Highlights

UNL was one of 16 colleges and universities recognized in 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities for its visionary campus-wide innovations in undergraduate education. Members are admitted only after a rigorous national search process, which identifies colleges, universities, and community colleges that have put in place stimulating educational experiences for students. As part of a select group of leadership institutions, UNL has been honored for its role as a model of best practices.

History Professor Gary Moulton has won international acclaim for editing a 13-volume edition of the journals of Lewis and Clark.

Chemistry Professor Xiao Cheng Zeng is universally recognized as one of the leading physical chemists in the world.

Charles Braithwaite, senior lecturer in communication studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has won the Western States Communication Association's Master Teacher Award. This award is given to educators who represent sustained excellence and innovation in college teaching. Braithwaite's academic specialty is in the area of intercultural communication, and he teaches courses such as conflict management, communication in international organizations, interviewing and nonverbal communication. He has a special interest in Native American higher education, and has conducted extensive research on the Navajo nation.

Bill McLaughlin, senior lecturer in chemistry, invests time, energy and passion into his teaching. Students show their support by packing his sections and giving him highly favorable evaluations. They report that he is honestly interested in how students perform. For his efforts, McLaughlin received the Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award in 2005.

Lawrence Harshman, professor in biological sciences, has received more than 20 awards and acknowledgements for teaching, including the People Who Inspire Award (Mortar Board, four-time recipient). He is the faculty adviser of the Humanities in Medicine undergraduate association. Harshman’s research is in genomics and metabolomics. He investigates the mechanism of lifespan extension, using the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) model.

In the last 7 years, four teams of undergraduates coached by Charles Riedesel, the chief undergraduate advisor in computer science and engineering, advanced to the international round of the ACM International Programming Contest sponsored by IBM. They did this by placing in the top 2 or 3 slots at the regional level against up to 180 other teams. In April 2005 the international competition was held in Shanghai, China.

The Department of Sociology is ranked among the nation's leading programs in the study of marriage and the family.

The College of Arts and Sciences has cutting-edge facilities.

• The Nebraska Center for Virology conducts innovative research into Alzheimer’s disease, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and other illnesses.
• Physicist Donald Umstadter and in his team of researchers have built a world class laser lab at UNL. In August 2006, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln unveiled a new world-class laser that is helping position Nebraska as a leader in high-field physics and laser research. The Diocles laser has the potential for reaching the highest light intensity ever produced by any laser in the world. The compact, ultra-fast, high-intensity laser can produce more power than 100,000 Hoover Dams in bursts lasting only 30 billionths of one millionth of a second.Diocles produces gamma rays that can "see through" four-inch-thick steel to detect bomb material hidden in a cargo container, or hairline cracks in a jet turbine. The laser is small and inexpensive enough for hospitals to potentially use it as a proton source for cutting-edge cancer therapy.
• The Research Computer Facility manages the PrairieFire Supercomputer, which is used to solve problems requiring computing resources available only at a select group of universities. University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientists and facilities are playing a key role in one of the world’s largest physics experiments, and have received a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support those efforts.
• The Nebraska Center for Virology, a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence, was formed in the fall of 2000 under the Institutional Development Award program. The Center combines the expertise and facilities of Nebraska's leading biomedical research institutions: the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Creighton University. Junior and established researchers at these institutions conduct innovative and collaborative research on a number of life-threatening diseases.
• The J. D. Edwards Honors Program in Computer Science and Management produces top quality graduates who combine business knowledge and computing fundamentals for enterprise information and software systems. Its $24.7 million academic, residential center houses a design studio that has created software solutions for both global and local organizations.
• The Cedar Point Biological Station gives students unique access to a wide variety of water and land environments, such as forests, meadows, and prairies, and four major grassland types. Students can pursue such fields as ornithology, prairie ecology, natural resources policy, limnology, and natural history of invertebrates.

Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences conduct world-class research.

• Psychology professor Will Spaulding has developed an internationally recognized treatment program for people living with chronic mental illness. His work with the Lincoln Regional Center has become a model for hospitals and other facilities around the globe.
• Parks Coble, professor of history, is a leader in research on China and Japan. Coble is an expert in the field of comparative world history, especially concerning the relationship between the two Asian superpowers. Parks is a leader in the efforts of those countries to overcome the legacy of World War II. Coble received an Outstanding Research and Creativity Award from the university in 2005.
• Anthony Starace, professor of physics and astronomy, is an international leader in the theoretical study of photoionization processes, and in the interaction of strong electromagnetic fields with matter. His research group focuses on intense laser-atom interactions, known as strong field physics. He has written more than 150 articles in prominent publications to date and often advises other researchers worldwide in the field about what physics problems to work on. Starace received an Outstanding Research and Creativity Award in 2005.
• Charles Wood, professor of biological sciences, is a pioneer in the study of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that leads to AIDS. His efforts have drawn top biomedical researchers to UNL.
• In cooperation with five U.S. American Indian reservations and five Canadian First Nations Reserves, sociology professor Les Whitbeck has conducted research on risk and resiliency factors that contribute to early-onset alcohol and drug use.
• English Professor Ken Price is a nationally known expert on poet Walt Whitman. At UNL he is continuing his work on creating a searchable, Web-based resource of the influential author's works.
• Classics and Religious Studies Professor John Turner is one of very few scholars in the world entrusted with the translation, publication, and interpretation of the Nag Hammadi codices, important texts from the second century A.D.

Alumni from the College of Arts and Sciences excel in the workplace—whether in academia, public office, or private companies.

• Anthropology graduate Kent Weber works as a Firearm and Toolmark examiner in the Nebraska State Patrol Crime Lab. He studies evidence from crime scenes in an effort to piece together information used to apprehend and convict criminals.
• As a senior editor at the University of Nebraska Press, alumna Ladette Randolph is committed to providing Nebraska authors with the exposure they deserve. Randolph, who earned a doctoral degree in English in 1999, is also an award-winning writer.
• Gregory Swift has been awarded an E.O. Lawrence Award. Swift for creating an entirely new class of heat engines, refrigerators, and mixture separators that can operate at high efficiency without environmentally damaging chemicals or rare materials.

Other College high points

• Students and faculty in the Department of Mathematics frequently gain national recognition. The department has been in the forefront of attracting and educating women in mathematics.
• Students in the sciences and humanities form connections to the Lincoln community through mentoring of primary and secondary school students. One example is the Fulcrum project, which puts science graduate students in elementary school classrooms where they use their scientific knowledge to teach children while also learning teaching methods.
• Arts & Sciences departments also reach out to rural areas of the state by helping teachers improve mathematics and physics teaching in those areas.
• The Center on Children, Families and the Law regularly draws large government grants to conduct its important work. The center promotes the well being of children and families through research, analyzing policy, and providing education and community service
• Prairie Schooner, a literary magazine housed in UNL’s English department, has been publishing the works of emerging authors for 80 years.