About the Award
The University of Washington Tacoma Distinguished Research Award was initiated in 2004. Given annually, the purpose of this award is to recognize a faculty member who has achieved a record of notable scholarship or creative activity, who has generated new knowledge or creativity that impacts their intellectual discipline, and who has contributed to the intellectual climate of the UW Tacoma campus and its communities. All University of Washington Tacoma faculty members are eligible.
Nomination Information
Learn more about eligibility, nomination requirements, and how to submit a nomination.
2023 Recipient
Xingyue (Luna) Zhang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Milgard School of Business
Dr. Zhang’s research focuses on consumer behavior, platform economy, information systems, and operations management and the interface of these fields. In her brief time at UW Tacoma, Dr. Zhang has published six peer-reviewed articles as first or equal author, all in prestigious journals that typically accept fewer than 10% of submissions. Her paper, “Fending off Critics of Platform Power: Doing Well by Doing Good?” was awarded best paper at the 2021 Conference on Information Systems & Technology (CIST). Alongside colleagues, Dr. Zhang has given 15 invited talks in national and international venues in the past four years, and her expertise regarding supply chain disruption and mobile commerce is sought by both scholarly and media outlets. Dr. Zhang also lends her expertise to students as the faculty advisor for the Analytics Innovations student club.
2023-2024 Committee
- Luna Zhang, Assistant Professor and Committee Chair, Milgard School of Business
- Asia Bishop, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work & Criminal Justice
- Mohammed Jasim, Assistant Professor, School of Engineering & Technology
- Peter Selkin, Associate Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences
Past recipients
- 2022 - Erin Casey, Professor, School of Social Work & Criminal Justice
- 2021 - Haluk Demirkan, Professor, Milgard School of Business
- 2020 - Edward Kolodziej, Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering (Seattle) and the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences (Tacoma)
- 2019 - Ka Yee Yeung, Associate Professor, School of Engineering & Technology
- 2018 – Eric Madfis, Associate Professor, Social Work & Criminal Justice
- 2017 - Marian Harris, Professor, Social Work & Criminal Justice
- 2016 - Carolyn West, Associate Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences
- Video: Writing the Books You Want to Read
- 2015 - Peter Horak, Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences
- Video: The World of Mathematics
- 2014 - Yonn Dierwechter, Associate Professor, Urban Studies
- Presentation: Rain without thunder: City-regions and the global search for a sustainable order
- 2013 - Mike Allen, Interdiscipliary Arts and Sciences
- Presentation: I've Got Friends in Low Places: The Intellectual Life of an Anti-Intellectual
- 2012 - Divya McMillin, Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences
- Presentation: Producing Place: Media and Soft Power
- 2011 - Rich Furman, Social Work
- The professor and the blank page: Writing, rituals and our relationship to the written word
- 2010 - Michael Honey, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences
- Presentation: All Labor Has Dignity
- 2009 - Claudia Gorbman, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences
- Presentation: Listening to Movies
- 2008 - Joe Sharkey, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences
- Presentation: Don't Think; Look! Language Does Things it Can't Do
- 2007 - Anthony D'Costa, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences
- Presentation: WYSIWYG/D: Doing Research at UWT
- 2006 - Marcy Stein, Education
- 2005 - John Banks, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences
- 2004 - Charles Emlet, Social Work
- Presentation: Aging and HIV/AIDS: Lessons Learned... Moving Forward
