Section of International Studies Association and President of International Studies Association-Midwest.

Stephen Tabachnick, English (Humanities)

Stephen Tabachnick has been teaching at the University of Memphis for nineteen years, and was chair of the English Department from 2000 to 2008.

Tabachnick teaches nineteenth and twentieth century British literature and the graphic (or comic book) novel, and has written or edited thirteen books. He wrote Images of Lawrence, the Lawrence of Arabia birth centenary volume, which was published by Lawrence's own publisher in London in 1988, and most recently he has edited The Cambridge Companion to the Graphic Novel and co-edited The Cambridge History of the Graphic Novel. Every year, he greatly looks forward to working with the excellent undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Memphis.