Above: Professors Tarek Abdel-Fattah, Susan Antaramian, Tim Pressley, and Sherman Lee
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Four Christopher Newport University professors have been named among the world’s most influential scholars and scientists in a new edition of an annual ranking compiled by Stanford University and the analytics firm Elsevier.
Psychology professors Susan Antaramian, Tim Pressley, and Sherman Lee, and Chemistry professor Tarek Abdel-Fattah all made the list, which places them among the top 2 percent of researchers globally based on their academic publications and citation metrics. The authors of the annual list looked at the work of more than six million scientists worldwide.
“Congratulations to these four outstanding members of our faculty. Their excellence and impact is an inspiring example of how our students and our world benefit from all of our gifted and caring teacher-scholars,” said President William G. Kelly.
Abdel-Fattah is the Lawrence J. Sacks Endowed Professor of Chemistry and the CNU director of the Applied Research Center at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News. He focuses on nanotechnology and its uses in the realm of sustainable materials in nanoscale for environment remediation and energy. Abdel-Fattah has developed a groundbreaking compound, TAF-CNU-1, that will forever be linked to the University.
He was named to the list in the field of Enabling and Strategic Technologies based on his career accomplishments. He has been included in the ranking since 2020, and was also the recipient of the 2024 Outstanding Faculty Award in Virginia, awarded by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV).
“This remarkable achievement is a testament to the depth and breadth of your scholarly contributions. It reflects not only the volume of your scientific publications but also the exceptional quality and impact of your research across the fields of materials science and energy throughout your distinguished career,” wrote Essam Khamis Ibrahim AlHanash, Professor at Alexandria University in Egypt and Former Egyptian vice minister of higher Education and scientific research.
Antaramian’s research focuses on positive psychology and the factors that promote flourishing among adolescents and young adults. Her work extends beyond a traditional focus on psychopathology and emphasizes the importance of studying both positive well-being and psychological symptoms to better understand youth mental health and functioning. She was named to the list in the Social Sciences field based on the high impact of her work this year.
Lee teaches courses that revolve around the psychology of personality and the psychology of death, dying, and bereavement. Ranked 88th in the subfield of clinical psychology, this is the fifth year in a row that he has been included in the ranking in the Psychology and Cognitive Sciences field for significant contributions over the span of his career. With more than 100 publications, Lee is on the American Psychological Association’s expert panel list for the subject of grief and is on the editorial boards for the Journal of Clinical and Basic Psychosomatics and Death Studies. Lee and his colleague have recently been recognized for being the first researchers to map the mysterious symptom structure underlying grief attacks. Lee has developed a mental health screener to identify those suffering from dysfunctional grief due to the loss of a friend or family member.
Pressley’s research is centered around the lives of teachers and how best to support their well-being. He has published two books and has had his research featured in leading educational journals. Both during and after the COVID pandemic, Pressley focused on the impact the pandemic had on teachers’ well being, as well as the best way to support them moving forward. It is the third time he has been included in the rankings in the social sciences field for significant research contributions. Pressley co-authored the book, "Lessons of the Pandemic: Disruption, Innovation, and What Schools Need to Move Forward.”